41. Colchester Gladiators 34-33 Capital Tigers, Budweiser Premier Semi-Final, 21st August 1988
42. PA Knights 15-14 Southern Sundevils (overtime), BAFL Division One Semi-Final, 10th September 2005
The Knights returned to the national championship with the tightest of
victories. The teams were scoreless until the 3rd quarter when the
Sundevils returned a fumble for a score and Scott Miller’s 2 PAT
put them 8-0 ahead. With 97 seconds remaining Heath’s found
Freeeman for a 27 yard TD and Kingsley Ejiogu tied the scores on the 2
PAT at 8-8 and the teams went into OT. Ejiogu scored on the Knights
first possession in OT and Belcher’s PAT put them 15-8 ahead.
Simon Hoque scored for the Sundevils on their next possession in OT,
and the Sundevils then elected to go for the winning 2 PAT, but Eric
Lewis was stopped short and the Knights prevailed. Match report
43. Chester Romans 17-14 Colchester Gladiators, BAFA Three Quarter-Final, 7th August 1994
Romans QB Gavin Woolger ran for 208 yards, but it was Phil Rowe who was
the match winner for them very a last gasp field goal to win this play
off match. Match report
44. Redbridge Fire 26-22 Gateshead Senators, BSL Division One Semi-Final, 24th August 1997
Fire QB Guy Manella passed for 276 yards and 3TDs, as the Fire turned a
20-0 lead into a 23-20 deficit with 1.58 left in the game. Manella
engineered a last gasp 85 yard drive culminating in his 15 yard pass to
Lee Kelly with 17 seconds remaining. Match report
45. Oxford Saints v West Coast Trojans, BAFL Division Two Final, 2006
Oxford Saints landed the Division 2 Championship trophy in Britbowl
2006 after a thrilling 29-28 victory over Glasgow's West Coast Trojans
in the play-off final at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield. The Saints
led 15-6, but Sutherland’s second TD put the
The conversion by Adam Newman put Saints 15-6 in front.
Trojans kicked off the second half in positive fashion, and reduced the
arrears when Sutherland capped a 32-yard run with a touch- down. At the
start of the final quarter, Oxford touched down through Ywantro Pasley
to stretch the lead to 22-12.
Trojans then put together a ten-play drive, which started at their own 15-yard line.
On the tenth play, Sutherland ran in a touchdown from 38 yards, then
Gary McNey converted to leave Trojans only two points behind. The
Scottish outfit took a 28-22 lead when McMenemy ran 39 yards for a
touchdown, but Sutherland failed to land the two-point conversion. This
proved crucial, as in Saints' final drive, and with only 48
seconds left on the clock, knowing that seven points would give them
the title, Taylor took the ball to within one yard of the end-zone.
With just enough time for another play, Taylor, who won the most
valuable player award, received the ball for a touchdown.
With the scores level, the pressure fell on Newman to claim the
championship. He held his nerve to slot home the kick and secure the
title for Saints.
46. Bournemouth Buccaneers 20-21 Crawley Raiders, BNGL Premier Semi-Final, 24th August 1992
Bournemouth led 20-7 at the break, but Crawley fought back through TDs
from Ritchie and Henry before Phare PAT secured the semi-final victory.
Match report
47. Yate Thundercats 13-13 Bath Gladiators, 10th April 1988
Bath led 13-10 with nine seconds left before their kicker Keith Sharp
booted a 40 yard field goal into the wind to tie the match. Match
report.
48. London Blitz 28-24 Coventry Jets, 23rd August 2007
Sunday saw the Coventry Cassidy Jets travel to Finsbury park along with
their three year unbeaten domestic run, to face the London Blitz in a
show down of the top two placed teams in the Premiership.
The Blitz now sit top of the BAFL Premiership with the only unbeaten
record as they came out 28-24 winners.
A good sized crowd, consisting of Blitz and Jets fans but also numerous
players and coaches for other teams, turned up on a damp Sunday
afternoon to see, what was expected to be a great game of football, and
that’s exactly what it proved to be.
The Blitz received the first kick-off, and a touchback saw them start
on their own twenty. After only a few short gains the home team had to
punt the ball into Jets territory. The Jets offense and QB Tim Spaull,
saw first hand why the Blitz defense was the number one ranked in the
Premiership, as Aaron Sanders-Percival picked off his very first pass
and gave the Blitz the ball back with good field position. Pat Cullen
made short work of the short field. Some excellent blocking by the
offensive line and an excellent fake by halfback Richard Cunningham,
Cullen hit wide receiver Rod Bradley on a role out for a twelve yard
score. The point after attempt by Nathan Holt was good and the Blitz
led by seven. That was the only scoring in the first
quarter.
The lead was short lived however as the Jets soon hit back. Following
the kick off the Jets went back to their running game with carries by
both Perkins and Coles; they moved the ball into Blitz territory. For
their score however they went back to their go to guy in Mark Cohen, as
some confusion in the Blitz secondary left Cohen open in the corner for
a twenty three yard touchdown reception from Spaull, the conversion was
good and the scores were tied.
The Blitz were then held again by a strong Jets run defense and the
Jets soon had the ball back. A powerful and skilful run by Tony Perkins
saw him go fifty three yards down the field to be finally dragged down
by the Blitz’s defensive MVP for the day Jason “Bris”
Brisbane on the Blitz one yard line. The stingy Blitz defense, again
lead by Bris and Adrian Samuels stiffened and the Jets found themselves
going backwards. A failed fourth down saw the scored remain at 7-7. The
Blitz offense struggled to make any ground and on fourth down decided
to punt away to midfield. A holding penalty against the Jets however
gave the Blitz a fourth and one on their own twelve yard line. Forced
to re-kick a poor snap and an illegal kick later and the Blitz defense
again saw themselves defending their goal line from the five. This time
the Jets managed to get the ball back into Cohen’s hands for the
lead. The kick was good and the score was 14-7 to the Jets.
Coventry were unable to move the ball on their next possession and the
Blitz held them to a three and out. With 42 seconds left on the clock
and a chance to go into the half with the lead the Blitz offense took
the field in hurry up mode starting from the Coventry forty two yard
line. On the first play quarterback Pat Cullen took to the
air, throwing deep down field, landing an absolute gem perfectly into
the hands of Rod Bradley for a forty yard completion. Rod was tackled
out off bounds at the two yard line, and two plays later Tyrone
Irons-Reid leapt into the endzone with his second effort to give the
Blitz a 21-14 lead at the half.
Unfortunately the second quarter wasn’t all good news for the
Blitz as their team captain and heart and soul of the team, Adam
Seoudy, left the field with a suspected broken leg.
The half time gave the crowd a chance to catch their breaths while the
Jets Cheerleaders put on a dazzling display. Coach Moss was his normal
relaxed self in the huddle and made it very clear that the business end
of the game is in the second half. As quickly as half time had started,
it was over and both sides, as well as the crowd were eager to get the
second half underway.
The first few possessions of the third quarter saw both teams making
small gains resulting in punts. One such punt from Blitz
punter Duncan Aldous fielded by London based Jets wideout Jeremy Simms
saw him weave his way down his own sideline and deep in to Blitz
territory to start the next Coventry Jets drive on the Blitz ten yard
line. Tim Spaull didn’t take long to hook up with wide receiver
Joe Black on a jump ball and with the conversion successful the scores
were again level.
On the next Blitz possession the Jets defense came up big with a forced
fumble and recovery, leaving the Jets with good field position inside
Blitz territory. The Blitz defense again showed why teams have
struggled against them all season and big plays by Jason Brisbane and
defensive end Pat Yeye saw the Jets offense going backwards. Eventually
the Jets had to punt but a holding call against the Blitz saw them
improve their field position and set up a great fifty three yard field
goal by Steve Coles to give the Jets a three point lead.
Time was running out, but if anyone thought that was the end of the
Blitz then they was wrong. Pat Cullen engineered an efficient drive
which included a screen pass to Ricky Cunningham that saw him ducking
and diving passed Jets defenders for a long gain down to the Jets two
yard line. The drive was finished off with Cullen taking the ball in
himself. The point after was good and the Blitz lead by four, meaning
only a touchdown would be good enough to save the Jets three year long
winning streak.
The London defense was however in no mood to give up a score. Ed Morgan
nearly intercepted a third down pass, but with the fourth down falling
incomplete the Blitz just needed to take a knee to see out the game.
Mark Moss, London Blitz Head Coach commented, “It was a great
game of football and one that I hope the crowd really enjoyed. It
showed how far both teams have come in the last few years albeit with
two different strategies. I am very proud of the team we’ve
managed to build a team of local guys with a mixture of experience and
lots of youth. All the players have worked very hard since January,
through training camp and up to today and they will continue to work
hard until we achieve our ultimate goal. Every person on this team and
in this club has one thing in common, if you cut them, they bleed blue
and white and I couldn’t ask for anything more from them”
In the long run the weekend’s result doesn’t mean a
whole lot as both teams have their sight set on the same goal that
can’t be achieved until the 23rd September.
http://www.britballnow.co.uk/History/Match%20reports/20070823BlitzCov.html
49. Cardiff Mets 32-30 West London Aces, NDMA Div 2, 7th July 1991
West London led 30-25 late in the fourth quarter and when Mets QB Gary
Layton was intercepted it looked all over for the welsh side. On the
very next play, Aces QB Mick Gadsby was stripped and with 18 seconds
left Layton found Steve Gordon for the winning score. Match report.
50. Leicester Panthers 20-21 Northants Storm, 1st May 1988
Chris Cook blocked a last minute Panthers field goal to give the Storm
a surprise victory in this Budweiser League regular season match.
Panthers went 20-14 up in the third quarter but crucially failed to
convert a 2 PAT. Milan Zuzek put the Storm ahead with a late 1 yard TD
run, before Sean Payton led Panthers down the field for their ill fated
field goal attempt. Match report
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