17th April 2005 BAFL Division One Southern Sundevils 6-13 London Blitz Sunday's skies darkened in Southampton on April 17th as the London Blitz Defence made their mark on a second straight opponent, this time the Divison 1 Southern Sundevils. Riding high after a shutdown performance last week in Cambridge, the Defence, led by former BAFL MVP Jason Brisbane and veteran Bob Davy, rained on the Sundevils home opener with another dominating performance. Davy was in no mood to allow the Sundevils any rhtyhm on offence, gobbling up runners in the middle of the field to notch up 14 tackles and a forced fumble on the day. Not to be outshone early in the game, Southern's defence stymied London's attempts to turn on their previous dominant running game and the teams ground it out in a battle for field position for most of the first half. The sparse crowd was treated to a classic defencive struggle that neither offence looked capable of breaking. A terrific punting performance from GB and NFL Europe trialist Duncan Aldous kept things even until late in the 2nd, when the 'devils finally broke London's lines and blocked Aldous' kick. Unluckily for the Blitz the ball rolled to a stop at the one yard line to set up the only score of the half - the Sundevils charging in to lead 6-0 just 30 second before halftime. As the rain started to dampen the field of play, Blitz spirits soared in the third quarter as an errant pass from 'devils QB Gemmel was picked off by #15 Jason Brisbane, who galloped past the stunned 'devils to record an 88-yard score. The game stayed knotted at 6-all when Adam Seoudy was overpowered by the Southern D for the 2-point conversion attempt. The stalemate continued through the third quarter until Blitz Linebacker Rob Kilty (#43) jarred the ball loose and lineman Mike Lee covered to get the ball in the hands of QB Cooke once again. Ignited, but not yet running with all cylinders, the Offence rolled to a stop again - relying on Aldous solid punting to keep it tight. Kilty capped a solid performance on the next drive to gather in another interception and rumbled 12 yards before he was brought down. Thanks to some gutsy running from Matt Cooke and solid completions to Duncan Aldous the Blitz offence finally showed up to score the game winning TD mid-way through the fourth quarter. The Southerners bit hard on the play-fake giving QB Cooke room to scamper in the right corner of the endzone thanks to a key block from Tight End Dan Cooper at the goalline. With 10 minutes remaining both teams traded punts once more allowing the Blitz to kneel on the ball to see out the clock and seal the vital inter-conference win. London continue their travels on 22 May when they head west to the 0-1 Bristol Aztecs to resume Div 1A battles.