Jets lose unbeaten record to Austrians

The Coventry Cassidy Jets travelled to Austria at the weekend to face the Cineplex Blue Devils, ranked number 10 in Europe, and surrendered their 30-game unbeaten streak with a battling 34-19 loss.

The Austrians, loaded with US players and dual-nationals, were always going to be a huge test for the Jets on their first European campaign, and so it proved as the British team feel behind early. It was the special teams kicking unit that led to the Jets finding themselves in a 14-0 hole. First a shanked punt gave the Blue Devils excellent field position for running back Oliver Froehlich to score from 2 yards and then a blocked punt set up a 1 yard run for quarterback Toby Henry.

It was Henry who was the main difference between the teams, completing 10 of 15 attempts for 196 yards and 2 touchdowns. His 77 yard scoring pass to wide receiver Mohammed Mortazav, immediately after the Jets had narrowed the gap to 14-7 a Mark Cohen 22-yard reception, gave the Blue Devils the decisive lead.

Any hopes of a second half come back by the Jets were erased when they failed to move the ball on their first drive and again the Blue Devils returned the punt inside the Jets red zone. Ben Fussenegger scampered in for a 10 yard score and the Jets looked buried at 27-7. However, from that point on the Jets made a strong recovery. The Jets contained the potent Devils offense and, with British quarterback Tim Spaull at the helm, the Jets scored early in the fourth to give themselves hope with another 10-yard snare by Mark Cohen. At 27-13 the Jets needed a defensive stand. At third and long at the Devils 44 yard line the Jets were poised to get the ball back but Henry found Christian Staffanni with a 52-yard bomb that secured the home team win.

Still the Jets kept coming and scored on a 55-yard drive that saw Tim Spaull carried from the field after a very late hit by Hustert and a 5 yard touchdown catch by Joe Black from quarterback Chris Foster to end the scoring at 34-19.

Overall the Jets had finished the day with more first downs than the Blue Devils and were out-gained by only 64 yards. However, punting the ball had caused problems with the Jets averaging just 8 yards a punt compared with the Blue Devils 34 yards. The Jets had also missed opportunities to move the ball with the short passing game, with quarterback Chris Foster completing just 7 of 21 attempts for 51 yards on the day.

Jets Head Coach, Gerry McManus, said: “We came up short today and the better team won. We had our chances but made crucial mistakes. It is a learning curve for us as a young club but we proved we can compete at this level and we will be back again in 2008 with a team capable of winning the European Cup.”