DEVILS WIN BY A WHISKER
July 23rd, 2007 by Pete Wrigley.

The Norwich Devils became Division 2 South East Conference champions with a hard fought victory over their closest rivals from Cambridge.

Man of the match Ben Green returned a kick off 70 yards for a spectacular touchdown with just 46 seconds left on the clock to maintain the Devils unbeaten record. The Devils now have a three game lead over the 2nd place Cats, with three games left, but also own the tie break over the Cats having beaten them twice this season.

With two of the best 3 defences in the division on show, it was not surprising that the game had started with defenses dominating. However on the Devils second possession, they took the ball 60 yards to open the scoring when quarterback Troy Scmidgall found Green with an 18 yard strike. Green then added the extra point to open up a 7 point lead.The Cats hit straight back with a 70 yard drive of their own and quarterback Martin Brown finished off the drive with a 1 yard dive for the score. Matt Casey added the extra point to level the score.

It was midway through the second quarter before the scoreboard was troubled again. An interception by Devils linebacker Tom Lyons gave them the ball at the Cats 5 yard line, but a strong defensive stand by the Cats restricted Norwich to a 24 yard field goal from Green. With no more scoring in the quarter, the Devils led 10 - 7 at the half.

The second half was dominated by both defenses and seemed to be petering out to a low scoring win for Norwich. Then late in the fourth quarter, the Cats looked to have snatched the game putting together a quick-fire 71 yard drive culminating in a 12 yard scoring pass from Brown to receiver Gurkinder Mann. Casey's extra point kick was blocked, but the Cats led 13 - 10 with under a minute to play. It was then Green came up with the big play, returning the kick off for the winning score. He then added the extra point,
and so claiming all 17 of Norwich's points.

The Devils now take their unbeaten record away to the Chiltern Cheetahs next week, before playing the East Kent Mavericks in their last regular season home game the week after.