Coventry Cassidy Jets 24 London Blitz 28

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 23^rd September.