21st November 2003 - BEACH BOWL III

The Bournemouth Raiders will be entering the third annual Beach Bowl competition on SUNDAY 14th December.

The tournament will be played in Portsmouth, and kickoff no later than 12pm. It must finish by 4pm as light will be fading by then. We will play 3 or 4 games on the day.

Our plan is to enter two squads - an A side and a development side. The development side will be run by Mark Elliott and Richard Cleveland.

Can you confirm if you can play in this tournament

21st November 2003 - NORTH V SOUTH ALLSTAR GAME

If you wish to play for the South of England team against the North in a 9-on-9 contact game please let me know. I have to submit names within the next 2 weeks.

The game will be played on the 7th March 2004 at Oxford. Myself and Mark are two players who will be playing.

The England side will be selected from the outstanding performers in this game. There will be 1 training session that will be held on the day of the game.

The South of England side will be made up of players from Bournemouth, Chichester, PA Knights, North Devon and Sussex.

28th September 2003 - Autumn Bowl I - BSFL 5 ON 5 TOURNAMENT

Venue: Chichester, W.Sussex

Results:

Bournemouth Raiders 26-0 Team Extreme
Bournemouth Raiders 19-12 PA Knights
Bournemouth Raiders 27-6 Sussex Thunder

Semi-Final

Bournemouth Raiders 23-12 Kent Exiles

Final

Bournemouth Raiders 6-6 Chichester Sharks

The Bournemouth Raiders returned to British Senior Flag League action and winning ways on Sunday with a fantastic team effort to go through the day unbeaten and jointly share the Chichester Autumn Bowl. Using an unorthadox offense of two QBs playing at the same time (Matt Heasman threw for 5tds and Brad Smith both threw for 6), they won 3 out of 3 group games, and then defeated the Kent Exiles 23-12 in the semi-finals. In the final they tied 6-6 with the Chichester Sharks.

The Raiders split their 12 man squad in two to have a separate offense and defense, which helped players keep their fitness throughout the day. As a result of the Raiders good results, we have now moved up to 4th in the league out of 19 teams. The table can be found by clicking here

http://www.seniorflag.co.uk/2003%20BSFL%205%20on%205.htm

Squad: Matt Heasman, Brad Smith, Allen Gilbert, Mark Elliott, Nick Michael, Dan Rochester, Duncan Rochester, Bene Lewis, Alan Huddy, Vincent Gurrea, Mike Drobny, James Law

Group Games

Bournemouth Raiders 26-0 Team Extreme Derby

The Raiders opened the tournament with a comprehensive win over Team Extreme from Derby. Matt Heasman fired two TD's, one each to Brad Smith and the other to rookie Dan Rochester who showed good hands to catch a low pass over the middle, and in between Brad Smith threw a long range TD to debutant Mike Drobny, and pass into the corner of the endzone to Nick Michael.

Stats:

Matt Heasman to Brad Smith (Brad Smith to Mike Drobny for the 1PAT) 7-0 Brad Smith to Mike Drobny (Matt Heasman to Dan Rochester 1PAT) 14-0 Matt Heasman to Dan Rochester (1PAT failed) 20-0 Brad Smith to Nick Michael (1 PAT failed) 26-0

Interceptions: Bene Lewis, Mike Drobney, Duncan Rochester

Bournemouth Raiders 18-12 PA Knights

Against the PA Knights, the Raiders raced into an early 12-0 lead on the back of Heasman's short pass to Smith who ran in from distance, and straight afterwards Nick Michael scored on an interception return for a TD. The Knights came back and scored on two passing TD's to tie the scores. Late in the game, following a good drive Brad Smith ran in from 6 yards out to win the game for the Raiders.

Stats:

Matt Heasman to Brad Smith (1 PAT failed) 6-0
Nick Michael interception return (1 PAT failed) 12-0
PA Knights TD 12-6
PA Knights TD 12-12
Brad Smith run (1 PAT failed) 18-12

Bournemouth Raiders 27-6 Sussex Thunder

In a really tight opening, it took a sack from rookie James Law to put the Raiders in the lead. With the Raiders then receiving the ball, they marched straight down the field to open a 9-0 lead on Brad Smith's pass over the middle to Mike Drobny. The Raiders offense really came into their own thereafter as they marched down the field at will, and Brad Smith put them 15-0 up on a pass to Mark Elliott right in the middle of the endzone. Sussex scored to make it 15-6, but Smith hit back with a long pass over the middle to Bene Lewis, who made a spectacular catch over his shoulder to restore the Raiders commanding lead. James Law sealed the impressive win over the BSL Division Two side with an interception at the back of the Raiders endzone, and he ran it back the full length of the field.

Scorers:

James Law safety 2-0
Brad Smith to Mike Drobney (Matt Heasman to Brad Smith for 1 PAT) 9-0
Brad Smith to Mark Elliott (1 PAT failed) 15-0
Sussex Thunder TD 15-6
Brad Smith to Bene Lewis (1 PAT failed) 21-6
James Law interception return from own endzone (1 PAT failed) 27-6

Semi-Final - Bournemouth Raiders 23-12 Kent Exiles

Against another BSL Division Two outfit, the Raiders triumphed again with a hard fought 23-12 semi-final victory. The Exiles defense was the hardest the Raiders had played against so far and the Raiders had to improvise superbly on a number of occasions to overcome them. Brad Smith opened the scoring throwing a long distance pass to Drobny to put the Raiders 7-0 up, but the Exiles were moving the ball well - each of their first 3 drives went to the Raiders 1 yard line - but crucially they only scored 1 TD in these drives. The Raiders moved into a 14-6 half-time lead when Heasman dumped off a pass to Smith who ran in from half way. Early in the second half the Raiders scored on a safety when the Exiles QB under pressure threw the ball out of the endzone, and then Smith extended the lead to 23-6 with a run from a few yards out. Exiles hit back late on, interceptions by Gurrea and Drobny protected the lead.

Stats:

Brad Smith to Mike Drobney
Bournemouth Raiders safety after QB threw ball away
Matt Heasman to Brad Smith
Brad Smith run
Interceptions: Vincent Gurrea, Mike Drobney

Final - Bournemouth Raiders 6-6 Chichester Sharks

Against their big rivals from the south coast, the Raiders took the lead in the championship game on a 5yd pass from Heasman to Dan Rochester, but the Sharks hit back with a TD to tie the scores at 6-6 apiece. With a strong defensive performance by the Raiders, the high powered Sharks offense did not come close to scoring again, and Nick Michael came close to winning it for the Raiders with an attempted interception but he could not quite hang on. In fading light it was agreed not to play overtime and the tournament was shared.

Scorers:

Matt Heasman to Dan Rochester (1 PAT failed) 6-0
Chichester Sharks TD 6-6

Bournemouth Raiders team photo at the BSFL Autumn Bowl in Birmingham- September 28th 2003
Back row (left to right): Vincent Gurrea, Mark Elliott, Bene Lewis, Dan Rochester, Matt Heasman, Mike Drobney
Front row (left to right): James Law, Alan Huddy, Allen Gilbert, Duncan Rochester, Nick Michael

For other photos click here

12th May 2003 - Raiders pull out of BSFL 9-on-9 league

The Bournemouth Raiders will not be able to enter a side in the BSFL 9-on-9 league for 2003. After very disappointing turnouts for our last 3 tournaments (8 in October, 9 in December and 8 in April), and having canvassed opinion we cannot guarantee being able to field a squad for a full season.

The Raiders will continue though! Our suggestion is for a 9-on-9 championship day in London for 4 sides. We would be able to get Bournemouth to enter a one off 9-on-9 tournament in London. They would be two semi-finals, a 3rd/4th place playoff and a championship game.

We also will continue to play in the BSFL 5-on-5 championship, and the next tournament is to be played in London (Hyde Park) on the 13th July.

27th April 2003 - EASTER BOWL I - BSFL 5 ON 5 TOURNAMENT

Venue: Billesley, Birmingham

Results:

Bournemouth Raiders 6-14 Chichester Sharks (Raiders scorer: Matt Heasman pass to Daniel Nehorai - 1PAT failed)
Bournemouth Raiders 18-0 Topgun Miramar (Raiders scorers: Matt Heasman 3 TD passes, 2 to Vincent Gurrea and 1 to Daniel Nehorai)
Bournemouth Raiders 0-19 Team Extreme (Derby)
5th/6th playoff: Bournemouth Raiders 7-24 North Devon Dogs (Raiders scorer: Matt Heasman to Andrew Clowes - Karl Forrest with the 1PAT)

Raiders opened up against the Chichester Sharks, and fell to a disappointing 14-6 loss. 7-0 after one possession, Heasman hit Nehorai on a short pass, and he brought several tackles to score. The PAT failed to leave the score 7-6. The Sharks scored again on blown coverage, and the Raiders couldn't get back into the game after that. Raiders suffered a loss in this game, as Mark Elliott suffered a neck injury which caused him to taken in an ambulance to hospital. Elliott returned later in the day, but his loss was missed over the coming games.

In game 2, the Raiders destroyed a poor Topgun Miramar side with 3 TD passes from Matt Heasman (2 to Daniel Nehorai and 1 to Vincent Gurrea). The Raiders small squad was stretched in the limit from game 3, as Heasman twisted his ankle and was immobile (nothing changed there then!) for the rest of the tournament, and injuries to Gurrea and Nehorai meant Raiders struggled in their 2 remaining games and couldn't go themselves justice. A 19-0 defeat to Team Extreme, was followed by a 24-7 defeat by North Devon Dogs. Against the Dogs, the Raiders trailed early 14-0, but a long range pass from Heasman was caught by rookie Andrew Clowes who turned it into a TD. Raiders then got the ball again, and drove to the Dogs 1 yard, but couldn't score to tie the scores. The Dogs pulled away in the second half to leave the Raiders finishing 6th in the 8 team tournament.

Special mention should be made to Andrew Clowes who made his debut for the Raiders, escorted Mark Elliott to hospital and still returned to score a TD against North Devon.

Thanks to all who attended, and hopefully the next tournament we play will have more people turning out for us. Next tournament is due to be played in Chichester.

Squad: Matt Heasman, Mark Elliott, Vincent Gurrea, Andrew Clowes, Bene Lewis, Daniel Nehorai, Alan Huddy, Karl Forrest

The tournament was won by the Leicester Eagles who defeated Chichester 16-7 in the final.

5th March 2003 - Raiders regroup for 2003

The Bournemouth Raiders have made a number of new signings in the off-season, with 6 players contacting us through the website. Our first tournament of 2003, is on Sunday 27th April at Birmingham in the BSFL Easterbowl senior flag 5-on-5 competition.

25th January 2003 - Raiders represent the BSFL

Four Bournemouth Raiders (Vincent Gurrea, Mark Houston, Abdul Lawal and Nick Michael) played for the BSFL Allstars team in a game in Dublin against the Drimnagh Cycos. The Allstars won the match 18-12.