Strongbows
@ Warriors 16/02/08
February 16th saw the opening of the Irish Flag American Football League for the Southern division. Waterford’s
Southeast Strongbows travelled to Clonmel to face the home team of the Willow Warriors. The weather
held up and made it a great day to play. However, even if the weather was the opposite, it was not going to unsettle a determined
Strongbows team.
The team, earlier in the pre-season faced ridicule
as they were labelled as a team who have “half a team-poor attendance, not organised,
no appreciation, no heart...”, were now facing 3 former team mates: a former Quarterback, Wide receiver
and a Centre.
The game started with the Warriors
on offence, it was a drive which moved the ball the length of the pitch to make the game 6-0 warriors after a failed extra
point attempt.
Next the Southeast
Strongbows were on offence, for the first time this year and since early 2007 Simon Whelan was starting as quarterback.
The offence really showed their versatility, with a mixture of run and pass plays on the opening drive containing; a pass
from Whelan to Eóin Reinhardt for a first down, and Kevin “Buttsy” Butler carrying the ball from just past the
half way line to the end-zone to cap off the drive. This made the score 7-6 Strong bows after a completed one point conversion
from Whelan to Eóin Reinhardt.
On the Warriors next drive
the Strong bows defence made themselves noticed forcing the Warriors offence to turn over the ball on downs. This would become
a regular occurrence for the Warriors offence as they failed to score again until the 3rd quarter, thanks to some
great defensive plays from Brian Sullivan.
Meanwhile in the 2nd
quarter the Strongbows Quarterback once again was planning to connect with his wide receiver Eóin Reinhardt to add another
touchdown to the scores. It came about after a pass from Whelan to the same receiver, Reinhardt, who brought the ball to the
Warriors 15 yard line, and was found again in the back of the Warriors end-zone to make the score 13-6 to the Strong bows
after a failed extra point attempt.
The third touchdown came in
a drive consisting of one 1 play. Kevin “Buttsy” Butler ran for his
second touchdown of the day, from the Strongbows 5-yard line to the Warriors end-zone making the score 20-6 after Mícheál
Kavanagh caught the 1 point conversion in the end-zone.
It was late in the third quarter
and the Warriors were trailing by 14 points, they marched there way to the Strongbows 6-yard line and attempted a run play
but gained just a yard. Then the Warriors QB Dean o’ Regan (former Strongbow) connected with his centre Luke Lonergan
(former Strongbow) to make the score 20-12 after a missed point after attempt.
With 5 minutes left on the
clock in the 4th quarter the Strongbows showed their versatility once again and combined run and pass plays to
make the score 26-12 with Mícheál Kavanagh catching a touchdown pass with Simon Whelan throwing his second of the day. Then
Aaron Walsh coming from defence to offence found a pass from Simon Whelan to make the score 27-12.
Once again on the final drive
of the game the Strongbows defence held the Warriors offence on the field showing how well they can defend any pass play
until the clock expired leaving the final score:
Strongbows- 27
Warriors- 12
The Southeast Strongbows
were delighted with their overall performance, considering they were just “half a team”.
The team was: On offence – QB- Simon Whelan
WR’s- Eóin Reinhardt and Nick Donnely
RB’S- Kevin Butler and Brian Sullivan
C- Tom Creedon
On defence-
CB’s- Aaron Walsh and Cian Reinhardt
LB’s- Darren Daly and Brian Sullivan
SS- Mícheál Kavanagh
