Final Score:
Claymores 28 - 0 Dragons
To paraphrase Shannon Sharpe: Call the national guard cause we are killing the Dragons!
 QB Marcus Crandell [5] looks to throw a touchdown pass to Scott Couper Photo: Iain Carey |
A team record 9 sacks, spread evenly among the whole defensive unit, a recovered fumble and two interceptions of Tony Graziani went a long way to neutralising the Dragons offensive threats but it was the Claymores offense who shocked everybody by moving the ball effectively down the field with both quarterbacks.
Despite early pressure, the Claymores couldn't get close to the endzone but excellent punting by Jon Ballantyne gave the Dragons terrible field position for the whole first quarter. In the second quarter, Sulecio Sanford ran a slant and Marcus Crandell hit him over the middle for a 15 yard touchdown. The PAT was good and the Claymores led 7-0.
| CLAYMORESPOLL |
The Dragons held on until late in the third when the Claymores drove deep into Barcelona territory and set Aaron Stecker loose. Stecker leaped into the endzone from 2 yards out for his 6th touchdown of the year. Robbie Hart gave the Claymores a 21-0 lead and it was looking ominous for the Dragons.
The Claymores effectively finished off the Catalans when Scott Couper ran a beautiful route which the corner totally bit on leaving Scoops open for the score - a 9 yard pass from Crandell. Once again Hart's extra point extended the lead, this time to 28-0.
Hart attempted a 42 yard field goal late in the game but his attempt hooked in the air and sailed wide left despite having ample distance. The Claymores then ran out the clock for the victory.
Comments
 Aaron Stecker [airborne] leaps in for the Claymores third touchdown Photo: Iain Carey |
All aspects seemed to click into place. On offense, the running game and passing game complemented each other and both worked well. No turnovers and a healthy 6.3 yards per play combined for a good, solid offensive performance.
Stecker, while not used extensively on the run, was effective on his 16 carried and always posed a threat. His backup, Ben Snell used his 5 carries to gain 29 yards including a beautiful 15 yarder right through the middle in the fourth quarter.
Daft and Crandell played alternate quarters and it seemed to work well. I still maintain that Crandell has played better in recent weeks but I am quite happy to see the Claymores continue this two-headed QB thing. Neither QB threw an interception and Daft made only a couple of errors in choice of pass but Crandell did likewise.
Donald Sellers is scary. He has 16 catches in two games for over 200 yards receiving and poses a huge threat which leads to other receivers being left open. He is a big enough receiver to cause defenses to think twice about keying on Aaron Stecker. Sanford and Couper are both good receivers which gives the team a nucleus to build around.
 Crandell was happy with his performance against Barcelona Photo: Richy Black |
The run was consistently stuffed for short yardage and the pass defense was good if not outstanding. The Claymores deserve credit for the improvements in their tackling recently. The open field tackling was superb today, a ball was caught - wha-boom, he was on the ground.
The only downer was the injuries suffered. The Dragons Eddie Conti was hit on the second half kickoff and broke his leg and Scotland's Brian Smith suffered a nasty hit and came away with a dislocated knee. Both injuries look to be season ending so good luck to both players, we wish them a speedy recovery.
Next week the Claymores travel to the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam to take on the rampant Admirals who demolished Frankfurt 41-7. It will certainly be a different story from week 1 where the Claymores beat them 28-9. Ron Powlus has set the league on fire since replacing Jim Kubiak as the Ads QB. More of the same from the Claymores and they have a good chance
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
BARCELONA 0 0 0 0 0
CLAYMORES 0 14 7 7 28 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: NONE
2ND QUARTER: SCO - TD, SULECIO SANFORD 15 YD PASS FROM MARCUS CRANDELL
(ROB HART KICK), 6:56. CLAYMORES 7-0
SCO - TD, DONALD SELLERS 11 YD PASS FROM MARCUS CRANDELL
(ROB HART KICK), 14:17. CLAYMORES 14-0
3RD QUARTER: SCO - TD, AARON STECKER 1 YD RUN (ROB HART KICK), 12:54.
CLAYMORES 21-0
4TH QUARTER: SCO - TD, SCOTT COUPER 9 YD PASS FROM MARCUS CRANDELL
(ROB HART KICK), 5:53. CLAYMORES 28-0
TEAM STATISTICS
BAR SCO
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 15 22
Rushing 4 6
Passing 10 16
Penalty 1 0
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 5-13 4-11
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-0 0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 256 373
Total plays 63 59
Average gain 4.1 6.3
NET YARDS RUSHING 84 102
Rushes 16 22
Average per rush 5.3 4.6
NET YARDS PASSING 172 271
Completed-attempted 23-38 24-36
Yards per pass 3.7 7.3
Sacked-yards lost 9-52 1-3
Had intercepted 2 0
PUNTS-AVERAGE 5-43.4 6-30.3
RETURN YARDAGE 96 84
Punts-returns 1-0 2-16
Kickoffs-returns 5-96 1-35
Interceptions-returns 0-0 2-33
PENALTIES-YARDS 6-52 8-65
FUMBLES-LOST 2-1 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 29:50 30:10
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: Barcelona (Jesus Angoy 49); Claymores (Rob
Hart 42).
Barcelona rushing: Cory Sauter 7-56, Terry Battle 7-26, Jesse Haynes 2-2.
Claymores rushing: Aaron Stecker 16-60, Ben Snell 5-29, Marcus
Crandell 1-13.
Barcelona passing: Tony Graziani 17-25 for 183 yards, 2 INT, 0 TD,
Cory Sauter 6-13 for 41 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Claymores passing: Marcus Crandell 13-18 for 134 yards, 0 INT, 3
TD, Kevin Daft 11-18 for 140 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Barcelona receiving: Damian Vaughn 7-65, Jeremaine Copeland 5-41,
Carlos Rosado 4-45, Terry Battle 3-19, Sean Morey 2-34, Rodney
Williams 1-12, Jesse Haynes 1-8.
Claymores receiving: Donald Sellers 8-94, Aaron Stecker 5-30,
Sulecio Sanford 3-47, Scott Couper 3-44, Damon Gibson 2-17, Willy
Tate 1-20, Rickey Brady 1-14, Tremayne Allen 1-8.
Attendance: 8,827.