Scottish Claymores 17-27 Frankfurt Galaxy
 Email Gregor |
What a difference a week makes... sorry, that was last week's review but for all I could think of a better line that was the one that sprung to mind again and again. Saturday night in the Waldstadion turned out to be a hard- worked game where nothing went quite right for the Claymores and before they knew it they had lost the game 27-17 to a spirited - and let's not forget talented - Frankfurt Galaxy side. Indeed, it is perhaps strange that this was Frankfurt's first win of the season - surely they should have won at least one of their previous games. But in truth this was the first game that the Galaxy have played where they kept their own mistakes to a minimum and punished the opposition's - although not always to the fullest extent. So how did the 33,437 fans in the Waldstadion see the game? And come to think of it how did I get to see the game on Sky Sports with their abbreviated coverage. Fear not with the play-by-play guide by my side we'll try to make sense of it all.
Scotland again won the toss and Dante Hall made a good return to get the game underway at the Scotland 31-yd line. After a Whalen first down we hit three-and-out and so Brad Costello ... punted (watch out for later when he ... doesn't). It was notable that Vaughn Sanders was the first back in. He didn't get much of anything at all from the Galaxy. Sanders was playing hurt but still he seems to be a step behind Anthony Gray - who despite his years out of football looks much the better option at running back for the moment, and a short word of praise here for Stephen Hutchinson the English RB who went on to have a few carries later in the game: nothing spectacular but then that says a lot about the Claymores all night.
Frankfurt with Michael Bishop under center (I'll give in to the American spelling) move cautiously upfield with a couple of Denvis Manns short gains before Andy McCullough picks up a first down, two plays later and the roof is caving in. A deep pass by Bishop is arcing high over Central McClellion who blatantly intereferes with Galaxy receiver for a 38-yd pass interference call on the Scotland 36. Earl Riley was scampering across and seemed to have the receiver covered but it was a close call, certainly Central was beaten all ends up. Manns got a first down with two runs before McLeod came in at RB for the Galaxy and came up short of a first down with his two rushes - Keith Miller notching up three tackles in a row here. Bishop then tried a pass into McCullough in the End Zone but Earl Riley was there to bat the ball away to safety. Three-and-out and the field goal unit came on. Stephane Bauer - no farming jokes this time - makes no mistake and the Galaxy are 3-0 up - not bad considering the hole McClellion's interefernce put the D in (on the other hand Central might have saved a TD with his jersey pulling sio what do I know?). 8:01 elapsed in the first quarter, the drive took 4:06 and went 75 yards in 9 plays with 1 penalty. The Galaxy really racked the yardage all night and I guess we're lucky that 38-yd penalty didn't go down into Bishop's numbers as a completed pass.
Galaxy kick off and Dante Hall gets 24 yds before ... FUMBLING! The Galaxy pounce on the ball. Sky Sports treat us to a jubilant Frankfurt special teams coach having a fit of joy on the sideline that would make Tomsula proud. Notable Reggie Hunt returns two kick offs later in the game although I think that may be because they were angled his way (Nate Terry and Hunt set up either side of Hall for angled kicks) either way I couldn't tell from the TV. Galaxy take over again and we're looking down another barrel. It's Rashon Spikes turn for some carries (they're on an RB rota but no QB rota this week. Should I call it the three-headed monster?) and theyy get some yardage but not enough for a decent drive in the end and having only advanced the ball 18 yards in 7 plays (Threats with three run stuffing tackles in a row this time) the Galaxy knock over another field goal courtesy of Ola Kimrin (aside: this jerkey has a National Player of the week award? In the same week Flick got two sacks? Give me a break...) and it's 6-0 to Frankfurt.
Credit to Hall though he snares in the next kick-off and makes 28 yards before being yanked down. On the play there is a 15-yd facemask penalty assessed and Scotland move up to their own 43-yd line. Stoerner gets on the field but an incomplete pass, no-gain pass, a holding penalty on our O-Line and two sacks brings out Brad Costello who ... punts the ball away. Frankfurt three-and-out courtesy of Threats and Miller tackles and the quarter ends just before they punt possession back to the Claymores. Still 6-0 down from a disastrous first quarter isn't too bad, shame the Galaxy are to take more advantage of their chances in the second.
Clint Stoerner finds himself under pressure again and responds. A series of passes moves the Claymores steadily upfield before a big gain goes the way of Stevan Fontana who snares in a 25-yd pass which takes him to the Frankfurt 21-yd line. With a better pass or route he could have got 6 points there. In any event get some useful yards from Gray on the ground but are soon at third and long. Stoerner elects to pass and is soon flushed from the pocket and chased out to the left. He uses some nice feints to buy a little time and finds a WIDE OPEN James Whalen in the End Zone for a TD ... FLAG. Whalen stepped on the whitewash without realising it before getting open in the End Zone ... incomplete pass by rule the official tells us and so its fourth down. Rob Hart cooly slots over from 27 yards and we are 6-3 down. Bishop then puts together a decent drive punctuated by loose coverage by the Calymores D and missed tackles which Frankfurt finish off with a TD pass from Bishop to French National Marc Soumah who takes advantage of Renard Cox (although maybe Whitfield? Sky analysts said `two safeties' perhaps they speak with forked tongues) laying a mile off him and Earl Riley following suit as Soumah made his way across the field from left to right before prancing in at the corner. Bauer makes it 13-3.
Scotland get the ball again and the first play of the drive is a pass to Whalen for a first down and the two-minute warning. Gray then gets 17 yards on a pass before the Claymores start to flounder in midfield. With a third and long Stoerner goes to the shotgun and a high snap flies past him to his right. He tries grabbing it - he probably should have but he had injured that hand at the start of the match, hitting it off a Galaxy helmet on a follow-through from a pass early on - but it fumbles on to the ground where a Galaxy CB is on it in a flash. Two turnovers so far... Bishop throws a pass incomplete to Damon Savage (surprise, surprise) before shooting a bomb 48 yds into the End Zone for Ricky Hall. What a disaster. We had Bishop contained and the corner just let Hall get behind him (why oh why). I think it was Nate Terry. Hall made a decent grab on what was just a lofted ball deep over the top. It didn't need to be terribly accurate. Bauer makes it 20-3. Only seconds before it looked like it might be 13-10. Could Scotland get out of the hole? Hunt fielded a short kick-off and took it 5 yards to the Scotland 43 before the Claymores went three and out real quick. A feature was a Stoerner sack and forced fumble - Gray thankfully recovering for Scotland. Damon Savage fair caught the punt to end the half.
The third quarter begins with two three-and-outs before Frankfurt unleash another long pass to Ricky Hall for 53 yards over the middle to take them to the Scotland 23. Bishop tries his luck with passes - to no result and is sacked by Miller and Brooks for a loss. The Galaxy try a field goal from 46 yards with Kimrin and it is NO GOOD - wide left. 20-3 still. Two more three-and-outs follow (this was summarised quite a bit on Sky - maybe I should be thankful...). Scotland then three-and-out and Costello ... passes!!!! But he throws it short to Dusty Renfro who has squirmed clear and it is incomplete. If it had been a lofted pass Renfro only had the returner to beat. My question was: Why Renfro? Hasn't he got a broken finger? In any case the pass was underthrown. Close but no cigar and Frankfurt take over on their 46-yard line. Two plays later and Central McClellion intercepts Bishop and runs it back 12 yards. A momentum shift and the Claymores shift up a gear. A pass to Wahlen is followed by a three-yarder to Scott Couper who then picks up 22 yards on the next play. Gray gets 8 running to the right before Couper beats the cornerback like a drum to snare in a pump-fake pass in the corner. Scoops is on fire! Hart tacks on the PAT and it's 20-10. Maybe just maybe the Claymores have a chance.
Bishop is sacked and Spikes gets only two yards before the quarter ends and Scotland are looking on the up, then the fourth quarter starts with a 33 yarder by Ricky Hall. He breaks tackles and gets to the Frankfurt 39-yd line before Hunt tackles him. Frankfurt then start moving the ball (helped by a silly 15-yd unnecessary roughness call on London Dunlap pushing Bishop out of bounds). It all ends in Andy McCullough getting a TD over the middle where he was marked by just the CB (McClellion?) the two safeties were stepping up to stop the run and Hunt was late getting over to help out Central. Still it looked like McCullough had let the ball hit the turf, although despite the Claymore protests the TD stood. Bauer makes it 27-10 and its goodnight for the Bravehearts.
Hunt fielded the kick-off and took it 31 yards from the goal-line. Sky didn't show this but maybe Hall was out of the line-up here? Stoerner fired up a 10 and then a 37 yarder to Gerald Williams before a deep pass intended for new player Corey Allen (seemed a good palyer on his debut) was tipped to Gary Thompkins who ran it back 29 yards from the Frankfurt 2-yd line. Again close but not close enough for the Claymores. A TD here was our last realistic chance. Riley then made some tackles in between getting injured. Cox then got injured before a Reggie Hunt interception gave Scotland the ball back on their own 34-yard line. The receiver certainly helped by not catching the ball but Hunt made an instinctive grab to pull it in while running out of bounds on the pass coverage. Can you guess that the pass was to Damon Savage (I shouldn't be hard on the guy but he's had no lcuk at all against Scotland has he?). Ornstein comes in with 5:53 to go and the Clays make no use of the ball. Three-and-out. Galaxy then waste their possession too and punt to Nate Terry who fair catches and is then hit (?) by a Frankfurt player. Ornstein comes on again and moves the chains downfield in the last two minutes. Gus makes good use of Allen before getting a TD pass to Whalen with 7 seconds left in the game. Rob Hart makes the score a bit better at 27-17 but we're dead and buried. The onside kick is recovered by Andy McCullough and that's all she wrote. Final whistle.
| Scoring | ||||
| 1ST QUARTER | ||||
FRA - FG, STEPHAN BAUER 22 YD, 8:01. FRANKFURT 3-0 FRA - FG, OLA KIMRIN 39 YD, 11:18. FRANKFURT 6-0 | ||||
| 2ND QUARTER | ||||
SCO - FG, ROB HART 27 YD, 7:12. FRANKFURT 6-3
FRA - TD, MARC SOUMAH 9 YD PASS FROM MICHAEL BISHOP
(STEPHAN BAUER KICK), 12:45. FRANKFURT 13-3
FRA - TD, RICKY HALL 48 YD PASS FROM MICHAEL BISHOP
(STEPHAN BAUER KICK), 14:14. FRANKFURT 20-3 | ||||
| 3RD QUARTER | ||||
SCO - TD, SCOTT COUPER 14 YD PASS FROM CLINT STOERNER
(ROB HART KICK), 14:10. FRANKFURT 20-10 | ||||
| 4TH QUARTER | ||||
FRA - TD, ANDY MCCULLOUGH 4 YD PASS FROM MICHAEL BISHOP
(STEPHAN BAUER KICK), 5:21. FRANKFURT 27-10
SCO - TD, JAMES WHALEN 14 YD PASS FROM GUS ORNSTEIN (ROB
HART KICK), 14:55. FRANKFURT 27-17 | ||||
TEAM STATISTICS SCO FRA |
FIRST DOWNS 15 18 Rushing 3 7 Passing 11 9 Penalty 1 2 3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 3-11 6-13 4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1 0-0 TOTAL NET YARDS 235 354 Total plays 56 64 Average gain 4.2 5.5 NET YARDS RUSHING 41 173 Rushes 14 38 Average per rush 2.9 4.6 NET YARDS PASSING 194 181 Completed-attempted 20-37 9-23 Yards per pass 4.6 7.0 Sacked-yards lost 5-36 3-21 Had intercepted 1 2 PUNTS-AVERAGE 6-43.2 4-39.3 RETURN YARDAGE 151 112 Punts-returns 1-11 4-22 Kickoffs-returns 6-128 3-61 Interceptions-returns 2-12 1-29 PENALTIES-YARDS 5-72 8-68 FUMBLES-LOST 3-2 0-0 TIME OF POSSESSION 28:47 31:13
Claymores MVP? Scott Couper. He led the team in yardage with 55 yards and 1 TD. Really one of his best games as a Claymore he should get National Player of the Week - if not then there will have to be serious questions asked of the league. Otherwise Keith Miller was quite good. Threats too. Riley and Hunt were OK in the secondary although some of the tackling was quite poor and too many blown assignments and lying off the receiver. Still we didn't play as badly as week one and we got the win there. The difference was Frankfurt deserved to win this game - and they did. Special teams has gone quiet too...
Agree? Disagree? Talk about it in the forum.
Result: Claymores 17-27 Thunder
(Prediction: Claymores 28-13 Thunder)
Grade: C