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Gregor Hutton Email Gregor

Braveheart Anthony Gray ran in 2 TDs and firmly put the Scottish Claymores (3-3) back in the mix for a World Bowl place at the end of the season. The much-vaunted Amsterdam Admirals and their imposing defensive line were shoved around and bullied by a highly impressive Scotland O-Line and the Claymores posted their best overall team performance of the year. In every facet of the game the Admirals were beaten and the victory was a comfortable one at 17-7, a scoreline which didn't really reflect by how much the Claymores controlled the game. The only bright spots for the Admirals were the impressive catching of Chris Coleman and a classy defensive performance by ex-Claymore Kory Blackwell.

The game started with a sense of worry in the minds of Scotland fans. Amsterdam had a great win against the Dragons last week and had sailed to the top of the TouchdownClaymores power rankings, while Scotland were coming off the back of two defeats on the road in Germany - and a subsequent drop to the bottom of the rankings. Perhaps the writing was on the wall and our World Bowl hopes would be dashed in front of the 15,938 crowd. Or perhaps we were going to kick the Admirals all over the park. It turned out - emphatically - to be the latter.

Before kick-off the both the Claymores team as a whole and then the secondary formed a huddle. This seem to give the crowd some belief that the team was in this together as a unit - no matter what the doomsayers on the net were proclaiming. As is usual for Scotland we lost the toss and Amsterdam elected to receive.

Chad Holleman kicked off and Amsterdam got nowhere on their first possession. No points, a handful of yards, nothing to write home about at all. This was to be a feature of their play throughout the day. Last week they ran Barcelona ragged but this week big Antonio Dingle stuffed the run in a most amazing way. Playing with a 3-4 front, Dingle managed to tie up 2 and sometimes 3 offensive linemen, allowing the linebackers and ends to make hay in the afternoon sunshine.

Scotland took over and drove effortlessly down the field and soon Anthony Gray had broken two tackles and was reaching over the End Zone for a touchdown. We really took it to them on that first drive - we looked composed and focussed, we were moving the chains well on the ground with Gray and also through the air with Hall and Whalen. Stoerner was looking lively when he had to scramble. Rob did the necessary on the PAT (now 93 in a row). 7-0 Scotland.

Amsterdam got the kick off but were soon handing the Claymores the ball back. Unfortunately Scottish fans then had good reason to groan and worry about the outcome of the game. After two good first downs Stoerner was all alone in the backfield with number 51 Donald Spragan. Stoerner didn't have time to throw it away so he tucked the ball in, but Spragan swatted his ball-carrying arm knocking the pigskin free. D lineman Matt Sweeney (98) recovered the fumble and rumbled 9 yards before Craig Robeen (72) tackled him on the Scottish 26-yd line. Stoerner had a fit of anger at himself and I thought it was going to be another Dusseldorf. Credit to Stoerner, he forgot about it and got on with the game and he really came through in the clutch. The D hit the field and immediately set about recovering the situation. Dingle sacked Wynn for a 9-yd loss and then tackles him on the following play which was a 3rd and 19. This ended the 1st Quarter and the 2nd began with Silvio Diliberto's (that's what the stats say: I thought/presumed it was Justin Skinner but what do I know?) 52-yd field goal was wide right. If it was the national kicker then it was a heck of an effort as it had the length but not the accuracy. Scotland and Amsterdam then exchanged punts (we got to see Donald Icsman the new punter. He wasn't up to Costello's standards but given that he'd literally just got of the plane he did a good job, he certainly didn't make any howlers or get in any punting trouble).

The Claymores then started to drive with 8:18 left in the half. The critical plays here were Scott Couper hanging on in traffic to two third down conversions. He took the hits and moved the chains - he's a marvel. The two-minute warning then arrived before Stoerner found Whalen for a 32-yd completion to the Amsterdam 3-yd line. Stoerner got hit heavily as he threw it but he had the patience and poise to find Whalen and it paid off. The Claymores then did the smart thing and let Gray run it hard at the Admirals. At the second attempt he scampered in around the right end for another TD. Rob Hart nonchalantly made it 14-0 Scotland with 52 seconds of the half left.

There was more drama to come before half-time though. On Wynn's first pass he laid the ball right into the sure grasp of Dusty Renfro at the Amsterdam 38-yd line. Dusty took it to the 20 and as he was being tackled lateraled it to Earl Riley (I just about fainted), but Earl held on and got another 6 yards before going out of bounds. Hampden was buzzing. You could taste the anticipation. We were happy at 14-0 but surely it would now be at least 17-0 and probably 21-0. But it was not to be. Stoerner was sacked, the snap was then fumbled before Stoerner was sacked again. With time running out the kicking team cam on and got set, they snapped the ball and whistles blew. Ornstein and Hart looked up and the ball skidded through and up the field. What the heck? That is the end of the half the referee announced. We hadn't got the play off. Really sloppy clock management and it shouldn't have happened but like Stecker not running out of bounds in the dying seconds in Berlin last year we will learn from it - of course, Stecker's error denied us the chance to win that game, here it just stopped us racking up a bigger score. Stephen Hutchinson argued with the referee on the sideline but it was to no avail. And we had gone from happy about 14-zip to depressed. How Scottish of us!

At the half Amsterdam had accumulated 4 yards rushing and 39 yards passing, while we were 86 rushing and 92 passing. Stoerner was 12 of 14 for 112 and Gray was 16 carries for 74 yds. Whalen had 5 catched for 58 yds.

The second half began almost immediately with an interception. On third and 4 a pass for Dante Hall was agiley picked by Kory Blackwell at the Scottish 38. The Admirals then got all their second-half yardage in a short drive highlighted by Chris Coleman's 19-yd garb and 3-yd touchdown reception, where both times he found himself matched up on safety Reggie Hunt who could do little about the plays. Coleman surely has a spot in the NFL. London Dunlap also got a sack on this drive - he's just a fantastic guy and linebacker.

6 punts were then traded between the teams to fill up the 3rd quarter and start the 4th. Central McClellion should have had an interception midway in the third, but the bulleted pass bounced off his chest and hands as he tried to grab it. In any event at least he was in the place to make the play - the secondary really stepped up this week. Cox, McClellion, Gray and Terry had good coverage all day and Riley, Hunt and Whitfield never let anyone get deep or a corner get isolated.

With 10:45 left in the ballgame and a score of 14-7 Stoerner took the team by the scruff of the neck and moved us upfield in a solid drive. Whalen got a 21 yarder, Williams a 28 yarder and Hall got a lovely 16 yarder with some nice downfield blocking. We didn't turn the abll over and when the drive satlled we had moved 78 yards in just over 5 minutes. Rob Hart put over a 25-yd filed goal and we were 17-7 up with 5:24 left.

Jabbar Threats then beat up Wynn for two -8 yd sacks, one of which was also a fumble but wasn't called by the official. Threats ran it in for a TD but the ref was having none of it. How come we never get those breaks? In any case we got the ball back with 4 minutes left and we effectively ran the clock out. Icsman punted the ball into the End Zone with 30 seconds left and Wynn couldn't even get a first down to raise the hopes of the travelling Amsterdam fans. That was all she wrote!

Claymores victory!

SCO - TD, ANTHONY GRAY 12 YD RUN (ROB HART KICK), 7:25.
          SCOT CLAYMORES 7-0

 SCO - TD, ANTHONY GRAY 2 YD RUN (ROB HART KICK), 14:08.
          SCOT CLAYMORES 14-0

 AMS - TD, CHRIS COLEMAN 3 YD PASS FROM SPERGON WYNN
          (SILVIO DILIBERTO KICK), 6:00. SCOT CLAYMORES
          14-7

SCO - FG, ROB HART 25 YD, 9:36. SCOT CLAYMORES 17-7

FIRST DOWNS                     9             20
Rushing                         3              7
Passing                         5             11
Penalty                         1              2
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY          4-13           5-14
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY           0-1            1-1
TOTAL NET YARDS                80            289
Total plays                    46             65
Average gain                  1.7            4.4
NET YARDS RUSHING              17            107
Rushes                         16             34
Average per rush              1.1            3.1
NET YARDS PASSING              63            182
Completed-attempted          8-26          21-27
Yards per pass                2.1            5.9
Sacked-yards lost            4-29           4-30
Had intercepted                 1              1
PUNTS-AVERAGE              7-44.7         4-38.5
RETURN YARDAGE                483             99
Punts-returns               2-412           2-28
Kickoffs-returns             4-71           2-47
Interceptions-returns         1-0           1-24
PENALTIES-YARDS              3-30          11-48
FUMBLES-LOST                  0-0            2-1
TIME OF POSSESSION          23:18          36:42