World Bowl Quest Begins At 45
Claymores 45-17 Dragons
 Rob Hart nails another PAT Photo : John Myles |
Summary: The 2002 Scottish Claymores racked up a monstrous 45 points against the FC Barcelona Dragons in a convincing win to start their quest for World Bowl X. The Claymores scored 6 touchdowns on the day and tacked on a Rob Hart field goal too. This was a great team performance, a complete effort, and in many ways an echo of the last great complete Claymores game from 2000, which was also against the Dragons (a classic 28-0 victory). The Claymores Offense scored with 5 touchdowns (3 passing, 1 running and 1 fumble recovery by Jarvis Borum!), while the Defense notched up a TD in spectacular style as CB James Rooths took an interception 69 yards to score. The special teams were superb: Moses had a breathtaking punt return for 68 yards and Rooths had two kick off returns of 50 and 54 yards, forcing the luckless Dragons to squib kick away from him by their third kick-off. Only a TD on a return was missing. Moses and Rooths both came close. Fans should be very optimistic about both of them scoring on returns this season – they are the real deal.
Game Report: The Claymores started hot on defense and while they didn't have the pass rush threat of the late-2000 Hounds they were swarming around and making plays. Great team speed. If they can get sack-happy then the Defense will be complete. On the Claymores first possession on offense Dreisbach marched the team confidently up the field. Goodman looked very good (he would have 97 yds on the ground for the day and 13 in the air) before McCready did the Thing that he does best and snared an accurate Dreisbach throw under the goalposts for a 7-0 lead (Rob Hart was perfect on the day as usual, so you will forgive me if I just put TDs down as 7 points). McCready would finish the game's leading receiver with 5 for 79 and 2 TDs.
In the second quarter the Claymores had a good opportunity to get another TD but in the end settled for a Rob Hart field goal. Barcelona, who had until this point been entirely outplayed in every facet of the game, came back with a TD pass from Ted White. That was all the scoring for the half, which was a slight letdown as the Claymores had an excellent chance for at least a field goal after a great return by Rooths after the Dragons TD. Coach Dahlquist went for it on 4th Down and the Claymores came up short on a busted play. 10-7 at the half did not reflect the thumping that the Dragons had received. Clearly the Claymores had to convert their domination more effectively into points, still the Offense was looking good and the Defense was holding firm.
A note about the Barcelona QBs was that Joe Germaine had started and was made to look indifferent. Ted White, surprisingly, was more effective but he would get pulled in favour of Germaine later. Eventually Watkins the third stringer would come in and look as mediocre as the other two. A QB controversy raises its head in Barcelona already... No such controversy in Scotland. Dreisbach's QB rating was 131.4 for the day, 227 yards and 3 TDs. And not a temper tantrum in sight.
The second half started with another splendid kick off return from Rooths and soon the 'Mores were 17-7 up as McCready grabbed another TD, a 26-yd peach from Dreisbach. Scott Dreisbach was a commanding confident figure, like a master puppeteer pulling the strings all day. Just a great performance. One word: assured.
 Collins, Allen and Goodman celebrate Goodman's TD. Photo : John Myles |
The Dragons hit back with a Jesus Angoy field goal before Scotland marched down the field again. I thought Goodman had the TD but he fumbled before the line. Massive O-Lineman Jarvis "Big Earth" Borum leapt on the loose ball to score a bizarre TD. A lineman scoring! Goodman got his TD at the start of the fourth quarter (the filed position set up by the Moses return) and although the returning Germaine found TE Brandon Christenson for his second TD of the day it was in vain. At 31-17 there was an illusion of the Dragons having a hope. It was soon dashed.
The Dragons thought about an onside kick and then kicked deep. This was immaterial to Dreisbach who moved the O up the field in spectacular fashion. Notably the Detriot Lions-allocate found Chargers WR Dondre Gilliam for a 37-yd bullet to the 3-yd line. (Gilliam looks a legit deep threat and Dreisbach can find him.) Then the Claymores lined up for a power-run, a successful fake as TE Elliott Carson rolled out in the flat for an easy receiving TD in the front corner of End Zone. As if 38-17 wasn't enough Rooths reeled in his INT TD to put the icing on the cake. The game quickly flitted through garbage time and the Scottish Claymores celebrated another opening day win. A much different style from last year though.
Player Watch: (Offense) Richmond Flowers (Dragons, WR): 3 for 34...effectively bottled up by a good Claymores secondary.
Herbert Goodman (Claymores, RB): 3 for 13 in the air and 22 for 97 on the ground.
(Defense) Riall Johnson (allegedly Barcelona, LB): Who? Don't think this guy is even on the team. The moral of this is don't trust NFLEurope.com for your guide to your opponents! Ex-Claymore Renard Cox (2001) had 3 tackles...
Scott Shields (Claymores, SS): 4 tackles, 2 special teams tackles, 1 INT for 5 yards. Great presence.
Others worth watching over the season... Junior Robinson leads the team with 6 tackles, followed by Gary and Procell on 5 and then Shields on 4. Rooths and Shields have an INT apiece. Hurley Tarver leads with 3 special teams tackles. Tovo and Tugbenyoh have a sack each. Michael Hawkes leads the Defense in passes defensed (2). Moses has a punt average of 26.3 on 3 returns, Rooths has a 52 average on 2 KORs.
Points To Improve Upon: The Claymores need to cut down on the penalties (10 for 120 yds!) but it should be noted that 41 of those came on a pass interference call that was dubious (it should have been called incidental conatct or even a push-off by the WR). Also Goodman fumbled two times. We lost one and we were lucky Borum got the TD on another. "Whisper" looked a really sweet player but we will keep an eye on the fumbilitis. The kicking game needs work. Tynes' kicks didn't get near the End Zone. Langley has an average of 45 yds, but his punts didn't boom like Icsman or Costello last year, early days though.
Turning Point: J J Moses punt return for 68 yards at the start of the 4th Quarter finally put the nail in the Dragons' coffin. In hindsight the Dragons were never at the races but until Moses broke that big return the outcome of the match was in the balance. Moses has sweet feet and a real turn of speed.
MVP: Scott Dreisbach. So good that you wouldn't have noticed how good he really was. He was. 131.4.
Gregor Hutton, 14 April 2002
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
BARCELONA 0 7 3 7 17
CLAYMORES 7 3 14 21 45 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: SCO - TD, SCOTT MCCREADY 4 YD PASS FROM SCOTT
DREISBACH (ROB HART KICK), 5:48.
CLAYMORES 7-0
2ND QUARTER: SCO - FG, ROB HART 23 YD, 13:22.
CLAYMORES 10-0
BAR - TD, BRANDON CHRISTENSON 2 YD PASS FROM
TED WHITE (JESUS ANGOY KICK), 2:16.
CLAYMORES 10-7
3RD QUARTER: SCO - TD, SCOTT MCCREADY 26 YD PASS FROM
SCOTT DREISBACH (ROB HART KICK),
13:25. CLAYMORES 17-7
BAR - FG, JESUS ANGOY 25 YD, 5:41.
CLAYMORES 17-10
SCO - TD, JARVIS BORUM RECOVERED FUMBLE IN
END ZONE (ROB HART KICK), 3:17.
CLAYMORES 24-10
4TH QUARTER: SCO - TD, HERBERT GOODMAN 5 YD RUN (ROB HART
KICK), 11:25. CLAYMORES 31-10
BAR - TD, BRANDON CHRISTENSON 16 YD PASS FROM
JOE GERMAINE (JESUS ANGOY KICK),
8:22. CLAYMORES 31-17
SCO - TD, ELLIOTT CARSON 3 YD PASS FROM SCOTT
DREISBACH (ROB HART KICK), 5:01.
CLAYMORES 38-17
SCO - TD, JAMES ROOTHS 56 YD INTERCEPTION
RETURN (ROB HART KICK), 3:09.
CLAYMORES 45-17
TEAM STATISTICS BAR SCO
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 0 0
Rushing 3 6
Passing 10 12
Penalty 3 1
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 13-5 10-6
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-0 1-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 0 0
Total plays 60 53
Average gain 0 0
NET YARDS RUSHING 76 116
Rushes 16 26
Average per rush 4.8 4.5
NET YARDS PASSING 174 226
Completed-attempted 20-42 17-26
Yards per pass 4.1 8.7
Sacked-yards lost 2-11 1-1
Had intercepted 2 0
PUNTS-AVERAGE 6-41.7 2-45
RETURN YARDAGE 168 277
Punts-returns 2-4 3-79
Kickoffs-returns 8-164 4-124
Interceptions-returns 0-0 2-74
PENALTIES-YARDS 5-61 10-120
FUMBLES-LOST 2-0 3-1
TIME OF POSSESSION 31:07 28:53
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
BARCELONA rushing: Carl Fair 7-35, Mike Watkins 3-25, Derek Homer
4-12, Dave Klemic 1-4, Joe Germaine 1-0.
CLAYMORES rushing: Herbert Goodman 22-97, Scott Dreisbach 2-15,
Robert Arnaud 2-4.
BARCELONA passing: Ted White 10-15 for 93 yards, 0 INT, 1 TD. Joe
Germaine 9-24 for 88 yards, 1 INT, 1 TD. Mike Watkins 1-3 for 4 yards,
1 INT, 0 TD.
CLAYMORES passing: Scott Dreisbach 17-26 for 227 yards, 0 INT, 3
TD.
BARCELONA receiving: Khori Ivy 7-63, Richmond Flowers 3-34, Carl Fair
2-26, Brandon Christenson 3-26, DeRonnie Pitts 1-25, Damian Vaughn
2-7, Carlos Rosado 1-6, Damion Cook 1-MINUS 2.
CLAYMORES receiving: Scott McCready 5-79, J.J. Moses 4-63, Dondre
Gilliam 2-40, Elliott Carson 2-22, Herbert Goodman 3-13, Kevin
McKenzie 1-10.
BARCELONA tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): None..
CLAYMORES tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): None..
Interceptions: None.
Fumbles lost: None.
Opponent's fumbles recovered: None.