Claymores 23-31 Thunder
Summary : A tale of 2 quarterbacks in Berlin saw the Claymores hopes of reaching the Worldbowl take a beating thanks to 4th quarter touchdown passes from Todd Husak and a shocking performance from Scott Dreisbach. On the day Dreisbach threw a record 6 interceptions and finished with a record low quarterback rating of 16.8. The loss means the Claymores need to win their last 2 games and hope the Fire lose their last 2 games in order to reach the Worldbowl.Game Report : With both teams needing a win to help their Worldbowl chances this was always going to be a difficult game. But for Claymores things started badly....and then got worse. After Rooths fumbled the opening kickoff return and alert Kwame Cavil recovered and made sure that the Claymores would at least get first possesion of the ball. Not that they would hold on to the ball for long as 6 plays later Driesbach thre his first interception of the day.
The Claymores D held though and forced Berlin to punt giving them another opportunity to open the scoring. They drove into scoring range thanks to a key catch from Rowelle Blenman to set up a 47 yard Tynes FG attempt. The kick sailed wide left but a flag for offsides on Berlin gave the Claymores a first down and another chance to score. A 16 yard catch by Stevan Fontana with a Berlin personal foul added on gave them a first and goal on the 4 yard line. But not for the first time this season they couldn't punch the ball in and had to settle for a 23 yard Rob Hart FG.
After forcing Berlin to go 3 and out the Claymores looked to extend their lead at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. An end around from JJ Moses started the drive and a key catch from Dondre Gilliam coupled with a roughing the passer call on 3rd down made sure the drive didn't stall. And this time the Claymores didn't waste their chance inside the redzone thanks to a 7 yard touchdown run from Herbert Goodman. Rob Hart nailed the extra point and the Claymores led 10-0.
And it was right about then that someone pressed the self-destruct button! Todd Husak led his team from his own 16 yard line all the way down the field with ease before finally handing the ball to White to run it in from 2 yards out. So 10-7 Claymores but the momentum of the game had certainly changed and the question all the Claymores fans were asking is who would the offense respond?
They wouldn't have to wait long for their answer. On the first play of the drive Goodman loses 8 yards in an attempted screen pass from Driesbach, and then on the second play a Driesbach pass intended for Jason Byworth was intercepted by Ahmad Hawkins. Berlin were unable to capitalise on the turnover though and had to punt the ball away with just under 2 minutes left in the half. So out came Driesbach and the 2 minute drill offence to try and put some points on the board before halftime.
Herbert Goodman helped to drive the Claymores into the Berlin half with rushes of 12 and 6 yards along with a defensivie pass interference penalty. But again Driesbach tried to force the play and after being forced to scramble on the previous play he threw his 3rd pick of the day this time to Berlin safety Lelan Brickus. Brickus returned the ball to the Claymores 38 yard line which eventually setup a Axel Kruse 32 yard FG to tie the game at halftime.
Things didn't get much better for the Claymores n the second half despite forcing the Thunder to punt on their opening possesion. The Claymores offense also struggled on their first 2nd half possesion and brought out Aaron Langley to punt the ball away from the 50 yard line. Langley's effort was blocked though by Berlin defensive tackle Bryant Shaw and Lelan Brickus scooped up the ball and returned it all the way for a Berlin touchdown. Berlin were in the lead for the first time in the game 17-10.
Then the game swung back to Claymores for a while thanks to the rushing of Hernert Goodman and Robert Arnaud. The two headed rushing attacked moved the ball well and thanks to a taunting call on Berlin's Dwayne Missouri they gave Lawrence Tynes a chance to kick a 34 yard FG which he slotted away with ease. So out came the Claymores defence once again and they did a great job of shutting down Berlin so when they went for it on 4th and 1 Keith Heyward-Johnson showed up to brak up a Husak pass intended for Jermale Kelly.
On the back of the great stand from the defence the Claymores looked pumped up....and it showed. 2 plays and 2 completions to Dondre Gilliam for 20 and 38 yards meant that all Driesbach had to do after that was hand the ball to Whisper Goodman twice so that he could pound it in for a 7 yard TD score. After the Rob Hart PAT the Claymores had re-took the lead 20-17.
Then the game swung again. Scott Shields recovered an Anthony White fumble on the first play of the Berlin drive and returned it to the Berlin 4 yard line giving the Claymores a great chance to extend their lead. But once again it was squandered as 2 plays later yet another Driesbach pass was intercepted, this time by Berlin cornerback Sam Young. This time though it was Berlin who couldn't capitilse though and they punted the ball away only to have it punted straight back to them by a now struggling Claymores offense.
So Husak and his troops took to the field with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game....and they looked confident. With the Claymores defence tiring Thunder RB Anthony White quickly put together 16 yard and 11 yard rushes to start of the drive. A great 25 yard diving catch by WR Ivan Mercer moved the Thunder to the Claymores 26 yard line and a pass interference call on Hurley Tarver in the endzone gave the Thunder a 1st and goal from the 1 yard line. 2 plays later Husak found a diving Jeff Kostrewa in the endzone for the go ahead score.
Remember the first kickoff return from James Rooths to start the game? Well guess what happened on this kickoff return? This time Rooth's fumble was gobbled up by a Berlin player though and 2 plays later Husak hits a wide open Dane Looker (who had been shutdown well in the game up until then) for a 22 yard score. So 48 seconds ago the Claymores were leading 20-17...now they were behind 31-20 and the fans seemed to know that with only 8 minutes left there was no way back.
A missed 4 point 51 yard FG attempt from Lawrence Tynes on the next possesion followed by a Berlin 3 and out drive gave the Claymores the ball again with only 3 minutes left but Driesbach's 5th and record tying interception followed only 2 plays later. The 'mores defence though gave the offense another chance almost immediately thanks to a 2nd fumble recovery from Scott Shields but the offence only got on for one play as Driesbach threw his record setting 6th pick of the day with just over 2 minutes to play.
Tim Hasselbeck in at QB for Berlin ran some time of the clock but failed to move them down the field so the Claymores would get yet another chance. And to the delight of many Claymores fans James Brown was put in at QB. He didn't start well though fumbling the first snap before recovering it himself. With no time outs left though Brown did well to drive the offense into scoring position and stop the clock with 3 seconds left and so out trotted Lawrence Tynes to slot away the 41 yard FG as time expired to at leas make the score slightly more respectable. Final score 31-23 to Berlin.....but it could have been so mcuh worse!
Player Watch :
Scott Dreisbach (Claymores) 14 of 37 for 202 yards and a record 6 interceptions, also a record low 16.8 QB rating
Scott Shields (Claymores) 1 tackle, 1 assist and 2 fumble recoveries
Todd Husak (Thunder) 20 of 33 for 206 yards and 2 TD's, 98.8 QB rating
Lelan Brickus (Thunder) 2 tackles, 3 assists, 1 pass defensed, 1 INT and a blocked punt recovery returned for a TD
MVP : Todd Husak - controlled, accurate and effective....unlike our offense today
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CLAYMORES 3 7 10 3 23
BERLIN 0 10 7 14 31 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: SCO - FG, ROB HART 23 YD, 11:08.
CLAYMORES 3-0
2ND QUARTER: SCO - TD, HERBERT GOODMAN 7 YD RUN (ROB HART
KICK), 2:07. CLAYMORES 10-0
BER - TD, ANTHONY WHITE 2 YD RUN (AXEL KRUSE
KICK), 11:04. CLAYMORES 10-7
BER - FG, AXEL KRUSE 32 YD, 15:00. BERLIN
11-10
3RD QUARTER: BER - TD, LELAN BRICKUS 22 YD RETURN OF
BLOCKED PUNT (AXEL KRUSE KICK),
3:57. BERLIN 18-10
SCO - FG, LAWRENCE TYNES 34 YD, 8:09. BERLIN
18-13
SCO - TD, HERBERT GOODMAN 7 YD RUN (ROB HART
KICK), 11:45. CLAYMORES 20-18
4TH QUARTER: BER - TD, JEFF KOSTREWA 2 YD PASS FROM TODD
HUSAK (AXEL KRUSE KICK), 6:20.
BERLIN 25-20
BER - TD, DANE LOOKER 22 YD PASS FROM TODD
HUSAK (AXEL KRUSE KICK), 7:08.
BERLIN 32-20
SCO - FG, LAWRENCE TYNES 41 YD, 15:00. BERLIN
32-23
TEAM STATISTICS SCO BER
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 27 19
Rushing 9 6
Passing 11 11
Penalty 7 2
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 6-15 4-12
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-1 0-1
TOTAL NET YARDS 364 272
Total plays 72 59
Average gain 5.1 4.6
NET YARDS RUSHING 117 70
Rushes 29 21
Average per rush 4 3.3
NET YARDS PASSING 247 202
Completed-attempted 18-43 22-35
Yards per pass 5.7 5.8
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 3-17
Had intercepted 6 0
PUNTS-AVERAGE 2-17.5 7-38.9
RETURN YARDAGE 54 87
Punts-returns 6-54 1-0
Kickoffs-returns 5-101 4-46
Interceptions-returns 0-0 6-87
PENALTIES-YARDS 8-64 14-161
FUMBLES-LOST 3-1 2-2
TIME OF POSSESSION 30:13 29:47
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
CLAYMORES rushing: Herbert Goodman 23-90, J.J. Moses 1-12, James
Brown 2-6, Scott Dreisbach 1-6, Robert Arnaud 2-3.
BERLIN rushing: Anthony White 18-73, Jerry Westbrooks 2-1, Tim
Hasselbeck 1-MINUS 4.
CLAYMORES passing: Scott Dreisbach 14-37 for 202 yards, 6 INT, 0
TD. James Brown 4-6 for 45 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
BERLIN passing: Todd Husak 20-33 for 206 yards, 0 INT, 2 TD. Tim
Hasselbeck 2-2 for 13 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
CLAYMORES receiving: Dondre Gilliam 3-73, Kwame Cavil 6-70,
Rowelle Blenman 3-34, Scott McCready 2-26, Elliott Carson 1-23, Stevan
Fontana 3-21.
BERLIN receiving: Dane Looker 4-66, Anthony White 8-65, Kenny
Christian 2-27, Ramondo North 2-20, Ivan Mercer 2-15, Jerry Westbrooks
1-10, Jeff Kostrewa 2-8, Joerg Heckenbach 1-8.
Att: 8,696 Time of Game: 3:16