Thunder 24-23 Claymores
Summary : The Claymores dream of reaching Worldbowl X is over thanks to The Rhein Fire's 3-0 win over Frankfurt and a 2nd consecutive defeat at the hands of the Berlin Thunder. And once again it was 2 4th quarter touchdowns which killed off the home teams hopes as the Claymores defence failed to keep out RB Anthony White and WR Dane Looker.Game Report : Even before this game started the Claymores had been eliminated from the Worldbowl race so it was clear who the hungrier team was going to be. A shocking game between the Galaxy and the Fire played the night before had finished 3-0 to the Fire thanks to a 21 yard, 2nd quarter, Manny Burgsmuller field goal. Definately not a good game to watch and definately not a good way to be eliminated from the Worldbowl hunt. But lets look at our own game now...
With the fans screming for James Brown to start at QB for the first time this season you can imagine the dissapointment when out came Scott Driesbach to start the opening drive especially after his record setting performance of last week. But to be fair Scott looked to have put that horrible performance behind him and drove the Claymores down the field on the opening possession to setup a 49 yard Lawrence Tynes FG. Claymores took the early lead 3-0.
Things continued to look good when the Thunder went 3 and out on their first drive and the Claymores once again drove into scoring range with the aid of a key 3rd down roughing the passer penalty on the Thunders Dwayne Missouri. The drive stalled though inside the Berlin 10 yard line and the Claymores settled for a Rob Hart 20 yard FG.
The Thunder offence then seemed to get it together and was led by RB Anthony White who was gaining yards on the ground as well as through the air. And it was his 17 yard reception followed by a 17 yard reception from WR Ramondo North which setup Danny Boyd's 38 yard FG right at the start of the 2nd quarter to cut the Claymores lead to 3.
The Claymores offence came back on the field and looked good in the hands of Herbert Goodman who, between 8 consecutive incompletions from Dreisbach, managed to drive the Claymores into the redzone and into scoring range. Then something all to familiar happened....Driesbach dropped back to pass and tried to hit Dondre Gilliam on a route just short of the endzone. The pass however was well read by saftey Calvin Branch and he made the easy interception at the 4 yard line and took off. Branch returned the ball to the Scotland 45 yard line before seemingly being pushed out of bounds by a diving Driesbach...the refs however saw it differently. They called a dubious personal foul on Driesbach for a late hit out of bounds which tacked an extra 15 yards onto to the return and gave the Thunder a great field position. And it only took them 4 plays to capitalise on it namely thanks to a 25 yard pass interference call on Todd Franz on 3rd down which gave them a 1st and goal from the 2 yard line. From there it was easy for Husak to hand the ball to White who plunged over the line for a Thunder touchdown.
So 10-6 behind the Claymores made a good decision and stopped throwing the ball. They ran the ball on the first 4 plays for a combined yardage of 32 yards before running a playaction pass for 10 yards to Dondre Gilliam. An incomplete pass to Jason Byworth followed that before the highlight of the day for Claymores fans. Driesbach took the snap and handed it to Herbert Goodman who had a massive whole to run through thanks to some great blocking by the offensive line. Once through the line and past the linebackers it was a simple foot race and it no-one was going to catch him as he ran in for the 36 yard score.
Surprisingly Tim Hasselbeck came out at QB for Berlin to start what would be the final drive of the 1st half and he looked confident. He drove the Thunder into Claymores territory and then launched a bomb towards Joerg Heckenbach in the endzone which was only broken up at the last second by a jumping Earl Riley. Thanks to that break up the Thunder went for a 54 yard 4 point field goal as time expired in the half but Danny Boyd's effort came up short. Haltime score - Thunder 10 Claymores 13
The teams traded punts to start the second half and just when things were getting boring and Berlin loooked to punt for the 2nd time in a row up popped Robert Arnaud. Arnaud raced through the offensive line and brilliantly blocked Morton's punt before Kwame Cavil recovered at the Berlin 19 yard line giving the Claymores an excellent chance to extend their lead. But despite the efforts of Herbert Goodman the Claymores settled for a 22 yard Rob Hart field goal to lead 16-10.
The crowd wouldn't have much time to catch it's breath though as things were about to get even better. On the first play of the drive Todd Husak dropped back to pass and fired his pass straight into the hands to Claymores CB Todd Franz who had no problem in returning it 33 yards into the endzone for a Claymores TD.
So the Claymores were 13 points up at the start of the 4th quarter and the Thunder were reeling. The crowd were confident that the Claymores could hold on to this lead which would eliminate the Thunder from the Worldbowl hunt....how wrong could we have been? Husak put together a 5 minute drive in which he completed 7 of 8 passes including a 9 yard touchdown strike to Dane Looker despite a pass interference call on Willie Gary. Suddenly the crwod were worried. The Husak led offense of the Berlin Thunder simply looked unstoppable. Unfortunately, this time, the crowd was right!
When Driesbach threw another interception, his 8th in 2 games, it was clear to everyone that the Thunder simply wanted it more. With great starting field position on the Claymores 14 yard line thanks to the interception everyone knew that it wouldn't be long before the Thunder took the lead. A clutch 4th down conversion thanks to a Husak pass to Heckenbach gave them a 1st and goal on the 1 yard line. Then, on the next play, Anthony White once again plunged over the line for his 2nd score of the day. Axel Kruse calmly slotted over the PAT to leave the Claymores trailing 24-23 with only 4:30 to play.
And then a new hope arrived.....as finally Scott Dreisbach was asked to sit down and James Brown came in at QB. The Brown led drive started well with completions to McKenzie and Gilliam, as well as 2 QB scrambles from Brown himself. But the Thunder had other ideas and knowing that their Worldbowl hopes were on the line they stopped Herbert Goodman on a 3rd and 2 and dropped him for a 2 yard loss. So this was it...a 4 point 51 yard FG attempt from Tynes to decide the Thunder's Worldbowl fate. Tynes kick fell well short and the Thunder bench celebrated a 24-23 victory which gives them a really good shot at making the Worldbowl.
Player Watch :
Herbert Goodman (Claymores) 27 att for 174 yards and 1 TD (Missed out on Claymores single game rushing record because of las play where he lost 2 yards)
Todd Franz (Claymores) 3 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 INT returned for a TD
Anthony White (Thunder) 17 att for 60 yards and 2 TD's, 8 rec's for 53 yards
Lelan Brickus (Thunder) 3 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 INT
MVP : Herbert Goodman - a simply fantastic performance from the man who was our only real threat on offense all day....and what a pity he lost the record!
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
BERLIN 0 10 0 14 24
CLAYMORES 6 7 10 0 23 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: SCO - FG, LAWRENCE TYNES 49 YD, 2:52.
CLAYMORES 3-0
SCO - FG, STUART HARE 20 YD, 11:10.
CLAYMORES 6-0
2ND QUARTER: BER - FG, DANNY BOYD 38 YD, 1:23.
CLAYMORES 6-3
BER - TD, ANTHONY WHITE 2 YD RUN (AXEL KRUSE
KICK), 8:03. BERLIN 10-6
SCO - TD, HERBERT GOODMAN 36 YD RUN (ROB HART
KICK), 11:57. CLAYMORES 13-10
3RD QUARTER: SCO - FG, ROB HART 22 YD, 13:30.
CLAYMORES 16-10
SCO - TD, TODD FRANZ 33 YD INTERCEPTION
RETURN (ROB HART KICK), 13:48. SCOT
CLAYMORES 23-10
4TH QUARTER: BER - TD, DANE LOOKER 9 YD PASS FROM TODD
HUSAK (AXEL KRUSE KICK), 4:38. SCOT
CLAYMORES 23-17
BER - TD, ANTHONY WHITE 1 YD RUN (AXEL KRUSE
KICK), 10:29. BERLIN 24-23
TEAM STATISTICS BER SCO
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 16 27
Rushing 6 10
Passing 9 15
Penalty 1 2
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 4-10 4-10
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-1 0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 258 296
Total plays 52 55
Average gain 5 5.4
NET YARDS RUSHING 60 212
Rushes 20 32
Average per rush 3 6.6
NET YARDS PASSING 198 84
Completed-attempted 21-32 8-23
Yards per pass 6.2 3.7
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 0-0
Had intercepted 1 2
PUNTS-AVERAGE 3-23 1-59
RETURN YARDAGE 90 44
Punts-returns 0-0 2-11
Kickoffs-returns 6-103 5-111
Interceptions-returns 2-90 1-33
PENALTIES-YARDS 10-76 9-92
FUMBLES-LOST 1-0 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 29:01 30:59
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
BERLIN rushing: Anthony White 17-60, Todd Husak 3-0.
CLAYMORES rushing: Herbert Goodman 27-174, Scott Dreisbach 1-16,
James Brown 2-13, Robert Arnaud 2-9.
BERLIN passing: Todd Husak 17-25 for 163 yards, 1 INT, 1 TD. Tim
Hasselbeck 4-7 for 35 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
CLAYMORES passing: Scott Dreisbach 6-19 for 58 yards, 2 INT, 0
TD. James Brown 2-4 for 26 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
BERLIN receiving: Anthony White 8-53, Dane Looker 4-46, Ramondo North
3-41, Ivan Mercer 2-38, Kenny Christian 2-11, Joerg Heckenbach 1-6,
Jeff Kostrewa 1-3.
CLAYMORES receiving: Kevin McKenzie 2-30, Kwame Cavil 2-23,
Dondre Gilliam 2-21, Herbert Goodman 1-8, Elliott Carson 1-2.
Att: 11,722 Time of Game: 2:48