Masters vs Giants Match Report

Sealand’s Masters team headed off to Northern Ireland over the weekend for a game with the Causeway Giants. The day before the game the Giant’s coaches had invited the Masters to join in and help in a 3 hour training, which was part of their weekend long training camp. Sealand’s players imparted knowledge from their many years experience as part of the well run session.

On to Game day and the Sealand Masters won the toss and elected to receive the ball in the 2nd half. A big kick off from Offensive Captain Adam Jones of the Norwich Devils set the Giants back deep into their own half. With Causeway being forced to punt and a overly keen snap missing it’s target. Pressure on the recovering kicker from Norwich Devil’s Ian Hardy meant the ball was fumbled again before Garvin Yarde formerly of the Essex Spartan tackled the recovering player for Safety.

After the resulting kick off the Masters first offensive drive opened up with a 50 yard run from Scott Spearink, formerly of the Cambridgeshire Cats, off the first play. Spearink Then carried the ball over for the opening touchdown. The Sealand team went for 2 additional points and they were duly converted by Bristol Apache’s TJ Ajayi on a sweep. On their next drive the Giants looked to take to the air with some passing to the slots, but a nice read from Manchester Titans’ Chris Peel dropping down from safety to stop any big gain. A nice team sack from Cambridgeshire Cats’ Russ Polson and Louth Mavericks’ Liam McNally and followed by an interception from Captain Daniel “Chewie” Hewitt of the Norwich Devils. The introduction at this point of another former London Warrior, Steve Hull, saw him dance the ball up the middle for a good 5 yard gain before taking the next play, an off tackle run, in for the 2nd touchdown of the game. A Brad Thompson pass found former Warriors teammate Mark McGowen for the 2 point conversion and placing the score at 18-0. On the next series Thompson hit a 25 yard pass to Adam Jones, who with the help of some great downfield blocking from Spearink, carried for another 20 yards and in for the 3rd touchdown. This was quickly followed by a 2 point conversion by Hull.

Opening up their next drive the Giants had their biggest gain of the game so far, but Sealand Masters debutant Rhian Shirley, formerly of OVE, made a fantastic sack for a loss of 9 yards on the next play. The Giants completed a 6 yard pass over the middle but Colorado Allstars Brad Norman shut the receiver down before any yards were gained after completion. After the turn over, Thompson found Norwich Devils Aaron Wheatly with a 30 yard pass which he carried another 20 yards for the 4th touchdown of the day. A heavy set of running backs came in for another Devil, Tim Johnson, to gain the 2 point conversion.

On the next play from the Giants former OVE lineman Brian Mullally defied the laws of gravity by rising up and patting down an attempted deep pass straight from the QB. The next change in possession a pass into the flats found Ajayi who carried the ball for around 50 yards, unfortunately these were predominantly towards his own sideline resulting in a loss of 1. Wheatley then had a touchdown called back for holding. After some hard running from Johnson the Masters were back to within 12 yards of scoring. A trick play pass from Spearink failed to find it’s intended target of Nick Tilbury and the Giants picked it off. Fortunately the Giants were unable to capitalise with a misplaced snap forcing the QB back and Oxford Saints Ben Harris smothering any attempts made to pick the ball up. This took the game to half time with a score of 34-0.

Starting the 2nd half Steve Hull returned the ball just inside of the Giants half. Revved up by their strong finish to the first half, the Giants Defence proved they weren’t here to mess around and broke up the first Offensive drive from the Masters. However, the Causway Offence was unable to capitalise and the following punt snap went wayward and saw Ian Hardy again all over the punter trying to recover and Norman tackling the protector as he also attempted to recover the ball resulting in another Safety.

The 36-0 score triggering a running clock for the remainder of the game. Hull then took up the challenge by picking up a 12 yard run for another first down and then a further 20 yards on the next play for the Touchdown. On the 2 point conversion the Seahawks went big and handed the ball to GB Hall of Fame lineman Kev Keohane. Brilliant blocking on the line resulted in ‘Big Kev’ going over untouched.

On the kick off the Giants continued to grow into the game with their best return, taking the ball back to just inside the Sealand half. A deep pass from the giants narrowly failed in completion and was followed by a nice sweep that was broken up by great tackle by East Essex Sabres Ricardo De Sabato. The last play of the game was a nice deep pass from the Giants QB, only to be picked of by Andrew Jones in the backfield.

The final score of 44-0 to the Seahawks Masters probably didn’t reflect the excellent work of the young Giants playing against a group of very experienced Sealand players. Mike Ireland and the other Masters players can be proud of their performance, not only in the game but with how they worked with their hosts in training before and during the game. The Causeway Giants couldn’t be more gracious hosts and we hope to see some of the faces again soon.