Champs Wear Down Pirates’ Resistance
July 18th, 2024
East Kilbride Pirates 00 – Manchester Titans 38
The 2022 and 2023 British Champions rolled into town, and although they eventually left with a seemingly comfortable victory, it didn’t come easily for them.
East Kilbride thought they had got off to a perfect start when the Titans’ returner fumbled the ball on the opening kick off. He did recover but the ball was again knocked loose and rolled about for what seemed like an eternity, several players missing the chance to pick it up, before James Williams did recover for EK. Their joy was short-lived though, as an inadvertent whistle during the play saw possession being awarded to Manchester. Their opening drive came up short however, and this was to be the pattern for a scoreless 1st quarter, with neither side able to generate much forward momentum.
A short Pirates punt opened the second period, giving Manchester a decent starting point. From there, seven plays moved then to the Pirates’ 7-yard line and on 1st-and-Goal, QB Sam Bloomfield found George Slade for the go ahead score. The 2-point conversion was run in to give the Titans an 8-0 lead. Their offense was beginning to find their feet, but the Pirates’ Defense still held strong, restricting their opponents to 3 Field Goals, with Alex Lenkowski scoring from 37, 34 & 45 yards, leaving EK trailing 0-17 at the break.
The war of attrition continued throughout the third quarter, with home defenses remaining strong. The only threat to either endzone came when Sean Dickie picked off a Bloomfield pass and returned it 30 yards to paydirt, only to have it called back on a penalty.
Perhaps inevitably, given the warm day, the Pirates “D” tired later in the game and Manchester took full advantage. Bloomfield passed to Anousheh Fulford from 10 yards and the PAT was good. Next, a wayward punt snap pushed EK backwards and the short field allowed Ryan Newton to carry the ball home from just 1 yard out, and again the PAT was successful. Finally, Nathan Jewkes scored on another short 4-yard run and Bloomfield converted to make a final score of 38-0 in the visitors’ favour.
Pirates’ MVP on the day was Rob Hayes for his never say die performance on the D-Line. Up next for East Kilbride is the relatively short trip to take on Edinburgh Wolves in the capital. Kick off at Malleny Park, EH14 7AF is 2pm.
Report by Bill Campbell
Photos courtesy Duncolm Sports Photography – you can find a full gallery here.
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