The 2011 BAFACL flag season started with a bang this weekend, with 4 of the 6 teams in action, racking up 45+ points in their opening matches.

Saturday saw the Chichester Sharks and London Rebels travel to new team, the Chiltern Fyrd. The rival Sharks and Rebels squared off first and set the tone for hopefully a competitive season.

The teams were even for most of the first half, before the Sharks were able to capitalise on late Rebel turnovers to forge a 13 point lead going into the break. Unfortunately, the Sharks intensity slipped after halftime and they allowed the Rebels to quickly claw back the two scores. Responding to the surge, the Sharks stepped up their game and exchanged TDs with the Rebels before a heartbreaking long touchdown throw put London ahead 40-33 with less than a minute to go.

Most teams consider the game over at this point, but the Sharks have a record of thriving in this scenario. Unfazed, Chichester nabbed a score in the dying seconds and converted the extra point to tie the game at 40-40.

An unusual occurrence, but the game and both teams were worthy of the tie.

The second game for the Sharks saw them up against the Chiltern Fyrd, a youthful, inexperienced, but well coached team. Unfortunately, opening weekend was a painful welcome for the squad, as they faced two of the most experienced and competitive teams in the league.

It was a points-fest for the Sharks, as the Offense and Defense racked up 10 touchdowns between them. The game was out of reach midway through the first half, but the Fyrd showed a great attitude and competitive spirit to the final whistle. The game ended 66 – 0. The Rebels also beat Fyrd 68 – 7.

With a couple of promising players on the team and a few more games under their belts, look for the Fyrd to make an impact as the season progresses.

Other results this weekend:

Coventry Jets 46 – 19 Leicester Eagles

Coventry Jets 27 – 46 Woodham Warriors

Woodham Warriors 81 – 6 Leicester Eagles

More details on individual player performances will be added later this week.

Please feel free to add your comments on the weekend’s football below…

Bouncing back from two agonizing losses the previous week the Chichester Sharks posted two excellent wins this past weekend vs the London Rebels and previously unbeaten Basingstoke Zombie Horde in rural Northern Hampshire.

First up were the much fancied London Rebels (who the Sharks split the series with last season). A first half saw the lead exchange hands several times, with the QB to WR connection of Henderson to Merton proving particularly effective (3 TD catches for the game). In the 2nd half, the Sharks were able to make a couple of key defensive stops and managed to pull ahead to seal the victory, ending the game 34-24 to the Chichester.

In the second game the Sharks faced new league team the Basingstoke Zombie Horde, which is led by two former Sharks players. The Horde pulled out a 2 score lead at half time but strong defence in the second half by the Sharks brought them back into contention. The Sharks just manged to sneak in front as time ticked down and were able to halt the Horde as time expired for a superb 36-33 victory.

Speaking about the teams performance, Sharks QB and Offensive co-coordinator Neil Henderson (who himself threw 10 TDs under centre) said “We had a tough job picking ourselves up after the losses last week but the performance today by everyone was outstanding. We were up against two very good teams today so to come away with two wins is fantastic.”

“Both games were very close and could have gone either way but our experience and patience showed as we were able to adapt to what they threw at us. We still made mistakes though and still have much to work on…..we gave up too many touchdowns and dropped too many passes so we can’t rest up”.

Game balls went to Simon Merton (5 TD receptions and 3 XP receptions) and Mike Thompson (2 TD receptions, 1 XP catch, 3 interceptions and 1 XP interception returned the length of the field for 2 pts. Next week the Sharks travel to Coventry for a game against the new Woodham Warriors (Black) team.

For an update on player stats for the season so far click here

So two games are in the books but we’ve got a long way still to go.

Whilst we started with two losses, everyone that travelled put everything into the games. Those competing on the day were:

Neil Henderson
Dave Lee
Gary Robinson
Pete Steel
Scott Wilson
Simon Merton
Justin Handley

Speaking of the two disappointing losses QB and offensive coordinator Neil Henderson said “Things just didn’t go our way, the windy conditions didn’t help and luck just wasn’t on our side. We travelled with a small squad and picked up a few injuries which never helps. These were our first games of the season and we were just too rusty. We have played a lot worse and won so we were beaten by two good teams today, but we can take a lot of positives out of how we played and the whole team is very optimistic of the rest of the season and the return fixtures against Woodham White and Leicester in particular now to avenge today’s losses”.

Player stats as of 01/06/10 from 2 games:

Passing Statistics '10

Receiving / Rushing Statistics '10

Defensive Statistics '10

It looks like this season is going to shape up to be very competitive and wide open. That’s the verdict, after the Sharks suffered a disappointing double loss of the opening weekend of our season.

On a weekend that saw new team Basingstoke Zombie Horde beat recent title contenders, London Rebels and Coventry Jets, the Sharks fell to another new team Woodham Warriors (White), plus to longstanding rivals the Leicester Eagles.

Both games were extremely close and the result could have gone either way, which is encouraging in regards to our prospects this season. One or two plays in each game could have made a difference. Hopefully, as we get a few more players back (travelled with only 7) and get back into game-shape, we can turn this around quickly.

In the first game, the Sharks got behind early and found themselves in a hole, down 3 scores to 1. The speed and conditioning of the young Warriors team was proving the difference maker, as the Sharks repeatedly had to resort to multiple tacklers to corral the opposition.

However, the experience and resolution of the Sharks players shone through as we managed to claw our way back to tie it up right before time expired.

A new one for this season, we then had to play overtime. Which for flag means two drives each from halfway, followed by a further drive if the scores are still tied.

Whilst we matched them drive for drive for the first two, they managed to score on the third. Then our third drive led us to a 4th down on the half yard line but we were unable to complete the final pass, sealing the win for Woodham.

Unfortunately, we were up immediately again to play Leicester. The small squad was suffering, due to the long overtime game and the injuries began to mount up. Neil was playing with a popped thumb, I had cramps and Scott was struggling having been ill all week.

Despite that we managed to hold a 7-6 lead for much of the game. We had a couple of chances to put the game away but the drives stalled in the redzone. It looked like we were going to have to win this one with defense, but it was the Eagles defense that made the play of the game. Leicester’s Charlie made an outstanding interception, scooping the ball up off the tips of the grass before sprinting into the endzone.

With the two teams so evenly matched, we were unable to mount a final winning drive and the Eagles secured the 12-7 victory.

Whilst everyone was disappointed with the results, we should be encouraged by our play. Yes, we made some mistakes, and yes, some of us need a little more conditioning, but we made a lot of good plays and we will be competitive this year.

This coming Sunday, we have games against the Zombie Horde and the London Rebels in Basingstoke. We’re anticipating having more players available this time, so there won’t be such a need to play both ways, which should help.

Please make every effort to be available; we’ll be in touch with details during the week.

Please feel to add any comments about this weekend’s games below. Thanks

The schedule for the 2010 BAFACL Flag season has been released – and it’s not going to be an easy one for the Sharks.

Due to a late start to the season to resolve the fall out from the BAFA / BAFL split and availability of other teams, the Sharks now face the daunting prospect of playing six away tournaments in just six weeks. Starting with the last weekend of May, the Sharks will travel to Leicester (x2), Basingstoke, Coventry (x2) and St. Albans, resting through July, before ending the season with two home tournaments in Chichester.

It should make for an interesting and exciting season!

Full Fixtures:

Sun 09/05/2010 – Woodham

Jets vs Woodham White

Woodham White vs Woodham Black

Woodham Black vs Eagles

Eagles vs Jets

Sun 23/05/2010 – Wales

Rebels vs Wales

Rebels vs Kings

Kings vs Wales

Sun 30/05/2010 – Leicester

Woodham Black vs Sharks

Woodham White vs Eagles

Woodham White vs Woodham Black

Eagles vs Sharks

Sun 30/05/2010 – London

Horde vs Jets

Horde vs Rebels

Jets vs Rebels

Sun 06/06/2010 –Basingstoke

Sharks vs Horde

Kings vs Wales

Rebels vs Sharks

Horde vs Kings

Wales vs Rebels

Sun 13/06/2010 – Coventry

Woodham Black vs Sharks

Woodham White vs Wales

Woodham Black vs Jets

Sharks vs Woodham White

Wales vs Jets

Sat 19/06/2010 – St Albans

Horde vs Jets

Horde vs Kings

Jets vs Kings

Sun 20/06/2010 – Leicester or Coventry

Woodham White vs Sharks

Woodham White vs Rebels

Woodham Black vs Wales

Woodham Black vs Rebels

Sharks vs Wales

Sun 27/06/2010 – Coventry

Wales vs Sharks

Wales vs Jets

Sharks vs Jets

Sat 03/07/2010 – St Albans

Eagles vs Sharks

Eagles vs Kings

Sharks vs Kings

Sun 11/07/2010 – Leicester or Coventry

Woodham White vs Horde

Woodham White vs Kings

Woodham Black vs Horde

Woodham Black vs Kings

Sun 18/07/2010 – Leicester or Coventry

Woodham White vs Rebels

Woodham White vs Horde

Woodham Black vs Rebels

Woodham Black vs Horde

Sun 25/07/2010 – Woodham

Woodham White vs Eagles

Woodham White vs Jets

Woodham Black vs Eagles

Woodham Black vs Jets

Sun 01/08/2010 – Chichester

Horde vs Rebels

Horde vs Sharks

Rebels vs Sharks

Sun 01/08/2010 – Coventry or Leicester

Woodham White vs Wales

Woodham White vs Kings

Woodham Black vs Wales

Woodham Black vs Kings

Sun 08/08/2010 – Wales

Eagles vs Horde

Eagles vs Wales

Horde vs Wales

Sat 14/08/2010 – Leicester

Jets vs Rebels

Jets vs Eagles

Rebels vs Eagles

Sat 21/08/2010 – Chichester

Jets vs Kings

Jets vs Sharks

Kings vs Sharks

Sun 29/08/2010 – Basingstoke

Wales vs Horde

Eagles vs Horde

Wales vs Eagles

Sat 04/09/2010 – London

Eagles vs Rebels

Rebels vs Kings

Eagles vs Kings

Finals TBC 18/19 or 25/26 September

photo credit: Anderson Mancini