Chichester Sharks Defender, Ed Acton, gives his account of the 2nd weekend of games in the 2013 season.
The Chichester Sharks made a short journey up the road to Basingstoke on Sunday to play the next 3 games of the 2013 season. We would be without Jut Handley due a dislocated finger in the training session a week before, so we set about our first match against the Hackney Cougars with 8 players.
Game 1 – Chichester Sharks v Hackney Cougars
The previous 2 times the Sharks had played the Cougars we had lost, so we wanted to get out the gate early and set the tone. This is exactly what happened on the first play of the game, as QB Neil Henderson completed a short dump off pass to Phil Morris (who had managed to get out of bed this time) who ran it the length of the field for the first score. Henderson went onto spread the ball around the park and put up a lead, with the Cougars only managing to break through the Sharks stout D on 2 occasions. The Game finished Sharks 47 Cougars 13.
Next up a relaxing lunch break and a game off. Well that’s what we thought, it turns out after filling our faces and feeling a little bloated that we were indeed going straight back into a game with the Horde.
Game 2 – Chichester Sharks v Basingstoke Zombie Horde
So, full of lunch we headed back onto the field to play. The Sharks and Horde have a good history and have played many close games over the last 3 years. This however, turned out very different. With an almost identical play, Henderson dumped the ball of to Morris and he ran the length of the field for the opening score. Then it was time for the Sharks D to show what it could do. Racking up 7 interceptions it shut down Basingstoke’s aerial attack and made it hard for the Horde’s QB and WRs all game. The offense was flowing nicely putting up points on nearly every drive. It was a dominant performance both sides of the ball and finished Sharks 61 Horde 0.
Straight up next were Plymouth Extreme, who in their earlier games had looked much improved from the side that played last year.
Game 3 – Chichester Sharks v Plymouth Extreme
You don’t need to be a mind reader to work out what the Sharks first play on offense was – Henderson dumped it off to Morris who looked like he was going to go to the house again. Alas no, he was going so quick he fell over his own feet. This did not change the mind set from the first 2 games – the Sharks offense came out punching and put quick scores on the board. The D had another massive game, shutting Plymouth down with Pete Busson recording 5 sacks. This game was much the same as our last with Chichester dominant both sides of the ball and finished Sharks 66 Extreme 6.
A great road trip and pretty much mistake free set of games from the Sharks.
Some notable performances from the 3 games:
- Neil Henderson threw 24 touchdown passes and only 1 interception
- 3 players threw touchdowns – Henderson, Gary Robinson and Ed Acton
- 14 sacks by the team, including 1 for a safety
- Pete Busson had 5 sacks himself
- 12 interceptions by the team – 5 by Acton and 4 by Mike Thompson
- 8 touchdowns for Mike Thompson and 6 by Phil Morris
- 20 tackles by Acton
Next up a long old drive down to Plymouth to play the Extreme and the Rebels in July.