Chichester Sharks Defender, Ed Acton, gives his account of the 3rd weekend of games in the 2013 season.
So our long awaited trip to Plymouth was here, and it just happened to be the hottest day of the year so far – a toasty 35C with no breeze. Chichester had two games to play back to back in the midday sun and sadly were missing some key players on both sides of the ball.
Game 1 Chichester Sharks v Plymouth Extreme
The heat was sapping the energy of the young and fit, so I don’t need to explain what it was doing to us. Plymouth started the game on offense and nearly caught the Sharks napping with a solid drive all the way down the field. They missed out on the touchdown pass due to the quick hands play of Ed Acton and Tomas Geciauskas, leading to an interception. Early on the Sharks offense struggled, the heat really playing its part in that. Regardless, the ball began to move around and the points began to come.
The second half was a lot different as the Sharks finally adjusted and began to rack up the scores. Neil Henderson was on fire (not literally, but he was a little pink) throwing 7 touchdowns. The Sharks D also began to lock down the Extreme attack, with Elliott Harrison leading with 11 tackles.
Final Score Sharks 54 Extreme 7
Game 2 Chichester Sharks v London Rebels
To say we were tired from the sun would be an understatement, but we still had a job to do. The Rebels were unbeaten starting the day and after losing by 1 point in our first meeting this season, we were looking to get one over on them.
Sharks started on defense and found out quite quickly that the slick Rebels’ O was on form, as they marched swiftly down field on their first drive and in for the score. The Sharks first chance to answer went nowhere. The Rebels were on the drive again and looked solid, but a turn of luck gave Elliott Harrison a pick and gave the Sharks another go on offense. This time Neil Henderson connected on a perfectly timed pass to the Beast Geciauskas, which he took straight to the endzone.
The second half was where the Rebels found a little bit extra in the tank on this very hot day. Despite trying to keep it close and play their own game, the Sharks couldn’t stop London from pulling away with a couple of quick scores. The Sharks still played with heart but were lacking any more juice and big plays to mount a comeback.
Final Score Sharks 15 Rebels 33
Well done to all the players (and our spectators!) who made the long trip down to Plymouth. Everyone gave it there all and played well. A few notable stats to share:
- Neil threw 10 TDs and 7 XP
- Tomas caught 6 TDs
- Ed had 17 tackles
- Elliott had 15 tackles
Full season player stats can be found here.
The photo in this post was taken by Zita Racz. More great photos from Zita taken on the day can be viewed here on Facebook.