Sydney Uni American Football Club

Sydney Uni knocked the Seahawks off their undefeated perch in a nail-biting finish at the St George Hockey Centre on Friday night.  With three touchdowns scored inside the last two minutes, there was no shortage of excitement at the end.

The Cubs started the last minute madness with Harry Granger breaking away for a 50 yard touchdown to put the Cubs ahead 32-28.  Granger followed intelligent blocking from receiver Alex Klaric up the Cubs sideline, which celebrated like the game was won – much too early.

Indeed, the Seahawks must have thought they had won it after driving for a score with only 35 seconds left to take back the lead 34-32.  The Cubs defence made the Seahawks earn it, but could not prevent the touchdown.  As it turned out, the stops made by the defence only served to reduce the time left to the offence to get a winning score.  However, the defence did rally to keep out the 2 point conversion.

But the Seahawks then gambled with an onside kick-off and the Cubs recovered the ball only 30 yards from the endzone.  On the third play of the drive and with less than 15 seconds on the clock, Cubs Quarterback Sam Darcy threw a picture perfect pass to Wingback Harry Granger, who showed great technique and concentration to hold the slippery ball for a touchdown to put the Cubs ahead 38-34.  Darcy and Granger then combined on an option play for 2 points to put the score out to 40-34.

Still, the drama was not over.  The Cubs kick-off coverage team was stretched to the limit on the ensuing return and only a crucial tackle from kicker and last man standing Max Granger put the Seahawks returner safely over the sideline.  There were 4 seconds left for one last play.  The Cubs defence swarmed and eventually hunted down the Seahawks’ halfback to preserve the win, new boy Sergan Isik making his first career tackle a memorable one.

Looking back to the start of the game, there should have been no surprise that it would end in an offensive shoot-out.  On the very first play from scrimmage, Sutherland’s impressive halfback took a hand-off going left, cut behind his fullback’s block and sliced straight through the Cubs defence for a run away touchdown.  He followed that up by beating the Cubs’ defence to the corner pylon for a 2 point conversion and a 0-8 lead.

The Cubs started with freshman Krishan Dass at quarterback and he lead the offence with poise.  After driving the Cubs into the red zone, Dass lined up at receiver to allow Harry Granger to handle the ball at quarterback.  Granger took the running play in around right end for the first of his four touchdowns in the game.  A bad snap on the conversion attempt saw the score remain at 8-6 to the Seahawks.

It looked as though it would be more of the same as the Seahawks bit off large chunks of yards with their running game on the next drive.  But the Cubs made a stand on their 10 yard line, with Jack Danielson and Hau Neo making important tackles to bring up 4th and Goal on the 3 yard line.  The Seahawks went with a play-action bootleg pass but outside linebacker Nabeel Siddiqui did enough to force an incompletion for a turnover on downs.

The Cubs then showed off their own long range strike capabilities, with Sam Darcy coming in at quarterback and ripping off a length of the field run for a touchdown.  The two point conversion was stopped but the Cubs had the lead at 12-8.

But not for long.  In another one play drive, the Seahawks’ halfback turned on the afterburners to leave the Cubs defence in his wake on a sweep play for a touchdown from half way.  Sutherland added a two point conversion to take the halftime lead at 16-12.

The Cubs took the opening possession of the second half in for a touchdown, Sam Darcy scoring on another long range run on the option.  The Seahawks answered back with another long run of their own, this time their halfback escaped the clutches of several Cubs tacklers on a counter play.  The Cubs returned serve with another long touchdown run from Harry Granger.  This time Darcy hit Granger with a 2 point pass on the conversion to give the Cubs a 26-22 lead.

Someone had to make a stop on defence.  Strong containment from Hau Neo and good pursuit from inside linebacker Andrew Shattuck combined to drop the Seahawks’ halfback for a loss on the first down of the next drive.  When Siddiqui tackled the runner for another big loss on third down, it looked as though the Cubs defence had finally made a crucial stop.  However the Cubs were penalised for a push after the play to gift the Seahawks another first down.  But the defence dug deeper and forced the Seahawks into 4th and 5 with strong run defence.  On the key 4th down play, a number of Cubs players had a shot before Cameron Prentice made the tackle short of the marker to force the Seahawks to give up the ball on downs.

But the Cubs let the chance to extend the lead beyond a touchdown slip away.  Darcy was tackled on a quarterback keeper and the wet ball squirted out to be recovered by the Seahawks in good field position.  The defence could not hold the Seahawks again and they went in for a touchdown to take a 28-26 lead and set the stage for the frantic finale.

The last minute heroics underlined the offensive firepower of the Cubs but also demonstrated their “never say die” attitude.  If the Cubs can continue to play every down as if it was their last then they will be very difficult to beat.

The Cubs now face the West Sydney Trojans at the St George Hockey Centre, Mutch Ave, Kyeemagh, on Friday, 12 March 2010, kick-off at 8.30pm.  The Trojans is the only team to have an overall winning record against the Cubs, so Sydney Uni will be looking for some payback for past results as well as to consolidate its position on the table with a good win on Friday night.