Lions Bury Raiders
Posted on September 4, 2010
Andy Eisold lays out to break up a Raider pass to the endzone
Sydney Uni retained the Foundation Shovel for another year, burying the Raiders 48-12 at Neptune Park on Saturday.
The game started a little slowly, with neither team moving far with its first possession. After the Lions had sent the Raiders three and out on their second drive and freshman Hugh Tomkins had returned the punt to mid-field, the Lions offence settled down to work. A handful of bustling runs from freshman Alex Watson put the Lions on the goal-line and Liam Erby carried the ball in for a touchdown and kicked the conversion for a 7-0 lead. This would be a recurring theme, with Erby scoring on 4 touchdown runs and converting 6 PATs for 30 points in the game.
The Lions thought they had another three and out on the next defensive drive, with safety Mitch Haney and cornerback Suren Wickramasinghe backing up strong work from Fady Aoun and Joe Lim on first down, only to see the punt fumbled and recovered by the Raiders at the 27 yard line. Safety Andy Eisold made a key break-up on fourth down to deny the Raiders and get the ball back.
The Lions offence then surged the length of the field for a second score. Watson broke off a 20 yard gain and Quarterback Kiernan Dorney hit receiver Marc Biedenkapp for completions of 20 and 40 yards to get the Lions close. Erby carried the ball into the endzone for a 14-0 lead.
Kiernan Dorney ran the Lions offence with poise
The Lions defence sent the Raiders out without a first down and the offence swept in for another touchdown. Lim and Eisold combined to break up a first down pass and Wickramasinghe broke up a long ball on third down to force the punt. Dorney and Cauhepe hooked up for a 29 yard completion and, this time, Dorney kept the ball for a score at the corner pylon.
The half ended with defensive end Alex Denby recording a sack on fourth down to snuff out any chance of a Raiders’ score.
The Lions put the game away on their first possession of the second half. Tomkins continued his strong returning form, taking the opening kick-off back 42 yards to give the Lions opening field position in the Raiders’ half. The offence mixed it up, completions to Biedenkapp and Andreas Lundin balancing runs from Erby, before Erby sliced through from 9 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead.
The Raiders hit back on their first play of the half, with speedy back Dean Bourghuis breaking through the line but being run down by freshman safety Ben Barnes at the 25 yard line. The play was one of a number of big plays for Barnes, who finished the game with seven tackles, including a couple for turnovers on fourth down. Barnes’ effort was reward when, on the next play, Joe Lim broke up an intended slant pass and tipped the ball up for Mitch Haney to claim an interception.
Liam Erby surges in for one of four rushing touchdowns in a 30 point haul for the game
The Lions then raced down the field on the back of strong running from Hugh Tomkins but came up short of the endzone. A holding penalty and four straight incompletions saw the Lions hand the ball over on downs at the 20 yard line.
The Lions defence forced the Raiders to punt within their first set of downs but, again, coughed the ball up with a fumble on the punt return. This time the Lions were made to pay for their sloppy play. On second and long, the Raiders’ receiver slipped his coverage and took the ball up the sideline for a touchdown. The PAT was missed to keep the score at 28-6.
Alex Watson gave the offence an early spark and finished with 58 yards on only 7 carries
The Lions were soon back in business after a poor Raiders punt gave the Lions possession on the 40 yard line. Three Erby runs were all that was needed to post his fourth rushing touchdown and extend the lead to 35-6. It looked like cornerback Kevin Trinh had snared an interception on the next drive, but a penalty negated the play. Mitch Haney and Trinh then broke up passes and Barnes made a sure tackle on fourth down to hold the receiver short of the marker to get a turnover on downs for the defence.
Dorney took off for a long run on the first play of the next drive and a late hit out of bounds added fifteen more yards to the play. Dorney then hit receiver Yoon Sun Yoo on a slant and the freshman did everything but score on his first career catch, somehow managing to be held inches short. Watson did the honours from short range for his first career touchdown and the score was out to 41-6.
Fady Aoun takes the Bondi running back for a loss
The Lions conceded a late score after a pass interference call and then a strong grab in traffic on a long bomb had got the Raiders close.
Freshman Hugh Tomkins had over 150 all purpose yards for the second game this season
The Lions quickly retaliated, with Hugh Tomkins ripping off a 41 yard run to lay the groundwork for Mac Shine to run in a touchdown and finish the scoring at 48-12.
Chris Noble finished with a flourish, recording three sacks in the final two possessions to round off a strong outing.
The win keeps the Foundation Shovel at Sydney Uni for the time being and improves the Lions’ overall record against the Raiders to 32 wins against 12 losses.