Sydney Uni American Football Club

Sydney Uni surged to a 42-22 win over the UTS Titans in front of a good home crowd at the Square to book a place in the 2010 Gridiron NSW Colts Championship Game.  The Cubs will face the Sutherland Seahawks this Friday in the decider at the St George Hockey Centre, with the kick-off at 8pm.

The Cubs started with the ball and started with purpose.  The offence was required to go the length of the field after a blocking penalty on the opening kick-off return but moved the ball with confidence.  Fullback Francis O’Neill continued his strong form with a long gain on a dive play to get the ball down close and wingback Harry Granger took an option pitch in for the opening touchdown.  Quarterback Sam Darcy scored on the conversion to give the Cubs an early 8-0 lead.

The Cubs defence was also on the ball early.  The Titans started with two backs in the backfield, but the Cubs defence stood firm against the run to force UTS straight into a 4th down situation.  The Titans went for it, but linebacker Hugh Tomkins pressured the rolling UTS quarterback into an incompletion to force a turnover on downs.

The Cubs offence rammed home the advantage by driving down for another score.  Quarterback Sam Darcy was picking his spots to attack out of the option and sliced through the UTS defence to score out wide.  The conversion attempt failed to give the Cubs a handy lead at 14-0.

The Titans hit a long return off the next kick-off to get into immediate scoring range.  The Cubs forced UTS into another 4th down, but this time they converted, hitting a slant pattern down to the goalline.  The Cubs defence made two stops at the 1 yard line, but the Titans ran in for a score on 3rd down and then also scored on the conversion to bring the score back to 14-8.

The Cubs’ response was quick and deadly.  On the next kick-off, Tomkins fielded the kick, swung left and scorched past the UTS coverage team for a touchdown.  Again, the Cubs were stopped on the conversion, but the quick strike had put the score out to 20-8.

Another long kick-off return had the Titans in good field position.  A substitution error on the defence saw the Cubs fail to cover one of the Titans’ receivers.  The UTS quarterback was quick enough to spot the breakdown and fired a pass out to his unmarked man for an easy score.  UTS ran in the conversion to close the score to 20-16.

The Cubs offence was not phased and continued its relentless play.  Harry Granger, Sam Darcy and Francis O’Neill were all taking turns in picking up the hard yards, but it was O’Neill who hammered in from close range for the touchdown.  Darcy passed to Max Granger for the conversion to give the Cubs a lead of 28-16.

The Cubs defence made an important stop before the half.  Tomkins forced a sack on first down and the Cubs defended two pass plays to bring up 4th and 8.  Defensive tackle Sergan Isik worked his way around the backside of the protection to claim the Titans’ quarterback for a sack on the play to force another turnover on downs for the Cubs defence.  The half ended with the Cubs ahead 28-16.

The Titans had the ball to start the second half and strung together a drive to get themselves back into the game.  The Cubs missed a backfield release pattern on 3rd and long to let the Titans escape and they cashed in with a touchdown.  Linebacker Nabeel Siddiqui took the quarterback for a big loss on the conversion to keep the score at 28-22 to the Cubs.

The Cubs offence finally faltered on their next drive, but only due to an exceptional play from the Titans.  At mid-field, Darcy looked for Harry Granger on a crossing route but Granger was unable to gather in a ball thrown behind him.  The covering Titans defender made a great play to bring in an interception on the tipped ball as he was falling to the ground.

With the Titans having the opportunity to score to take the lead, the pressure was back on the Cubs defence.  On 2nd and long, two Cubs veterans stood up to make a game-breaking play.  Defensive captain Daniel Pearson had been getting great pass rush pressure all night.  His effort paid off by claiming the Titans quarterback for a blindside sack.  Better than that, his good technique in attacking the ball forced a fumble.  Tomkins was on the spot to scoop the ball and run it in for a decisive touchdown.  Tomkins was in the throes of an outstanding game at linebacker and would finish with a team high 9 tackles and 3 tackles for loss.  Darcy converted the touchdown with a throw to Harry Granger and the Cubs had surged away to a 36-22 lead.

The Cubs defence made another great stand on the next drive.  Another long UTS kick off return had the defence backed up on their own 17 yard line.  On 2nd down, the Titans quarterback took a shot to the endzone on a corner pattern to his wide receiver, but cornerback Stanley Chin stuck on his man and undercut the pass to take a crucial interception at the goal line.  Chin had covered the UTS primary receiver all night and finished the game second on the Cubs’ tackle count with 4 tackles.

The Cubs offence showed their explosive power by taking the ball the length of the field in a handful of plays.  It looked like Harry Granger would go all the way with a breakout run down the Cubs sideline but was just done for condition to be claimed 20 yards out.  Granger could be forgiven for lacking match fitness as he is only two games into his return from injury.  Clearly he is not lacking for speed, power or play-making ability.  The Cubs shifted Hugh Tomkins into fullback to give Granger a breather after his long run and he destroyed the Titans’ defensive containment to rush for a touchdown.  The score meant that Tomkins had scored touchdowns on offence, defence and special teams in the one game – so far as we can tell, the first time this has ever been done by a Sydney Uni player in 26 years of football.  The conversion attempt failed, but the Cubs were now out of sight at 42-22.

The Cubs defence played hard to the end.  The Titans had two more possessions, but turned the ball over on downs on both drives.  In all, the Cubs defence forced 6 turnovers in the game.  With their last shot, the Titans were 4th and 10 on the Cubs 13 yard line.  They hit a wide receiver bubble screen but the Cubs secondary scrambled up to make the tackle short of the endzone and short of the first down marker.  The hussle and commitment on the last play were indicative of the determination which had been shown all game.

The strong win sees the Cubs qualify for the Gridiron NSW Colts Championship Game and gives them a chance to go back-to-back as Colts champions.  The Cubs will play the Sutherland Seahawks, who won through from fourth seed in the playoffs with a triple overtime win over the Titans and who played the Cubs to a standstill in an exciting regular season fixture.

The Cubs could not hope for more than chances fair –  a chance to equal our strife, a chance to do or dare.