Women’s Team Head Coach Carl Alexis’ Tournament 3 Review 2022

We prepped for tournament 3 knowing that these were two games we had a great chance of winning. We were going against two teams that we were at least the equal of but also two teams that were as hungry for the wins as we were. It was only just earlier in the season that we had narrowly lost to Hertfordshire and although Wembley were an unknown we had held our own against them in the past and we favoured our chances this time around.

First up were our old nemesis the Wembley Stallions, a team whom we had yet to beat despite coming close many times in the past. Wembley arrived with a small squad but they are a well-coached team and we knew not to underestimate them.

Our trepidation was justified as on our very first drive a loose ball in our endzone was quickly scooped up by the Stallions gifting them an early touchdown. Our second drive was also to stall, but not so for the Stallions as they drove downfield for their second touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Determined to not fall behind we tried three passes in a row to get the ball downfield to no avail but on the fourth attempt Karina Westeng (one of our two rookie QB’s) connected with WR Suzy Millard for a 45 yard touchdown pass. An impressive stand by our defence (lead from the front by rookie DB Caysi Sawyer) put a stop to the Stallions next drive and although a standout run by Suzy put us near scoring position the half was to come to an end before we could punch it in.

With the score 14-8 in favour of the Stallions we knew it would take a full team effort with mistake free football for us to claw out the win against them.

Our first drive of the second half was to set the tone for the rest of the game as on second down Cleo Farah (our other rookie QB) connected with Suzy for another 45 yard TD pass. Down two points and eager to turn the game around, our defence turned up the heat and forced fumbles by DL Clare Lewis and a flurry of fumble recoveries by Clare, Caysi and LB Sophie George stifled the Stallions every attempt. Not to be outdone, our offence put on a show of its own and with some great pass protection from our OL (which included a couple of pancakes by Karen Alexis and Lisa Edwards) Cleo once again found Suzy for another touchdown pass. The success of our passing game allowed our running game to kick into gear and our final score of the day saw RB Sarah ‘Millsy’ Miller drive the ball in to secure the 26-14 win.

The game had started badly but we persevered as we always do. The team had dug in and fought hard and for the first time in our history we had beaten the Stallions. It was a good win but we still had one more game left to make the day perfect.

Game 2 and a chance to avenge our tournament 1 loss to Hertfordshire. It had been a closely fought game that we had lost back then and we had no intentions of that happening again.

Being evenly matched teams it was predicted that this would be a close game and judging from the first drives this seemed to be the case. Both defences were dominating and although our offence were moving the ball they were unable to get it over the goal line. For our defence though it was a different matter as they picked up where they had left off in game 1 – firing on all cylinders and not in the mood to slow down. With LB Dory Bogdan, DL Amber Dhana and DL Charlie George (one of our GB representatives) continuously breaking through the line and harassing the Cheetahs backfield, their offence spluttered. However things were not going so well for our offence, as confusion on our next drive resulted in us conceding a Safety.

This seemed to inflame our defence even further as Dory forced a fumble that Sophie George recovered in the endzone for a touchdown only to be followed on the Cheetahs very next possession with Dory hurrying the QB and forcing her to throw an errant pass right into the waiting arms of LB Lucy Bridge who ran it back for our second touchdown. With our defence on fire Hertfordshire were unable to mount an effective drive and the half ended with us ahead 12-2.

The second half saw our offence revitalised and they came out strong moving the ball steadily downfield, but even with a great pancake block by Millsy we still couldn’t get that elusive offensive score.

Our defence though was all business and they went back to work with more QB hurries from Dory and Charlie leaving the Cheetahs offence in disarray.

It was on our second drive that our offence finally found the right gear as Karina connected with rookie WR Cecilie Wicklund for a 44 yard touchdown pass and the 18-2 lead. Although this would turn out to be the final score, the game was to end as it had been dictated with another great defensive play as DB Tara Burgess snatched her first interception out of the air.

Our defence had dominated and held the Cheetahs to two points in a game dubbed ‘game of the week’, our offence had moved the ball effectively both in the air and on the ground, everything had come together just at the right time.

These two wins have shown a little of what we are capable of and how far we have come. We still have more to do but the team can now see all their hard work paying off and know that they were right to believe in themselves, their coaches and each other.

We have one tournament left, our home tournament on the 16th of July, there we will face the Warriors and the Stallions again. We expect both games to be tough with the Warriors wishing to finish their season on a high and the Stallions wishing to avenge their loss to us. We will be ready.

Stats Highlights:

11 QB hurries

5 forced fumbles

4 fumble recoveries (1 for a TD)

2 Interceptions (1 for a TD)

Both QB’s 2 TD passes each

210 yards receiving

134 yards rushing

7 players with rushing yards

4 players with receiving yards

3 pancakes

344 yards for