F.C. BARCELONA DRAGONS      17
@
SCOTTISH CLAYMORES   10
HAMPDEN SUNDAY 4TH MAY 2003
At wet and windy Hampden the Claymores attempted to get back on top of the standings when the Dragons came to visit.
Disaster struck on the secnd play of the Dragons opening drive when a 54 pard hook up between Burford and Morley put them deep in Claymores territory, to plays later a blown coverage allowed Cercone to open the scoring with a 7 yard reception.
The Claymores rallied and some hard running by Simonton took the Claymores to the Barcelona 4 yard line. After a seemingly good Touchdown by Minardi was ruled out for offensive pass interference, the Claymores were pushed back and the normaly reliable Hart missed a 32 yarder as the snap and holds were botched.
The Dragons moved the ball again helped by poor tackling on the Claymores part letting Burford scramble for 39 yards and capped it off with a 3 yard Cheney run up the middle in the second quarter.
Simonton led the Claymores almost singled handed but again the drive stalled and another poor exchange between center and holder led to Rob Harts 35 yard attempt missing the target just as the half ended
The second half didnt start any better as Nall was intercepted when he misred the Dragons defence and Walters picked him off. The Dragons then looked to be stopped on third down but a dumb unnecessary roughness penalty by Ward after the play had ended kept their drive alive. Angoy converted from 20 yards to put the Dragons up by 17.
The Claymores red zone woes continued when again they were stuffed on the Dragons 11. Rob Hart then compounded things by hooking the 28 yarder wide.
As the Dragons tried to kill the clock the Claymores took over and an inspirational 40yard hook up between Nall and Simonton marched the Claymores down the field. Nall then found Scott Couper in the corner of the end zone from 8 yards to cut the lead and give the Claymores hope.
With time very much the enemy the Claymores defense stuffed the Dragons and Nall went to work again, this time when the drive was halted Hart converted form 31 yards to give the Claymores a real shot at saving the game.
The Dragons punted and a quick pass to Bright moved the Scots into Dragon country, but on a 4th and 15 Nall floated a hopefull pass and it was intercepted by a dragon and the last chance to save the game was gone.
A huge dissapointment, dumb penaltys and crap special teams play haunted us on this one, the offence put up good numbers but again turnovers killed up. Simonton rushed for over 100 yards and had 97 recieving yards as a bright spot on a wet, cold, dark day