SCOTTISH CLAYMORES 17 |
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RHEIN FIRE 34 |
ARENA AUFSCHALKE SATURDAY 19TH APRIL 2002 |
A trip to the impressive Arena Ausschalke awaited the Claymores as they attempted to put last weeks hangover behind them and with history and a hostile crowd against them they really struggled badly to move the ball against a finr Fire defense. Fire opened the scoring in the first quarter when Rollovich fired a 33 yard TD pass to Newsome as the defence was caught in poor coverage. Fire continued to move the ball and the clock as Denson ate up yards at will on the ground and once again poor tackling by the Claymores defense attributed to their downfall. The Claymores caught a break in the second quarter when Denson muffed a punt and Malan recovered it deep in Fire territory but the drive was stuffed at the three yard live and Rob Hart booted a 17 yard field goal. This seemed to fire up Rhein and Greison executed a fine drive that was capped off with an 11 yard pass to Adams to extend the lead. The Claymores continued to shoot themselves in the foot and Stafford was picked off when he threw a woefull pass into double coverage. Fire marched down the field with a fine mix of run and pass that the Claymores just couldnt work out and a pass interference in the endzone put the ball on the 1 yard line inside the final minute. Another blown coverage allowed Adams his secont TD of the game as he hauled it in unchallenged . the PAT was bothced and the half finished with the Fire in front 20 to 3. Nall couldnt move the offence and the Claymores were forced to punt but the defence stepped up and Bo Rogers made a leaping interception of a Rolovich pass to win back possession. Again the drive stuttered to a halt and Holmes was wide left with a 46 yard field goal attempt. A superb ground game by Rhine ended with Denson getting a deserved TD when he strolled in untouched from the 4 yard line and it was now a score of 27 to 3. The Claymores finally started to move the ball helped by penaltys and finaly got a touchdown on the board when Simonton darted in from the 5 and Hart adder the extra point. Craig Nall was injured in the next drive and Stafford took over, then just before the two minute warning he found McCready in the endzonr to give a glimmer of hope in a game that should have been well out of reach. The onside kick was recovered by the Fire but they went 3 and out and Stafford and Malan moved the ball to within scoring range but with the clock running down Stafford was again intercepted, this time by Harper and he returned it 93 yards for a touchdown and make the final score 34 to 17. A poor poor performance...the Claymores were out thought, out coached and out played and its hard to see where they go from here, a win next week against Berlin is a must or the season is in tatters |
