Lancaster Bombers never looked like losing as they cruised to a 22-6 victory over York Centurions. Lancaster dominated right from the opening fiery exchanges to the full time whistle, never really under too much pressure from the York offence.
It was Kevin Bohn who got Lancaster off to a flyer running the ball home from 15 yards to secure the first touchdown of the day. Lancaster were unable to make the two point conversion as the ball was intercepted in the far corner of the pitch. York were unable to make an impression on the game, not managing to make a single meaningful attack in the first quarter, struggling to make it out of their own half, predominantly due to the outstanding defence of Lancaster.
The start of the second quarter saw York’s first attack with any real purpose in the match resulting in a touchdown, with their number 29 gratefully receiving the ball in yards of space. York failed to make their two point conversion and as a result saw the score line remained level at 6-6. Lancaster responded immediately, taking control of the rest of the second quarter, courtesy of some outstanding runs from Bohn who was a threat to the York defence all game long, charging through the smallest of gaps, helping Lancaster gradually progress up the pitch. Bohn was the liveliest player throughout the whole game, involved in many of Lancaster’s better attacks. In spite of Lancaster’s dominance the score remained 6-6 until half-time, which on the balance of play was very flattering to York.
Lancaster reasserted their advantage at the very start of the third quarter with a clever fake and run from Craig Jantzen splitting their defence to steal in for a touchdown. This time Lancaster took full advantage of their conversion attempt, with Barnett charging into yards of space to receive Jantzen’s pinpoint pass, after cleverly evading an onrushing member of the York defence, making the score 14-6. As the third quarter was coming towards its end there was an incident elsewhere at Roses in which a girl was badly injured, requiring an air ambulance, which saw all paramedics leave the Astroturf area, making it unsafe for the American footballers to continue. This lead to a 45 minute delay before the match reconvened.
This was obviously an amazing test of all the players’ involved concentration. It was agreed that the match would recommence from the start of the fourth quarter. York’s huge kick to start was fumbled by a Lancaster player, who made amends by going on a mazy run making up just over 30 yards for Lancaster. Jantzen then picked out Jack Whitehead with the throw of the day, a 30 yard diagonal ball that was comfortably held to give Lancaster their third touchdown of the match and all but confirm the match result. It was clear to see that York thought they had lost it too, as on Lancaster’s conversion attempt, their defence parted like the red sea for Jantzen to swoop in, and pick up two more points for Lancaster, 22-6 with three minutes remaining. York with a very faint hope of winning called their third and final time out. However, the timeout was to no avail, as Lancaster easily contained York and prevented them from getting anywhere near the Lancaster end zone.
The full time whistle blew and Lancaster had secured a 22-6 win in the American Football, giving Lancaster a further four points towards their ever-increasing points tally. The President of American Football Matt Neve had this to say:
“It was a great all round performance. It’s hard to pick out one stand out player, as the whole team was fantastic today”.
