Warriors Topple The Towers

The Warriors Chose The New River Stadium On White Hart Lane As The Venue For This Showpiece Britball Event, And An Excellent Venue It Turned Out To Be. They Should Be Proud Of The Way They Ensured All The Ingredients Were In Place For The Sizeable Crowd To Experience A Full Day Of Football Enjoyment.

Arriving in London for their NEFL match up with the Warriors, Danish powerhouse the Copenhagen Towers had the hallmarks of a well drilled and organised team. They certainly demonstrated that they were just that, when they shot out to a two score lead in the first quarter of the game. Taking to the air early they bagged a touchdown, but missed the conversion. London then took over but struggled to find their groove. Disaster struck, when the Warriors punted, but the kick was blocked and returned for another Towers score. They secured a two point conversion, and just like that, it was 14-0. Copenhagen looked to maintain their early momentum when after their second touchdown they elected to go for an onside kick, which they initially thought they had recovered, but not so fast! The officials ruled the kicking team had gone offside, and that seemed to take the wind out of the Danish sails. London knew they had to respond, and they got the home crowd cheering when Jerome Allen connected on a deep pass for their first score of the day to Ian Jacquet, the kick was good, and at half time it stood at 14-7 Towers.

At the start of the second half the teams exchanged turnovers as they both battled to take the upper hand. Copenhagen didn’t have a deal of size, but were technically adept and executed well, the Warriors amped it up, and their power began to pay dividends. Mixing it up on offence, they put together a good drive, combining their powerful running game with a selection of precision passes, that culminated with a burst into the endzone and a kicked point after. London were now back on terms, and with the score poised at 14 each, there was everything to play for.

The Warriors fearsome defence were now taking it to the Towers, but a succession of penalties allowed Copenhagen to sustain their drive, and crucially they regained the lead, with a further touchdown catch. Thankfully for London, Copenhagen failed to convert it. With one quarter to go, the Towers held the lead 20-14.

Both teams were pushing for the next score, and it was the Warriors who got it. Initially they thought they had six points when they corralled the Towers punter in his own endzone after an errant snap. With the ball bobbling, it looked like London had recovered it, but it had just moved out of the back of the endzone before they got their hands on it, so it was a safety, narrowing the gap to 20-16. On the ensuing kick, the Warriors had a big return, with the ball ending up just inside the Towers 30. Two plays later, London had the lead for the first time with a short yardage run, followed by a kicked PAT, 23-20.

With the clock ticking it was time for the Warriors defence to impose themselves, and they did, in style! A Copenhagen pass was tipped, intercepted and handed off on the return, which was then taken all the way to the house by Ariel Mofondo! 29-20. The Danes weren’t about to give up though and drove down inside the London ten, from where they threw another touchdown, again, they were unable to convert. This time their on-side kick was a predictable play call, and again it failed to secure them possession. London took over and managed the clock effectively to secure a famous win 29-26.

Post game, acting offensive co-ordinator Marvin Allen was pleased to get the win, but confirmed there is still work to be done. “Today showed that technically we have things to work on and that we have to prepare better mentally to be successful at this level” he reflected. The players were also mindful that they could do more. Offensive lineman Ricard Gadzekpo noted, “As a unit we were a little rusty, and it took us a while to adjust to the intensity level required to compete against teams of this standard”. Safety Josh Amis gave a balanced view, “Copenhagen were a good, well-drilled team who gave us a tough game, but we showed our perseverance and managed to grind out the win – the Warriors’ first European victory! We now need to put in a lot of work at practice to eliminate the mistakes we made in that game and focus on the next European game”.

That next game will be a trip to Sweden on May 6th to play the Carlstad Crusaders. If that leads to another win for London, they will be hosting the final where they will face Finland’s Helsinki Roosters who have despatched their countrymen, the Uppsala 86ERs over two legs. As the standard-bearers for British American football, here’s hoping they win through and we get to witness another action packed game that establishes the Warriors as one of the top programmes in Europe.

Thanks for Kyle Hemsley for the photos.