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WEEK
3 - CLAYMORES 20 THUNDER 24
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GameDay and a quick trip to Checkpoint Charlie or what's left of it anyway. |
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After the sober sightseeing it was time to get it on! And what better way to start than with the "Thunder Menu" at Burger King which includes a helpful cup of Holsten! Now that's what I call civilized! |
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And onto the Jahnstadion where seconds are easily available. This pig was allocated from Cleveland apparently … |
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Helping the Bowlhunters with their banner! |
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It's all smiles here - but alas the picture doesn't tell the whole story! Find out why FOX's DJ Johnson is thinking "What a pair of clowns!" - by clicking here! |
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Back to familiar faces here! Lars from Sports Illustrated and Neil from First Down unsuccessfully try to enjoy a quiet pre match pint! |
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And even more familiar were our German Scottish pipe band that gave us a tremendous welcome again! Here they try and perform while 2 idiots undertake the worst dancing you ever did see. After playing in Berlin last year and Frankfurt the week before we were unbeaten with them … |
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But this is better, as the Berlin fanclubs join in and put some decency into the performance … |
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But then there's always one who has to ruin it for everyone! (3 bloody encores as well!) |
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And then there was a game! Oh well, we'll have to wait another year to get the chance to utter the immortal words of "3-0 baby " as the Claymores fell to their first loss of the 2000 season, 24-20 in Berlin on Saturday night. It was a game that easily could have been won, but they squandered a plethora of opportunities particularly in the second half. And the ugly specter of incompetent officiating once again reared its head, this time haunting the Claymores on several occasions - no more costly than on the game turning play where Berlin safety Richard Yancy 'ran' 80 yards after recovering a Ben Snell fumble. Replays showed that Tremayne Allen actually tackled Yancy as he fell to the ground after scooping the ball. However no whistles were blown and several Claymores players only stood and watched as the Thunder national got to his feet, started to walk, then jog and finally run towards the end zone to give the Berlin the clinching score. The game started slowly once again for the Claymores. The O went 3 and out and after a good punt return, the Thunder were in great shape. A couple of passes from QB Eric Kresser to TE Tywan Micthell set up a 50 yard field from K Jaret Holmes. Give the officials credit this week though - they correctly scored that as a 4 pointer! Disaster appeared to hit the Claymores on their next drive as Daft was "tatooed" late by DE Mike Sutton on a 3rd down incomplete pass. Even though the drive was kept alive by the personal foul, Daft was shaken up and Marcus Crandell had to come in. However a couple of good Stecker runs plus a Deron Mitchell put them inside the 5, and on 3rd down Crandell threw his first TD as Claymore - 2 yards to Tremanye Allen. Kresser came straight back, this time hitting WR Thabiti Davis for 2 big gains, and a 33 yard FG by Holmes tied the scores. That didn't last long though, as Daft returned and on his first play went downfield and got a 47 yard PI call after an open Damon Gibson got mugged by CB Tony Saunders. Saunders got lucky a couple of plays later as a potential TD pass to Scott Couper hit the cornerback in the back. A 27 yard FG by Rob Hart off the posts gave the Claymores back the lead 10-7. Back up QB Scott Milanovich came in on the Thunder's next drive and looked sharp, effortlessly moving them down the field, hitting 5 of 6 passes including a 4 yard TD to WR Anthony Ladd. But the Claymores struck right back again, as on their first play of their next drive Aaron Stecker went around left end and raced 48 yards to the Thunder 16 yard line. Only some great pursuit from S Billy Gustin saved a TD, but the Claymores would score anyway as WR Sulecio Sanford caught a 5 yard TD pass from Daft 2 plays later. With almost 7 minutes left in the 1st half it was 17-14 Claymores, but the offense shootout would be replaced by a turnover fest the rest of the play. After stopping the Thunder, Damon Gibson fumbled the punt but the Claymores would stop Berlin when top hound Antonio Dingle dived on Kresser's third fumble of the 1st half just before halftime. The turnovers continued in the 2nd half. First, Blane McElmurry picked off Kresser to give the Claymores great field position. But then with the O deep in Thunder territory Snell lost the ball and Yancy made his game turning play, despite the protests from the Claymores. Interestingly the replay screen at the Jahnstadion has mysteriously blacked out just minutes earlier so we couldn't see the evidence again first hand … The momentum was clearly on the Thunder's side now and they tacked on another Jaret Holmes field goal for a 24-17 lead after the Claymores went 3 and out. By this stage Berlin DE Jonathan Brown was making Jason Tenner look like a human turnstile as he logged 3 sacks and made life difficult for Daft and co. But the Defense rose to the occasion picking off 2 Milanovich passes in succession. Firstly, a Central McClellion pick led to a Rob Hart 25 yard FG to close the gap to four (though 2 penalties on the OL stalled the promising drive). Then, a second McElmurry threaten to turn the game back to the Claymores, but another penalty, this time a personal foul, gave them a difficult 1st and 25 which they wouldn't convert. The Claymores did get a final chance with 52 seconds left after stopping the Thunder on 4th down. Daft scrambled for a first down and seemed to get hit late out of bounds, but it wasn't called. Two more first downs to Willy Tate and Scott Couper gave them a 1st down at the Thunder 16 with 15 seconds left. Without a timeout Daft spiked the ball, and although the Thunder clearly had an extra man on the field, no penalty was called. With 6 seconds left Daft hit 'Steck' out the backfield, but Aaron slipped and couldn't get out of bounds and time expired on the Claymores. So we fall to 2-1 in a frustrating manner, but at least get another shot at this Thunder team in Edinburgh on Sunday. If out offense gets back to playing smart football then we'll have a great shot at revenge. The Hounds tired a little in the 2nd half, and although we looked vulnerable in the secondary for the first time all year, we still forced 5 turnovers which should be good enough to win most weekends. So bring on the Thunder (again)! |
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WEEK 3 CHEDDARS
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Gametime! |
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DL coach Jim Tomsula tries to wake up the sleeping hounds in the 1st Quarter! |
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What's Tremanye Allen doing in the end zone with the ball? Hey - that's 6 points! And it was correctly scored too! |
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By the 2nd quarter the Pipe Band had laid down their tools and made their way into the stands to bolster the 5 strong Claymores support! Not bad! Plus they started buying beers, and then more beers, and then some more … We gotta fly these guys to Scotland! |
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The light fades over the Jahnstadion as the Claymores unbeaten season fades in the 2nd half … |
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OK we lost, but there were plenty of happy people to celebrate with who deserve a home win, and it starts with Karsten our tour guide and accommodation for the weekend. Many thanks again to Mr. Bowlhunter! Check out Karsten's excellent web-site www.thunderland.de for some more great pictures and Thunder news! |
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Also happy was the man known simply as "The Face of Thunder". His painted visage is plastered all over the city on the Thunder billboards but we don't know his name! |
| After the game things started going a wee bit pear shaped. Firstly we were kind of upset no players came over after the game so we went back to hassle them at the team bus (just what they needed I'm sure). But Jon B and Rob H calmed us down and we let it go. However Shuggie wasn't done with his rage on the officiating and when Coach came over to talk us, Shuggie insisted a personal foul had been wrongly assessed. The dejected Coach, who other issues with boys in black and white, tried to re-assure Shuggie that they had called that one RIGHT, but poor Shuggie was having none of it! (Who's your money on? - thought so and you'd be right!) |
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But there was one jubilant coach on this evening, and what a guy! Here Peter Vaas and his wife Rosann get a well deserved cheddaring! Peter was GREAT to us all evening. It started when the Thunder team bus was pulling away from the stadium, and he spotted us and leapt to his feet cheering! (Goodness knows what his players thought). Then back at the players party at Axel Kruse's Bar he drags us into the players section and get us free booze all evening (like we needed any more). But this is a man on a mission you see. Ex-Dragons assistant coach Peter is pretty upset that Jack Bicknell and Sam Clancy have already been inducted into the Cheddar Hall of Fame and he wants to join. You're going the right way about it Coach! |
| It was a great party and a great bar. When we entered the premises we actually got a standing ovation from the Thunder fans and went round the bar shaking the hand of each and every one! Is it normal to have so much fun after a loss? This is why NFLE is so special! |
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Another happy man - Thunder GM Michael "No Quote" Lang! All evening we tried to get Michael and some of his boys to give some bulletin board soundbytes for next week - but none of them would take the bite! He's got them well trained! |
| The party was pretty wild. At some point during the evening Preston turned into a careers advisor for some of the Thunder players, while we also seem to recall passing on tips on "places to go" in Amsterdam! |
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Photo by Karsten Schroeter Two of the Thunder boys we hassled for what seemed like all evening were OL Jon Blackmon (left) and OL Michael Edwards (right). The boys were good chat, even when we tried to rag Jon for being a Purdue Boliermaker. We're still not sure how Shuggie ended up with Michael's parents' address either. |
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Photo by Karsten Schroeter Since the boys wouldn't make any predictions for anything besides a "good game" for Sunday - Preston tells them "We're going to kick your ass!" We'll see! |
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S
Blane McElmurry - 2 INTs for 37
yards and 5 tackles. Awesome 2nd half performance that should
have counted for some points on the scoreboard.
