Friday Night

Great night!

GAME DAY

Time to get re-acquainted with some many familiar faces, and none more than "Goodie" from the Pam Gang who clearly had Galen Hall's game plan figured out early. This is what the banner is talking about right?

No sign of a hangover here! Ben "The Future of First Down" Saunders is making another extraordinary push for a place in the Cheddar Hall of Fame after narrowly missing out last year. On Friday night he was witnessed to have been holding a series of buildings up with just a single hand! But making your flight this year to see Watford's last Premiership game will lose you points!

Lets see - what else can we remember? Well there was a live radio interview where we advocated the use of Schlosser Alt beer in the protection of pale Scottish skin from the hot sun. Then there was the unfortunate incident on stage where Preston involutary front flashed 1000's of Germans when Jan Stecker (no relation) sneaked a surprise kilt lift. Apart from all that, just another day at the office really …

Preston minutes just before kickoff under the scorching German sun, realising that banners are better placed on fences when the security isn't looking.

Kickoff!

Game Report ...

The Claymores fell to defeat on Saturday night, 22-10 to the Fire, dropping their record to 1-5 at the Rheinstadion. The Fire kept on burning with their 9^th win in 11 games. While for the Claymores the loss still leaves the team nicely poised at 3-2 to make a strong second half to the World Bowl. But the offense, especially the passing game, will need to pick up more of the slack down the stretch.

The night had started well for the Claymores (that is, after the now obligatory 3 and out), when we caught a huge break on a punt return that Deon Mitchell appeared to fumble away. However Fire DB Deshone Mallard was penalised 15 yards for "Fair Catch Interference" and on the next play from scrimmage Aaron Stecker took it to the house by racing 59 yards to paydirt - the longest run in team history.

Kevin Daft unsuccessfully looks for an open receiver (again) on Saturday

The Fire moved the ball nicely on their drive, but a sack by Michael Mason forced them to attempt a long field goal. With Danny Kight ‘ailing’ (well he was OK, but the Colts had decided to recall him - so he could only watch from the sidelines), P Rodney Williams tried a 44 yard FG which he promptly toe poked straight up in the air and it was no good.

The rest of the 1^st half was a tight defensive struggle. The Claymores consistently had good field position, but Kevin Daft struggled to find any open receivers and we couldn’t convert on 3^rd down. The Fire struggled too, especially when QB Matt Lytle came on in the 2^nd quarter, with Tom Tovo notching his first sack of the season. Our defense also missed some chances at interceptions that they would later rue. Galen Hall went back to Danny Wuerffel at the end of the half and it paid dividends. First he hit ex Claymore WR Kevin Drake for 35 yards, and then fired an inch perfect TD pass to Jeff Ogden for a 30 yard score. The snap on the extra point was bounced however, but holder Rodney Williams made amends for his FG goof by picking it and up and scampering in round right end for 2 points and a 8-7 halftime lead. This bit of good fortune would turn the game.

Danny Wuerffel had the most success by far of any opposing QB against the Claymores this season

Wuerffel’s hot hand continued right after halftime as he led another TD drive, this time finding Drake from 8 yards out. Suddenly it was 15-7 and a seemingly comfortable lead was now a daunting defecit for the struggling offense. A big PI call on Fire S Nick Ferguson, helped them put them into Rhein territory but once again Daft couldn’t find anybody on 3^rd down and Rob Hart kicked a 29 yard FG to cut the lead to 15-10.

The Scottish defense held this time, and a couple of Scott Couper catches had the Claymores at the Fire 36 yard line, but Daft was sacked again on 3^rd down and a punt ensued. When the D stopped Fire next, Marcus Crandell was in at QB, but on a 3^rd and 28 he made the grave error of getting picked off by Stephen Fisher. On the very next day, Kevin Drake stung his old team again, reeling in a 55 yard TD pass from Wuerffel after Kory Blackwell had chomped on a play action fake.

Kory Blackwell dials for help

A 57 yard kick return from Sulecio Sanford gave the Claymores some late hope, but Crandell threw into heavy coverage and was picked off again, this time by Nick Ferguson at the Fire 1 yard line. Then 2 plays later Pepe Pearson dashed 46 yards to take the Fire out of the shadow of their goal posts, snuffing out the last chance for the Claymores to get back into game.

Marcus Crandell warms up at the start of the 4^th quarter, but suffered 2 INT's when he got in

While the 22-10 setback was disappointing, along with the realisation that our defense wasn’t quite the re-incarnation of the 85 Chicago Bears, we’re still in good shape. At the halfway point of the season we’re joint 2^nd with Amsterdam with at 3 and 2 record, and we’ve got as good a chance as any body to finish in the top 2 after 10 games.

WEEK 5 CHEDDARS

 RB Aaron Stecker - Once again Steck WAS the offense, with 110 yards rushing and 8 grabs for 44 yards. His 59-yard TD run was the longest in team history. A late fumble, when he was desperately trying to make something should not mar his day.

 WR Sulecio Sanford - Showed some signs of life late in the game with 5 catches for 55 yards and a kickoff for 57 yards. Can it carry over till next week?

 DL Tom Tovo - Finally healthy again, and a decent day with 4 tackles (3 solo) and 1 sack.

 WR Scott Couper - Scoops kept getting open, but Daft couldn’t find him much in the 1^st half (3 catches for 27 yards).

Did those GB fans know how stupid they look?

Now that's a better place for the banners!

But the Burning Hearts upstage us with their one!

With defeat imminent, faces sour …

With the game slipping away again, it was time to switch to party mode with familiar faces down the front from seasons past!

And not so familiar faces - hey we don't care!

Scoops comes over after the game. #81 got open a lot on Satruday but Daft had real trouble finding him. It's always good to have the players come over after the game. After the no-show in Berlin in week 3, and the verbal lashing that Shuggie gave poor Scoops about it, it wasn't a surprise to see him come over in a hurry!

Fire LB Jamie Baisley who had a hell of game, gets reeled in by the Scottish clowns.

And who's this handsome chap in the beanie hat? None other than Cheddar Hall of Famer Danny Kight who was made cheerleader for the day (by Jim Mora), before catching his flight home to Indy the next day.

Duane may have lost the first round of his Cowboys matchup with Jeff Ogden, but he still has plenty of admirers!

Kevin Drake had the biggest smile in Dusseldorf on Saturday night after burning his old team for 2 scores! We really miss you KD!

Then it was time for a Eurovision party and Stefan Raab, but alas Germany could not win this one …

The MAC lads. Shuggie (Ohio Bobcat), Fire WR Alonzo Johnson (Miami Redhawk) and Preston (Ohio Bobcat). We first ran into Alonzo last season when he was Deron Thorp's old partner in crime in Sitges. Boy was he meshed then!

Then it was back to Knoten again to party, party, party and try and not have our bags stolen. We really must thank Steffi (center Cheddar) and her friends for keeping an eye on our stuff as time and time again we just left it there to be stolen again! Doh!

"Trust me, it looks just great!" Big kudos also to Laura for more bag watching, and ultimately stopping Shuggie from exploding on some clown who took a big chomp on his cheddar. We should hire this saintly woman as a bodyguard!

We couldn't let Danny go without one more cheddaring!

Without that Cheddar on, Danny's not as tall as you think!

Danny shows off his picture from Indy 99, when we met him and his wee daughter Nicole after a Colts game. Jim Mora better bloody use him in 2000, after denying NFLE fans 6 weeks of fun loving Danny!

So we have find new players to Cheddar! How about Fire S Mathew Hickl who took that blocked Kleinmann FG in for a TD a couple of weeks back? Why certainly sir!

Shuggie desperately tries to explain why losing a chunk of his Cheddar doesn't make him any less of a man …

Last and never least - The Big Sausage, Thomas from Fire.Pl@net who once again made sure the Claymores fans had a great weekend. Sausage predicted 2 Kevin Drake TD's in the morning before the game - sometimes this man knows too much!

We made it just in time for a spot of breakfast, but after a good healthy helping of fruit salad and boiled eggs we fell asleep right in the middle of the restaurant of a 5 Star Hotel! After about 1 hour, and the realisation that other guests were starting to have breakfast around us - we figured it was time to catch some shut eye in our room!

SUNDAY

Chill out day at the players hotel. Drink. Try not to hassle them. Drink 140 DM bottles of champagne (why???) with Zanzibar and Fire Fanclub Aachen. Try not to hassle the coach. Hassle Andy Colvin instead. Drink some more. Hassle the poor coach, while still hassling Andy Colvin. Keep drinking. Steal ice lollies. Buy ice lollies (well one for turftoed Deon Mitchell anyway). Stowaway on the team bus back to the airport. Get to the airport. Drink some more. Hassle Andy Colvin again. Fly home. Fall asleep. Dream of hassling Andy Colvin some more!

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