WEEK 9 - CLAYMORES 23 THUNDER 24

In case you hadn't heard - we were celebrating our 50th straight game as Cheddarheads last Sunday. To see what we made of the other 49 read our Golden Jubilee special!

Yes, Blinky that's 50 straight games! Of the 50, we've managed to win just 20! Not so good!

No matter what we did on Sunday however it couldn't help our World Bowl chances. The Galaxy's loss the night before had eliminated us, however the Thunder were still alive.

Even The Mad Hatter was celebrating the Golden Jubilee with us, with a special hard hat flypast! We're not so sure about the bow tie though!

In the game itself, it appeared it would be "Whisper 29: Destination Stacy's Record" as our star RB ripped off a 36 yard run on his first carry on his way to a monster 1st half. This set up a Lawrence Tynes 49 yard FG - the longest by a Claymore in 6 years!

CLAYMORES 3-0

Whatever faults our passing game have this year - it's hard to blame the O-line. They conceded no more sacks Sunday, and still only have given up 5 all year. They did concede another "roughing the passer" however, which combined with more Good Goodman gains set up a Rob Hart 20 yard FG.

CLAYMORES 6-0

On the Thunder's next drive, Scottish national Stuart Hare got to make his first defensive tackle on the season leveling RB Anthony White. (Hare was also relaying the defensive signals too). Good to see #57 finally see some action! The Thunder got a 38 yard FG from Danny Boyd at the end of the drive.

CLAYMORES 6-3

Things have got so bad with Rock Steady, that our GM is now doing double duty and checking tickets as well! Thankfully the Lardy Boys were sitting in their correct seats, and no altercations took place this week!

And then disaster, and rotten bad luck struck. Another promising drive of Goodman + Berlin Personal Fouls ended with a fateful attempt at a pass. Here Dreisbach's pass is juggled by Dondre Gilliam and ball is tipped in the air ...

Into the hands of Calvin Branch for an interception! Thankfully Dreisbach had improved his tackling technique this week - too bad it was on the Claymores sideline and cost us an additional 15 yards!

And after a pass interference call on Todd Franz, Berlin scored their 1st TD when Todd Husak handed off to Anthony White for a 1 yard score. White has been a revelation (the Thunder are 5-1 with him), and it was always a mystery to us why Coach Vaas had on the practice squad in Week 1 after looking good in Tampa.

THUNDER 10-6

It didn't take long for Whisper to be heard from again though! On the next drive he ran for 7,3 and 18 yards before taking a breather. Three plays later he sprinted through the line and cut across the field outrunning several defenders for a spectacular 36 yard TD!

CLAYMORES 13-10

Saluting the fans at Half-time, Whisper had accumulated 155 yards rushing on only 15 carries. Not only was Stacy's record (175) in sight, but Kenny Bynum's too (214).

HALFTIME 13-10

With Berlin's D obliviously going to key on him in the 2nd half, could our passing game step up?

In the 3rd Q, we won the battle of field position thanks to a 59 yard Aron Langley punt that pinned the Thunder at their 4 yard line. When punted a few plays later, RB Robert Arnaud blocked it! However the kind of bounce that allowed Berlin to score on a similar play last week, eluded us, and Kwame Cavil dived on the ball on the 19 yard line. We were unable to punch in a 1st and goal from the 3 and Rob Hart tacked on a 22 yard FG.

CLAYMORES 16-10

But we hit paydirt on the next Thunder play from scrimmage when Todd Franz picked off a Husak pass and went 33 yards for a score. It was sweet justice for Franz who was denied a pick the week before by the horrible officiating crew in Berlin.

CLAYMORES 23-10

If Scott Shields can't crack the Dolphins this fall, then he may want to try the WWF as this slam down on Anthony White was classic!

However sloppy tackling by other defenders on the next Berlin drive allowed them to convert a 1st and 26 and keep driving ...

And then lucky bounce #3 went Berlin's way too. Keith Heyward Johnson looked to have broken up Husak's pass in the end zone, but the ball looped up and Dane Looker jumped up and caught it for a TD. The D had done another fine job on the league's top WR in the first half, but it couldn't be expected to hold him forever.

CLAYMORES 23-17

But first another disaster for Scotland. First a penalty negated a Fontana catch that had the 'Mores inside the Berlin 25. Next play, Dreisbach threw high to McCready and another tipped pass found its way into Thunder hands. Here its Lelan Brickus for his 2nd such deflected interception in two weeks! Adding salt to the wound was another Dreisbach personal foul away from the action.

And after converting a 4th and 3 from the Claymores 7 yard line, Berlin went ahead, thanks to another Anthony White TD.

THUNDER 24-23

Thanks to Todd Husak the Thunder are the one team in NFLE this year that can pass the ball. Although they are the only team to hit us for >20 points, we didn't do that bad job against them all things considered. (Two of their TD drives covered less than 30 yards Sunday). Sunday was the first time Husak had been held under 200 yards all season.

But alas the FG was short ...

FINAL

THUNDER 24 CLAYMORES 23u

Coach D dejectedly walks towards the fans at games end. Could it be his final game at Hampden? You would think if he does come back a major change in offensive philosophy is needed as we've had 2 straight years of underachieving that side of the ball. We certainly had the talent this year, and the coaches must bear some responsibility for it not producing points.

Finally, many congratulations to Scott Shields who was named Claymores MVP by Touchdown Claymores. For a full list of their awards please click here!