WEEK 4 2003 - CLAYMORES 34 THUNDER 17

And so we were back on the road in week 4, traveling to Berlin to see if the blue and silver could get their offense untangled!

The beards were back for Berlin again. We learnt a few drinking tips from having them last year as you can see.

The years fly by. This is our 5th visit now to Berlin. Was it really that long since the Monarchs were 'moved'?

We enjoyed our first trip here in 1999, winning 48-14. Sadly we haven't won since!

But perhaps a venue change might improve our fortune!

After years of speculation the Thunder have finally moved to the Olympia Stadion - which hosted several American Bowls in the early 90's.

However it is under heavy construction due to modernization for the 2006 World Cup!

New stadium - old faces. Frank Seidel was once again DJ'ing the Power Party which meant yet another interview with the clowns. When he asked us what the favourite music of the Claymores fans was - their was only answer - SCOOTER!

Sadly no Scooter to dance to though ...

Perhaps the sight of us dancing caused the giant Skoda Bear to topple - almost crushing hundred of fans!

The Mad Hatter voices his opinion on our dancing effort. Preston & Shuggie U Suck!

Roy was doing a tripleheader this weekend. That is until the league decided to switch Monday's game back to Saturday without apology. Roy would still have a nice week out in Spain. But League U Suck!

Pete asked us how we were. Preston said "Another year older". Pete nodded in agreement.

Little did we know it was his birthday weekend! The fans had made his a nice football shaped cake.

We went inside the stadium for warm-ups and who did we find but Toni Dahlquist all on her lonesome. She was worried about the Gene Germany Jinx which currently stood at 0-7. She was also worried abut Gene and his 100+ degrees fever. And no it wasn't SARS.

Here she helpfully points out to us the direction of the field.

And there's the field!

Very reminiscent of Stamford Bridge in 1997 where the stats crew and commentators were plunked in a porta-cabin on stilts on the other side of the field.

Sometimes you have to pinch yourself that the Thunder won the last 2 World Bowls. They didn't dominate either season, and snuck into the final on both occasions thanks to strong second halves. 0-3 was no problem to them last year. Could the Claymores give them a Houdini like task with a loss?

Early signs were NO!

On the 5th play of the game ex Kansas State RB David Allen burst over the left side for 30 yards (top).

Then 3 plays later he took a swing pass from QB Henry Burris and scampered over the left side again for 23 yards and a TD.

What happened to the defense?

THUNDER 7-0

On the ensuing kickoff, James Rooths appears to stop and jumpl backward as #40 Shannon Wadley lunges for him.

The backward progress keep going when Nall was sacked on the first play ...

But facing a 3rd and 4 Craig Nall hits WR Edell Shepherd who breaks away for a 35 yard gain to get the ball deep into Thunder territory

Then 2 plays later RB Ken Simonton breaks clear for a 29 yard TD to even the scores.

Could there be a repeat of the Week 1 93 point game?

CLAYMORES 7-7

Most of this time we were up with Frank in the DJ booth high in the heavens as he wanted to do a live interview for us. At the end of it, he asked us if we had a message to the other Claymores fans. We replied "2 Beers please as we're coming back down!"

The beers didn't come ...

And that's even with Christof the beer man from last week standing next to us!

A key pass interference stalled the Thunder's next drive - but nothing would stall the Claymores on their next poison. A 9 play 60 yard drive was capped when Nall hit WR Anthony Bright from 10 yards who dunked the ball over the uprights!

CLAYMORES 14-7

Phil Stambaugh came in for Burris at QB on the Thunder's next drive and immediately got things going with 2 passes to Kirk Rogers for 40 yards. However James Rooths stepped up on on 3rd down inside our 10 yard line with a key TACKLE of WR Eugene Baker short of the 1st down. Axel Kruse hit a 26 yard FG.

CLAYMORES 14-10

Thankfully in the 2nd Q, Gene took our (and most of the Western World's) advice and kept #14 on the sidelines. Nall is the best QB in the league - so no more QB rotation please!

The Thunder believe in Cheerleader outfit rotations in the 2nd Quarter however, and who can blame them?

A Maurice Hicks TD was wiped out by a penalty on our next drive so we had to settle for a Rob Hart 32 yard FG

CLAYMORES 17-10

Just when we thought we could relax about the tackling - all the problems came back in one play! Rob was hanging his kickoffs high into the wind to try and cause the Thunder some miscommunication. It worked as the ball landed free - however RB David Allen got it on the bounce and proceeded to break about 37 tackles all the way to the end zone for a 74 yard TD! His one man Bob N Weave failed on style points however ...

17-17 ALL TIED

Nall and the Claymores were finally stopped on their next drive - but a special teams muff by the Thunder gave us the ball right back. We couldn't take full advantage however - but a 2nd Rob FG (this time from 28 yards) gave us the lead again.

CLAYMORES 20-17 (HT)

Toni came down to give the traveling support a half-time speech. No disrespect to Gene, but we feel her half-time speeches are better than her husbands!

For the girlie view on Sundays game - go to Claymores FTP

Third quarter started with a bang. A great return of 42 yards by Jermaine Chatman put us in good shape. The drive then saw Simonton convert a 4th and 1 with a 3 yard run, and John Minardi make a 15 yard catch on 3rd and 13.

Then Simonton finished it in style going airborne from the 3 yard line to surge pass CB Travis Coleman ('#27) to complete a 23 yard scoring play from Nall.

Ken has 7 TD's on the season - 6 versus the Thunder D.

CLAYMORES 27-17

That seemed to ignite our D as Thunder QB Henry Burris had a much tougher time in the 3rd Q, throwing 1 pick and getting sacked on another drive.

Our O got a little bogged down too - with Nall throwing a pick that went off the hands of Scott Couper.

Here the officials decided to penalize the whole team by sending them into the penalty box!

But we broke through in the 4th quarter thanks to a 7 play 94 yard drive that was ignited by a 52 yard bomb to WR Scott McCready.

Nall finished things off with a 11 yard slant to Edell Shepherd. The WR thought about duplicating Bright's dunk - but had second thoughts and decided a nice peaceful pose would suffice instead!

CLAYMORES 34-17

And with we controlled the rest of the game, as we pushed Berlin around and finally discovered a pass rush.

But MVP had to be Ken Simonton for his 140 yards rushing and 1 TD and 2 catches for 34 yards and 1 TD.

Good job guys!

Get well soon CB Dyshod Carter (#26) who didn't play (despite what the stats say)

Our attempt to find the team buses was met with resistance. A cordon of about 20 security dressed in black made sure we were escorted out of the stadium grounds!

And so our German back to back road trip is over with 1 win and 1 loss. Since it's our first win in Germany since Week 2 in 2000 we'll take it even if the Berlin D was once again ... RUBBISH!