Week 6 and we finally had something to sing about after our dramatic victory the week before. Also singing this weekend were various choirs who had been competing in a choir competition we presume. And at the hotel bar long into the night they kept singing! This clearly was a factor in our performance the next day ...

Game Day

Everybody was still celebrating last week's Curt Comeback TD. Well FTP were anyway. Please remember to read their recap of the weekend at their site.

Claymores fans - from largest to smallest!

Ed (tall) and June (not so tall) were over from Manhattan, Kansas for their 1st game of the season. These guys really looked after us when we were in the Little Apple on our Kansas Cow tour.

Their son, Scott is the assistant equipment manager. We've no idea what they make of Scott and Tanny's new feature - Check Your Gameballs!

As K-State fans - we don't like Oklahoma. Nate Hybl (#18) was a Sooner and we didn't care for him when he was there either! He certainly looked a whole different player when surrounded by a strong supporting cast in Norman. Over here in 5 starts, he's struggled mightily. Would his 6th start improve?

Flower of Scotland not performed by Karl.

BRING BACK KARL!

Could the Claymores break their 5 game losing streak to the Galaxy and get payback for last years World Bowl incident?

It was do or die time!

We won the toss this week. Another bad omen. We took the ball and Ian Smart ran the kickoff back to the 28 yard line.

Straight away Nate Hybl went to work and hit last week's hero Ron Bellamy for a 9 yard gain. Was the O finally getting in a groove?

Err ... nope. Once again poor old Ahmaad Galloway found the pursuit of positive yardage a task too much on the 1st drive. On 2nd and 1 he lost 2 yards. Then on 3rd and 3 he lost 3 more. Normally Ahmaad has been losing yards on the outside - here he never got the chance!

The Galaxy led by QB J.T. Sullivan quickly went 3 and out though as 3 consecutive passes hit the Hampden turf.

The 3rd one provided some comic value as when Sullivan rolled out left and planted to throw he stumbled and almost fell over, but then somehow heaved it away. Too bad he was past the line of scrimmage as well!

The ensuing Mike Barr punt was barred from traveling downfield when Claymores DL Cedric Scott got a mitt on the ball and it fluttered out of bounds at the Galaxy 13 yard line. Kahlil Carter celebrates - as for the 2nd straight week the O gets a golden chance to strike early.

On 1st down, we try to fool the Galaxy by running a reverse to Ron Bellamy. But the Galaxy are hardly over pursuing our less than formidable running attack and the slow developing play gains 1 yard.

On 2nd down, Nate Hybl again appears to have found grass but Scott McCready makes his weekly shoestring grab for 6 yards.

On 3rd and 3 from the Galaxy 6, Hybl this time fires high and wide to Ron Bellamy who despite a spectacular one-handed attempt, has no chance to pull it in.

Rob Hart trots on the field and slots home a 24 yard FG to put us on the board - but like last week a good chance has gone to waste, which could have boosted Hybl and shaky offense.

CLAYMORES 3-0

On the next drive we saw a couple of firsts. After finding favourtie WR Drew Haddad for 16 yards, O'Sullivan finds him again for a 48 yard catch and run though the Claymores secondary. Only a last gasp tackle from Gerald Dixon at the 5 yard line saves what looks like a certain TD. The 48 yard pass is the 1st play over 35 yards on the defense all year.

But the D rises up and halts the Galaxy in their tracks. Two Skip Hicks runs gain just 1 yard, to set up a 3rd and Goal from the 4 yard line.

O'Sullivan goes back to pass, the pass is deflected and ...

Just to show it's not all Ahmaad's fault, Ian Smart lost another yard on 3rd and 2 to bring on Nick Murphy again. It's fast becoming clear that 3rd and short is not a running down in Scotland this season.

But the D didn't permit O'Sullivan to cross midfield and it appeared Curt Anes would take over on offense as the 2nd quarter began. But Ian Smart made an error in trying to handle a wicked bounce on the punt, and it bounced off him into the waiting arms of Galaxy S Chris Brown.

2nd Q
There was no dodging the bullet this time and the Claymores D finally gave up their 1st TD at home in 2004. After finding Haddad for 17 yards, O'Sullivan rolled out left on 2nd and goal and lobbed a TD to FB Corey McIntyre for a 3 yard score. Good ole Ralf Kleinmann was wide left on extra point.

GALAXY 6-3

Curt's 1st shot at QB started well - and once he again he showed his ability to 'spark' this dormant offense.

After a personal foul made it 1st and 22, he hit his first 4 passes for 60 yards, including a 29 yard strike to TE Marcus Helfman, who he seems to have great rapport with.

However the drive stalled when Curt couldn't connect on 2 throws into the end zone.

On 3rd and 8 his 2nd throw into the end zone for Ron Bellamy fell incomplete when Bellamy was "defended" by Lynaris Elpheage.

That left Rob Hart a 43 yard FG to break Jesus Angoy's all-time points record of 329 points - no mean feat as Rob's career long was only 42 yards. However Rob's kick sailed up and through and the game was tied. Well done Rob!

ALL TIED 6-6

The Galaxy responded with a good drive led by their back up QB Kirk Farmer, which was aided by a roughing call on Damian Gregory. However our D held in the red zone again, and Kleinmann put his 32 yard FG through the uprights to give the Galaxy the lead back.

GALAXY 9-6

With 2:12 on the clock, Curt got a chance to run the 2 minute drill again. After hitting Haygood for 11 yards and Hicks for 7 yards it looked like another scoring drive might be in the works. However on 3rd and 3 his pass put to a wide open Haygood in the flat was tipped by a Galaxy lineman and fell frustratingly short.

A good Murphy punt pinned the Galaxy deep and they ran out the clock on what was left of the 1st half.

GALAXY 9-6 (HT)

Twister Half Time. Could the Galaxy end the Claymores unbeaten run? Click below to find out!

3rd Q
The quarter had barely begun and Frankfurt were knocking on the door. A 38 yard kick return by Jason Willis, followed by an O'Sullivan 21 yard pass to Chad Hayes, and then a reverse to Derrick Lewis for 7 yards had them inside the Claymores 25. But the D stuffed Skip Hicks on 2nd & 3rd down and Jamie Rheem booted a 41 yard FG to extend the Galaxy lead.

GALAXY 12-6

Special teams looked to have bounced back on the kickoff though when Ian Smart raced 30 yards to the 47 yard line to give Hybl excellent field position.

3 straight completions (including DeAndrew Rubin's 1st catch) had them inside the Galaxy 30 yard line.

But back to back sacks on Hybl by Clenton Ballard pushed them out of FG range and Nick Murphy's punt sailed into the end zone for a touchback

Defense then dominated the rest of the quarter. First, the Galaxy went 3 and out. Hybl took over and had a chance for a big play when Rubin got open downfield but Hybl's 1st deep throw of the season had too much air under it and Rubin was unable to come back for it. Still it's nice to see one of Nate's balls finally taking flight...

A good Murphy punt this time pinned the Galaxy deep and we were on D again.

Time for the Jimmy McClain fanclub to celebrate as #55 sacked O'Sullivan on 3rd down to force yet another punt.

Some fans have mistaken the back row of the South Stand as being the "We Want Curt" brigade with the #5's hoisted high. Not so - it's simply a lack of coordination between Dom and Preston!

This time Ian Smart managed to field the punt, but fumbled it on his return - for Chris Brown to recover again.

However the defense was playing lights out by this stage, and it's refusal to give up ground was reminiscent of last week.

That brought back Curt on the field for what we didn't realize would be his last drive of the day.

The Galaxy defense started to step up too, as Daniel Benetka sacked Anes on 3rd and 4 to force the Claymores offense to give the ball up with 12:03 left. They never saw the ball again!

The Galaxy caught a break when their punt returner Haddad muffed his return - but the ball fell harmlessly out of bounds at the Scotland 48. A short completion to Derrick Lewis got the Galaxy into field goal position and when Jamie Rheem was good from 41 yards it looked like a 9 point lead with 10:04 might be too much for the Claymores to overcome.

GALAXY 15-6

But once again the special teams bounced back - this time in a big way!

Herb Haygood fielded the kick on his own 5 yard line and cut across the field to the right sideline.

Suddenly it opened up for him and he danced through a hole and broke free alone the sideline ...

With Durrand Roundtree as an escort Haygood continued on his path toward the endzone. Roundtree turned round and peeled off the pursuing Galaxy defenders and Haygood coasted the rest of the way, completing a 95 yard TD return.

Suddenly it was game on again!

GALAXY 15-13

TOUCHDOWN SCOTLAND!

So all the D needed was one more stop ...

They quickly had O'Sullivan on 3rd and 10 on his own 24, but he found Derrick Lewis over the middle for a huge 25 yard completion. But then a false start and a holding penalty moved Frankfurt back to 1st and 25 ...

But then the unthinkable on 1st on 25. The dangerous Skip Hicks who had been held to just 29 yards on 17 carries up to that point - took the handoff broke a tackle and skirted round left end for 29 yards. Just like that the Galaxy had a 1st down.

Aaaaarrrghhhh!!!

And that's it! With only the 2 minute warning to stop the clock, the Galaxy run out the rest of the clock and Curt never gets a chance to repeat his last minute heroics.

It's as if we sold our soul to the devil to win World Bowl 96 against Frankfurt. From 1995-97 we were 6-1 against the Galaxy and our whipping boys. Since 1998 we are a woeful 3-10 including 6 straight losses.

FINAL
GALAXY 15 CLAYMORES 13

Game "cheddars" to...

Rob Hart. Broke Jesus Angoy's all-time points record with his 2nd FG of the day. That 43 yarder was a career long for Rob as well. Overall he went 2 for 2 on FG's and 1 for 1 on XP's.

Jimmy McClain. Back to back standout efforts from #55. He amassed 11 tackles plus a sack on Sunday to pace the defense. If only he could hang on to one of these passes that comes his way!

Damian Gregory & Alan Harper. Were rocks in the centre of the D all day. Combined for 13 tackles and shared a sack.

James Lewis. Finally got the Claymores 1st INT of the season.

Herb Haygood. - 5 catches for 55 yards, with some 2nd effort resulting in 1st downs. Plus the 95 yard kick return that gave us hope.

What we learnt after Week 6 ...

Ball control can be important. The Galaxy had 35 rushes compared to just 11 for the Claymores. Even though Skip Hicks was contained most of the day, the D eventually wore down and couldn't get the Galaxy off the field when they need it most.

Purple get the black and white breaks again. The critical pass completion on 3rd and 10 at the end won the game the game for the Galaxy. If it had been correctly ruled incomplete, Curt would have had just over 2 minutes to drive for the winning score (FG or TD depending on whether the Galaxy made a 42 yard FG). Curt's already shown he can drive the team in the last 2 minutes of the 1st 2 home games - so we'd liked the odds of him doing it again.

Running on empty. The 12 yards rushing was an all-time low and that included an 11 yard gain! Maybe it's time to spread things out a bit and try to create space for the RB's in other ways. Until then, 3rd and short is not a comfortable running down for the Claymores.

Special teams giveth and taketh away. While Ian Smart had a bad day at the office - don't blame the loss on the ST's. They basically set up 10 of the 13 points - and only one of Smart's fumbles directly led to Galaxy points (6).

Odds & Ends

Once again - well done to Rob. It's disappointing he couldn't celebrate a win as well, but hey it gave us something to feel good about.

And so it's off to Frankfurt next week for the return engagement.

It goes without saying that we would like to do this to the Galaxy!