The East Kent Mavericks vs London Olympians (photo-gallery)
[Mavericks 6 - Olympians 28] external photos by Vici Holdsworth - [http://www.picsbyvic.co.uk/09%20London%20Olympians%20v%20East%20Kent%20Mavericks/index.html]

By improving their defensive game and sharpening up the offence, the London Olympians completed the second game of their return as 28-6 winners over the East Kent Mavericks on Sunday 19 April.

A much more improved performance from the previous game gave the defensive corp of the Olympians the urgency that was lacking in their previous engagement. The Mavericks however did manage an initial drive that got them into the red zone of the Olympians, only to see their field goal attempt go wide. In this first half of the game, the Olympians managed a 60% dominance of the game with a lot of credit going to their offensive line. Despite throwing 2 interceptions, which showed the alertness of the Mavericks defence, Olympians QB Neale Canning connected for a 33 yard passing TD to wide receiver Folley and ended the half with 96 yards on 7 completed passes from 20 attempts. The PAT was converted by kicker Declan Williams thus taking the score to 0-7 to the Olympians.

The second half was much more of the same with the Olympians stepping up their dominance. Folley continued on from his TD in the first half of the game and early into the third quarter took a reception from Neale for 28 yards, on a 3rd down, to score his second TD for the day to bring the score to 0-13. The Mavericks blocked the PAT. On the very next Olympians drive it was wide receiver DJ who was on the score sheet after taking a 32-yard pass from Neale to notch up his first TD of the day. The ensuing PAT was a 2-point conversion attempt, which also went to DJ to give the London Olympians a 0-21 lead.

It would be wrong to assume that it was all over and the visiting team was going to complete the day's domination because the Mavericks hit back with an outstanding outside run that caught the Olympians defence wrong-footed. They ran the ball in excess of 50 yards for a TD but failed to convert the PAT to leave the score at 6-21. Offensive coordinator Stuart Miller was not pleased with this lapse in concentration and set about organising the response. He set the offence on a long drive that both controlled the game clock and chewed up turf with steady running and short passing then to cap this drive off running back Adrian John scored from 4 yards out, capping off his 116 yards rushing on the day, to increase the Olympian scoring tally to 6-27. Kicker Declan converted the PAT to bring the score to 6-28 and QB Tomi came on thereafter to see the game out after ball possession went back to the Olympians.

Olympians MVP on the day went to the O Line unit.

The next game is away to the Maidstone Pumas on Saturday 9th May 2009.