The London Olympians vs Maidstone Pumas (photo gallery)
[Olympians 36 - Pumas 0]

Several game starting players were not able to take to the field because of injuries so it was down to the second tier of players to honour the game where most had recently come up from the youth ranks of the squad. The linemen on both sides of the ball were inspired by Adam Hall and together they made sure that rookie QB Tomi Biberovic had a sound pocket to work from.

Maidstone Pumas made a very good start in the first quarter and on their opening drive, despite average field position, managed a handy first down after 3 plays. This was worrying for the Olympians but they held their nerve on defense, however on the turnover the offence stuttered as Biberovic was quite nervous. The Pumas got back into attack from deep in their half and again made good progress after another first down from the drive. They dominated the clock such that when the Olympians took over there was not much time left in the quarter so it ended 0-0!

Quick adjustments meant that linebacker Michael Omeru, who has been trying out as a running back, could now get a chance to fulfil his request. After a couple of first downs from hard rushing, courtesy of Seun Shobande, Toyin Dawuda, Chris Forrester and Omeru it all began to take shape. Dawuda to a short rushing play into the endzone for the first TD from this drive and Omeru ran in for a 2-point PAT. The Pumas came back with a promising drive in response and marched the ball from deep in their half into Olympians territory before turning the ball over. At this point it seemed the mixed short passes and outside runs from the Pumas was causing problems for the Olympians. Both sides traded possessions and soon the half was over with the score at 8-0 to the Olympians.

The 3rd quarter started with the balance now shifting to the Olympians even though the Pumas could sense they had it in them to cause an upset by what the records indicated. The Olympians did not start well and had halted runs and a fumble that led to loss of yards. Omeru came good in time and a few plays on ran for 30 yards to the Pumas 5 yard line. He then subsequently ran it in on the next play for a TD and converted the PAT for 2 points on another run to make the score 16-0. The Omeru show was now truly on the road because whilst moving back into his usual linebacker position he soon teamed up with Daryn Stilwell to block a punt and picked up the ball to run in yet another TD and the score was then 22-0. The ensuing PAT pass for 2 points was no good. The Pumas next drive was short-lived and once the Olympians took over the running game now went to Seun Shobande with awesome display of inside running. This was of course path-clearing blocking led by Alwyn Davis, Forrester and Haidar Kassem (the teenage fullback core). QB Biberovic was now steadying the ship well and had really worked hard to get the team ahead.

The 4th quarter saw the introduction of another QB from the junior ranks in the name of Richard Francia. Maidstone was still successful with drives that kept landing them in Olympian territory but lack the finishing that would realise them a TD. With the offensive line of the Olympians ticking over nicely Francia got straight to work and a few plays into his first drive of the quarter he hit receiver Steve Leonard on a 55 yard pass for a TD to move the score to 28-0. The PAT was unsuccessful after Francia failed to run it in. With the ball on their 5 yard line from the kick off the Pumas quarterback was rushed and hit by linebackers Victor Olamide and Art Bakmanidis in their endzone for a safety of 2 points and now the score was 30-0. This gave the ball back to the Olympians and Francia set about mixing the running game with the passing to set up another long pass, 30 yards, to receiver Daniel Jeanton to get to the 2 yard linewhere he was forced out of bounds. Jeanton soon after got the TD to settle the score for the day at 36-0 to the London Olympians.

MVP awards for the game were -

Team MVP: Michael Omeru,
Offense MVP: Adam Hall,
Defense MVP: Paul Jaggers,
Special teams MVP: Daryn Stillwell

The next game is at Colchester Gladiators on 28 June 2009, kick off is at 2:30pm.