American Football BAFA Southern Conference Division Two Semi-Final
By Twm Owen
South Wales Warriors 12, Portsmouth Dreadnoughts 37
An undefeated regular season for the South Wales Warriors ended in defeat at the first play-off hurdle against the Portsmouth Dreadnoughts who were always in control of this semi-final clash.
The Dreadnoughts tasted defeat at this same stage last year and showed their intent at the outset, surprising the Warriors with an explosive start as Benny Debrah sprinted some 60 yards to score on just the visitor’s third play from scrimmage at Llanharan Rugby Club’s Dairy Field.
The Warriors, who had conceded only 12 points all season, kept the deficit to six by blocking Les Adofu’s attempted conversion.
By the end of the first quarter the Warriors found themselves a further 10 points behind. Adofu added a field goal from 20 yards when the visitors failed to capitalise on an interception which gave them possession just 20 yards from the Warriors goal line.
At the end of the opening quarter running back Ben Meyers collected a simple pitch to out-sprint the Warriors entire defense 40 yards down the right-hand sideline to cross for his first of a hat-trick of identical touchdowns.
Meyers added his second on Portsmouth’s first play of the second quarter, after a Warriors punt, when he raced in from 60 yards on another pitch to the right. His third would come in reply to two Warriors touchdowns, either side of the half-time, in the fourth quarter but down the left sideline and from 33 yards.
Dreadnoughts head coach Luke Head-Rapson said he had been aware the Warriors could be vulnerable to lateral balls pitched wide.
He said: “We wanted to be aggressive with the outside run early and the video we’d seen, and other coaches had told us, they would be vulnerable and when Ben is in the open field no-one is going to catch him. But I hadn’t expected to be up by so much so early as these guys have a good defense.”
Adofu added the extras to Meyers’ first and second touchdowns to put 23 unanswered points on the scoreboard for the visitors at the start of the second quarter.
Things looked as if they would only get worse for the Warriors when Joe Clulow picked off quarterback Dean Jackson. The Dreadnoughts defender thought he had run in a pick-six but what would have been a fourth touchdown was wiped off the board for an illegal block in the back during the 35-yard return.
Once again the Warriors defense held the Dreadnoughts to a field goal attempt from 20 yards but the snap flew over the holder’s head and eventually stopped at the Warriors 39-yard line where the home team took possession.
The Warriors, who were missing first choice running back Joshua Hughes and starter David Coles from the offensive line, had struggled to establish their running game and couldn’t take immediate advantage. But a quick change of possessions gave the home side the ball back at midfield.
The Warriors turned to their passing game and Jackson found receiver Mick Duncan across a crowded midfield on third and 10. The Irishman continued running across field before racing down the right sideline to complete a 41-yard score.
Defensive back Daniel Dacey, filling in at running back in the under-strength Warriors backfield, couldn’t run in the extra two points.
Duncan injured his ankle in third quarter when he was used as a rusher but Liam Thomas converted on fourth and one as the Warriors running game finally found its feet. During the same driver the Warriors also lost another offensive lineman when Daniel Emberson was ejected for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
But it was Dreadnoughts indiscipline which brought the Warriors to the visitors’ one-yard line through two pass interference calls in the end zone. From there Thomas crashed over to bring the score to 12-23. Dreadnoughts defensive back Jake Smith batted down Jackson’s slant pass to prevent the Warriors from adding the two-point conversion and maintain the 11-point advantage.
At the end of the third quarter, in which they hadn’t scored, the Dreadnoughts turned to a three running back wishbone formation and looked as if they were more concerned with keeping the ball than adding further scores.
Midway through the fourth quarter Meyers ran in his third touchdown, which was converted by Adofu, to bring the score to 12-30 and Portsmouth’s dreaded defense finally got on the scoreboard when Smith picked off Jackson and returned the ball 60 yards to hit pay dirt. Adofu added the extra point.
Warriors head coach Geraint Roberts said he was unsure of what had gone wrong following a season in which his team had been barely challenged and secured home field advantage for the play-offs due to being ranked number one in division two.
“That first half, what went right? It was poor performance on special teams, offense and defense in the first half and we just didn’t execute. We prepared very well and knew what to expect but we just didn’t execute the plays.”
The Warriors had a bye in the quarterfinals after opponents the Worcestershire Black Knights pulled out citing a player shortage and Roberts felt his team had missed out when facing the battle-hardened Dreadnoughts who had to travel away for the semi after finishing second in the South division.
But following a winless 2017 which finished in relegation to the third tier Roberts said his team still has much to be proud of at the end of a season that started in mid-April.
“Today it hurts but I just said to the guys I’m massively proud of what we’ve achieved. We’ve had a couple of tough years, our aim this year was to rebuild, I didn’t think we would win eight out of eight. There is a lot to be proud of and a lot of achievements and we’ve just come up short. It’s difficult today but it will be a lot sweeter next year.”
The Dreadnoughts will now face the Hertfordshire Cheetahs, who inflicted their only defeat of the season on them to pip them to the South Division title, in the South Conference final at Leicester on September 2.
Hertfordshire defeated number two ranked London Blitz B with a 32-44 victory on the road to ensure both finalists will be from the same regional division.
Luke-Rapson said the competitive nature of their division had prepared them to take on the South West champion Warriors on the road: “We will play Hertfordshire in the final and I think it shows we play in the toughest division.”