Moving on from yesterdays Championship bracket we bring you the little brother of the main cup competition, the Challenge Cup (which really, is a plate...). Last week saw the Glasgow Tigers, Bradford Bears, Plymouth Blitz and UEA Pirates move on to the next round. Now we take a light hearted look at how we think the games would play out.
NORTH
Glasgow Tigers @ Hull Sharks
Following on from their victory last week against the Lincoln Colonials the Glasgow Tigers hit the road for the 5 hour journey to last years Challenge Cup runners up, the University of Hull Sharks.
The Sharks, coming off their bye week, were slow to start on offence and defence and gave up an early score after a blocked punt was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Glasgow attempted to take advantage of the oppositions lethargy in the next drive as they went for the long bomb on their first play, but FS Alex Di Guiseppe picked the ball just inside the sideline.
The Tigers started to build some pressure pinning Glasgow inside their own red zone and the pressure finally told when a fumble was recovered by Defensive Lineman Aleks Phelps. Going for the touchdown on the very next play paid off for Hull as Sebastian Gogerly passed to Benjamin Walker in the back of the end zone. The half ended with the scores level at 7 apiece.
The Sharks had obviously had an inspiring half time speech as they came out of the blocks quickly to start the second half with hard running from Will Hobbs resulting in a long touchdown run to start the 3rd quarter. Sensing blood in the water, the Sharks starting taking advantage of the poor pass coverage from Glasgow as Gogerly passed for another touchdown to WR Michael Cash.
The 4th Quarter fell foul of a typical Hull downpour and both teams struggled to put together drives due to the poor weather and the game ended with no further scores. Hull go on to the next round with a 27-7 win.
Bradford Bears @ Northampton Nemesis
Northampton opened their first post season game at home against fellow rookies Bradford, who had already won their first taste of post season action.
Chris Peel had imposed himself on the last of Bradfords games and it was the "Van Wilder of University Football" that made the biggest impression again, hauling in a trick play touchdown and making tackles all over the field (finishing with 12 tackles) in the first quarter.
Northamapton struggled under the pressure of their first ever post season game and their offence never really got going, only scoring late in the second quarter to tie the game on a reverse that fooled the Bradford defence.
In the second half it was Steven Zurheid and Tom Davies making an impression for Bradford, stopping the Nemesis Double Wing offence again and again and giving up no ground at all.
Nomsey Para-Mallam put his mark on the game, gaining large chunks of yardage on one drive and punching the ball in with an acrobatic leap for the pylon. He repeated his scoring efforts on Bradfords next drive to give the Bears an insurmountable lead that they held onto for the rest of the game. The Bears march on to the next round with a 21-7 lead.
SOUTH
Plymouth Blitz @ OBU Panthers
As the team with the lowest ranking in the South bracket of the Challenge cup, Plymouth knew they would have to win every game away from home in order to reach the final. On the road once more to a they looked to try and topple yet another higher ranked opponent.
Oxford were in no mood for charity though as they took the opening kickoff out to the 50 yard line and then scored on a long pass from QB Tomi Biberovic to WR Ben Carter on the very next play.
Plymouth RB Tom Jones continued his superb post season form, but the Blitz were struggling to move the ball against Brooks strong defence. as the second quarter drew to a close rookie RB Ben Farina fumbled the ball and Brooks LB James McCubbin returned the ball for anotehr score, giving OBU a 14-0 lead at the half.
Although they were trailing, Plymouth kept feeding Jones the ball and their patience paid off as he broke a 30 yard touchdown for a score. OBU responded on the kickoff though with returner Dale Hooper finding a crease in the coverage team and taking the ball to the house for 6.
Plymouth look drained in the 4th quarter as their travels started to tell and OBU added another touchdown when running back Alexander Morgan got to the outside of the defence and took the ball down the sideline and into the endzone untouched.
The Blitz couldn't recover from two scores down, but could leave the field with their heads held high after their gruelling schedule put paid to their run in the post season. OBU continue their good form into the next round.
UEA Pirates @ Imperial Immortals
In our final matchup in the very tough South bracket the UEA Pirates took the journey round the M25 to take on the high flying and much improved Imperial Immortals.
With both teams defences on top form, the opening half was a tale of two kickers as Andy Hurley for UEA and Max Stubenvoll took centre stage, knocking over a pair of field goals each. Imperial were able to score the only toucdown of the half with RB Tino Millar catching a pass in the flats and beating several UEA players to score. Stubenvoll knocked the PAT over and the Immortals went in to the half 13-6.
UEA managed to rally in the 3rd quarter with QB Mark Rivett again linking up with WR Andy Custerton on a long touchdown play and the hard running Chris Carson got a score of his own to take the lead.
The momentum of the game appeared to be swinging in UEA's direction when SS Dexter Valencia picked off the ball at the UEA 40 and ran it in for a touchdown, tying the game with only the 4th quarter to go.
UEA would take the lead when Imperial running back Tino Millar was tackled in his own endzone by linebaker Oli Taylor, but they left enough time on the clock for Imperial to drive within fieldgoal range and Max Stubenvoll was cool under pressure to knock over the 30 yard attempt.
NORTH
Glasgow Tigers @ Hull Sharks
Following on from their victory last week against the Lincoln Colonials the Glasgow Tigers hit the road for the 5 hour journey to last years Challenge Cup runners up, the University of Hull Sharks.
The Sharks, coming off their bye week, were slow to start on offence and defence and gave up an early score after a blocked punt was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Glasgow attempted to take advantage of the oppositions lethargy in the next drive as they went for the long bomb on their first play, but FS Alex Di Guiseppe picked the ball just inside the sideline.
The Tigers started to build some pressure pinning Glasgow inside their own red zone and the pressure finally told when a fumble was recovered by Defensive Lineman Aleks Phelps. Going for the touchdown on the very next play paid off for Hull as Sebastian Gogerly passed to Benjamin Walker in the back of the end zone. The half ended with the scores level at 7 apiece.
The Sharks had obviously had an inspiring half time speech as they came out of the blocks quickly to start the second half with hard running from Will Hobbs resulting in a long touchdown run to start the 3rd quarter. Sensing blood in the water, the Sharks starting taking advantage of the poor pass coverage from Glasgow as Gogerly passed for another touchdown to WR Michael Cash.
The 4th Quarter fell foul of a typical Hull downpour and both teams struggled to put together drives due to the poor weather and the game ended with no further scores. Hull go on to the next round with a 27-7 win.
Bradford Bears @ Northampton Nemesis
Northampton opened their first post season game at home against fellow rookies Bradford, who had already won their first taste of post season action.
Chris Peel had imposed himself on the last of Bradfords games and it was the "Van Wilder of University Football" that made the biggest impression again, hauling in a trick play touchdown and making tackles all over the field (finishing with 12 tackles) in the first quarter.
Northamapton struggled under the pressure of their first ever post season game and their offence never really got going, only scoring late in the second quarter to tie the game on a reverse that fooled the Bradford defence.
In the second half it was Steven Zurheid and Tom Davies making an impression for Bradford, stopping the Nemesis Double Wing offence again and again and giving up no ground at all.
Nomsey Para-Mallam put his mark on the game, gaining large chunks of yardage on one drive and punching the ball in with an acrobatic leap for the pylon. He repeated his scoring efforts on Bradfords next drive to give the Bears an insurmountable lead that they held onto for the rest of the game. The Bears march on to the next round with a 21-7 lead.
SOUTH
Plymouth Blitz @ OBU Panthers
As the team with the lowest ranking in the South bracket of the Challenge cup, Plymouth knew they would have to win every game away from home in order to reach the final. On the road once more to a they looked to try and topple yet another higher ranked opponent.
Oxford were in no mood for charity though as they took the opening kickoff out to the 50 yard line and then scored on a long pass from QB Tomi Biberovic to WR Ben Carter on the very next play.
Plymouth RB Tom Jones continued his superb post season form, but the Blitz were struggling to move the ball against Brooks strong defence. as the second quarter drew to a close rookie RB Ben Farina fumbled the ball and Brooks LB James McCubbin returned the ball for anotehr score, giving OBU a 14-0 lead at the half.
Although they were trailing, Plymouth kept feeding Jones the ball and their patience paid off as he broke a 30 yard touchdown for a score. OBU responded on the kickoff though with returner Dale Hooper finding a crease in the coverage team and taking the ball to the house for 6.
Plymouth look drained in the 4th quarter as their travels started to tell and OBU added another touchdown when running back Alexander Morgan got to the outside of the defence and took the ball down the sideline and into the endzone untouched.
The Blitz couldn't recover from two scores down, but could leave the field with their heads held high after their gruelling schedule put paid to their run in the post season. OBU continue their good form into the next round.
UEA Pirates @ Imperial Immortals
In our final matchup in the very tough South bracket the UEA Pirates took the journey round the M25 to take on the high flying and much improved Imperial Immortals.
With both teams defences on top form, the opening half was a tale of two kickers as Andy Hurley for UEA and Max Stubenvoll took centre stage, knocking over a pair of field goals each. Imperial were able to score the only toucdown of the half with RB Tino Millar catching a pass in the flats and beating several UEA players to score. Stubenvoll knocked the PAT over and the Immortals went in to the half 13-6.
UEA managed to rally in the 3rd quarter with QB Mark Rivett again linking up with WR Andy Custerton on a long touchdown play and the hard running Chris Carson got a score of his own to take the lead.
The momentum of the game appeared to be swinging in UEA's direction when SS Dexter Valencia picked off the ball at the UEA 40 and ran it in for a touchdown, tying the game with only the 4th quarter to go.
UEA would take the lead when Imperial running back Tino Millar was tackled in his own endzone by linebaker Oli Taylor, but they left enough time on the clock for Imperial to drive within fieldgoal range and Max Stubenvoll was cool under pressure to knock over the 30 yard attempt.
If there are any corrections required please email us at dblcoverage@hotmail.co.uk or message Rich or me on the Facebook page. Any comments made about corrections required will be deleted.
dont think these games will as close as suggested. OBU d looks good enough to shut blitz out so much that obu's offense can go up quite a bit. IMO (neutral btw)
ReplyDeletedespite blitz not being shut out yet this season?
ReplyDeleteSo who would play who in the semis in your opinion?
ReplyDeleteJust to say Blitz do not even have a player called Ben Farina
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Ben Farina, professional Blitz player.
ReplyDeleteRumours have been spreading that I died, this isn't true. I'm very much alive and kicking.