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Photos: Philip Mourdjis
The York Centurions came up marginally short in their effort against the Lancaster Bombers at Roses thus year, with the hosts valiantly holding a 12-6 victory despite a valiant effort from York.
In perfect conditions both offensive units struggled, surprisingly, leading to a relatively low scoring game . The York defence came out firing and allowed only one first down in the whole first quarter, but unfortunately York couldn’t capitalise as unforced errors plagued the offense.
The second quarter was similarly gritty. Veterans Toby Heffernan and Fred Isaac often found themselves harassing the Lancaster quarterback, aided by the air tight coverage of York’s rookie defensive backs. Yorks defence looked solid throughout the game, with only small errors allowing “the bombers” to get points on the board.
However a Lancaster interception that was returned aftera touchdown provided a huge momentum shift, and left the halftime score at a miserly 6-0.
After the break Lancaster dived deeper into their playbook, and a well executed trick play saw them add to their lead soon after the break. At 12-0 York’s comeback attempt was made all the more difficult by injuries to starting quarterback Sam Parke and nifty running back Dami Oloko.
Rookie first year Will Muirhead took the reigns and gave the offense a much needed spark to reignite a possible comeback. With just minutes to play, Muirhead scampered in from 15 yards, to give York hope – but sensible time management from Lancaster left York short too late in the game.
Future captain Jack Coppack, promises further improvement from the Centurions with a strong group of rookies although the loss of a few players to graduation,including current captain Fred Isaac will be a blow. Coppack is looking forward to continuing the teams successes and building a winning dynasty for the York Centurions.
(With thanks to Jack Coppack)