The Doghouse Bulldogs were all business last week against the PWC Renegades who came in confident after a win in week one. This was a bitter sweet game for the Bulldogs as this was the last game for their star quarterback Johnny Mack who is leaving the island and returning to Canada.
Mack closed out his flag career here in fine fashion as he opened up the scoring with a precise one yard touchdown pass to running back Chris Smith. The always tough Doghouse defence got the ball back a few plays later when corner back Josh Parsons stepped in front of PWC’s quarterback Chris Lebue’s pass and intercepted the ball which gave Doghouse great field position.
Mack wasted no time and took advantage with a laser pass to wide receiver Jon Pump to end the scoring in the 1st half. In the second half Mack continued his hot start as he hit new comer who goes by the nickname ‘Bone’ for a 10 yard TD pass to put the Bulldogs up by three scores.
Lebue put the shaky first half behind him and started to hit short passes and a defensive pass interference call against Doghouse helped PWC march down the field which ended in a one yard TD run by Lebue.
Doghouse were not done as Mack again showed why he is one of the best QB’s in the league as he stepped back and threw a 60 yard bomb to his favourite target Pump and then put an exclamation point on the day when he showed versatility and made a great catch on a two point conversion pass thrown by Pump.
The Doghouse defence led by coach/player Todd Hazelwood sealed the deal with an interception for a final score of 24-6 to Doghouse. This weekend Doghouse (2-0) will take on a skilled Hammerheads Pirates team hungry for a win while PWC (1-1) have a bye week which will allow them to correct the things that went wrong against Doghouse.
The young Maples Packers took on the experienced and intimidating Hammerhead Pirates. The Packers used their youth and speed to earn a well deserved 25-16 victory.
Hammerheads started slowly and moved the ball across midfield. A throw into the back corner was intercepted by Maples veteran Rupert Whittaker. On the ensuing turnover rookie quarterback Tyler Lee threw a perfect pass to Whittaker for a 55 yard touchdown to the crowd’s delight. The 17-year-old rookie QB has speed, agility and strong arm. He would later hook up with the aggressive Brandyn Murray who deviated from his pattern to take the ball out of the air freezing the safety as his strolled into the end-zone.
On defence, rookie Nicholas Roberts stole the show, with two interceptions, both of which he returned for TDs. That was basically the nail in the coffin for the Pirates.
Maples were able to convert the last TD, when Tyler his big tight end Teko Moore with a quick throw. Also impressive on defence, was the small but big hearted rookie Davanni James who terriorised the Pirates offence all day and ended up with a few sacks including a fourth and goal, 10 yard sack in the first half. Chris Bennett, also had a interception but was downed on the Pirates five yard line
The last game of the day saw a rematch of last season’s championship game between the Burger King Panthers and the dms Hellcats.
The dms Hellcats started the game with a strong showing on offence by marching down the field and scoring on the opening drive. This was in large part due to one of the newest editions to the team, TE Kevin ‘Star Boy’ Maxwell who was the recipient of the key third and fourth down conversions to keep the drive going as well as the touchdown pass from veteran quarterback Frecko Ebanks. The extra point conversion was successful with a pass to wide receiver Clay ‘Toast’ Coleman.
The game then entered a stalemate on offense with both teams showing why they were the two of the top defences in the playoffs last year. That was until with only a few minutes left in the first half, the Burger King Panthers struck with a third and long conversion pass from stand-in quarterback Brendon Malice to wide receiver Ryan ‘Harry Potter’ Smith which was followed by a short yardage touchdown run by wide receiver Simon Rivers.
The extra point conversion was successful with a pass to wide receiver Jon Carter. The Panthers seemed to catch the Hellcats defence off-guard with the deep play to Smith as they were shuffling to get set up just before the snap.
In the second half, the dms Hellcat’s defence clamped down on the Burger King Panthers once again and Hellcat’s offense began moving the ball with a great running game effort from RB Oliver ‘Dark Star’ Parker.
Unfortunately, they failed to get in the end zone on a few tries early in the half. That was until with less than two minutes to play, Frecko threw a bulls-eye pass to another new addition to the team, wide receiver Mike Carey. The extra point conversion was unsuccessful.
With less than two minutes to play, the Burger King Panthers made an effort to try and march down the field but the dms Hellcats defence was just too stifling and they could not convert on a fourth down play.
Coach George ‘Teddy’ Hydes of the dms Hellcats was glad to see the new additions to the team show early impact in the season and made special mention of second year stand out Ronaldo ‘Tank’ Garcia who put in a solid effort down in the trenches on offense and defence. Teddy said: “This was a great team effort and it was good to see the new guys make an impact as well as have some of the veterans like DL Craig ‘Festa’ Frederick back in top form this early in the season.”
This rematch of last year’s playoff finals proved to be a physical defensive battle and lived up to the hype. When they meet up again on 6 August this will be a battle not worth missing.
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