A disappointing loss by A Team Gold on the road against the Ellet Raiders. This was a game that shouldn't even have been so close, but errors on both offense and defense, as well as some awful refereeing contributed to this loss.
As A Team Gold received the kickoff to begin the game, but three plays later fumbled the ball to give the Raiders possession on the Tallmadge 35 yard line. However, the mighty Devils' defense held the Raiders to a quick four downs, aided by this Bobby C. stop behing the line of scrimmage:
At this point A Team Gold begins an impressive drive beginning on their own 27 yard line. A few plays later, Andrew S. finds the soft spot in the Ellet defense on this sneak to the Ellet 48:
Three plays later, on 3rd and 12, Andrew S. again finds room to run on the perfect boot:
Two short plays later, Kane advances the ball to the Ellet 1 yard line with this 25 yard run:
With this, the first quarter came to a close with no score showing on the board.
The second quarter begins with Andrew and the O-Line pushing their way into the end zone for A Team Gold's first touchdown!
Unfortunately, the extra point is no good but A Team Gold has taken a 6-0 lead over the Ellet Raiders.
After the kickoff, the Ellet Raiders begin their next drive from the Tallmadge 49 yard line. Five plays later (and several missed illegal shift and illegal procedure calls from the Ellet-friendly referees) the Raiders found themselves in the endzone tying the game up at 6-6.
On the next possession, Andrew S finds a huge hole behind left tackle an moves the ball for a big gain deep into Ellet territory. But again, the referees curse the Devils' drive with a terrible holding call on the offensive lineman, bringing the ball back to the Ellet 49 yard line:
On the next play, A Team Gold fumbles, giving the Raiders another possession. Once again, the Raiders move downfield, again aided by no calls on illegal shifts and illegal motion by the left guard (he was bobbing his head up and down and his butt up and down while set). Despite a great play by Andrew S.:
the Raiders were soon in the Tallmadge endzone, and with a good conversion, had a 13-6 lead over A Team Gold, and the first half ended with this score.
Good fortune smiles on A Team Gold as the second half begins when Bobby C. creates a fumble and Andrew F. recovers it to give the Blue Devils the ball at the Ellet 24 yard line:
Six plays later, A Team Gold again puts the ball on the ground and Ellet takes over. But again, Bobby C. makes big things happen, and on the very next play steals the fumble from the Raiders:
This gives A Team Gold the ball at the Ellet 43 yard line, and Kane makes them pay with this hard run for six:
Once again, the referees are unable to see the ball cross the plane of the goal line, and the score becomes a tight 13-12 in favor of the home team. But Andrew S. would not allow the Raiders to have good field position on the ensuing kickoff:
A Team Gold's defense steps up big on Ellet's next possession, as the third quarter comes to a close with the Raiders up 13-12.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Nate B. and Kane team on this huge fourth down stop of the Ellet runner:
And on the next play, Kane gains 15 yards for a first down at the Ellet 36:
However, the Tallmadge drive stalls and Ellet again takes the ball as time begins to run out on A Team Gold. Again, the Devils' defense comes up big with as they drive the Ellet runner out of bounds on this fourth down play with about 1:35 left to play:
But the Ellet clock operator does not stop the clock! An with time running out, A Team Gold's young offense makes a brave attempt at controlling the clock for a final drive. But luck (and whomever else) was just not on the Devils' side today as the ball is once again fumbled and the Raiders recover to seal the game with a 13-12 win over the good guys.
A tough and demoralizing loss for A Team Gold. Next week, the final road game of the season against the Springfield Spartans:
View Larger Map
