The London Olympians vs Leicester Falcons (photo-gallery)
[Olympians 14 – Falcons 13] external photos at - http:www.photoboxgallery.com/danh_photos

Living up to the expectations of the fore-running squads of Olympians is always going to be a hard act to follow but the new instalment is definitely full of both promise and ability. In the same breath Leicester have always produced tough teams going as far back as the well renowned Leicester Panthers. In their opening drive the Falcons marched right down into Olympian territory but could not overturn the defence to score. Their drive however controlled so much of the game clock that the Olympians barely saw much of the ball in the first quarter except in the hands of the opposition.

Another promising drive by the Falcons early in the 2nd quarter got as far as a resulting field goal kick and put the visitors 0-3 ahead on the scoreboard. The Olympians now got into their rhythm and flow with an emphatic drive which combined slick passing and snappy runs where QB Neale Canning hit receiver Kenny Bello, 25 yards down field, in the Falcons red zone for a first down. On the next play Neale connected with receiver DJ (Daniel Jeanton) for a touchdown. The PAT attempt by kicker Declan Williams was unfortunately blocked leaving the score at 6-3 to the Olympians. The Falcons were dominated for the rest of this quarter and a couple of drives later the Olympians saw running backs Adrian John, Chris Forrester and Toyin Dawudu carve up the opposition inside and outside with power runs. Fresh to gridiron competition in the UK Olympians receiver Chris Davis took a catch from QB Neale 26 yards in for a first down followed by another superb catch from receiver CJ (Carl James) and the Olympians were now in red zone territory. The Falcons halted the next play on a run but Neale connected with receiver Folley Ogundele at 12 yards an he weaved his magic moves to break tackles and run past 3 defensive backs for a touchdown! A bad snap on the PAT then saw backup QB Tomi Biberovic also connect with Folley for a 2 point conversion to see the score go to 14-3 to the Olympians.

The end of the 2nd quarter must have angered the Leicester Falcons because they got back into their rhythm of running in the 3rd quarter and also their defence kept the Olympians offence off the field most of the quarter. Standing firm however was the Olympians defence, who it must be said were worthy of an all-unit MVP on the day. The Olympians offence scored twice but in doing so gave away several unnecessary penalties and this resulted in them being backed up and not getting into the endzone. Both defences were in awesome form in the 3rd quarter and for neutrals in the stadium stands it was a stunning display of American football with no team scoring.

The 4th quarter showed either what could be described as nerves or inexperience on the part of the Olympians squad, most of whom were in their first ever competitive game. The up tempo gave the Falcons another drive which they accepted with duly and marched right back mainly with outside runs. The end result of this was a power run touchdown and 2 point conversion. Now the score was 14-11 to the Olympians who seemed to be losing the grip on the game after a dominant late 1st ,2nd and 3rd quarter. Having got a pretty good momentum going the Falcons defence then sacked the Olympians QB Neale for a safety to bring the score to 14-13. Nevertheless combining a good kick off return from CJ and inside runs from Adrian John and Forrester the Olympians took the ball deep into the Falcons territory. With 44 seconds to go the Olympians defence pinned back the Falcons with determination and held out for the game to end with the Olympians taking the ball over with about 5 seconds on the clock.

Phew!...what a game!! Next week the Olympians travel to face the East Kent Mavericks in what   is surely going to be another hotly contested match.