In what was extremely blustery conditions the Kent Exiles walked away with an impressive 14-13 victory against a strong Eagles side, in a game the hosts will feel they could, and possibly should, have won.
Going with the wind in the first quarter, the Eagles defense set the tone for the day, taking just five plays before forcing the Exiles to punt the ball away. The Eagles offense took the field and immediately got the ground game going, with big runs from Yomi Okuboyejo taking the Eagles to just inside the Exiles half.
After a couple of sure touchdown passes were dropped, the defense took over again, this time taking just one play before getting the ball back to the offense. Some strong passes form QB Martin Day took the Eagles all the way down to the Kent 11 yard line, where a quick pass from to wide receiver #12 Dale Hawes secured the touchdown, and with the PAT good the Eagles held a 7-0 lead.
The ensuing kick off was recovered by Kent, but downed at their own 2-yard line. Sensing an opportunity for safety, the Eagles D attacked and on the second play of the drive, forced and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a defensive touchdown.
In what would turn out to be one of the most critical plays of the game, a high snap on the PAT forced kicker and starting corner back, Vasco Dias to try and run in the two point conversation, but he was knocked out of bounds with inches to spare. There was a brief fracas after the play, and Dias was ejected for his part in proceedings.
Another quick three-and-out by the Eagles defense put the offense back on the field in excellent field position, however an errant throw on third down led to a pick six for Kent, with the extra point reducing their arrears to 13-7 with barely ten minutes of football played.
After several stalled drives from both teams in weather that definitely favoured the defense, Kent managed to find a way through with a 30-yard pass and catch over the middle for the touchdown. The PAT was good which took the score to 14-13 in favour of the visitors going into the half-time break.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, with the Eagles defense on top, and errors at crucial times from the offense the game remained in stalemate.
Despite some outstanding performances on defense, and the sterling efforts of backup QB’s Enrique Alonso and Stuart Franklin, the offense could not get the final score to win the game, despite being in the opposition red zone no less than five times in the second half alone.
Written by Neale McMaster