Tag: Gameday

Eagles complete series rout of Cardinals

24 Jul
OVEagles All News, Reports, Senior Football , ,

The Ouse Valley Eagles completed the two game series with Ipswich Cardinals on Sunday, walking away 58-0 victors, and finshing the series 2-0 winners, with an overall scoreline of 133-6. Three weeks earlier, the Eagles had travelled to Ipswich and handed out a big loss to a young Cardinals side, finishing 75-0.

On Sunday, the story was much the same.

The Cardinals showed up with only 20 players, and requested a running clock right from the start (this means the clock doesn’t stop, so the game only lasts 60 minutes), which the Eagles and Officials happily obliged.
This didn’t slow the Eagles down any, as after a quick 3 and out by the defense, it took only 2 plays before #31 Okuboyejo opened the scoring with a 12yd run. Okuboyejo also converted the 2Pt PAT.

The Eagles defense continued where they have been throughout the whole season, and dominated an Ipswich offense which consisted of linemen playing both ways and out of position players due to numbers.

#33 for Ipswich Jordan Mussington continued to be a bright spark for the Cardinals, as he was in the last game, and he shows all the signs of a running back with a big future ahead of him at just 18 years old.

However, it wasn’t long before the Eagles were on the score sheet again, with Okuboyejo bagging his 2nd TD of the day.

The Eagles took the opportunity to evaluate their players in a game situation, and with a big game against Kent looming, decided to rest starters where possible. The squad players grasped the opportunity with both hands, with Touchdowns for Kase Chibwe, Rick Price and Martin Day. Jack Davis-Fletcher also caught his first ever touchdown pass, on the receiving end of a lovely touch pass from Day.

The final score on the day was 58-0, which is a considerable amount bearing in mind the running clock.

Head Coach Will White had the following to say “I’m delighted with that win; it was a thoroughly professional job, against a very classy team in Ipswich. For our offense to put up 58 points with a running clock the full game is pretty impressive, and we didn’t punt the ball once the entire game, which is pleasing. Our defense continued their awesome form with a shutout, and the guys have just gone from strength to strength.

Our attention is now switched to Kent next week. If we win that game, we’ll be a prime spot for the playoffs, which was our goal at the start of the year. I feel pretty confident about that game, but I know they won’t make it easy for us. The managed to scrape a win at our field last time out, but we’ve came on so much since that game, not just on the field, but as a group of players coming together off it. I’m very proud of the way our guys have bought into what we are trying to do, and are striving to be great. “

Our thanks must go to the Cardinals who despite a very small squad, made the trip and played the game, a feat a lot of other clubs in the UK wouldn’t have done staring certain defeat in the face.

The Eagles next game is away to Kent Exiles, on Sunday 27th July with a playoff berth on the line. Details can be found below. If you can, please come and support your Eagles in their biggest game of the season, entrance is £3 at the gate.

OVE @ KE

Cardinals lose faith as Eagles soar

11 Jul
OVEagles All News, Reports, Senior Football , ,

On what was a pretty bleak and dreary day on the East coast of England, the Ouse Valley Eagles enjoyed an excellent all round performance, coming away victorious with a 75-6 romping over the Ipswich Cardinals.

In what was the Eagles first ever bus trip, some may have expected a sluggish and perhaps under prepared side to come off the bus and play, but the 43 strong Eagles squad came out with a bang, and the defense started the game the way it meant to go on, conceding less than 100 yards on the entire day. A quick 3 and out by the defense gave the Eagles the ball in great field position, and despite scoring 3 touchdowns, no points were recorded on the first drive due to various penalties.

Again the Eagles defense continued to shut down the Cardinals Offense, giving the offense the ball back in excellent field position. #31 Yomi Okuboyejo duly took charge and ran in the touchdown to give the Eagles a lead they never looked like giving up.

Okuboyejo then added to his haul with a second TD in the first quarter to give a 14-0 nothing lead going into the 2nd quarter.

A clearly depleted Cardinals roster had worked extremely hard to keep the Eagles to just 14 points in the 1st quarter, and perhaps that was beginning to take its toll, as a huge second quarter for the Eagles began with Kalaba ‘Kase’ Chibwe running in his first of touchdowns of the day. The quarter continued with Kase adding another score, and Chris Parr adding 2 punt returns for touchdowns.

Overall on the day, there were 10 touchdowns scored, 7 on offense, 2 special teams returns and the defense came up big with a safety, with the only spot on an otherwise pristine score line being an interception on a screen pass late in the 4th quarter.

The scorer’s on the day for the Eagles were:
Yomi Okuboyejo x 2
Kalaba ‘Kase’ Chibwe x 2
Dale Hawes
Tyre Jones
Fred Shifflet x 2
Chris Parr x 2

The Eagles have a small break now and don’t play again until the return fixture against the Cardinals, at BIAS, on the 20th July.

The race to the playoffs is well underway, and your support means everything, please get along to BIAS for the final time this season to see you Eagles hopefully go 6-2.

Eagles put Spartans to the Sword!

17 Jun
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In a coming of age performance, the Ouse Valley Eagles ran all over the Essex Spartans, finishing 55-8 victors. Indeed ‘finishing’ was a key theme of the day, with almost every possession in the Red-Zone finishing in points.
The Eagles had set out their stake before the game to establish a running game that could carry the team through the rest of the season and into the playoffs, and after a the Eagles defense pushed the Spartans O to a quick 3 and out, the Eagles Offense did so with emphatic precision.

On the 2nd play from scrimmage, Running Back Yomi Okuboyejo broke free down the sideline for a huge 60 yard gain, taking the Eagles on their first trip into the Redzone. Finishing was something that had been emphasised throughout their 4 week hiatus from competitive games and the Eagles took that board, with starting QB Enrique Alonso finding receiver Dale Hawes in the end zone for the 6 points. Hawes then added the extra point to take his tally to 7 for the day.

The Eagles vaunted defense was living up to its name, and setting the tone for the rest of day, continually forced the Spartans to 3 and out drives, however some early offside penalties didn’t help their cause, the Spartans never really got anything going offensively after those freebies.

In what was to be a 3 touchdown performance from Okuboyejo, #31 got the offense going again, with some solid running behind a strong Eagles Offensive Line. It was just another few plays before Okuboyejo was seen striding into the end zone again, this time from 20 yards out, with Hawes again adding the extra point.

At 14-0, in the first half, the Eagles from earlier in the season would have taken their foot off the gas, but there was none of that today, as a further two scores from Okuboyejo took the score to 26-0 at the half.

Despite some changes in the Eagles personnel, the running game didn’t slow down, with Kalaba ‘Kase’ Chibwe bursting through the middle of the Spartans D and taking it to the house from over 50 yards out, with the 2 point conversion good, the score stood at 34-0 early in third quarter.

That finished the scoring in the 3rd quarter as the Spartans D began to shut down the Eagles Offense with some punishing run blitzes. The Eagles Defense was always on top here, despite never really getting into top gear, and keeping the shutout was critical to the Eagles playoffs hopes.

In the 4th quarter the Eagles rushing attack sprung back to life, with Fred Shifflet flying down the sideline for the 41 yard score. Hawes again added the extra point, taking the score line to 41-0. On the ensuing kickoff, the Spartans burst into life against an Eagles unit that sorely needed some practice time together, and ultimately that cost them, with the Spartans deservedly taking the ball back 70 yards for the 6 points, on an electric kick return. They added the 2 point conversion, making the score to 41-8.

With the two minute having just gone, many could been excused for leaving early, or turning their backs on the game thinking it was done, however that was not the case. In what was a thrilling end to the game, the Eagles rose up and really finished the game off, with a quick score from backup QB Martin Day to WR Tyre Jones from 18 yards making the score 48-8. Again, the Eagles were not finished, with some punishing tackling from Darren Gregory, the defense forced the turnover, giving the ball back to offense on the 34 yard line, with less than 20 seconds on the clock. It took one play, with Day finding Jones wide open in the end zone for the 6 points. Hawes added the PAT and the score was finished at 55-8.

It was an impressive performance by the Eagles, and with another week off to prepare for back to back against the Ipswich Cardinals they will be looking for this form to take them through to 6-2.

An ecstatic Neale McMaster said after the game “I’m absolutely delighted we managed to break that 50 point mark. From an offensive standpoint that was our target on the day. That’s no disrespect to the Spartans, they’re a decent outfit and you don’t win 3 games in this division without knowing how to play the game; however I was confident in our abilities coming off our best week of practice offensively.”

“Whilst Yomi game the MVP for the Offense, a huge shout out has to go to our Offensive Line and Full Backs, those guys were supreme today, and really set the tone up front.”

When asked why it had taken so long for the offense to get going this season, McMaster replied “It’s one of those things that comes with implementing a new system, and especially with the merger happening, there are a lot of personalities and everything just takes a while to bed in. We’ve been preaching patience from the start, and the players who are here have bought into the system we run, and that patience has started to give dividends. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to take this form and this confidence into the back to back series with Ipswich, that’ll make or break our season.”

Head Coach Will White echoed those sentiments, saying “We had been practicing hard during our off weeks to correct a few things we found wrong and it all came good on Sunday with our best performance to date. Neale McMaster my OC & our offense did an outstanding job of capitalizing on everything the Essex defense gave us to the tune of at least 400+ yards and 55 points, whilst the defense carried on doing a great job adding another 6 turnovers to an already huge takeaway total.”

All photos of the game have been published on our gallery. All the photos are courtesy of Mikey Cartwright at Ponderosa Pics.

The Eagles next game is away to the Ipswich Cardinals on the 29th June. Details of that game can be found on the website and social media sites. Our next and final regular season home game takes place on the 20th July against the Cardinals, with that game kicking off at 12pm at BIAS.