Eagles Under 18's Results
Eagles Juniors win Festival of Football Trophy:
Another trophy was added to the Eagles trophy cabinet in Redditch last weekend when the Junior side completed a perfect 4-0 day to take the Festival of Football title. As it was also the sixth BYAFA ranking event of the season, the victory confirmed the Juniors place in the National Finals in Birmingham on July 14th.
Eagles opened their campaign with a 31-13 win against the much improved London Warriors. Tom Yardley put the Eagles 6-0 up with his first TD catch of the day from QB Danny Watson. London responded immediately with Luke Popely running in to score and convert his touchdown to put the Warriors 7-6 ahead. Another Tom Yardley TD put the Eagles back in front but again Popely hit back to restore the Warriors lead 13-12. A crucial TD catch by Lewis Yardley on the stroke of halftime sent the Eagles in 18-13 ahead.
Leicester took control of the game in the second half with QB Danny Watson at his accurate best and a composed second half defensive display shut down the Warriors threat. Tom Yardley sealed his domination of the match for Leicester with a touchdown catch from brother Lewis’s option pass and he also returned an interception for his fourth touchdown score. Rookie Ben Daws added the extra point to complete a convincing 31-13 victory for the Eagles.
Eagles second outing was against old rivals Sheffield Tomahawks. Tom Yardley began this game where he left off with an opening TD run and Nathan Stephenson’s catch added the extra point. Ben Daws took a great catch from QB Watson to score and Lewis Yardley’s extra point made it 14-0. Sheffield replied just before half time with a long range touchdown to give them hope going into the break 14-6 down. Tom Yardley put the game away for the Eagles scoring two second half TDs, one on a passing play and the other an interception return. Sheffield’s late consolation score made the final score 26-12 to Leicester.
Next up was Chorley Buccaneers A who had looked to be the most dangerous opposition to date. An early Eagles lead established by a Jake Cooke TD catch and Tom Yardley extra point was soon wiped out as Chorley levelled the scores at 7-7. Leicester looked in trouble when the powerful Buccaneers took a 14-7 lead early in the second half. The game turned in the Eagles favour when Nathan Stephenson grabbed a long 4th down pass from Danny Watson in the end zone. Jake Cooke made the extra point catch and the game was tied again 14-14. The force was with the Eagles now and QB Watson found favourite receiver Tom Yardley to put the Eagles 20-14 ahead. Eagles defence started to make big plays with Jake Cooke dominating the middle of the field and rookie Alexander Moore pressurising the Chorley QB. With time running out the Buccaneers launched a final assault but the Leicester defence stood firm to cling on to victory.
The final and deciding game was against the Chorley B team. Whether complacency had crept in or the Buccaneers upped their performance, Eagles really had to dig deep in this one. Chorley shocked Leicester going ahead 6-0 on their opening drive. A Jake Cooke TD catch equalised for the Eagles but a fired up Chorley B scored again and led at the break 12-6. The second half saw the Eagles drive down into Chorley territory and Lewis Yardley, carrying a hamstring injury, still had enough pace to get outside the Chorley defence to run in the equalising score. Leicester finally took the lead in the match with Charlie Craggs grabbing the extra point pass in traffic to make the score 13-12. With the game and title in the balance, Danny Watson launched a long pass into the corner of the end zone for Nathan Stephenson which took the Eagles seven points clear 20-13. The extra point play was crucial and Watson fired the ball into Tom Yardley to give the Eagles a 20-12 lead. Chorley refused to lie down and a long running TD play brought them back to 20-18. Everything rested on the two extra point play which was broken up by the Eagles secondary to see them home to a hard fought victory.
Coach Andrew Gambrill was delighted with his team: "Today was a great all round team performance with everyone contributing. I was particularly pleased with the way our rookies are developing" The victorious Eagles squad was: Danny Watson, Charlie Craggs, Jake Cooke, Tom Yardley, Lewis Yardley, Nathan Stephenson, Alexander Moore and Ben Daws.
