Inverclyde Now Logo AMERICAN Football — Good Result For Inverclyde Goliaths In First Game

10 July, 2018 | Local

INVERCLYDE Goliaths defeated Highland Stags 30–6 at Parklea.

This was the first game in the associate process Inverclyde Goliaths are undertaking in the hope of entering the 2019 National League. The outfit fielded 36 players in a game closely scrutinised by the sport’s governing body, BAFA (British American Football Association), to ensure the Goliaths met all the standards to complete game one of the five-game association process.

The game began with the Goliaths receiving the kick-off and the offence taking the field to begin the first drive. After impressive runs from running backs Carlo Capocchi and Bud McFerren and quarterback (QB) Fabio Marturano, the Goliaths opened the scoring with an 18-yard pass from Marturano to tight end Ryan McCluskey. The extra points attempt was no good after solid defence from the Stags stopped the run up the middle.

After a few drives stopping short on both sides and the teams swapping punts, the Goliaths struck again, driving up the field after a long pass from Marturano to Bud McFerren was stopped short of the end zone. Marturano took the ball himself on a sweep to the right and entered the end zone to make it 12–0. The extra points attempt was again, no good.

The Stags came back stronger in the second quarter, driving up the field with a mix of rushes and a long deep pass to their number 10. The Goliaths managed to break up play in the Stags’s backfield but the Stags’s QB managed to break free up the right and rushed the ball in to the end zone from four yards. Goliaths shut down the extra point attempt before replying with another rushing touchdown from QB Marturano, this time from 35 yards out. The Stags once again stopped the extra point to finish off the half, 18-6.

Goliaths head coach Martin McClintock must have given a rousing half-time speech as the Inverclyde outfit’s defence came out firing on all cylinders. The Goliaths forced the Stags back on their own five-yard line, following a thundering tackle from cornerback Steven Mercer on the Stags running back in the backfield and a sack on the QB from Bud McFerren, now playing defensive end.

The Goliaths’s defence then closed the gaps and rushed the Stags QB, forcing him to attempt to throw the ball away as he was being tackled within the end zone which was picked off by linebacker Kevin McAdam, who powered through the Stags’s offence for the Pick-6 touchdown. The Stags again thwarted the extra point attempt to keep the score 24–6.

The Goliaths’s defence continued to hold strong against a resilient Stags offence, with the Goliaths’s offence driving up the field but not quite managing to punch the ball home, until, just before the final whistle. QB Marturano and offensive MVP (most valuable player), rushed the ball home one final time from the eight-yard line to close the game 30–6.

Following the game, McClintock said: “It was great to get our season started off with a win. The Stags are a tough team and it was a hard-fought contest. We have a lot of new players this year and getting them game time on Saturday was great for their development and for the club.”

Inverclyde Goliaths will continue their associate process against the Dundee Hurricanes on Saturday 4 August, time and venue to be finalised. New players are welcome join the Goliaths, with training every Thursday at 7.30pm at Fort Matilda.

The non-contact version of the sport is played by Inverclyde American Football’s flag football squad, Clyde Comets, which trains at the same place on Thursdays, at 6.30pm.  The club’s under-18 squad, Inverclyde Phoenix train alongside the Comets.

The club’s two to 12-years kids’ club, Inverclyde Mighty Ducks, resume their sessions on Sunday 12 August.

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