The Titans Under 19 team’s unbeaten regular season run which stretched back over 2 years came to an end on Sunday 21st May with a touch loss to the Nottingham Ceasars. Two early scored gave Nottingham the lead and the Titans Offense were unable to register any points as the team fall to 1-1 on the season.
The Titan squad had to be up early for the 11:30 Kick off time in their away fixture at Nottingham and it showed with a sluggish first half performance riddled with mistakes.
After winning the toss and electing to receive the ball ,the first drive stalled in Titan territory when QB Ben Miles fumbled the ball whilst trying to reach for a first down .The Caesars capitilised on the turnover with some good running and poor Titan gap control which saw Robin Carreras go over for the first score of the game Caesars 6-0 .
A miss handled snap on the next drive led to a second fumble which gave Nottingham the ball , but a good Defensive series forced the punt.
The Titans Offense continued to struggle against an aggressive Caesars Defense lead by Jarrod Duddy who recorded 4 sacks on the day.A poor punt gave the Caesars great field position ,Where RB Carreras ran through poor tackling to record his and Notts second td ,with a 2pt convertion making the halftime score Notts 14 – 0 up.
The Titan took the field looking for a strong second half and after some solid Defensive tackling from Chase Johnston & Suli Derregia , they got a break with an interception from CB Lewis Parker on the Caesars opening drive. Carrying this momentum, the Offense made good yardage first through the running of Rebs Quinn and then with QB Miles hitting WR Anele Hlongwane for a 15 yard reception. But once again the Offense stalled and the drive came to nothing.
The Second half settled into a struggle with Nottingham playing solid, composed football with little errors and the Titans threatening the redzone but coming up short. With the Caesars sensing victory, their Offense started to use up the clock , preventing any possible comeback .
The Titans D held a late goal line stance , unfortunately after some initial success the game clock expired on the Titans Offense .
‘ A slow , lethargic first half performance with mistakes and mental errors cost us the game . Credit to the Caesars for a solid, aggressive and well executed game plan ‘
Coach Chapman