The Manchester Titans Adult Flag Football Team travelled to Sheffield in 30 degree sunshine on June 29th to take on the Warrington Revolution, Sheffield Vipers Green & Nottingham Honey Badges.
First up were the Revs, and the Titans defense held them scoreless on their first drive. Meanwhile Manchester scored on their first possession through a Rick McEwen TD catch.
On Warrington’s next possession, back to back sacks by Ian Allonby resulted in a safety, extending the Titans lead to 8-0. The Revs managed to score on their next drive, Jake Shaw with the TD catch, to make the score 8-6 but a deep pass from Titans QB Alan Mead to David McInally for a TD re-established the 8 point lead.
Big Blue held the Revs out of the endzone on their next series, and the Titans Offense took over this time Mead found Pedro Veira Berto for the TD & the 2XP to make the half-time score 22-6.
The Titans started the 2nd half with the ball, looking to add to their lead but a great play by the Revs Blitzer Jamie Lyness who tipped a pass, intercepted and ran it back for a TD. 22-12.
However Manchester marched down the field and David Briscall scored the resulting TD and XP making the score 29-12.
Warrington answered with a TD and 2XP of their own to cut the Titans lead to 29-20, before Mead again found Briscall for the TD with Jay Pitchford adding the XP. The Revs scored another late TD but the Titans ran out the remaining time for a 36-26 victory.
Next was the Vipers, a team that the Titans had beaten 51-26 in the first week of the season. This time the outcome was similar – Manchester running out 53-13 winners with Mead throwing 8 TD passes to Andrew Yuen (2), Pitchford (2), Berto (2), McEwen & McInally. Highlight of the day was Mead catching his own tipped pass and running in to score on an extra point. Defensively Yuen made an interception, whilst Thomas Lloyd recorded 2 sacks, one for a safety.
Final game of the day was against Nottingham, for whom the Titans pulled out their Grey Alternate Jerseys, last seen at the King Bowl Tournament in the Netherlands. The Titans started strong, with Mead hitting Yuen & McInally & Pitchford for TDs all converted by Pitchford to take a 21-0 lead. The Defense chipped in with 5 Interceptions – one for McInally, one for Oliver Ellis, and 3 for Allonby who returned one for a TD. Lloyd added 3 sacks and Will Gleed got the 3rd safety on the day. Meanwhile the offense continued scoring with Briscall, Yuen, Berto, Pitchford adding TDs, converted by Briscall (4) and Pitchford. Allonby even got on the act on the offense, catching a deep throw from Mead and running untouched to paydirt. The 64-7 win sets the Titans up for the winner-takes-all match-up with the Manchester Crows on July 20th. The winner will likely take the division, the loser may not even make the playoffs.