The Titans U19s kept up the pressure on the East Kilbride Pirates in the bid to qualify for the national championship playoffs with a resounding 40-0 win against Chester Romans – their 3rd shutout win of the season. The Titans improved to 4-1, whilst Chester dropped to 2-3. The Titans led from the very first play when the opening kick off was returned for a touchdown and dominated in all three phases of play to take another victory as they push towards the play-offs.
The Titans came into the game well rested after their 49-0 win over Lincolnshire Bombers three weeks ago whilst the Romans came in on the back of last week’s 48-0 shellacking by the Highland Wildcats.
The Titans set the tone for the day when, after winning the toss, WR Kyah Baxter weaved through the Romans coverage team and took the opening kick-off back to the house. The 2pt conversion attempt was no good.
Chester started their opening drive on their own 20 yard line and made steady progress, largely due the number of penalties on the Titans Defense. As the Romans went to convert on 3rd down, Titans DB Josh Knott forced a fumble which Chester managed to recover. Following the recovery, Chester elected to punt.
The Titans began their opening offensive drive behind with some stellar running from RB Rebs Quinn, however penalties and errors proved to be an issue and the Titans found themselves deep in their own half. The Titans came up just short on a 3rd & 20 pass attempt to WR Sam Harrop, however penalties on the Romans this time gave the Titans 1st down. More solid running from Quinn and a Catch of the Game by Jordan Tsang, as the drive continued into the second quarter, moved the Titans into Romans territory where WR Baxter sprung clear of the defense and scored his second touchdown of the day. The 2pt conversion was no good again.
Chester’s second drive fared little better than their first with the Titans Defensive Line, led by Robert Duck, Suli Derregia, and Ben Kwasnik, caused havoc in the Romans backfield with several tackles for a loss. With Romans backed up against their own endzone, DE Duck sacked the QB for a safety.
The Titans took the ball back with 2 minutes left in the second quarter and moved the ball with moderate success. As the clock wound down towards half time, QB Ben Miles took a shot downfield and was intercepted by a great play from a Romans Defensive Back. The Titans took a 14-0 lead into half time.
Chester opened the second half attempting to run the ball, but they were held by some superb tackling by Greg Morgan and Thomas Brown. Eventually, Chester elected to pass and were intercepted by Knott whose pick six was called back by more penalties on the Titans Defense. The Titans took over at the spot of the foul and began well with some large gains on the ground thanks to some superb run blocking from the Titans Offensive Line of Owen Smith, Kal Moffatt, and Johnny Evans leading the Titans to 1st & Goal at the Romans 3 yard line. Despite the Romans briefly threatening a goal line stand, QB Miles snuck the ball into the endzone on 3rd down. Rebs Quinn converted the 2pt conversion attempt. 22-0 Titans.
The Titans Defense led by their dominant defensive line and some excellent open field tackling by Chase Johnston forced a 3 & out on Chester’s next drive. Chester punted on 4th down and the punt was caught by Kyah Baxter on the half way line and the WR ran back virtually untouched into the endzone. 28-0 Titans.
A second 3 & out was the follow for Chester which set the Titans up with great field position, 2 plays later, the Romans were caught out by a fake Jet sweep by Baxter with QB Miles finding Lewis Parker open in the endzone. Titans lead 34-0.
The teams then exchanged possessions with Chester held in check, rookie Rich Eades recording his first sack amongst a flurry of them by the Titans defense, before the Titans turned the ball over on their own drive. The Romans began deep in their own territory and were pushed further back by the trio of Duck, Derregia, and Kwasnik before a fumble was recovered by Titans on the Romans 3 yard line. On the ensuing Titans drive, QB Miles again snuck in for his second rushing touchdown of the day as the clock ticked towards full time.
Following the win, the Titans must now defeat Chester when the teams play again in 3 weeks and hope Merseyside can take victory against East Kilbride to have any hope of playing in the National Championship Playoffs.