American Football

The Gateshead Senators made the trip north to open the 2003 campaign against new boys Edinburgh Wolves.

Prior to kick-off, a presentation was made by the Gateshead team to the Edinburgh Wolves to welcome them to senior football. The Wolves won the coin toss and elected to receive, with a strong wind blowing the ball was taken on the 15-yard line and returned to the 25 where Rich Cowell made a run stopping open field tackle. The Wolves started

their first drive from scrimmage with an up the gut run for five yards, the

drive however quickly came to a close when a lofted pass to the outside receiverwas blown out of bounds by the strengthening wind. Forced to punt on fourth and five, the punt equally fared no better and Gateshead took over on the Wolves 37 yard line.

Taking over from where he left off last year, Senator's leading rusher Craig Million led the ground game with a series of hard nose straight ahead running.

Faced with a fourth and two at the Wolves 16, a gutsy play was called that saw 'rookie' John Rooney barrel ahead to give the Senators a first down on the 11 yard line. Two sprints later and Craig Million was in the endzone for the first score of the new Senator season. The extra point was blocked and the score was 6-0 to the Senators early in the first quarter.

Edinburgh next drive was again a three and out as the Senator's 'D' started to get a feel for the game. From a muffed snap, the punter was tackled by Dave Wilson back on the Wolves 12 yard line. Gateshead drove the ball down to the goal line but after back-to-back offensive holding penalties found themselves with a 4th and goal from the 15. After turning the ball over on downs, a more aggressive Wolves took the field and from the first down, No 22 'Magic Malloy' sprinted 11 yards off tackle for the teams 1st first down. This, however, was not the start of a resurgence and the 'D' kicked in leading to a three and out for the Wolves. The 1st quarter closed with the Wolves punting deep into Senator territory.

The next drive saw the Senators again use the strong running of both Million and Rooney to move the ball successfully down to the Wolves 24 yard line. Here the Wolves 'D' stood firm and forced a fumble from Rooney on a 1st and ten. The Senator defence led now by the former player 'Mark Sloan' gave up a long running play of 36 yards before Mark Lyndsey intercepted the wayward Wolves pass on the 25 yard line to snuff out the drive. After punt the ball back and forward for another series, the Senators started the next drive with 2.28 left in the half on the Wolves 49 yard line. Mickey Rumney, the featured back had three runs off the belt for 7,6 and 9 yards. From there, Craig Million drove the ball in on five consecutive plays scoring from 13 yards out to make the score 12-0 with the half coming to a close. Gateshead went for the conversion, but the wind took an excellent pass from Dave Nimmins out of the hands of Lee Fraser.

The second half got underway with an unbelievable return by the rookie Andy Sinclair for 50 yards before the ball was jarred loosed and recovered by the stalwart Steve Wooton playing in his 19th year. With good field position on the Wolves 40 yard line, Mike Rumney rolled over the Wolves for 32 yards to the eight-yard line to give the Senators 1st and Goal. From here, John Rooney atoned for his earlier fumble by carrying the ball into the endzone to make the score 18-0. With a successful conversion, the score was increased to 20-0. Edinburgh next drive again came to nothing and they were forced to punt from their own 38-yard line. Gateshead drove the ball again down towards the goal line and on a third and four from the five, Dave Nimmins pass was picked off in the endzone and returned to the 23-yard line. With the momentum starting to shift, the Wolves drove for the first time into Gateshead territory to the 41 yard line on the back of an 18 yard reception. However, on a 3rd and 11, James Waite and Steve Wooton met the ball carrier in the backfield to force the Wolves to punt.

With a high punt away, the ball bounced from the field directly into the hands of Steve Wooton who then proceeded to thunder his way down the sideline before been knocked out of bounds after an 11 yard gain. The next play from scrimmage was an excellent cross field screen pass to running back Craig Million, who following excellent 'O' line blocking ran for thirteen yards and a first down. After another 16 yard run to give first and goal at the ten, Million drove in for his third touchdown of the day to make the scores 26-0. No conversion on this attempt as the pass to Lee Fraser drifted wide. The third quarter closed with Gateshead leading Edinburgh by 26-0.

After another three and out and a wayward punt, Gateshead put a controlled drive together from the Wolves 42 yard line. On the back of some strong leadership from Dave Nimmins and some top-notch play calling from Coach Gary Marshall, the Senators found themselves with 1st and goal from the five. From here Lee Fraser ran an end around to sneak into the endzone to make the score 32-0. On the conversion the pass again was caught by Lee, but was just short of the goal line for the attempt to count. With time running out and the Gateshead defence controlling the line of scrimmage, the ball was punted back to the Senators. The next drive however for Gateshead started with two minutes in the game remaining, this time Gateshead ran down the clock with a couple of up the gut run plays and then the quarterback took a knee for the final play. Final score was 32-0 to Gateshead.

For Gateshead it was the coming together of the many new rookies in the squad and the leadership of the veterans.

Next game is on Sunday versus Glasgow Tigers at North Shields Rugby Club.