GATESHEAD SENATORS @ Walney Terriers Sunday 21st May 2017

Last Sunday Gateshead Senators American Football Team made the journey across country to take on Walney Terriers, a team that has already bagged a couple of wins this season, and who were looking to bounce back quickly from their defeat at the hands of the Leeds Bobcats a week earlier.

Gateshead traveled with a large squad bolstered by the recent acquisitions of some promising rookies, and were in high spirits, feeling confident coming of the back of a handy 74-6 win over the previously unbeaten Morecambe Bay Storm.

The Game certainly did not start as planned for Gateshead who were caught napping on the first drive of the game by Walney.

A couple of pinpoint passes from the Walney Quarterback saw his number 1 receiver break through 2 tackles to scamper into the end zone for the first score of the game.

This however seemed to light a fire under the Gateshead offence who quickly got the Power Run game going.

The offensive line dug in deep and overpowered Walney’s Defence creating some great running lanes for star running back Gav Barr to take advantage of, opening the scoring for Gateshead. 

However, Walney did not want to lie down like some other teams Gateshead have faced so far this year, and as such became the first team this season to register 2 scores against what had previously been a very tight knit defence.

Again, Gateshead recovered and marched down the field lead by Centre Chris Scrace’s Offensive line and this time gave up and coming 2nd year running back Stephen Taylor his first TD of the game.

Gateshead were now rolling  and after the defence’s rude awakening they quickly returned to business as usual, administering a plethora of big hits and key tackles to keep Walney’s offence to only a handful of first downs for the remainder of the game.

As in previous games Gateshead’s high octane offence wasn’t done and more scores followed with Quarterback Rob Watts aiming a rocket of a pass to Darren Mould for a score and then Rob Watts running one in for himself.

The second half was scoreless with Gateshead using the opportunity to hand playing time to some young rookies who no doubt will prove their worth down the stretch.

Final Score Gateshead Senators 27 Walney Terriers 12

Gateshead now stand 4-0 unbeaten in the conference and welcome the Carlisle Sentinels to Monkton Stadium on Sunday 11th June hoping to make it 5 Wins in a row.

Game MVP: Captain Gav Barr, leading by example as always.

Report by Rob Johnson.

Submitted by Rob Johnson