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Inexperience shows through for Pumas Youth

Maidstone Pumas 0 – London Blitz 46

In only their second ever game the Pumas Youth kicked off at midday on a very hot Sunday against the London Blitz. The Blitz have some large ‘units’ on their squad and have been playing for 2 seasons together so this would be a big test for the home side.

The Blitz scored on their sixth play of possession and after Maidstone lost the ball on the kick return they quickly scored again. The Pumas first drive saw mixed success as they gave away 3 penalties for 15 yards but gained 17 on 3 run plays. However, it was not enough to make a first down so the ball was punted.

The Pumas continued to struggle at moving the ball despite good runs by Omenah Okugu (17 yards) and Stewart Kidd (15 yards) as these gains were offset by minor penalties. Consequently two more scores for London followed in the first half of the game closing at 26-0.

The second half started better with another good 19 yard run by Okugu who was playing on Offence for the first time. Also, Ryan McDonald in his first game showed his potential as a running back when he made a break for 15 yards. Unfortunately Maidstone was still dogged by penalties but due to this ground offensive the third quarter remained scoreless.

In the forth however the Blitz were able to score 3 more touchdowns but none of those were against the Pumas Defence. One was a Fumble recovery, one an Interception return and the last was a Punt return.

Maidstone came very close to scoring at the end of the game after starting Quarter Back Damien Jarrett received the kick off for 15 yards then on the next play ran the ball himself for another 27 yards to the 3 yard line before being brought down.

In what seemed like déjà vu from the last game the Pumas offence then went offside twice in a row. A flurry of penalties for both teams followed, the ball being moved back and forward by the referees. The final outcome though was that Maidstone failed to close the deal and the game was essentially over.

Head Coach James McCartney reflected that he was pleased with his teams guts and determination despite the loss “I’m happy with how players stepped up and played positions that they were unfamiliar with. We made mistakes and offsides penalties once again were a big problem for us but this is down to guys getting over excited and just shows their inexperience. I’m still convinced that we have a great core of a football team.”

General Manager Mark Lawrence added “I was stressed before the game as we had lost 5 players due to them sitting exams this coming week. Fortunately we had signed some new guys and had some returning players so they would have to step up.”

The Pumas Youth next game is on 14th June at Farnham Fast Lane Knights.

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