In their last regular season game of the year, the Leicester Longhorns travelled north to face the Huddersfield Hawks. The importance of this game had been drilled into the players all week throughout training, that if they won, they would become division champions. Having played through Storm Ciara last week, it was the turn of Storm Dennis to make an appearance. However, there would be no swamps to wade through as the Hawks play on a 4G pitch.
In their last regular season game of the year, the Leicester Longhorns travelled north to face the Huddersfield Hawks. The importance of this game had been drilled into the players all week throughout training, that if they won, they would become division champions. Having played through Storm Ciara last week, it was the turn of Storm Dennis to make an appearance. However, there would be no swamps to wade through as the Hawks play on a 4G pitch.
Having warmed up, stretched out and hyped themselves up it was time for the Longhorns to do battle against the Hawks. Leicester received the kick-off and powerfully established their running game, with a series of sweeps and keeps they had the Hawks on the back foot early on. To their credit, the Hawks did front up and force a few three and outs early on. This put Leicester’s defence on the field, who looked primed and ready for Huddersfield’s spread attack on offence. With particularly great work coming from line backer Jamie McGee who had 7 tackles in the first quarter alone. Unfortunately, though for the Longhorns they lost a star player, as line backer Tom Grimley was chasing a play down, he got rolled up on and sustained a terrible injury. The game was stopped as the medics could get to him and help him off and straight to hospital. He had a couple of x-rays and scans which revealed a broken leg meaning he will be out for the rest of the season.
After that lengthy stoppage, the combination of Pedro Santos and Abdul Jalloh were storming their way through the Hawks defence early on. With multiple first downs coming on the ground it looked like the Longhorns had found their rhythm in the second quarter after a stop and start first one. Their first touchdown of the game came from a reliable source, in quarterback Ted Watts who had yet another rushing touchdown as he slipped through into the endzone to give the Longhorns a 6-0 lead. This seemed to galvanise the Longhorns who had been deflated after Grimley’s injury. You could see it in their energy both on the field and on the sideline, they also now had first year players stepping up and more than filling spots. Both James Cullen at line backer and Adam Carn at wingback excelled throughout the game, both putting huge performances and getting their first MVPs. So, when running back Pedro Santos exploded through the Hawks defence for his latest touchdown, not even the hailstorm could stop the Leicester players from celebrating. With a successful two-point conversion the Longhorns were up by 14-0 at halftime.
Despite the weather clearing and the sun appearing for what felt like the first time in an eternity. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Longhorns, who despite being up had the look of a team frustrated with their play. It was a case of too many penalties and some unfinished plays that needed to be corrected in order for them to see of this spirited Huddersfield team, who weren’t going down without a fight.
They showed that underdog mentality as they started the second half very well, both moving the ball on offence and stopping the rushing attack of the Longhorns. They were almost rewarded for their excellent play with a very well executed touchdown in the third quarter only to have it call back for a penalty. Still the Hawks did have all of the momentum and after a poorly executed punt by the Longhorns gave them fantastic field position. Their spread offence kicked into gear and they found the endzone twice. Once for a touchdown and then straight after for the two-point conversion cutting the gap to just 6 points between the two sides. Now with a sense of urgency, Leicester seemed to warm back up on both sides of the ball as the defence shut out the Hawks for the rest of the game with excellent open field tacking and the offence kept pounding the ball on the ground.
So, after the Longhorns ran for another first down to ice the game, their excitement and happiness was plain to see; with players and coaches both celebrating and embracing alike as they had secured the Midlands 2A division title and a home playoff game. It was a valiant performance by the Huddersfield Hawks who have some good things to build on next season. Leicester’s season continues with their playoff game coming on the 1st of March 2020 at Stoughton Fields. See you there!