The Norwich Devils lost for the second game in a row with a defeat at the Sussex Thunder, despite the Devils defense not conceding a score.

Sussex opened the game with a drive to the Devils' 31 yard line where they were forced to punt. However, the resulting punt hit Norwich cornerback Quincy McGill at the goal line and bounced into the end zone where it was recovered by Sussex' Simon Pinchin for a Thunder touchdown. Chris Percival then added the extra point to put the Thunder up by 7.

Norwich were struggling on offense in the first half and Sussex had a chance to extend their lead at the beginning of the second quarter, but Percival's 35 yard field goal attempt sailed wide to the left. Percival then had another chance from 24 yards but again hooked it well wide. Just before half time the Norwich offense at last put together a drive, getting down to the Sussex 20 yard line but quarterback Troy Schmidgall was intercepted as the half expired.

The Devils started to get on top in the second half with the defense,
led by defensive back Martin Ray with 14 tackles, stifling the Thunder offense. Norwich had to wait until the second possession of the final quarter before they at last made the breakthrough when Schmidgall combined with receiver Guy Davies for a spectacular 61 yard score. Norwich then attempted to go for the lead with a 2 point conversion, but running back James Anderson was stopped short, to leave the Devils trailing 6 - 7. Inside the last two minutes Norwich gained possession deep in their own half but Schmidgall's pitch to running back Ian Burchett failed to connect and rolled into the Norwich end zone, where Thunder's American defensive lineman George Korischar dived onto the loose ball for a Sussex touchdown. Percival added the extra point to complete the scoring.

The Devils next play a return game against the Thunder in two weeks time on Sunday 22nd June at the Hewitt School in Norwich, kick off 2.30pm.

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