LONDON OLYMPIANS 48 - NORWICH DEVILS 7
August 30th, 2010 by Pete Wrigley

The Norwich Devils saw their playoff hopes disappear despite a spirited performance against the unbeaten London Olympians. The Devils went into the game needing to avoid defeat against the Olympians, but knew it was a tall order against a team that had won all 9 of it's regular season games having scored 419 points and conceding just 40.

Norwich drove into the Olympians half on their first possession before being forced to punt, but the Olympians showed the Devils what they were up against when they took their first possession 62 yards down to the Norwich 9 yard line before running back Ethan Alexander burst through to open the scoring. Chris Davies kicked the extra point to give the Olympians an
early 7 point lead.

Norwich continued to move the ball on their next possession, but quarterback Heith Johnson was intercepted by Adrian John who returned it 50 yards to give London excellent field position at the Norwich 30 yard line. Quarterback Tomislav Biberovic then hit receiver Kehinda Bello for a 30 yard touchdown. Davies hooked the extra point kick went wide left to leave the Olympians 13 points in front. As the first quarter came to a close the Devils thought they were back in the game when Johnson hit receiver Daniel Sutliff in the endzone, put the score was ruled out for an illegal block.

Into the second quarter, the Olympians took the ball and drove down to the Norwich goal line before running back Toyin Omodara looked the have further extended the lead with a one yard score. This was also ruled out for an infringement, however, not to be denied, Omodara then ran the ball in from 11 yards out for the score.Davies' kick extended the Olympians lead to 20 points.

On their next possession, the Olympians fumbled the ball, giving the Devils the ball at the London 36 yard line. After a 14 yard scramble by Johnson, he then found Sutliff with a 22 yard scoring pass. Adam Whitbourn added the extra point to close the gap to 7 - 20. Although the Olympians tried to get another quick strike just before the half, safety Ash Mullin came up with the interception for Norwich to halt the drive.

Any thoughts of a Norwich comeback were dealt a serious blow at the start of the second half when Biberovic threw a 46 yard score to Davies, who then kicked the extra point. Although the Devils continued to fight hard, with Mullin outstanding in defense, they couldn't reduce the arrears and the Olympians started to run up the score in the final quarter with 3 further touchdowns from Jordan Stokes from 1 yard, Omodara from 5 yards, and Stokes again from 7 yards to give the score a lopsided look by the end.