On an unseasonably hot & sunny Easter Sunday the Norwich
Devils travelled to "The Cage" in Billericay to face
the Essex Spartans. Coming just a week after a disappointing
49-6 defeat the Milton Keynes Pathfinders the Devils were looking
to bounce back and kick start their season. From the opening
kickoff however this never seemed likely as the Devils struggled
to get out of reverse gear.
From the outset Norwich seemed intent on making life easy for
the Spartans as they fumbled the ball on 4 of their first 8
offensive plays. These turnovers allowed the Spartans to score
on their opening 4 drives and by the end of the first quarter
jump out to an almost insurmountable 34-0 lead. The Spartans
scored on both running and passing plays showing that they were
coming into the season hungry to make amends for both lost season's
home defeat to the Devils as well as their first round playoff
defeat last September.
The Devils showed glimpses of their ability at times and in
the 2nd quarter were able to put points on the board as rookie
running back Sam Eastwell scored his second touchdown in as
many games with an impressive 50 yard touchdown run. Eastwell
started the run out to the left before beating a number of defenders
to work his way back across field, mazing through Spartan defenders
to score up the right sideline. This marked the high water mark
for the Devils who conceded a further two touchdowns in the
2nd quarter to go in at the half down a demoralising 49-8.
The Devils were able to limit the damage in the 2nd half but
still yielded a further 3 touchdowns. By the time the final
whistle was blown the Devils were staring at a 71-8 score line,
one of the worst defeats in club history. Coming off of the
back of another heavy defeat to the Milton Keynes a week earlier,
this is not the start to the season the Devils' players were
imagining just 8 days ago before the season started.
