Sunday saw the HoundDogs host their annual U11 and U14 Dog Bowl, an invitational Flag American Football event. The day saw clubs travel from all over the South of England to come and take part in the 2021 event.

The overall winner at the U11 age bracket was London Blitz who won all four of their games.

The U14’s was won by Solent Redstorm who beat Kent Phoenix in the final.

The U11’s HoundDogs results.

HHD 6 – 15 London Blitz
HHD 16 – 24 Kent Phoenix
HHD 8 – 22 Solent Spitfires
HHD 6 – 14 Solent Redstorm

U11’s coach, Phil Crisp added “The u11 team acquitted themselves extremely well against some very experienced sides. Despite over half the team only having taken up the sport in the last month or two, for two games they were within distance of the other teams, and two games were agonisingly lost on the very final plays of each game. Despite this, the HoundDogs’ rapid improvement and comparatively very young ages bodes extremely well for the future!!!”

MVP’s

Offence – Dylan Ticehurst
Defence – Aiden Brown
Mangers’ Award – Sonny Crisp

U14’s Results

HHD 6 – 6 Kent Phoenix
HHD 0 -20 Solent Redstorm
HHD 0 – 19 Kent Exiles
HHD 12 – 13 Brighton & Hove Scorpions

U14’s coach, Luke Boorer added “We succumbed to the evil Covid issue where we lost one of our offensive weapons because his whole class was sent home a few days ago. We also lost a couple of players also being unavailable for other reasons, but we played with what we had. I am very pleased with how all the players applied themselves. We had the bare minimum of players, so everyone played every snap of every game on offence and defence. All our players fought hard throughout their entire matches. They never let their heads drop.”

MVP’s

U14’s
Offence MVP – Frank Wilkinson
Defence MVP – Matt Wiggins
Manager’s Award – Chloe-Ann Wiggins

Chairman Luke Boorer added “The Dog Bowl is a major event for us. We are a club that is built on keeping fees as low as possible, enabling as many children as possible to play the sport that we love. Events like the Dog Bowl help us to make money which helps us to achieve our goals. I was very worried about the event this year. I kept an eye on the weather and it didn’t look good. As I drove to the ground on Sunday morning the heavens opened. We usually allow visiting teams to park on the outfield but, with the wet weather we had, I had to change this on the morning. We had to get everyone to park up North Street in Hellingly. So, I would like to take this moment to apologise to any local residents if this caused any issues. Each year we host the Dog Bowl event, we try to improve on the previous year. This year we ran an A5 gameday programme. This included fixtures, team information etc. We also sold some advertising space within the programme. Our gameday programme was sponsored by Haulaways, Power Fuels, JMD Builders Merchants and Todds Barbers. Tesco’s provided us with all the bread and sauces for the BBQ, KD butchers provided us with all the burgers and bacon at a reduced rate. We were also given raffle prizes from Football America, The Shore Bar, Power fuels and Elmbank Laser amongst others. Without generous businesses like these, our event would not be the success it was. I would also like to thank all the volunteers that helped out on the day, along with the parents who baked cakes. Peter Drake on the BBQ; Dom and Nicki on the raffle and cake stall; Heidi who kept things going and some of our U16’s and U19’s who helped run the games. A special mention goes to Cavan who helped Peter on the BBQ. He single-handedly served everyone their tea and coffee whilst serving the food and taking the money too. It’s seeing the older kids help out which makes me proud of the work our club (and many other great local clubs) do to keep kids engaged and off the streets. Our referees, Mary and Ted Smith, along with Lee Parsons were amazing on the day. Again, these three are all volunteers. I would also like to thank Andy Rose and Paul Kirk who kept the music going and compered the whole event. Andy has been running the music every year since we started hosting events, along with Richard Ashby. Unfortunately this year Richard is unwell, so Paul stood in to help. We all wish Richard well. I would like to also say thank you to Hellingly Cricket Club who allow us to use the pitches and Katie who ran the bar. I was asked this morning by another coach, “same time next year?”. Well, currently, my head says definitely, but my feet are still not agreeing!”

Full results
U11’s

SCS 0 -12 SR                                        SCS = South Coast Spitfires
KP 12 – 20 KE                                     SR = Solent RedStorm
SR 0 – 12 LB                                        LB = London Blitz
KE 0 – 24 SCS                                     KE = Kent Exiles
LB 16 – 0 KP                                        KP= Kent Phoenix
SR 20 – 6 KE                                        BHS = Brighton & Hove Scorpions
KE 12 – 22 LB                                      HHD = Hellingly HoundDogs
SCS 6 – 12 KP

U 14’s

BHS 0 – 7 KE
SR 22 – 0 BHS
KE 7 – 15 KP
BHS 13 – 16 KP
KP 6 – 18 SR
KE – 6 – 7 SR
Final KP 6 – 19 SR