Author: Clive R

 

Sunday 2nd April saw the HoundDogs travel to the hone of Kent Phoenix, Cornwallis Academy, Maidstone, for Round two of the 2017 SEYAF Championship.

The under 11’s played 3 games in all and, although they didn’t win a game, they showed great improvement throughout the day.

They started with a game against a very experienced Kent Exiles team. The Cadet team struggled from the word go and ended losing using the Mercy rule, which sees the score frozen when a team is 24 points or more in front. The HoundDogs struggled to move the ball forward when on offence and didn’t fair much better on defence.

Their second game saw them play East Kent Mavericks. Again, the Mavs outplayed the young HoundDogs teams. Just like the Kent Exiles, The Mavericks are a very experienced team who have been training and playing together for quite a while. However, the HoundDogs managed to get on the scoreboard thanks to a TD from Captain Ben Boorer, as the team walked away losing by 24-6.

In their 3rd game, the team faired a lot better against an opponent as they were more evenly matched. The game was end-to-end, full of amazing running TD’s. Ben Boorer scored another TD along with Morgan Scott-Blundel, who managed his first ever TD in Flag Football. There was also some amazing defence work from new recruit Charlie Pattenden,  along with Hayden Puttick and Charlie Mullieux.

The DPO Home Improvements Man-of-the-Match goes to Morgan Scott Blundel for his 1st TD.

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The Under 14’s team faired slightly better and walked away with a win to their name.

The HoundDogs’ first game of the tournament was against the home team of Kent Phoenix. An end to end tussle of offence, with the HoundDogs pipping the Phoenix by 3 TD’s to 2. QB Charlie Boorer completed two throwing TD’s to his brother Jacob Boorer, who used his height to an advantage. The other TD came from Roman Cameron-Dick from a short run.

The HoundDogs then took on East Kent Mavericks, who shut out the HoundDogs in tournament #1. The team were determined not to allow history to repeat itself and came out the blocks firing, taking the ball near to the end-zone in only a couple of plays. However, a resolute Mav’s defence stopped the HoundDogs from scoring then soon took over and opened the scoring. This was when the Dogs gritted their teeth and came back to get a score on board from Jacob Boorer scoring his 3rd TD of the day. Things then got worse as the Mav’s scored 3 more TD’s without reply in a game about the smallest of margins. The Mav’s walked away the deserving winners, with the HoundDogs licking their wounds for the second Tournament on the trot.

The 3rd game of the day saw the HoundDogs take on the Phoenix for the second time. The Phoenix got off to a flyer, utilising the height of their players and got the scoreboard rolling. The HoundDogs replied straight away with the Boorer brothers connecting again.

A quick alteration in defence saw the HoundDogs mark the Phoenix tallest player out of the game, which saw them altering their personnel to try and out think the Dogs. The Dogs then took the lead from Roman Cameron-Dick with a near side touch line run to put the HoundDogs up for the first time in the game. Back came the Phoenix twice as the lead continued to ebb and flow. The Boorer brothers then connected again to tie the game at 18-18. With less than a minute left on the clock, the Phoenix moved the ball down the field and almost crossed the line, had it not been for the heroic defence of Ned Foster who had played the whole day impeccably, making several TD saving tackles. Then the HoundDogs suffered a bitter pill as Charlie Boorer, who had out marked the Phoenix tallest player, giving him over 30 CM in height, missed a thrown ball, over his head by the smallest amount, resulting in the Phoenix scoring on the last play of the game, and taking the win.

The DPO Home Improvements Man-of-the-Match goes to Jacob Boorer for his 5 TD’s in one day.

Coach, Luke Boorer, added “Both teams have made giant strides over the last two tournaments. The U11’s have played against some very good players, who are not only more experienced but also a lot older than most of our team. The team made a few basic mistakes, but learnt a lot.

The U14’s were unlucky. They played some great offence and defence but missed out in games by the smallest of margins. But that’s football at the end of the day. We will continue to work on the skills we need to learn and come back on the 30th and put those skills into the games, and hopefully pick up a few more wins.”

The HoundDogs return to action on April the 30th for round 3 of the SEYAF Championship.

Sunday the 19th March saw the Hound Dogs travel to Kent Exiles in round 1 of the 2017

SEYAF Championship. The Hound Dogs entered two teams into the event in the U14 and U11 sections.

For the U11’s team this was, for a lot of them, their first ever chance to play on a competitive stage. The team played their only game against a team from Kent Phoenix.  Unfortunately they lost 18-12, but fought hard to earn a lot of respect from the other teams and coaches. Ben Boorer was the star of the show by scoring both of the Hound Dogs TD’s, with one of his scores coming from a run play, when the team was backed up on their own 2 yard line to score.

The U14’s team faired slightly better in their 5 game series. The team managed a draw of 12-12 to the Kent Phoenix, thanks to a last play TD when Jacob Boorer caught an off the shoulder catch from younger brother Charlie Boorer in the End Zone to earn the team a draw.

Their second game was a completely different story. The team went 12-0 down very early on against the East Kent Mavericks. Once behind, they spent the rest of the game chasing and taking some chances that simply didn’t pay off.The game finished 24-0 to the Mav’s.

Coach Luke Boorer said “The Mav’s are a good side, but the score didn’t really reflect just how well the team played. We missed some chances that, on another day, the boys would have caught with ease. Plus when you are down 2 TD’s early, you spend the rest of the game taking chances to get back in it. These chances simply didn’t pay off for us on this occasion”.

After a team chat, the boys took to the field once more, and played their first of back to back games against the Kent Exiles Wolves. The Hound Dogs returned to playing a much better standard of both offence and defence with Ned Foster leading by example on D. The hounds put 1 TD on the board thanks to Jacob Boorer with another high above his head catch.

The Hound Dogs after a short break played their forth game, and second, against Kent Exiles Wolves. This time the team turned the result around and picked up their first win of the 2017 season. The score finished at 12-6 after a successful Roman Cameron-Dick TD and another one from Jacob Boorer.

In the teams last games of tournament 1, it was an end to end affair with the Hound Dogs coming second in a 30 to 18 game. Scores for the Hound Dogs came from another Jacob Boorer TD along with scores from Ned Foster and Roman Cameron-Dick.

Coach Boorer added “It has been a fantastic day for the lads that came along to represent the Hound Dogs. We would like to thank both the Exiles and SEYAF for hosting and arranging an excellent event for all the teams. We would like to also thank all the parents, kids, Referees and helpers that make these event so great. We are very lucky to live where we do, and to have an organisation like SEYAF on our doorstep. Their work and dedication to our sports bodes very well for the future in the South East. The lads themselves showed some great skills in patches during the day, and showed just how far we have come as an organisation too. We will return to training and look to produce more quality work and hopefully start building our way up the table as the season goes on”.

We are pleased to announce, that in partnership with FootballAmerica.co.uk, we are now able to offered a fully stocked shop of Hound Dogs merchandise.

The site which is now live on FootballAmerica’s website, offers branded Hound Dogs items including T-Shirts, Hodies, Caps, Hats etc. All item are made to a high quality and available for delivery.

For a look at the complete catalogue, please visit http://www.footballamerica.co.uk/teamstore114/

 

This week has been a massive coaching week for the Hound Dogs.

Over the course of the last 5 days, a team of coaches have introduced over 140 children, to the sport of Flag American Football.

Monday saw us coach at Hailsham Community College to 90 boys and girls, from year 7 to years 10. The day was split into four sessions and ran through a basic display of skills including throwing, catching, running with the ball and finished with games amongst the children.

The day started outside using Hailsham’s Astro pitch, but soon saw the weather set in with rain, and the rest of the sessions took place in the Sports Hall.

We would like to thank both Mary and Ted Smith, who came over from Kent Exiles to help run the sessions.

Friday then saw our coaches go into Heron Park Primary Academy School in Eastbourne. This is the start of a 6 week block where our coaches will be teaching the year 5 pupils the fundamentals of Flag American Football. The first session was all about how to move a ball during a game including throwing and running with the ball in hand.

We hope the boys and girls had as much fun as we did. We would like to thank the teachers and staff for making us feel welcomed, and would especially like the thank the pupils for showing such enthusiasm for their efforts in the session. We look forward to next week.