Author: Hellingly HoundDogs YAFC

Hellingly HoundDogs are pleased to confirm the time and date of the 2019 annual Awards.

The annual event will take place at Hailsham Town Football club on Western Road Rec, Hailsham, starting at 2PM on Sunday the 1st of September.

This year will be the first year that all four sections of the club will be presented awards, starting with U11’s followed by U14’s, U17’s and finally the U19’s.

Chairman Luke Boorer added “I really look forward to the awards. It’s a special time when all the players from the club and their families get together is a celebration along with the fact that all 4 sections will get awards. With the extra teams and our every growing teams, this year is going to be biggest and best. We will again hold our Superbowl sweepstakes as well as paying out to last years winner. We would like to thank Hailsham Town Football Club for again agreeing to allow us to use their facilities.”

All players are accordingly invited along with family members and friends are welcome to celebrate the 2019 season. Players are asked to wear black/dark trousers, white shirt and tie for this event.

 

Sunday the 26th of May saw the newly formed SE Legion, a combined team of Kent Phoenix, East Kent Mavericks and Hellingly HoundDogs take on Solent Seahawks at Maidstone.

The game was delayed by an hour due to a mix ups with referees but the game started a 1PM as soon as the refs were on site. The Legion elected to receive the ball and got the game going with some good plays by the Offence. However, things started to not go the way of the Legion as HoundDogs QB, Jacob Boorer was picked off in the Legion’s half which lead the Seahawks player to run the ball almost to the EndZone. They soon scored and kicked the extra point to make the score 7-0.

The Legion then got the ball again, and again made some good moves as they moved the ball down field. They got stopped around the half way line and decided to punt. However, the ball didn’t travel very far and the Seahawks again capitalised on the Legion mistake to make the score 14-0. The Seahawks came again to go into the half 21-0 up.

The Legion came out still trying to push the Seahawks all the way and the team never gave up. The 2nd half was a tighter affair until the last couple of minutes when the Seahawks scored late in the second half after the Legion had moved the ball almost the length of the field , for QB Jacob Boorer to be picked off for the second time in the game after Wide Receiver Riley Davis couldn’t quite grab a pass that was tipped into the air of the Seahawks player which led to the Seahawks winning 47-0.

Coach Luke Boorer added “All the Legion players battled

hard on what was going to be a difficult game. However, I really think the scoreline flattered the Seahawks play. We lost a few players early on to injury and we had several calls go against us. However that is sport and you have to overcome these issues within any game. Sometimes calls go for you and sometimes against. However I was really impressed with all the lads who never let their heads go and we played with respect and a great positive attitude. We, as coaches can install the techniques etc into the players, but only they can control themselves on the pitch and I believe all the lads showed that today with taking a knee of respect for all players whether they were Legion or Seahawks players. We will now sit down watch the game film and adjust accordingly. we would like to thank the referees after the mixup, the Phoenix staff for getting the pitch ready and a special mention to Phoenix Medical services. We had a played go down and stay down after an attempted tackle. The medics were on the pitch straight away and dealt with his injuries extremely well. We all wish Ethan the best and hope that he is out of hospital very soon and back on the sidelines with his team mates.”

The Best Of Eastbourne MVP’s Awards go to:

Special Teams MVP – Thomas Avann, always ready to go in the game and never asked for a breather. Also made a couple of good tackles to help his team mates complete the tackles.

Defence MVP – Thomas Avann, even tho thomas hardly missed a play on Defence and Special teams, he still gave 100% effort with each snap battling through tiredness .

Offence MVP – Jacob Boorer, playing starter in only his second game, he played with great control and got up and got on with the game after each hit to help his team move the ball down the field of play.

Sunday the 19^th of May, again saw the HoundDogs U19’s players team up with their fellow teams mates to make up the South East Legion, for the longest trip of the 2019 season as they drove north to Cambridge, as they took on Cambridge Cats in the BAFA National U19’s Div1.

The Legion decided to receive the ball on kick off and the offence started to get the ball to move forward thanks to some excellent work from HoundDogs Running Back George Davis. The first quarter saw a lot of good plays from both the Legion Offence and Defence. It was early in the 2^nd quarter that Hounddogs QB, Jacob Boorer connected with Davis to see the pair score the games only TouchDown. Unfortunately for the Legion the 2-point conversion attempt failed to see the score set at 6-0. The end of the 1^st  quarter saw the Legion going into the break 6-0 up.

The second half saw the Cats offence start well, with their QB starting to get the ball moving forward. However, the Legion defence was equal to the task and with a few massive tackles completed by the Legion Defence. The quarter continue well for the Legion which saw a Safety taken off the board due to a penalty conceded by the Legion.

The 3^rd quarter was an ebb and flow affair with some good plays form both sides of the ball.  The cats scored themselves a TD but for only the refs to pull the ball back as the Cats failed to set for the correct amount of time. The resulting play led to the Cats kicking a 3-point conversion to take the score to 6-3. The Legion came back from the kick-off with a good return from HoundDogs Riley Davis which marched the Legion downfield. The Cats managed to stop the Legion just outside their own end zone and got the ball back. However, after some good work, the Legion D ‘s Captain, Charlie Horne burst through the Cats line to tackle the QB in the endzone giving the Legion a 2-point safety to take the score to 8-3.

With the game clock starting to run out in the 4^th quarter, the nail biting started! With the Legion starting to try and run the clock out, they turned to the run game, which saw Thomas Avann carry the ball through the middle of the field for the 1^st down with the 2-minute whistle been blown. However, the Legion couldn’t keep the ball till the end of the game. The Cats tried their hardest to get through the Legion D, but the Ref blew the full-time whistle resulting the Legion getting their first win of the season.

Coach Luke Boorer added “This result is

fantastic for the Legion and all three of the teams which make up the Legion. The win was about the players and the skills they have developed. We, the coaches can teach them the skills they need but its down to the players to gel as a team and go into the games with the right mentality. Its been such a fantastic experience for me to see the Legion being formed and seeing these players really develop into the team they are. We still have a long way to go and have a very tough challenge ahead of us this Sunday as we take on Solent SeaHawks. However, we have a few reinforcements back this week and a couple of players due back from injuries, so I am really looking forward to the challenge. I and

all the HoundDogs players would like to thank Ratton School for letting us use their minibus for this away game. Cambridge is the longest trip of our season and it was great to see the lads all get to travel together. As a club we rely on community spirit and are always looking to develop community links with schools and other organisations. We would also like to thank Committee Member, Peter Drake who gave up his Sunday to come along to help meet the insurance requirements. This spirit is what the Hounddogs organisation is built on.”

The Best of Eastboure MVP’s.

Special Teams – Thomas Avann. Always ready to get into the game and made some extremely good blocks and tackles.

Defence MVP – Clayton Jarvis. Continued to battle hard on the line and got involved to make it very hard for the Cats to run the ball through the centre and sealed his edge on the D-line extremely well.

Offence MVP – George Davies. Scored the Legion TD and was a threat with the ball in his hands all game.

Sunday the 12 of May saw the U19’s team from Hellingly HoundDogs become part of SE Legion for the first time along with other players from East Kent Mavericks and Kent Phoenix as they took on Thames Valley Tigers at Maidstone.

The Legion started the game well with opening the scoring on their second drive of the game with a well worked QB sneak around the back. They went on to complete a 2 point attempt to take the lead 8-0. The Tigers then came back with a TD of their own but missed the 2 point conversion to take the score to 8-6 at the Half.

After the half the Legion then lost their QB from the Mavericks which let Rookie QB Jacob Boorer at the helm. With the change of QB the Tigers stated to blitz the line of the Legion a lot more which resulted in a whole heap of pressure for the QB to get the ball away. The Legion almost stretched their lead twice with runs down either side line but both plays were pulled back due to the Wide Receiver stepping out of bounds. The Tigers then started to gather their momentum to take the lead and convert the extra 2 points to push them ahead 8-14.

The Legion then lost their kicker which resulted in the Legion being unable to kick the ball any distance. After a 4^th down punt from the Legion, resulting in only a 5 yard gain, the Tigers again strengthened their lead and again converted the 2 points to take the score to 8-22. The Legion came back and didn’t let their heads sink as the final whistle was approaching. Riley Davis, put in as kick off returner, collected the ball which lead to a good 30 yard run back which really helped lift the players head, followed by a couple of 1^st down completions which lead the Legion into the red zone. The Legion went for it on 4^th down but were unable to convert. The clock slowly ran out which lead to the Tigers winning 22-8.

HoundDogs Coach, Luke Boorer added “This season was always going to be a tough ask. In a sport where there are a lot of differences of opinions, it was great to see the 3 teams come together to form the Legion and get these players on the pitch. It’s hard to find 30 players all aged 16 to 18 to form a team of your own, that is the reason we came up with the Legion model. I hope that a few more clubs with bury their egos and talk to other teams in their areas and work on a similar project. At the end of the day, we at the Legion just want to see kids playing Football. On a playing prospectus, I was proud of all the lads. George Davies started the game strongly with some good runs and fantastic blocking. Riley Davis didn’t get a lot at WR but showed his fantastic hand work and speed on punt return. Clayton Jarvis continued to battle on the Defence Line and adapted well to sealing the edge. Tom Avann moved positions and adapted very well to a new position and showed great composure and Jacob Boorer after a tricky start, started to settle in very well at the QB position.”

The Best Of Eastbourne MVP Awards go to:

HoundDogs D MVP – Clayton Jarvis. Continued to work hard on the line all game and applied pressure to the Tigers line.

HoundDogs O MVP – Jacob Boorer. After a very nervous start to the game, he started to demonstrate a good composure and by the 4^th quarter, really started to settle in.

HoundDogs Special Team MVP – Riley Davis, a good couple of returns resulting in positive yardage.

Next week sees the Legion travel to Cambridge before another home game the week after against Solent Seahawks.

Hellingly HoundDogs are pleased to announce their were successful in a recent application to Wealden District Council for their Community Grant.

Late in 2018 the HoundDogs Chairman, Luke Boorer, completed an application form from the council for some money to help purchase some new tackling equipment. The club originally asked for £1000, to purchase some tackle bags and tackle rings to help the players develop their skills at tackling during games. The council wrote back in April to inform the club that their bid had been successful. Unfortunately the Community was very over subscribed, and the council had tried to spread the money around, and that the HoundDogs had received the amount of £500.

Chairman. Luke Boorer added “As a club we were established to make American Football as accessible to all. We understand that it is an expensive sport that costs a lot of money in equipment as well as a lot of traveling. We rely on sourcing grants from business along with sponsorship to help the club to buy the best equipment as possible to enable our players to achieve their potential. The Committee and players would like to go on record in thanking Wealden Council for their donation to the club.“

Anyone looking to try American Football, whether its Flag or Contact Football are welcomed to come along to a session and try the sport. American Football is a great sport no matter or size, skill level or fitness levels. Contact hellinglyhounddogs@hotmail.com for more details.