BAFA SFC Division 2 East Maidstone Pumas 3 Ipswich Cardinals 41 The Ipswich Cardinals secured their third away win of the season with a comfortable victory against bottom of the table Maidstone Pumas, writes Kyle Clark.
Ipswich started fast, a theme of the season, and confidently drove down the field.
New full back Matt Wright had an instant impact with some tough running and Johnny Rodgers continued his fine form with some darting dives through the heart of the Pumas’ defence, but it was the passing attack that struck first.
Quarterback Matt Agate found rookie Daniel Rivera in the corner of the endzone for the receivers’ first-ever touchdown. Brad Ling, who would later leave the game through injury, added the extra point to make it 7-0.
Into the second quarter and the relentless Cardinals scored again to take a two score lead. This time Wright scored his first Cardinal touchdown after another emphatic drive from the Ipswich outfit. Ling again added the extra point to take the score to 14-0.
Maidstone attempted to respond with a score of their own, however, the drive stalled inside the Cardinals 20 yard line. A sight rarely seen in British American Football followed as the Pumas attempted and converted a drop goal worth 3 points, putting a dent in the Ipswich lead.
But soon after, Rodgers added a rushing touchdown of his own to take the score to 21-3 at the half.
The Ipswich defence came out firing in the second half and suffocated the Maidstone offence, firstly stopping them in their own territory for Rodgers to increase the away side’s lead by adding another score before Ryan Caley, a former Cardinals junior player, picked up a fumbled snap and sprinted towards the Pumas endzone to put the game beyond doubt.
Neither team could add to the tally in the fourth quarter as the hot weather played its part, but the Cardinals advance to 4 wins and one defeat on the season.
Rodgers is now up to 1,000 yards rushing on the season and will be looking to add to this as the Cardinals play host to the table topping London Blitz B this week, looking to avenge their only defeat this term.
The game will be played on Sunday at Northgate Stadium in Ipswich, 2.30pm kick off, with half-time entertainment featuring Lisa Day.
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