Wolves lose in Leicester

LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE – January 28th saw the Warwick Wolves fall to the Leicester Longhorns’ double wing offense 51-12.

Consistent play from the opening drive onwards by the Longhorns’ O left the Wolves on the back foot and forced them to chase the game from the start, whilst simultaneously giving the home side the momentum to keep putting points on the board. This was compounded largely by the lack of experience in dealing with the double wing, which resulted in a lack of outside contain. Meanwhile, Leicester’s tenacious D, aided by the adverse weather conditions, continually hindered Warwick’s passing game by piling on pressure with their defensive linemen and linebackers. The home side could not be faulted in their ability to make big stops and force three-and-outs, especially in the first half.

Despite the score line, there were some positives to be drawn from the game. The offense could not fault the field position gained by the kick returners Sam Wragg and Pete Coppenhall. Sam racked up 107 yards from 5 returns and Pete added a further 44 yards from 3 returns.

The offense itself put up two scores against the Longhorns in the second half. The first was a powerful short yardage effort from rookie running back Scott Alexander. Although the running backs only managed to put one score on Leicester, they ran hard, with Chip Osibamowo, Tino Charamba and rookie Prince Ajose rushing for averages of 6.2 yards, 9.3 yards and 8 yards per carry respectively. The second score came from a precise ten-yard pass from Wolves rookie and previous London Blitz Youth quarterback Joe Watt to the aforementioned Pete Coppenhall in the back of the end zone. The game marked Joe’s first start as a Wolves quarterback and first passing touchdown of his BUAFL career.

Although the defense were outmatched by the double wing, there were a few performances that shone through. In particular, team captain Tom Chester, safety Phil Gaydon and defensive linemen Wayne Drew and Dave Boyles racked up between them four fifths of the Wolves’ solo tackles and were involved in the majority of gang tackles. Dave and Wayne also managed to force a fumble each, which were recovered by Conor Durham and Dave respectively.

The Wolves will be looking to take these positives forward into their next game against the Staffordshire Stallions and notch their first win of the New Year.