Olympians 0 Warriors 28

The Catford-based Olympians were shut out in their toughest match since they re-formed in 2009, but they put up a creditable performance against last season’s BAFA National League runners-up.

The vastly more experienced Warriors scored four touchdowns against the South London side, who were runners-up in British American football’s second tier last season. However, the Olympians backed up head coach Riq Ayub’s wishes to be competitive with one of the top teams in the country.

Cornerback Leslie Oluwale-Wilson led a strong effort from the defense, breaking up a pass in the end zone and snagging an interception against the Warriors’ impressive passing attack.

Adrian John led the Olympians’ ground attack and quarterback Junior Price improved as the game went on.

“I’m extremely proud of the boys to keep playing football for nearly four quarters,” Ayub said. “A young team like that, to keep competing, to start growing in belief – fantastic.“I thought the defense ran around and stayed disciplined. For a young team, they were a little tentative – didn’t want to play hard, didn’t want to give up the big play, but once they got into their rhythm … there’s things for us to work on but there’s a lot of pluses.

“I thought that Leslie, Ashton [Campbell], Mark Finney and those guys played really, really well. These are the games that they want to play. They want to be challenged by other players and they got that today and they’ve got to be proud of themselves.

“The Warriors are loaded with athletes and if you’re loaded with athletes things are going to happen for you. When an athlete makes an error, when he’s an athlete, he can make up for it. We’ve got to get stronger, we’ve got to get quicker, but we know we can compete. Regardless of what the score is we’ve got to go from living with them from two quarters to living with them for four quarters.”

The Olympians now have five weeks until their next game – the return match with the Warriors on June 10.

“It’s a long break until a game, but it’s not a long break for us,” Ayub said. “We’ve got to face them again in five weeks’ time and our players know that if we don’t come together in practice as units and work towards it, then the result will be the same the next time we play them.”

Defensive coordinator Scott Rowe also said he was pleased with his unit’s efforts.“I was really happy because it’s the way we spoke about playing against the better teams,” he said. “We’re going to make them work the field and not give up big plays and I think we did that, more or less. I was very impressed with the application of the defensive backs. I put them under pressure and they responded.

“Leslie’s a really good player and he had that experience last fall when he went out to the States and played some college ball. He’s a good athlete, he knows what he’s doing out there and he challenges himself.There are some fundamental things that we need to do better and that’s something which is ongoing.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who are still learning the game to a certain extent and we have to be a little bit more dynamic.

“Obviously, they have a very well coached offensive line. They’ve got some very good coaches, the Warriors. There’s always the potential for us to get better.”

The Olympians practise every Wednesday and Sunday at their new home of Catford Soccer, Canadian Avenue, SE6 and are always on the lookout for more players, coaches and volunteers. For more information check their website at www.olympiansfootball.org.