Birmingham Lions American Football

On Sunday 2nd May, the Birmingham Lions took on the Hertfordshire Hurricanes to be crowned the Southern Champions of BUAFL and to book a place in the national championship game. This matchup was the first game to take place on the new 3G-astro pitch on the Metchley playing fields – which ensures a fast, even surface allowing the game to be played at a higher standard.

The game came a long time after the Lions’ clash against UWE Bullets, but it was the Lions that came out the blocks with a bang.

Herts won the toss and elected to receive, but with their very first play their QB was strip-sacked by Kyle Burrows with the ball collected by Dan Conroy and taken into the endzone for a touchdown. Herts had a little more luck on the next drive but eventually the ball made its was to the Birmingham offence. After making some good yards, some questionable penalty flags were thrown against the Lions’ who found themselves backed up near their own endzone. Then, on third down, Tristan Varney aired the ball out to Ben Brown who hauled in the catch to go the remainder of the pitch (72 yards) for the score. The second quarter didn’t go all Birmingham’s way though; Herts bagged 2 TD’s of their own when some big passes over the top and some strong running gave them momentum. There was still time before the break for Varney to hook up one more time with Ben Brown, this time for a 20-yard completion good for 6. The scores at the break were 21-12.

The second half was somewhat of an anticlimax compared to the first. One really impressive drive from the lions saw Ben Brown bag himself a hat trick of TD’s on the day – but on the whole both teams struggled to consistently move the ball on offence. Birmingham did manage to move the ball somewhat through Andy Watson both at slot receiver and from the backfield and this proved valuable as it kept the lions D off the field so they could catch their breath and make adjustments. By adapting schemes the Lions managed to largely stop Herts’ 1-2 running attack, and when the Herts QB went deep in the second half it resulted in an interception more often than a completion. The second half saw picks come for Kit Lawson, Dan Hampton and Dan Conroy who had a great game making plays on special teams and defence all over the field. With the Lions 4th TD making the score line that bit more comfortable the Lions ran the ball in the final quarter before taking a knee, with the final score of 28-12 to the Lions.

In truth it was a pretty rusty performance from Birmingham, who will have lots to work on this coming week. Most importantly though, it was a win and it sees them through to the BUAFL National Championship game at Northampton (Sixfields stadium) this Sunday 9th May. Even though it’s a busy time of the year all support at the final would be much appreciated. If the Lions can beat Loughborough (in a rematch of xpLosION earlier in the year) then they will become back-to-back national champions – an achievement no Lions team has ever managed before.

United we stand, divided we fall, we shall not be denied.

Birmingham faced a rematch against the UWE Bullets on Sunday 28th March if they were to progress to the southern conference final. After a comprehensive victory against UWE in Filton after Xmas, UWE were bound to come gunning even harder to claim the prize. UWE received the first kick off and Birmingham’s defense stole the ball on the drives third play – with a tipped ball being reigned in by Luke Wilkins and returned to deep inside the UWE redzone. The Lions’ offense then took immediate advantage with a pass completed on the first play to Ben Brown who fought a few would-be tacklers to stretch into the endzone. When UWE got the ball back, the Birmingham defense had a uncharacteristic ill-disciplined drive which eventually resulted in a TD for the visitors. The Lions hit straight back and continued to do so, driving the ball nicely, resulting in 2 touchdowns for Sarunas Babonas who tore the UWE defense up on the ground. Tristan Varney also hooked up with Sope Dirisu and Matt Loxton through the air to complete a great first half for the Birmingham offense. Dan Conroy was back from injury and up to his old tricks – converting a PAT for 2 by running it in – making the score at the half a comprehensive 34-7.

Bar the UWE’s second offensive drive, the Birmingham defense played an exceptional game of football. Few passes were completed by the UWE offense and very few runs achieved any significant yardage. Notable big plays in the back field came from Matt Binks and BB, although the D-line as a whole was resetting the line of scrimmage – allowing the rest of the defense to snuff out the plays. Birmingham’s offense played for 60 minutes and continued to score and drive – giving the Birmingham D well earned rest between series. Second touchdowns came for Matt Loxton, Sope Dirisu and Ben Brown. For the latter of those scores Varney had 7 seconds in the pocket to go through his reads and find the open receiver in the endzone – just rewards for the excellent protection provided all day long by the Lions’ O-line. The game in ended in the most fitting way, with a fumbled snap by the UWE offense falling victim to a scoop ‘n’ score by BB who ran it in for a touchdown – I don’t think anybody could argue anyone else to be any more deserving.

The final score read 61-7 after a great performance on all sides of the ball by the Lions. Herts defeated Solent which sets up another rematch with the Hurricanes for a spot in the final. Both teams have a month to wait as the conference final is to be played on 2nd May. Further details to come of location, we would love your support at what will be a tight game with a spot in the final to follow.

This is it, the business end of the season where its win or go home. The Birmingham Lions had earned home-field advantage against Bristol Barracuda by going 8-0 in the regular season, but Bristol came out firing and proved tough opposition for the full 60 minutes. Bristol started off by stopping the Lions’ first drive before completing one long pass over the top to open the scoring for the day. It was obvious on the back of the first few plays that they came to play.

Birmingham did eventually find their feet though, with a familiar pattern of Varney to Ben Brown in the endzone. Chika Kalu then broke a nice run to the outside to add another score in the first quarter. When the second quarter started up, Birmingham started to make it difficult for themselves, with a string of penalties backing them right up near their own endzone. Cue Varney who stepped up into a great pocket to deliver a pinpoint ball over the Barracuda Defense to Ben Brown who took it 92 yards for the score. Birmingham then scored again before the half, with a nice deep ball to John Zinkus for a 36 yard TD. The Birmingham Defense meanwhile were having a poor day at the office by their own impeccable standards. Not only was there the one big play but Bristol were managing to drive the ball, something which had not really happened all season. Credit to the coaching staff and players though, as second half Birmingham came out and stepped up to the level we are all used to – with Kit Lawson and BB (team captains) giving particularly great individual performances. For the Lions Offense, the second half saw much more of the same, with Andy Watson running in a screen pass, Chika Kalu breaking another one for a 65 yard score, a second for John Zinkus and even one TD for Tristan Varney on the ground – rumbling into the endzone with half the defense hanging off him.

So not a pretty win, but still a convincing 52-6 win to the Birmingham Lions all the same The Lions will host the UWE bullets on Sunday 28th March in essentially the quarterfinal. This matchup is always a fiery encounter, with extra spice added given the occasion. Can the UWE bullets pull off an upset… I’ll leave it up to you to decide!

Birmingham was officially 6-0 heading into their last scheduled regular season match, due to the BNU match being called off due to the weather. The Lions have met the Wolves 3 times over the last two seasons so knew what they were about. The pitch looked in good condition considering the weather over the last few weeks; however it soon cut up– with the grass between the hashes turning to mud before the end of the first quarter. Birmingham came out in a predictably run heavy manner (given the conditions) and moved the ball on the ground with relative ease throughout the first half. This resulted in three touchdowns for Sarunas Babonas, one for Chika Kalu and another for Shane Mcneill – all in the first half. Tristan Varney did keep his run of touchdowns going though, through a nice ball to John Zinkus who readily converted. However it wasn’t just the Birmingham offence that we’re cashing in. The lions defence were coming up with many a turnover including two picks for Stuart Payne, two for Kit Lawson , then one for Mike Thomspon and Nas Arar. Sacks and forced fumbles were a plenty also,. With John Lidiard, Will Watkiss and Dom Thomas coming up with the recoveries.

The second half saw alot more of the same; however a running clock from the officials meant a very short couple of quarters. The Lions brought in Matt Hartley at QB who got off to a great start with a lovely through over the middle to Andy Watson who pulled in his first touchdown of the day. Two further running touchdowns from 4th string Eniola Osonaike coupled with some amusing touchdown celebrations finished off the Warwick Wolves, who had no luck putting together any meaningful drives, other than the odd pass over the top being completed. In fact they’re only triumph on a long physical day was blocking the Lions’ last PAT.