Birmingham Lions

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.