Yorkshire lost their home game debut at Ram Stadium against a strong Bulls side but did not discredit themselves, playing some of their finest football in the fourth quarter of a good , hard, clean game..
The Rams received the opening kick off but could not do anything with the ball on their first drive and had to punt. Birmingham used the possession to good advantage and drove well up the field and scored five minutes into the game when Stuart Ennis lobbed the ball 8 yards to a waiting Mathew Philips for the six.. the Rams started to move the ball well themselves but a couple of successive sacks on Paul Sherratt lost them the momentum and had to punt one more. The Rams had a chance to do something in the closing stages of the quarter when Stuart Jones intercepted a wayward pass to get the ball for Yorkshire, but after a heavy hit he fumbled only for Rob Parker to pick up the loose pigskin and tried to race for the endzone but was pushed out of bounds. The home side lost the advantage when they fumbled and the quarter closed with the Bulls in possession.
Birmingham went another six points in front at the start of the second period when Ennis linked with Nicholas Burt on a 43 yard score. A couple of minutes later the Bulls got a surprise two points when Yorkshire were going for a punt but the ball sailed over Dave Pawson’s head and he was forced to kick it out of the back of the endzone to make the score 14 - 0.The mid part of the quarter was a defensive battle as neither team could make headway but Yorkshire got the ball with four minutes left in the half when Birmingham gave it up on fourth down after Ram’s Ben Walsh stopped the ball carrier behind the line. The Bulls got possession again almost immediately when Faizal Ibrahim intercepted Sherrat and sprinted down the sideline before Jay Alexander made a score saving tackle at the Ram’s eight yard line. Jones got his second pick of the day and saved a certain TD when he plucked the ball from the air inside the endzone start another drive for the home side. The Bull’s defence kept Yorkshire at bay and forced the punt but great running from Walsh and Justin Lester brought the receiver down deep in his own half. As the seconds ran out another Birmingham touchdown was saved, this time Tim Adams batted away the ball out of the receivers hands in the endzone.
Defence was the name of the game again early in the third quarter but Ibrahim set up another score for his side when he intercepted the pass and got to Yorkshire’s three yard line before being brought down by Parker. Ennis threw his third TD pass, this time to David Winter , and with Paul Summers kick splitting the posts the score was 21 - 0. With the Ram’s ‘D’ working well together it was left to Ibrahim, who was awarded the Opposition MVP from the Rams, with his third pick to try to get something going as the quarter ended.
Again, neither team could do anything offensively and shared punts early in the final period but the Bulls did score again with Ennis’s 8 yard pass to Jack Garnsey, 27 - 0. After great defence by the Rams, with the whole defensive unit being awarded the game MVP,Jones (who received the trophy on behalf of the defence) got his own third pick of the day to start a good scoring drive. A penalty by the Bulls got Yorkshire to the away side’s 21 yard marker from where Simon Dewdney launched the ball to the back of the endzone for new signing Justin Kirby to gather it in for the touchdown.
As the game came to it’s close Yorkshire very nearly pulled more points back when Justin Bird forced a fumble at the line and gathered in the ball for his side and they reached the Bulls one yard line before losing the ball on an interception. The game finished on a good drive by Birmingham who went for a field goal in the dying seconds but the ball went wide.
The Ram’s are on the road again this coming Sunday with a trip to Chester to take on the Chester Romans and are looking to put a ‘1’ in the win column.