Last weekend, Woodham Academy’s American Football team played its second game of the season in the American High School League of Europe Division 2, against the Baumholder Buccaneers, from Baumholder US Army Base in Germany.
Woodham, playing alongside Menwith Hill High school, got off to a great start, recovering a fumble, with an ever potent offense Woodham scored shortly after on a 32 yard run by Chris Armstrong to take the lead.
From there on the game changed into an intriguing defensive battle, both teams going blow for blow on defence and keeping the opposing offenses quiet. It wasn’t until midway through the 2nd Quarter that Baumholder levelled the score, on a 10 yard run by Baumholder’s Anthony Amos. The second half followed a similar pattern; both teams played exceptional defence all day, Woodham were led by great performances on defence by Liam Wood and Josh McNulty.
Woodham edged ahead in the 4th quarter when Josh Penny hit a 34 yard field goal to take the lead 10-7, only to have that score equalled by Baumholder not long after. The game finished 10-10; however there are no ties in DoDDs American Football, so both teams would have to slug it out in overtime.
After the Warriors stopped Baumholder on the opening possession, the sudden death game was now hanging in the balance, with one last big push Woodham opened a gap for Chris Armstrong to exploit, running in a 10 yard touchdown to seal the ‘walk off’ victory. Head Coach of the American Football programme, Danny Ketch, commented, “It was an exceptionally tough game, one which was a true testament to our grit and determination.
To win a game like that, the boys had to dig deep, to push themselves all the way to the end. The explosion of emotions when Chris ran it in was incredible. It’s definitely one of the most satisfying victories I have been a part of.” Woodham were buoyed by great offensive performances; Richie Howe completed 7 of 11 passes, and Ricky Mannion had 6 catches for 58 yards.
The top performer was Armstrong, named stripes.com’s ‘European Player of the Week’ for his performance. Coach Ketch commented “Chris’ performance was outstanding. As always he finds a way to affect the game and give us a moment of brilliance like today.”
He went onto say, “Competing with an American high school is fantastic, as high a level as we will ever find this side of ‘the pond’, so to be able to compete, and win, is an incredible achievement for us all.”
