Game Three

Our third game was a disappointing loss to the Vantaa Taft 36-6. The game started off well, we decided to try to surprise them with a little wildcat. I was playing quarterback for the first 5 or 6 plays of the drive, and we were running the ball pretty effectively, and caught them off guard with one pass. We went back to our regular offense and unfortunately failed to move the ball further than our opponents 25 in the drive. On fourth down our quarterback was hit as he was throwing causing a bad pass, which was intercepted and returned to our own 3 yard line.
Taft was able to score in just two plays with such good field position. Our offense was never truly able to move the ball deep into Taft territory for the remainder of the half. Defensively we tried to stop the bleeding, but we still went into the half down 16-0.
Defensively we were able to slow down Taft’s offense, but we couldn’t make the necessary plays on 3rd down in order to get off the field and put our offense in good position. Offensively drives were falling apart, and we were not helped by our four turnovers to their zero turnovers. Our only glimmer of hope was a 10-play 65 yard drive that ended with me running into the end zone from 1 yard out. This made the score 23-6 as we failed to make the extra point.
Taft went on to methodically score 14 more points in the 4th quarter, as we continued to be plagued by turnovers on offense. It was disappointing to see such a lopsided score as the Indians were celebrating this being its 25th season, and there were many alumni in attendance. After the game my teammate Jukka Lautamatti, (picture right) was awarded MVP of the Indians, and I was awarded MVP of the game. My personal stat line was: 45 yards rushing on 8 attempts, 1 td. Passing 2-2 for 41 yards, 5 solo tackles 1 assist, with one tackle for loss. It was interesting to see awards be given out on the field directly after the game. It wasn’t done after our game in Helsinki last week, so perhaps it is a Indians tradition.

Overall there are tons of mistakes for us to learn from if we are going to have a hope of beating this well coached Taft team. It is certainly not impossible though, and we will see them again in our last regular season game July 25th.