JURASSIC COAST RAPTORS 6

TORBAY TROJANS 0

THE Raptors sealed their first victory of the season after overcoming Torbay at Coburg Road.

With the Trojans deciding to forfeit the Raptors’ last game of the season, Sunday’s clash was the last chance for the county town side to break their duck.

Torbay won the coin toss and elected to receive the kick-off.

Great tackling by the Raptors’ special teams meant they managed only a 10-yard return before they were stopped.

On their first offensive series, Torbay went three and out with tough tackling by Harrison Pothecary, Rob Owen and Ben Townsend and punted the ball back to Raptors.

Sean Tapping returned the punt 40 yards to give his side the offence a first and 10 in the Torbay 26-yard line.

The visiting defence held firm and the Raptors elected to kick a field goal which fell short giving Torbay the ball back with a long field.

Again the Raptors’ tight defence forced a three and out with great tackling by Townsend, Owen and Pothecary.

With their second possession, the Raptors’ offence started to move the ball with good running by Ade Adegun and quarterback Tom Davis finding Chris Cole for two catches on drive that ended with a penalty and a punt.

Now it was time for the Raptors’ defence to impose their will on Torbay and, on the second play of drive, line-backer Jon Hodges forced a fumble which fellow line-backer Dom Salzano recovered and he raced 30 yards to the end zone to put the Raptors 6-0 up with a missed extra point.

The Raptors’ line-backing group played exceptionally well throughout the game, one notable play occurred late in the second quarter when Torbay’s offence moved the ball and were driving to score when, on fourth down, Owen came up with a drive stopping sack of the quarterback.

It wasn’t until well into the fourth quarter with the score still at 6-0 to the Raptors that Torbay looked to break the deadlock.

Their defence blocked a Raptors’ punt which gave them the ball on the 12-yard line but their offence was again battered by the D with tackles by Salzano and Townsend and a tipped pass on fourth down by Dan Rogers.

This game was going to go right down to the final minutes and it was fitting that the Raptors’ defence spent most of the fourth quarter holding Torbay’s offence back from the end zone.

As time ran out, Torbay were on the front foot but great individual plays by Owen, Jon Hodges, Max Reed and Sean Tapping held them at bay.

Head coach Bill Heinrich said: “Its only fitting that we end with a win, it’s a reward for all the hard work put in by everyone in our organisation, we are all looking forward to improving on our performance in our second season.”

The Raptors start their off-season programme in October with a series of rookie events intended to add new players to the team.

All information will be posted on the team’s Facebook page shortly