American football: Brave Raptors beaten as Apache in control

THE Raptors were shot down against last year’s Division Two runners-up Bristol.

With limited numbers on a hot afternoon, the Raptors were always going to be in for a tough challenge.

They won the toss and elected to receive the kick-off but fumbled away possession to give the Bristol side the ball back with good field position.

So far this season, the Dorset side has started slowly and been put on the back foot by the speed of their opposition.

However, the visiting defence quickly applied pressure with tackles for a loss coming from Ben Townsend and John Hodges and the Apache punted the ball away.

With the return of Luke Brown and the addition of rookie Ade Adegun, the offence started playing with the confidence that their coaches have been demanding of them.

As the game wore on the numbers and pedigree of the Apache started to show with them running out eventual 47-0 winners.

Raptors’ head coach Bill Heinrich said: “The team has come such a long way in our first three games.

“From the surprise of week one versus Swindon where the guys learned a valuable lesson to the performance where the coaches got a glimpse of what is to come.

“As the team continues to build and we continue to recruit new players, we can all see that with the spirit we have we will be a success in the future.”

Most valuable player awards on the day went to Townsend for another tough performance on the defensive line and Brown for leading the offense to its best performance so far.