December 4th saw the Pirates travel to Chelmsford to take on the Anglia Ruskin Phantoms looking to build upon a strong showing at Lincoln and go into the Christmas holidays with a winning record. The course of the game saw the 2011 Pirates set a record for points scored, with 56 now being the highest in the twenty-five year history of the club. Credit must go to the ARU Phantoms who are rebuilding after a year out of BUAFL competition, they played hard throughout the whole game and have a lot of potential to take forward as they look to strengthen their programme.

The Pirates took the opening kickoff and looked to take an early lead. Solid tackling from the ARU defence forced the Pirates into a 4th & 2, however RB Chris Carson continued his fantastic work this season by not only converting the 4th down but by scampering 55 yards for the score, the PAT was good and the Pirates took a 7-0 lead. The defence then took the field, hoping for an early stop. It became clear early that the ARU offence was going to involve a lot of QB run and read options a la the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow. However the Pirates D set the theme for the game from the first drive forcing ARU to punt from its one yard line.

The Pirates offence then embarked on a long patient drive, with fantastic blocking from OL Stuart Cooper & the Wisconsin-bound Dave Cull. The drive took a good chunk off the clock and Carson did the rest in the red-zone, running in from 6 yards out. The Pirates defence then forced another 3 & out but the offence could not capitalise with a drive marred by flags eventually resulting in a turnover on downs. The defence continued to step up, capitalizing on the limitations of the ARU offence, good pressure forced a 4th down, which ARU decided to go for. LB Jack Gill ensured that ARU would not convert, sacking the QB for a loss of ten, one of eleven tackles on the day for Gill in an MVP performance.

The Pirates offence took full advantage of the good field position, with Carson running in untouched from 40 yards, he had done the same on the previous play only to see a flag nullify the touchdown. The defence then wrote itself on the scoreboard, forcing ARU deep into its own territory, which NT Gavin Barnard capitalized on, tackling the ARU running-back in his own endzone for his second safety of the season.

The Pirates offence then took the field after the safety punt and scored yet again with QB Mark Rivett sneaking in from 1 yard after completing a 50 yard pass to rookie WR Rory Tovell and a 5 yard pass to WR Tom Sheppard who looked like he had got into the endzone himself. UEA had complete control of the game and secured another safety, after the D achieved another 3 & out the ARU long-snapper unfortunately snapped the ball over his punters head and out the back of the endzone.

The following safety-punt resulted in one of the more interesting plays of the year. LB Tom Whipps on the front wall elected to field the skied punt and nearly broke through for a TD being tackled by the last man. The offence continued to keep their finger on the pulse, QB Mark Rivett tossed his first TD of the day, a 25yard strike to Andy Custerson for his 2nd TD reception of the year. Half time followed soon after and for the second time in as many weeks the Pirates had a commanding lead.

Determined this week to complete a shut-out the Pirates Defence started the second half with intensity, good pressure from DE Tom Knight forced a turnover on downs. The Pirates offence, now featuring a lot of rookies also started the half well. Rory Tovell continuing his solid day, caught another long pass which set up a 5 yard score for RB Joe Van Der Merwe.

The defence continued in the same vain for the entire second-half, with a heavy rotation of personal the D continually prevented ARU gaining yards with tackles for a loss coming regularly and often. LB Tom Whipps was perhaps the standout performer with back to back Ray Lewisesque hits forcing a turnover on downs and drawing great plaudits from the Pirates sideline.

With the game drawing to a close, Carson ensured he stayed on pace to break personal records and ensured that the Pirates achieved a team record. First he scored from 40 yards out with little under five minutes to play. The play that actually broke the record was arguably Carson’s best run as a Pirate; bear in mind there have been a fair few the past two seasons. On a draw play, which seemingly was destined to be stopped, Carson stayed on his feet, avoided, dodged or threw away at least six would-be tacklers and took the ball 60 yards to the house. It was a brilliant end to a solid all-round performance from the UEA team, in which every man on the roster contributed.

The Pirates have a long recess until their next match at home to the Kings College Regents on February 12th.

Charlie Harris

MVPs

Offence – RB Joe Van Der Merwe

Defence – LB Jack Gill

Special Teams – K Charlie Harris

Overall – RB Chris Carson