Mid-season Review
Bath Killer Bees 3 - 19 Bristol Barracuda
The season opener saw the Killer Bees unveil their new game jerseys provided by Noah, and an early field goal by Tom Millership left the Bees with an early lead. That was to be the highlight of the day for the offence as inexperience on the OL became evident and the Barracuda defense continued to cause problems. The one bright spot of the day, being a 50 yard screen for an apparent touchdown to James Samuel, was nullified by a block in the back penalty, and with that flag any remaining hope disappeared.
The Bees defence caused Bristol’s offence problems for large parts of the game, shown by the fact Bath only trailed 6-3 at the half, but defensive inexperience eventually told as well as Bristol were able to break a couple of big plays.
Whilst it was evident that the better team on the day won, and that the numerous freshman starters thrown in at the deep end ultimately struggled, there were promising signs that once the new blood found their feet the team had a good chance to be competitive.
The Buzz - Solent Redhawks P - P Bath Killer Bees
The torrential rain that hampered much of the country, and in particular the South West, resulted in a postponed game and the cancellation of the festivities planned for The Buzz. Anyone wishing a commemorative souvenir programme, please get in touch!
UWE Bullets 38 - 12 Bath Killer Bees
The continued bad weather in the region resulted in this game being moved to Bristol to take advantage of the rubber crumb turf field to ensure a second postponement did not take place.
On the back of the Barracuda defeat, a trip to last season’s division champions was never going to be easy, yet the score line at the end of the game did not really reflect how close the contest was for much of the day. At half time the scoreboard stood at a narrow 18-12 advantage to UWE with Ben Wiltshire getting both Bath touchdowns, the Bees’ first of the season, and Wiltshire’s first since 2005.
The Bullet’s speed eventually told in the second half as they were able to exploit mistakes form the Bath defence which resulted in a number of big plays. The offence was effective in the second half, but failed to find the endzone again leaving UWE comfortable winner at the final whistle. However, once again, the signs were already beginning to show that the Bees were not far from getting both sides of the ball to click.
Warwick Wolves 0 - 28 Bath Killer Bees
With the weather failing to ease, the game against Warwick was touch and go, but eventually went ahead despite the significant amount of water one the field and further rain falling for much of the afternoon.
The wet weather made the passing game difficult for both teams, and receptions were rare. The game was decided in the trenches and the end result was clear evidence of the ever improving freshman lineman on both offence and defence.
Scores on the day for the Bees came solely from the Bees plethora of running backs. Ben Wiltshire adding to his tally, sophomore Bobby Nightingale adding two scores along with a 2 point conversion, Eddie Anastassacos found the endzone playing his first game from the backfield, and QB Chris Jones rounded off the scoring with a 2 point conversion on a bootleg.
With the first W on the board, confidence was continuing to grow and the forthcoming trip to west Wales looked a lot more appealing.
Bath Killer Bees 30 - 0 Tarannau Aberystwyth
Due to various discussions about possible alternative locations for the game, the Bees travelled light to face Aberystwyth, kitting a squad of only 30 compared to numbers in excess of 50 for all of the previous games. Eventually the game took place on the Saturday rather than the Sunday, with the resulting advantage of a full referee crew which are a rare occurrence so far from civilisation.
Despite the depleted numbers, the performance of those that made the trip was once again improved from the Warwick game, and another shut out by the defence was complemented by a score of their own when Marcus Da Costa returned an errant Aberystwyth pass to the endzone. The score was converted when James Samuel caught a Chris Jones pass for two points.
Da Costas’ ‘pick 6’ came only seconds after Ben Wiltshire had powered over to give the Bees an early lead on their first drive of the day. Samuel and Jones had once again connected, and in the blink of an eye, Bath had created a 16 point advantage.
With some of the most pleasant conditions of the year, the Bees receivers looked to take advantage and succeeded with by far their best collective performance of the year. Third year veteran Estian Schoonraad led the way with a number of catches, including a touchdown, until he succumbed to injury. Steve Leonard continued the proceedings adding a 4th quarter touchdown reception, and then converting his own score with another two point reception, to complete the scoring for the day.
Without doubt this was the performance of the season so far by the Bees, and heading into the Christmas break at 2-2 they have brought themselves back into the post-season race that will commence in February.
The season opener saw the Killer Bees unveil their new game jerseys provided by Noah, and an early field goal by Tom Millership left the Bees with an early lead. That was to be the highlight of the day for the offence as inexperience on the OL became evident and the Barracuda defense continued to cause problems. The one bright spot of the day, being a 50 yard screen for an apparent touchdown to James Samuel, was nullified by a block in the back penalty, and with that flag any remaining hope disappeared.The Bees defence caused Bristol’s offence problems for large parts of the game, shown by the fact Bath only trailed 6-3 at the half, but defensive inexperience eventually told as well as Bristol were able to break a couple of big plays.Whilst it was evident that the better team on the day won, and that the numerous freshman starters thrown in at the deep end ultimately struggled, there were promising signs that once the new blood found their feet the team had a good chance to be competitive.
The Buzz - Solent Redhawks P - P Bath Killer Bees
The torrential rain that hampered much of the country, and in particular the South West, resulted in a postponed game and the cancellation of the festivities planned for The Buzz. Anyone wishing a commemorative souvenir programme, please get in touch!
UWE Bullets 38 - 12 Bath Killer Bees
The continued bad weather in the region resulted in this game being moved to Bristol to take advantage of the rubber crumb turf field to ensure a second postponement did not take place.
On the back of the Barracuda defeat, a trip to last season’s division champions was never going to be easy, yet the score line at the end of the game did not really reflect how close the contest was for much of the day. At half time the scoreboard stood at a narrow 18-12 advantage to UWE with Ben Wiltshire getting both Bath touchdowns, the Bees’ first of the season, and Wiltshire’s first since 2005.The Bullet’s speed eventually told in the second half as they were able to exploit mistakes form the Bath defence which resulted in a number of big plays. The offence was effective in the second half, but failed to find the endzone again leaving UWE comfortable winner at the final whistle. However, once again, the signs were already beginning to show that the Bees were not far from getting both sides of the ball to click.
Warwick Wolves 0 - 28 Bath Killer Bees
With the weather failing to ease, the game against Warwick was touch and go, but eventually went ahead despite the significant amount of water one the field and further rain falling for much of the afternoon.
The wet weather made the passing game difficult for both teams, and receptions were rare. The game was decided in the trenches and the end result was clear evidence of the ever improving freshman lineman on both offence and defence.
Scores on the day for the Bees came solely from the Bees plethora of running backs. Ben Wiltshire adding to his tally, sophomore Bobby Nightingale adding two scores along with a 2 point conversion, Eddie Anastassacos found the endzone playing his first game from the backfield, and QB Chris Jones rounded off the scoring with a 2 point conversion on a bootleg.With the first W on the board, confidence was continuing to grow and the forthcoming trip to west Wales looked a lot more appealing.
Bath Killer Bees 30 - 0 Tarannau Aberystwyth
Due to various discussions about possible alternative locations for the game, the Bees travelled light to face Aberystwyth, kitting a squad of only 30 compared to numbers in excess of 50 for all of the previous games. Eventually the game took place on the Saturday rather than the Sunday, with the resulting advantage of a full referee crew which are a rare occurrence so far from civilisation.
Despite the depleted numbers, the performance of those that made the trip was once again improved from the Warwick game, and another shut out by the defence was complemented by a score of their own when Marcus Da Costa returned an errant Aberystwyth pass to the endzone. The score was converted when James Samuel caught a Chris Jones pass for two points.
Da Costas’ ‘pick 6’ came only seconds after Ben Wiltshire had powered over to give the Bees an early lead on their first drive of the day. Samuel and Jones had once again connected, and in the blink of an eye, Bath had created a 16 point advantage.
With some of the most pleasant conditions of the year, the Bees receivers looked to take advantage and succeeded with by far their best collective performance of the year. Third year veteran Estian Schoonraad led the way with a number of catches, including a touchdown, until he succumbed to injury. Steve Leonard continued the proceedings adding a 4th quarter touchdown reception, and then converting his own score with another two point reception, to complete the scoring for the day.
Without doubt this was the performance of the season so far by the Bees, and heading into the Christmas break at 2-2 they have brought themselves back into the post-season race that will commence in February.
Posted on 03 Jan 2010 by Steve Leonard