Giants Humble Warhawks

Sheffield Giants 57 – 13 Humber Warhawks

Sheffield started the game on offence having won the coin toss and elected to receive, but the drive fizzled out before it had started leaving #9 Will Morgan to punt the ball away. Whilst not the ideal start, the tone for the day was set once Humber’s offence had made their first attempt at a drive – the Giants defence driving them backwards with tackles for loss and a sack from #64 Callum Bailey, with the Warhawks then left in the precarious position of needing to punt away from deep within their endzone. The setup and the pressure was too much for the Warhawks Special Teams as the punter had to step out of the backfield in his attempt to get the ball away, resulting in a Safety and two points on the board for the Giants.

Within one play it was 08-00 to the Giants. Following the kick off, stand-in Quarterback #1 Ben Ancey-Taylor threw the vertical ball downfield, brought in by #88 Ethan Webster, for the immediate 50 yard Touchdown. Morgan converted the XP and the crowd could already sense that the day may be a fruitful one for the Sheffield Team.

Whilst the next series each way yielded no points (with the Giants getting stuck in the no mans land just outside of Field Goal range on 4th down, with the scramble from Ancey-Taylor being just short), the Giants offence scored on both of their next two series. The first Ancey-Taylor ran in himself, and the second, following a forced fumble caused by #94 Josh Padley, run in by #30 Elliott Jeffrey, making his return from injury after going down in the season opener. Both Extra Points were good, taking the score to 23-00.

With excitement building, the Warhawks did bite back. A sack against #1 on his blindside resulted in a loose ball, with Humber scooping that up for the score (XP good). The previous play only served to annoy the Giants O though, with Ancey-Taylor passing short to Webster, who galloped 40 yards for the score. The XP was no good, but with a 29-07 lead, things were looking good for the boys in blue. Unfortunately, the next notable play saw #1 go down with what looked a pretty serious injury.

The injury and Quarterback change (with #14 Helmer Peereboom returning following an injury of his own) could have seen things slip away, but within the very same series the lead was extended, with Peereboom threading the needle and getting the ball into the hands of #46 Jordan Musgrove right between two defenders. Following the XP, the half finished with the Giants holding a 36-07 lead.

The second half was understandably less prolific, but there was plenty of time for both Teams to put more points on the board. The first drive each of the half resulted in no score, but following a fumble the Warhawks nicked one back with a reverse, although the XP was blocked by Josh Padley to offer some solace to the Giants D who hadn’t done a lot wrong up to this point. The Giants O responded with another rushing Touchdown from Jeffrey and on the next drive the Warhawks attempt at a punt went horribly wrong as the ball was snapped over the head of the Punter, who then failed to clear it out of the end zone, with #13 Nat Gatchalian smartly covering the ball up to put another 6 points on the scoreboard. With Morgan then converting the XP, the Giants had hit their first 50 burger of the season.

Time quickly ran out from there, with a running-clock active once the Giants had a 35 point margin, but there was just time for one more Touchdown with Helmer this time connecting with #81 Dan Padley (XP good) to take the score to 57-13, where it ultimately finished.

Whilst nothing will give back the points lost to Humber earlier in the season, the dominant victory in response goes a long way to showing who this Giants Team really are. With the season record now back at .500 and a game against the Chester Romans up next, the Giants could begin the second half of the season with a winning record and the play-offs firmly in their sight.

The Giants are on the road to Chester this weekend but then return home to face the Yorkshire Rams on Sunday 2nd June. The game will kick off at 14:00 and will be played at Norton Sports Park (289 Warminster Road, S8 8PS). There’s no charge to attend, so why not come down and make some noise to help push your Sheffield Giants to victory and closer to the play-offs.

Follow the Team on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter for more information:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sheffieldgiantsTwitter – @SheffGiantsInstagram - @sheffieldgiants