Scottish Claymores - American Football in Scotland

Scots washed out at Hampden

Scottish Claymores 0, Amsterdam Admirals 3
Attendance 10,971, Hampden Park
THE CLAYMORES were on the losing end of a slugfest in the mud at Hampden Park on Sunday, going down 3-0 to the Amsterdam Admirals in atrocious field conditions at the National Stadium.


 
Maurice Hicks tries to get past an Amsterdam defender
NFL superstar Dante Hall provided the only bright spark for the Scots as he was enshrined into the Claymores Hall of Fame during a pre-game ceremony in the lowest-scoring game in Claymores history and first shut-out for the Scots in 10 seasons - 88 games - the last such result being in Week 3 of the 1995 season when Amsterdam handed them a 31-0 whitewash.

The Claymores had a chance to take the game into overtime but kicker Mark Jensen could not get the ball high enough out of the mud on a 38-yard field goal attempt with 39 seconds remaining.

Afterwards Claymores head coach Jack Bicknell lamented the loss which drops his team to a League-worst 0-3 in the NFL Europe League standing, saying: "That was a tough loss. We now have our work cut out for us. We're all in this together though and we have to turn this around next week against Cologne, which will be another tough game for us."

The Claymores offense was held to just 196 total yards with quarterbacks Nate Hybl and Curt Anes failing to get the Scots offense moving. The Claymores have now not scored an offensive touchdown in seven quarters of action.

"Of course I'm concerned by that," said Bicknell. "Anytime you have a statistic like that you have to be concerned. But I've got to get our team to play better and keep everyone together. I continue to see improvement in the team but we are not an explosive team right now and that has to change."

 
The Claymores defense swarms around an Admirals running back
Much of the Scots malaise on offense could be attributed to the awful field conditions at Hampden which turned into a swamp Sunday after a week of heavy rain in Glasgow. It marked a sodden start to Bicknell's reign during his first game as head coach in Scotland.

"We played at Hampden with the Dragons a number of times," said Bicknell, "but I never remember it in that kind of shape. It was tough out there for our players and impossible to cut."

Bicknell's opposite number Bart Andrus, the Admirals head coach who watched his team slide to 1-2, added: "That was probably the worst field I've ever seen. It was really sloppy conditions and both teams just had to slug it out. Fortunately, for us, we came out on top."

Both teams traded possession to start the game before the Admirals broke the deadlock at the end of the first quarter when former Claymores quarterback Clint Stoerner slid his offense into scoring range. Kicker Todd Sievers managed to keep his footing in the mud to rifle through a 44-yards field goal to make it 3-0 to the Admirals.

The Claymores were hit by a low blow when wide receiver Nick Davis had to leave the game after breaking his ankle on the return.

 
Coach Bicknell was surprised by the state of the Hampden turf
The Scots defense stepped up with Ivory McCoy sacking Stoerner for a loss and stalling a further Dutch drive allowing the Claymores to take over as the clock clicked down to end the half.

Detroit Lions allocated uarterback Anes moved his troops down the muddy field handing the ball and passing to mudder running back Maurice Hicks. The Scots almost got on the board when Anes passed to Ron Bellamy, but the Dolphins allocate was ruled out of bounds at the corner of the endzone. That set up a 46-yard field goal attempt from Mark Jensen, but he pushed his kick wide right leaving the half-time score 3-0 in favour of Amsterdam.

The Admirals burst into life at the start of the second half with running back Chris Downs powering thenm deep into Scots territory. Silvio Diliberto attempted a 22-yard field goal but hooked his kick left.

Amsterdam moved the back into Claymores territory but the Scots defense held on fourth down. Hybl got the Scots going with gains to tight end Aaron Golliday as the third quarter wound down. Hicks moved the Claymores into the Dutch score zone but Hybl was intercepted by Admirals safety Todd Howard at the Dutch 15 to end the third quarter.

The Scots offense couldn't get going and were forced to punt the ball back to the Dutch. The defense held firm again, this time Alphonso Roundtree tipping a third-down pass but again the Scots offense couldn't make hay in the muddy conditions.

 
RB Maurice Hicks fights through the Amsterdam defense
Again the Claymores defense kept the Scots in the game, with Damian Gregory and the defensive line stopping the Dutch attack in its tracks.

Curt Anes came on to guide the Claymores and moved them down into Admirals territory scrambling in the quagmire as the clock ran down to 39 seconds.

Kicker Jensen was faced with a 38-yards field goal attempt to tie the game and send it into overtime, but his kick squirted out low and short of target to end game at 3-0 in favour of the Adnmirals.

Week 3 Gamebook - Statistics

18 Apr, 04 | 10:27 pm

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