The Lancashire Wolverine Colts travelled to Broughton Park this past Sunday to face the Manchester Titans’ Youth where they continued their positive start to the season with an impressive 26-3 victory.

Always a fierce rivalry at Senior’s level, the first meeting between the two Youth teams looked to take on that same intensity. This was proved true right from the opening kickoff when Sebastian Kerridge halted the Titans’ return with a bone-crunching hit. The Titans opening drive proved short and a poor punt left the Colts with good opening field position. However, with penalties negating a couple of would-be first downs the Colts were also forced to end their opening possession with a punt. The Titans’ second attempt proved no more successful as the Colts defence suffocated the opposition with sacks by Andrew Newby and team captain Jon Varney.

The first quarter ended with a Colts’ fumble on an exchange between quarterback and running back which was pounced upon by the Titans’ defence. Looking to capitalise their offence drove inside the red zone. Despite this promise a timely sack by Jake Hodgkinson on 3^rddown made sure that the stingy Colts defence prevented entrance into their endzone. Forced to settle for a field goal the hosts took a 3-0 lead.

The next few series saw both teams trade possession on downs and with punts. However, this relatively uninspiring passage of play was given the inspiring jolt it needed when a huge hit from safety John Frayne forced the ball loose from the Titans ball carrier. Ste Czarnecki duly obliged in recovering the fumble for the Colts. Pouncing on the clear momentum shift the Colts’ offence then lowered the boom as they engineered their first touchdown score of the game. A beautifully lofted pass by quarterback Lawrence Quinn found tight end Sebastian Kerridge who completed his tidy route from a split out position by securing the ball as he strode into the endzone. With an unsuccessful extra points attempt the half time score was 6-3.

To open the second half the Colts’ offence engineered a drive of outstanding quality – a perfect balance of flare and clockwork efficiency. Quarterback Johnny Glover delivered a succession of passes to wide receiver Rihan Malik, who in extraordinary form, continually reeled in the passes. This combined with the powerful running of Alex Hodson, who ploughed through the Titans’ defence all day, set the Colts up at the Titans’ one yard line. All that remained was for Johnny Glover to sneak into the endzone and cap off the outstanding drive. This extended the Colts lead to 12-3 and stayed that way following an unsuccessful extra points attempt.

Clearly in the ascendency the Colts defence really began to turn the screws and suppressed everything the Manchester offence could muster. Under unrelenting pressure the Titans quarterback was sacked multiple times, again by Andrew Newby and Jake Hodgkinson as well as Jamie Horsley who took advantage of the rare opportunity of a cornerback blitz. With the Titans’ resistance wilting the Colts’ offence added two more scores. The first came at the end of the third quarter when Sebastian Kerridge took a reverse at around midfield, weaved his way through the Titans defence and then raced away down the right sideline for a long touchdown run. Quarterback Lawrence Quinn then sent a quick pass out to Christian Facchin who caught the ball uncovered in the endzone. This left the Colts sitting with a comfortable 24-3 lead. Another two points were tagged onto the Colts’ score when an awry snap sailed right over the head of the Titans’ punter and out of the back of the endzone for a safety. This completed the scoring and at 26-3 the Colts claimed their second successive victory.

The Wolverine Colts will next face the Gateshead Senators at Blackburn Rugby Club on Sunday 4^th July. The game promises to be a thrilling encounter that pitches the two contestants of last year’s Northern Final against each other.

Report by Chris Ollett

Following another day of depressing news items, the WISH FM news team put a shout-out for some good news to broadcast on their 4 o'clock slot today. Colts Team Manager Caro Freeman answered the call and was the lucky one chosen from many to take the prime time slot.  Sure enough, after several dreary headline items, the newsreader told listeners across the wide WISH FM area about the Colts winning clash with Manchester Titans on Sunday, then went "over to Team Manager Caroline Freeman" for a live quote, expressing her delight at the result. Proof for all to hear that the Academy is making headline news in Lancashire.

Listen to Caro's good news here:

After a comfortable victory against the Hull Hornets last time out the Lancashire Wolverines overcame division rivals the Chester Romans in a closely fought battle at Blackburn Rugby Club.  Though they left it late to secure a second successive victory, the low scoring 7-0 win pulls the Wolverines to 2-2 after a 0-2 start. The win also throws them right back into contention for what is shaping up to be a tight division.

The rain soaked conditions ensured from the start that this was not the kind of day conducive to high scoring football. Instead both teams would have to knuckle down and grind out a victory. In the opening exchanges both teams failed to construct any seriously threatening drives. It took until early in the second quarter before a score looked likely. Some persistent rushing from Chester’s running backs propelled the Romans right down to the Wolverines one yard line. In critical need of a stop rookie Sam Bloomfield diagnosed the Romans dive right and the contact of helmet on football jarred the ball loose. The ensuing melee was cleared up by the referees who adjudged the Wolverines to have recovered the football with Adam Purcell tenuously claiming ownership of the recovery.

Chester put together the next dangerous looking drive but the mean Wolverines defence again thwarted their opposition’s efforts. With the Romans' quarterback beginning to roll out of the pocket in search of a receiver Sam Bloomfield closed in and with a strip-sack claimed his second forced fumble of the game. The first half was and continued to be characterized by stuttering offence, solid defence and turnovers.

Just before half time the Wolverines offence offered a glimpse of promise just before half time quarterback David Mead evaded defensive pressure and threw a pass which resulted in a 22 yard completion to Neil Sullivan. The wide receiver finished of his arching route with an expertly caught ball as he slid on his knees. This play was one of few first half plays that went for sizeable yardage. However, little time remained for the Wolverines to build on this play and the half remained scoreless.

The Wolverines opened the second half with a 23 yard kick return giving the offence decent field position for the first series of the 3rd quarter. After a one yard run by rookie running back Eden Quigley, the Colts’ graduate came straight back with an electrifying 33 yard dash off to the right and down the sideline to the Chester 41 yard line. After an incompletion on the ensuing first down, the Wolverines came within inches of opening the score on second down. Neil Sullivan craftily wrong-footed the Chester cornerback before racing down the left sideline and seeing his wide receiver open, quarterback David Mead threw a timely pass but Sullivan marginally failed to secure the slippery football. Upon review a penalty would have nullified any potential score and a series of penalties derailed all the early promise of the drive forcing a Wolverines’ punt.

The following possessions by both teams yielded little and the next drive of note came late in the 3rd quarter when some strong running by the Romans’ running back moved them to the Wolverines’ 25 yard line. However, the Romans failed to progress when Wolverines’ Defensive Co-ordinator Darren Carr dialled up the pressure, the resultant disruption leading to sacks by Lex Dunn and Carl Rimmer on successive plays. This pushed the Romans firmly out of field goal range.

In the fourth quarter both defences remained firm as both offences struggled to find any rhythm. With the game ebbing away and an unwanted tie appearing increasing more likely, the Wolverines sparked into action at the eleventh hour paving the way for an exhilarating finish. With 3rd and 6 around midfield David Mead took off and with his 20 yard scramble set the wheels in motion for a late score. A few plays later Mead again carried the ball rolling out on a bootleg led by Carl Rimmer who powerfully disposed of a would-be Romans’ tackler allowing Mead to sprint to the one yard line. On the next play, with first and goal at the one, the Wolverines did successfully what Chester had failed to in the first half by scoring at the goal line. Mead again kept the ball and the quarterback, always a danger with his legs, dashed to the left hand pylon and into the endzone for a go-ahead touchdown. The ever-reliable Danny Morton added the extra point that sent the score to 7-0 as the Wolverines had the lead they had so desperately searched for. Danny Morton’s booming kickoff then went for a touchback eliminating any chance of a dynamic return and then the Romans’ offence had little time to counter before time expired with the final score a 7-0 victory for the Lancashire Wolverines.

The Lancashire Wolverines will next face the Sheffield Predators in a battle of the roses in an away fixture on the 20th June.

Photo gallery of the game available here.

Article by Chris Ollett

Players Ryan Morton, Jamie Horsley and Jonathon Varney joined coaches Simon Purcell and Sam Bloomfield in the crucial qualifier, in which GB Lions beat Holland 18-13 in a thrilling game.

After the game, GB Lions defensive backs coach and Wolverine Colts defensive Co-ordinator, Simon Purcell said: ‘The performance by the GB Lions team was superb – it was a true team performance and one that everyone who travelled to Holland should be proud to have been a part of. All the Lancashire players performed well and contributed to the teams win, especially Wolverines team captain, Varney who was the leading tackler on defense’

The next step for GB is a 4-team tournament in Serbia later in the year and with a total of EIGHT players in the squad the Wolverines are hoping for yet more success.

Due to the lack of funding available the players and staff have to support themselves in order to represent Great Britain. If anybody is interested in sponsoring any of the players or the Wolverines please contact Greg Adam at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information about the Lancashire Academy of American Football please visit www.wolverineden.com