Match report
From the club's own report · By Christian Steward
Its official. The Hertfordshire Hurricanes made history on Sunday 19th March by winning their third national championship in a row. They completed their three-peat with a victory over the Leicester Lemmings, winning 20-6.
This title means the most to the Hurricanes that have been here for the three victorious years. Veterans Neil White, Alex Cameron, Rich Savage, Huw Stacey, Christian Steward, Mark King, Daniel Cornibert, Steven Dennis, and Bert Browne have all been to the bowl 3 times and won it 3 times.
The game was dominated early by the Hurricane defense. Tony Groden seemed to be making tackles everywhere and Adam Seoudy was the law that landed crushing hits from the secondary. The offense got moving and a long drive was capped with a short pass to All-College Tight End Mike Butler for the touchdown. His celebrations however were short lived, when he injured himself, leaving for the rest of the game. The 2-point conversion was added by Dawid Ostrega making the score 8-0.
The second quarter saw some impressive running from both sides. Nigel Wong of the Lemmings broke for a few first downs. But it was Dean Mason of the Hurricanes that was the running star of the day. The impressive rookie ran for over 140 yards off 17 carries. It was this that help set up the second score of the day from Adam Seoudy after a long drive from the offense. The score at the end of the half was 14-0. The second half was one of real grit. The Hurricanes dug in and dealt with everything the Lemmings threw at them on this hot day. The Force XII defense upheld its dominance from the first half. Tony Groden managed to notch up an incredible 19 tackles, 1 sack and a forced fumble. Its even more incredible when you think he was playing both offense and defense, only leaving for a couple of plays the whole game. But he was not the only player to do this. Huw Stacey, Chris Renshaw, Christian Steward and Adam Seoudy all played both offense and defense and were all keys to the Hurricane machine.
The last Hurricane score was by Dawid "the Believer" Ostrega. On a day when he broke the Hurricanes record for most yards in a season and post season combined (Previously held by Mark Zaki) He rumbled in from short yardage, set-up by backup tight end Christian Steward's first ever catch, (I had to mention my catch somewhere!)
The final quarter saw the Lemmings keep pushing against an ever tiring Force XII defense. Leicester were rewarded in the final few minutes with a touchdown, leaving the final score 20-6.
The game was Hertfordshire's. Game MVP was undoubtedly Tony Groden for his superb game all round but particularly on defense. Special mentions should go to the entire team. Well done HURRICANES. We made history and no one can take that away from us.
I want to say a big thank you from all the players to all the Coaching staff, team committee and Alan Smith, the team manager, who all helped get the team their third national championship.