london warriors - Colchester Gladiators

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OFFICIAL

PROGRAM

VS

LONDON WARRIORS 8th June 2014 www.colchestergladiators.com

Message from the

Chairman Welcome one and all to Mill Road, where today the Colchester Gladiators take on the fearsome London Warriors. Following a disappointing performance against the Cambridgeshire Cats, the Gladiators are looking to bounce back, but face stiff opposition in the form of the reigning Premier Division Champions. The Warriors are a team with tremendous pedigree, many of their players are junior or youth graduates, and the team boasts terrific depth. It also reaps the benefit of having coaches with NFL experience, both in the US, and in the now defunct NFL Europe. They are current favourites to repeat their title in 2014, so this will be a terrific test for the Gladiators in a higher division. This represents the first of three consecutive games for the senior Gladiators, and will no doubt be the most trying month of the year. Todays game precedes the visit of Berkshire Renegades next week, before the Gladiators hit the road again, visiting the former Premier Champions, the London Blitz. It’s this period where Head Coach Matt Roberts will really need to ensure his team are fit, healthy, and ready to go. It’s an exciting time to be part of the Gladiators, as we look towards the biggest games of the year. Thoughts today are also with our Junior team, as Tim Rowe leads them down to Southampton to take on the Solent Thrashers. This long trip will prove an excellent yardstick to measure the team by the Thrashers are a well organised unit who should pressure the young Gladiators. Very best of luck to them as they look to extend their record to 3-1. Today we also welcome a very special guest, Jack Partridge, into the Gladiator family. Jack is an extraordinary young man, and someone the Club is delighted to support as he and his family look to recover from a life changing event. I hope you’ll all embrace him as one of our own as he prowls the sideline for us today. So, it only remains for me to encourage to visit Liza, and enjoy our exceptional food and drink offer, pull up a chair, and enjoy what promises to be one of the hardest hitting games of the year! GO GLADS! -Tom Burridge

Program : Charles Greig || Photos : John Singer | Charles Greig

Message from the

Coach

Matt Roberts Head Coach

Colchester Gladiators Firstly, massive thanks to you all for taking the time to read this games programme. Today represents a massive weekend for the club. Last year a large driving force behind the goal to win the National League was to have the chance to play the very best in the country and that’s exactly what we’re facing today. The London Warriors represent the best programme in the UK, with outstanding coaches, players and support they really are what all clubs in the UK should aspire to be. This season has been a real struggle at times for us, our injury list alone is sombre reading, with us missing key players such as Casey Campbell, Anders Bengston, Dan Johnson, Ryan Vaughan, Joe Wilson, DJ Demuren, Garry Shuttleworth all out of the picture, I would be lying if I said this is how I wanted to face the National Champions this weekend! There are of course massive positives to the season, for every player

whose either out injured or retired we’ve picked up real, genuine talent. With new faces such as Brandon Slieker at QB, Receivers like Andi Xheka, Andy Clarke, Mitchell Freeman, Chris Chandler and Vic Williams, linemen like Tarek Al Baghal all making massive impacts on the Offence, combined with the existing experience of players like Chris Jackson, Curtis Bourke, Tom Burridge and Phil Moreton at times we’ve shown real promise on the offensive side of the ball and I hope this weekend we can continue to improve both as individual players and also as a unit and a team.

massive impact from week 1. The unit has some terrific experience in the form of players such as Dave Walton, Sam Gennings and Raul Barclay means on our day we’re capable to perform at a very high level.

Defensively it’s a similar story to the Offence in a lot of ways, with the sudden retirement of Defensive captain and starting LB Mark Gilbranch, combined with injuries to stand out DJ Demuren and Garry Shuttleworth the unit has taken a massive blow over the last couple of weeks, but fortunately new players such as Andre Auguste, Matt Richardson and Brendan Bignell have been making both massive improvements and certainly in the case of Brendan been making a

Myself and Coach Box have put targets, plans and goals in place and whilst we understand the scale of the task we will be finding victories in as many opportunities as possible from making no procedural errors, no alignment errors, minimize turn overs and penalties so no matter how the game pans out we will be in a stronger, more experienced position to face the Renegades next week.

The overall issue we have as a club is the lack of numerical depth at times and whilst it sounds like a cliché at the higher level all mistakes really are punished. Last game against the Cats was a classic example where 1 missed tackle results in a massive break away score, and one error on Kick Off led to them running the ball back for 99 yards and a score!

Thanks again for joining us and hope you enjoy the game.

Welcome to

Jack Partridge

Today the Colchester Gladiators welcome a very special guest. Jack Partridge just recently turned 12, but has already experienced more than many other children of his age. On 5th February of this year, Jack’s Dad had been working overtime, his mum, a teaching assistant at a local school had left for work, his little sister Emily was at school, as was Jack. Shortly after Jack left for school his neighbour’s house exploded, thought to be a gas explosion. This entirely destroyed 2 homes and caused significant damage to his. They all escaped without injury, only the Family cat was injured by debris but is recovering well. They have been unable to return home since the incident. The family lost all of their possessions and Jack lost all of his toys, clothes, and other personal belongings, some of which are irreplaceable. The family are in temporary accommodation whilst their home is rebuilt. Jack and his Sister Emily have dealt with this

situation remarkably well, and everyone has been so very kind and generous. Jack is a huge fan of American football and follows the Colchester Gladiators. He is so excited about going to his first live game today, with his auntie Hayley. Hopefully this will give him some time to enjoy being a young lad doing what he loves, and stop worrying about things he shouldn’t really be having to think about at his age. The Colchester Gladiators are delighted to welcome Jack into the family, and are proud to name Jack as an honorary captain for the day. Jack will also be taking part on the thick of the action, acting as ball boy on the Gladiators’ sideline.

Roster For

COLCHESTER GLADIATORS Head Coach Matt Roberts Defensive Coordinator Luke Box Defensive Backs Nick Foxley Asst. Paul Lilley Asst. Liam Whiting

0 0 0 1 2 7 8 10 11 14 15 19 20 21 23 25 27 31 36 39 45 48

Andrew Clarke Chris Chandler Alex Keatley Brandon Slieker Sam Gennings Nathan Brown Victor Williams Anders Bengston Curtis Bourke Alex Robinson Adam Levy Ash Latter Richard Weeks Andi Hyka Joe Stickings Chris Jackson Neil Owen Lewis Henson Raul Barclay Josh Milgate Jake Hawkins David Kerr

WR WR DL QB DB WR/K WR RB QB DB QB WR DB WR DB RB WR LB DB LB LB DB

49 50 51 54 57 58 64 66 67 70 72 73 75 76 77 82 85 88 90 95 98 99

Brendan Bignell Andre Auguste Phil Moreton David Walton David Crane Andi King Ian Digby Tarek Al Baghal Tom Burridge James Birch Joe Bunyan Alfie Sharman Nigel Mann Paul Brunsden Paul Bovingdon Oliver Ackland-Snow Mitchell Freeman Mark Gilbranch Sean Chadney Charles Greig Matthew Richardson Garry Shuttleworth

LB DL OL DL OL OL LB OL OL DL DL OL OL OL OL WR WR LB DL WR DL DL

Colchester Gladiators vs Cambridgeshire Cats

Look Back After the high of recording their first Premier Division win last week over the East Kent Mavericks, the Colchester Gladiators’ hopes were high that they could build on the momentum generated from their historic win when they opened their home programme against the Cats from Cambridgeshire. Unfortunately they were brought firmly back down to earth with a bump as they struggled to generate much offence, and the Cats took advantage of some sloppy tackling to run out comfortable winners at Colchester Rugby Club on Sunday. The Cats received the ball to start the game and set a marker on the game’s first play with a 29 yard run for a first down. They completed the drive seven plays later when their running back scored from a yard out. The extra point was good and the Cats led 7-0. The Gladiators threatened to get straight back into the game with Chris Jackson running for nine, five and ten yards on their first three plays and when Curtis Bourke found last week’s hero Andy Clarke for a 23 yard gain, the Gladiators had moved to the Cats 35. But after a fumble for a loss, Bourke threw his first interception of the day to turn the ball over to the visitors. However, the Gladiators did get back into it just four plays later when, after good

defence and a Cats fumble, they elected to punt on fourth down. The kick was shanked straight to Raul Barclay who ended up with the simple task of running a few yards untouched into the Cats end zone for a touchdown. Unfortunately Nathan Brown’s extra point attempt was wide but the Cats lead was just a single point at 7-6. That was as close as the hosts came though and from the ensuing kick off, the lead was back to seven points when the Cats returned the ball spectacularly all the way for a 94 yard score. The point after was again good, making the score 13-6. This was increased to 19-6 as the quarter ended after the Gladiators were forced to punt, and a good return took them to the Gladiators’ 27, setting up a 16 yard pass completion for the third Cambridge touchdown of the opening period. The Pat was no good but after just 15 minutes of play, Colchester trailed 19-6. The Gladiators offence continued to make life hard for itself with fumbles and fumbled pitches but the defence was getting to grips with the Cats and Raul Barclay picked off their American QB and a goal line stand prevented any further scores until another self inflicted mistake opened up an opportunity for the Cats to extend their lead just before half time. The Gladiators were due to punt from their own 36 but a fumbled snap gifted

possession to Cambridge just 22 yards out and on the half’s final play, when faced with a fourth and goal from the one, their QB found a receiver in the end zone, who caught the ball for the score. The extra point was tacked on to leave the Gladiators trailing 26-6 at the interval. The start of the third quarter featured some sloppy lay from both sides and included four turnovers on four consecutive plays. The Gladiators had back up QB Brandon Sleiker in under centre to try to create a spark but had to punt away their first possession. Three plays later they had the ball back when Ian Digby recovered a fumble, but Slieker and his Cats counterpart threw consecutive interceptions, with Sam Gennings claiming the ball back for the Gladiators. However, another home fumble gifted the Cats excellent field position with a first down on the Gladiators 17 but great defence brought up a fourth down and the Cats lined up for a field goal attempt. The Cats head coach called for a fake but the pass attempt fell incomplete to give the Gladiators a temporary reprieve. Starting their next drive on their own five, the Gladiators put together a 13 play drive, helped by a roughing the passer call to negate a Slieker interception, which took them deep into the Cats half, but they again shot themselves in the foot with a fumbled pitch that resulted in an 11 yard loss. They couldn’t make up the yardage and the quarter ended scoreless with the

Colchester Gladiators vs Cambridgeshire Cats

Look Back

Cats in possession, still up by 20. The game was sealed on the first play of the fourth quarter when more poor tackling allowed a pass completion to go all the way to the end zone for a 64 yard touchdown. The PAT was good and with the score now 33-6, the Gladiators were playing for pride. The modern day Gladiators fight to the end and engineered their best drive of the day, travelling 85 yards in 11 plays. The drive started with a 36 yard completion from Slieker to Vic Williams and good running from Jackson, and another completion, this time to Ash Latter, took the ball to the Cambridge two. On fourth down, Jackson barged his way over the line for six points and a 33-12 score. The two point pass attempt was no good but the score appeared a little more respectable. The Cats couldn’t move the ball and threw incomplete on fourth down to give Colchester the ball back, but another fumbled pitch was fortuitously recovered by Tom Burridge, but the 19 yard loss brought up third and 28. After an incomplete pass, a defensive penalty gifted the Gladiators a first down but with time running out, Slieker’s long pass attempts fell incomplete and time expired with the Gladiators counting the cost of all their mistakes. Head Coach Matt Roberts was disappointed with the overall performance but was keen to pick out the positives to take forward and said: “Today was always going to be a tough one for us. With us missing starting linemen Paul Brunsden and Nigel Mann, and also rookie receiver Andi Xheka on offence, defensive captain Garry Shuttleworth and star middle linebacker Brendan Bignell we knew it would be and challenge. In reality offensively despite showing flashes of promise, silly mistakes and sloppy execution routinely killed drives and that

meant with defence and special teams struggling to handle the sheer athleticism of a number of their players, we couldn’t put enough pressure on them early to really make a game of it. As always there are plenty of positives to take from the game, and continued improvement but ultimately we were miles off where we could have been and myself and the coaches need to do a better job of understanding why that is and correct it before our next, toughest run of games. Four turnovers and putting the ball on the floor hurt us today but credit to the Cats, they have some quality players and made us pay. “On the positive side however, Brandon Slieker played well when he came on in the second half and Chris Jackson ran hard all day. “After a slow start, the defence played well and two more interceptions from our secondary shows what a good unit we have there. Missed tackles again cost

us though and with some tough games coming up next month, we need to do a better job there. “Special teams was a big disappointment for me today, giving up that kick off return touchdown was very disappointing as we work hard in this area every year. We gave up good field position all day and that just won’t cut it in this league. We have a lot to work on before our next game but we will look at the film as a team and make sure we prepare as well as we can.” The Gladiators’ next game is on Sunday 8th June against the current premier champions, the London Warriors, at Colchester Rugby Club, 2.30pm kick off. The Warriors team features TV personality Vernon Kay so a bumper crowd is expected. Further information about the Club and contact details for all sections can be found at www.colchestergladiators.com.

League Table /

Remaining Fixtures Team London Warriors Bristol Aztecs London Blitz London Olympians Cambridgeshire Cats Colchester Gladiators South Wales Warriors East Kent Mavericks Berkshire Renegades

Wins 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1

Losses 0 0 0 1 3 2 3 3 4

Ties 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

pct 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.667 0.400 0.333 0.250 0.250 0.200

for 166 113 95 57 84 64 20 73 32

against 6 14 6 46 161 84 114 140 133

Check it out - Click Here! June 15, 2014 2:00 pm Colchester

Colchester Gladiators – Berkshire Renegades June 22, 2014 2:00 pm Finsbury Park Athletics Stadium

London Blitz – Colchester Gladiators August 3, 2014 2:00 pm Colchester

Colchester Gladiators – Bristol Aztecs August 17, 2014 2:00 pm Beckenham, Greater London BR3 1NZ

London Olympians – Colchester Gladiators

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London Warriors Tony Allen Matt Bruckner Jeremy Simms Ian Jaquet Gavin Collins Errol Muhammed Jermaine Berchie George Korischar Ben Abbott Tom Aghedo Ken Agu Kane Alexander Jerome Allen Mark Amedu Olaoluwa Balogun Ololade Balogun Jermaine Black-Marston Thomas Bower Jeff Brown Alexander Brockhurst Taylor Burke Joshua Clarke Adam Dowsett Aden Durde Jeffrey Elliott Francis Ezekiel Emeka Ezenwoye Ricard Gadzekpo Robert Gogerly Daniel Gray Kieran Griffith Daniel Gyimah Alex Haldane Scott Horne Leon Jackson Romaine Jackson Ian Jacquet Nick Jacquet Alastair Jenkins Jamal Johnson Fabian Johnson-Sewell Vernon Kay Kevin Keohane Faraz Khan Maciej Kurek Toby Landeryou Olaotan Lawal Ka Poh Ling Matthew Luck Daniel Mackenzie Agui-Albert Mansilla Ross Martin

LB DL LB DL QB WR S DL CB OL DB DB WR RB LB LB DB OL DL OL TE OL DL RB LB CB CB WR WR QB DL OL LB S OL OL LB TE OL LB OL S LB OL

37 95 94 7 42 54 27 60 17 23 53 73 99 71 85 76 99 46 4 2 13 8 16 65 44 25 56 51 87 49 77 20 75

Coaches

Tim Palmer Marvin Allen James Church-Morley Aden Durde Jeff Brown Andre Clark Simon Buckett Martyn Stewart

Mark McGowan Daniel McMillan Paolo Memoli Stuart Milloy Kyung-HoonMoon Jamal Moore William Nchanjala Phil Newport William Nicholson K.Martin Nzenga Efe Obada Samuel Obi Emanuel Olagbaju Anthony Olawole Leslie Olwole-wilson Damilola Oyinlola Jacob Price Michael Rupu Travain Russell Moses Sangobiyi Djamal Salim Jeremy Simms Ishmael Simms Marlon Smith Sio Stevens Nino Stylianou Azdine Tiamou Chris Townsend Adeodatus Twumasi Samuel Udoh Sebastian Vilchez Dwayne Watson Denapoli Williams Robert Wolstenholme Juma Woodhouse Daniel Young Joshua Young-Hastings Mateusz Zebrowski Alexander Daniel Bee Nic Scott-Grant Niall Steadman Andrew

WR 82 WR 80 DL 91 WR 86 CB RB 36 RB 14 WR 89 CB LB/DB 92 DL 10 CB 24 RB 29 RB 45 CB DL 96 S 26 DL CB 22 LB 47 DL 97 WR 1 DB S 47 DL S 34 DL 90 WR CB LB 55 DB RB 48 QB/WR 15 DB LB/DB 33 CB 28 WR 89 WR WR TE LB DL

Junior Gladiators 39 vs 0 Junior Cheetahs

Look Back The Colchester Gladiator Juniors finally had the opportunity to show a large home crowd what they are made of when they faced the Watford Cheetahs in their opening home game of this season’s campaign on Sunday. With a weaker squad than the coaching staff would have wanted, lots of forced changes during the week meant that some players would be playing out of position with minimum preparation. Watford won the toss and elected to receive the ball first, from the opening kick-off the Gladiators pinned the opposition back inside their own 20 yard line from where the Cheetahs came out throwing the ball. Unfortunately for them the opening play and pass was intercepted by Andrew Cairns who returned the ball back to the 30 yard line, giving the Glad’s fantastic field position to start their opening drive. After a couple of first downs and the ball on the 7 yard line, Cairns barrelled into the end zone for the opening score. The extra point attempt was blocked so the Glad’s led 6-0.Glads vs Watford Yet again, Colchester pinned back Watford on the ensuing kick off ensuring they would have to move the ball virtually the length of the field to score. Great team defence forced a poor snap from the visitors with the ball bouncing out the back of the end zone for the safety and a further 2 points to the home side. The Cheetahs were restrained back inside their 20 yard line on the following kick off and strong defence forced Watford to punt. A promising Colchester drive stalled at the 6 yard line & again the trusty boot of Cairns kicked the field goal on 4th down. Glad’s 11-0 The start of the 2nd quarter saw the home team starting with strong field position inside

the Watford half but a fumble on the 15 yard line was recovered by the Cheetah’s and again they took over the ball. Growing in confidence, they gained a couple of first downs but on the next play the Cheetah’s Quarterback found an open receiver for another first down only for Jack Greenland to strip the ball away and return it back inside the 30 yard line. Just 3 plays later the

Glad’s swept left and Joe Costanzo dived in for the score and his first touchdown in a Junior shirt after coming up from last season’s Youth programme. The extra point was again kicked by Cairns. Glad’s 18-0 Poor tackling on the resulting kick off gave Watford the ball inside the Colchester half for the first time in the match with the away team moving the ball down field inside the 20 yard line. The defence reacted with a blitz from Cairns and George Horan, sacking the Cheetahs quarterback for a huge loss back to the 28 yard marker. With nothing to lose the away team chanced their luck and ran a draw play on 4th down which was snuffed out for a loss by Mason Garrity giving the ball straight back to Colchester. On the very next series, Craig Hudson took the ball through the middle, some great blocking and running took him just outside the opponent’s 20 yard line for a massive 42 yard gain. A personal foul against Watford and tough running from Costanzo moved the ball to the 5 yard line where on 3rd down, Colchester’s Quarterback Sam Huxtable was forced wide by a missed block, scrambling towards the end zone the ball popped out on the 2 yard line but fortunately went out of bounds. With the ball on the 4 yard line, up stepped Cairns to convert another field goal. Glad’s 21-0 Another 4 and out from Watford gave Colchester the ball back, some strong

Junior Gladiators 39 vs 0 Junior Watford

Look Back running & a couple of completed passes moved the ball inside the 20 but the Gladiators came up short, electing to attempt another field goal on 4th down which crept outside the upright. A penalty against the visitors on the field goal gave the Gladiator’s the ball back inside the red zone where Cairns went over from 8 yards out & the extra point was safely converted. Glad’s 28-0 The Gladiators defence then took over the game, pinning back Watford inside their own 10, forcing them to punt on 4th down, a poor snap saw the ball sail out of the end zone for another safety. Glad’s 30-0 Starting the 4th quarter Colchester drove down field, and on the 40 yard line the handoff from Huxtable to Costanzo opened up through some excellent blocking from the line which then saw him break numerous tackles on his way to the end zone for the play of the day. The extra point was blocked. Glads 36-0. With the clock ticking down late in the quarter, the Gladiators added another field goal but then had to deal with a last ditch aerial assault from Watford as they tried to make a mark on the scoreboard. Tough defence soon eliminated this threat and with Colchester turning the ball over on downs, the final whistle was blown. The home side running out 39-0 winners and moving to a 2 & 1 record. This weekend sees Colchester return to training in preparation for their long road trip to the Hampshire Thrashers on the South coast on June 8th and a welcome return to the team for Daniel Goshen, here for his summer break from Canada Prep School to see him play in the next two fixtures. A must win game for the Gladiators to make sure they have every chance to see play off football again this season.