Drake fires back to haunt Claymores in 22-10 Rheinstadion defeat
Rheinstadion, May 14 - Scottish Claymores 10, Rhein Fire 22FORMER Scottish Claymores wide receiver KEVIN DRAKE came back to haunt his old team in Dusseldorf's Rheinstadion on Saturday night, fuelling Rhein Fire to a 22-10 victory over the Scottish Claymores in front of 30,537 fans.
 Willy Tate fights for extra yardage Photo: Dave McRitchie |
The Drake-inspired victory, in which the former Arizona Cardinals wide out caught scoring passes of nine and 55 yards, propelled Fire to a 4-1 record and sole possession of the lead in the NFL Europe League. The loss dropped the Claymores to second spot in the standings at 3-2 alongside Amsterdam Admirals who defeated Berlin Thunder 24-21 in overtime.
 Kevin Daft tries to avoid the Rhein pass rush Photo: Dave McRitchie |
After downing his old team, the Claymores, jubilant Drake said: "This was bitter-sweet for me. I still have a lot of good thoughts for the Claymores and it was nice to see so many old faces from last season.
"But this was also a big win for us - the Claymores have a great team this year. They are aggressive and play hard every down. We were both out there playing for first place and thankfully my new team came out and played above themselves and we came out on the winning side."
And the former Claymores catcher tipped his new team and his old team to meet in the World Bowl, saying: "This could possibly have been a World Bowl dress rehearsal. Both the Claymores and Rhein seem to be playing the best football at the moment, but there's still a lot that can happen - teams win and lose every week in this League and we'll just have to see how it works out. It would be a great Bowl game though."
 National player Tom Tovo registers a sack on Danny Wueffel Photo: Dave McRitchie |
The match started off impressively for the Claymores when Tampa Bay Buccaneers allocated running back Stecker broke through three would-be tacklers at the line of scrimmage to bolt 59 yards through the Fire defense and into the endzone for the Scots first score. Rob Hart kicked the extra point and the Claymores led 7-0 with 11:17 to play in the first.
Stecker would go on to finish on the losing side after piling up an impressive 110 rushing yards on 20 carries. He was also his team's leading receiver with eight catches for 44 yards.
The Claymores defensive line put some heavy pressure on Rhein quarterbacks Wuerffel and Matt Lytle with defensive end Mike Mason and defensive tackle Tom Tovo sacking the passer for big losses. The pressure also resulted in Wuerffel rushing three of his passes which were lucky not to be intercepted by Claymores defenders - linebackers Jon Hesse, Matt Finkes and safety Marcus Ray.
 WR Sulecio Sanford tries to break a Fire tackle Photo: Dave McRitchie |
A botched snap on the extra point gave Fire punter Rodney Williams a moment of glory when he picked up and the ball and ran into the enzone for two points to give Rhein an 8-7 half-time lead.
The Claymores offense was finding it difficult to settle and give quarterback Kevin Daft the protection he needed - Rhein's defensive line bringing their own brand of fire to bear on the Claymores passer.
Drake came back to torment his old team further at the start third quarter when he latched on to a nine-yard touchdown pass from Wuerffel. Manny Burgsmuller kicked the extra point to extend Rhein's lead to 15-7 with 11:12 to play in the period.
 Scott Couper is wrapped up after making a catch Photo: Dave McRitchie |
Criner was eager to get his offense moving at the start of the fourth quarter and substituted quarterback Marcus Crandell for Daft.
But the Kansas City Chiefs allocated passer found the going just as tough and, after being sacked for a loss by another former Claymore - defensive end Larry Fitzpatrick - he threw a deep pass intended for Scott Couper which was intercepted by Fire cornerback Stephen Fisher with 11 minutes remaining.
Drake's revenge was complete on Fire's next play from scrimmage when Wuerffel fired a 55-yard touchdown strike to the former Arizona Cardinal to compound the Claymores misery. Burgsmuller's kick was good and the Claymores were looking for a miracle 22-10 down.
But the game was put on ice for the Fire when Stecker uncharacteristically fumbled the ball only to watch it shoot into the hands of Rhein linebacker Jamie Beasley with less than three minutes remaining.
"When we had possession we did not do a good job of finding our receivers and completing the pass," admitted Criner afterwards. "We allowed Rhein to play too many players against the run because we couldn't pass the ball as effectively as we should have in the second and third quarters.
 QB Marcus Crandell had the Claymores in position for a late score Photo: Dave McRitchie |
Criner explained his thinking behind the quarterback substitution, saying: "We were not moving the ball effectively and I think we could have done a better job of getting the ball to the open receiver. That's why we made the decision to bring Marcus in.
"I was very pleased with way we began to move the ball in the fourth quarter and with the way Marcus played in a relief role. I was also pleased with the way our receivers got open in the fourth quarter."
Daft finished the game 7 of 14 for 45 yards while back-up Crandell was 14 of 23 passes for 131 yards and two interceptions.
14 May, 00 | 1:53 pm