Despite a valiant second half fight back, the Jets crashed to a 21-17 defeat away to the league leading Lancashire Wolverines on Sunday. Joe Brammer threw touchdown passes to Sam Hyde and Dominic Olney as Coventry attempted to overturn a 21-0 half-time deficit. 18 year old Great Britain linebacker Oli Campbell added a 2 point safety for the Jets as they came up just short.
Lancashire came out all guns blazing with a strong return by Chris Hearle setting them up in good field position. The Jets’ defence were sluggish early and couldn’t stop the run and pass combination that ended with quarterback Jack Barton hitting tight end Rick Cole in the end zone for six points. Coventry stepped up on special teams though with Olney blocking the point after kick.
Coventry’s offence suffered the same slow start as the defence and pressure from the Wolverines’ Stephen Donaldson-Ellison forced them to punt. Barton couldn’t repeat his opening drive though, throwing an interception to Olney. The Jets began to pick up momentum but stalled in the red zone, turning the ball over on downs, a problem which has haunted them all season. The Jets drive was even less successful as Christian Faccin recovered a fumbled snap.
Heading into the second quarter and Coventry began to fall apart. Penalties drove them backwards as their players and coaches were clearly getting frustrated.
Lancashire capitalised, as Barton hit Cole with a great pass over the middle to move the chains before receiver Neil Sullivan gratefully met a spiral in the back corner of the end zone. The point after kick was, once again, hit by Coventry’s special teams but had enough legs to go over for a 13-0 Lancashire lead.
The Wolverines’ defence stood tall again on the next drive with Sam Bloomfield stripping running back Tony Perkins of the ball and recovering the fumble. The hosts’ offence couldn’t capitalise and punted back to the Jets, pinning the away side deep in their own territory. Bloomfield again proved effective as he got into the backfield to force a safety and extend the lead to 15-0.
With less than two minutes before the half Brammer came out slinging with a couple of good completions. However a short pass a couple of plays later fell straight to Lancashire’s Lee Horrocks who returned the pick for six more points. Bless Ango rose highest on the point after attempt and blocked the kick to keep the damage down to 21-0 at the half.
Coventry were unrecognisable after the break, looking like a transformed side. They came out more organised and their, much vaunted, defence stepped up. Thomas Singleton-Wells grabbed his first interception on a Barton pass attempt and although the offence couldn’t capitalise the Jets’ defence brought their first points of the day with Campbell bringing down Hearle in his own end zone for a safety.
The Jets offence finally began to click. Brammer found a couple of good completions before a fine pass to Sam Hyde got them their first touchdown. A fake kick on the point after attempt was then converted by Singleton-Wells who ran well to the pylon.
At 21-10 the Wolverines began to wobble. They couldn’t move the ball and the Jets’ offence was on a roll. Donaldson-Ellison got to Brammer for a sack but some fine running from Perkins got them in a good position early in the 4th quarter. Brammer then hit Olney in the end zone with a good pass over the middle. With the kick converted the game was well and truly on at 21-17.
Both sides exchanged punts until with a little over a minute to play, and no timeouts, the Jets had to drive effectively. They did just that, as Brammer hit his wide outs, who responded by getting out of bounds and stopping the clock. With a little under 40 seconds left they were knocking on the door but good coverage by Lancashire allowed Donaldson-Ellison to get into the backfield again and bring down Brammer.
Tragedy then struck for the Jets as they hurried up the play only for Brammer to be picked off by Greg Freeman allowing the Wolverines to kneel out the game.
Head Coach Paul Rickhuss was pleased with his team’s second half performance but now knows that they need help to make the playoffs “it’s not in own hands now and we only have ourselves to blame for that. Our problems have been the same all season, a lack of ability to convert in the redzone and too frequently getting off to slow starts. That’s what’s done for us today and it’s the same reason we’ve lost already this season. We have a few weeks off now to work on putting those things right and hoping that we catch a break.”
Coventry’s next game is at home to the Shropshire Revolution, who currently sit second bottom, a team that the Jets handily beat 48-20 earlier in the year. The game is set for a 15:00 kick-off on Sunday the 15th of July. For further details of how to follow, or join, the Jets visit their new website www.covjets.com or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CoventryJets.
Match report courtesy of Nathan Sharrocks of Double Coverage.