AFL: Stallions hold off the Bucs in rivalry match

In the first quarter, the game was a defensive standoff. The strong defensive play from both teams forced the offense to punt often. The Buccaneer defense was tested early when the Stallions recovered their own punt on the Buc’s 30 yard line. Despite the harrowing position, the defense held on and forced the Stallions to punt the ball away. The score was 0-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams’ defense held strong in the second quarter until the final few minutes of the half. The first points of the game were scored when the Bucs tackled the Stallion ball-carrier in his own endzone. With 43 seconds remaining before half time, the Bucs managed to kick a field goal, extending their lead to 5-0.

The Stallions started strong in the second half. After intercepting a Buc pass, the Stallion offense began making plays. Rather than running the ball, as they did with limited success in the first half, the Stallions began passing.  By making some opportunistic plays, the Stallions reached the Buc endzone and scored. After a two-point convert, the Stallions led 8-5. The Stallions continued to complete deep passes on the Buc defense and extended their lead to 16-5.  The Buccaneers responded when Mark Fay made an 85 yard punt return all the way into the Stallion endzone. Unfortunately for the Bucs, the play was called back due to a holding call.

The Bucs failed to score until late in the fourth quarter, narrowing the gap to  23-13. However, any hopes of a comeback were crushed when a Stallion runningback broke through numerous tackles and scored, making the final score 30-13.

Buccaneer veteran, Dave Henderson, was a monster on the field. He caused havoc in the backfield and made 1.5 sacks. Corner Tylor Johnson was forced to receive snaps in the second half when the Bucs’ starting QB went down due to injury. Tylor passed for over a 100 yards and scrambled 78.

The Bucs hope to heal up and regroup in the upcoming bye week before facing the Edmonton Army, July 7th. Kickoff is at 4:00PM at the renovated MeGlobal Field in Lacombe. The Bucs are ecstatic to play on the new artificial turf and cannot wait to put on a great show for their fans!

For updates about games and Buc info, fans should be sure to check out the Buccaneer website www.cabucs.com, join the Bucs on Facebook and follow on Twitter @CABucs.