The Phoenix Junior team got off to a good start on Saturday 19th June - playing their first tournament of the year. Taking on the much improved Edinburgh Wolves first the Phoenix set up the win behind the dominance of Nose Tackle Jonny Gallagher and an impressive debut at QB by Alex Cleary. Receivers Jonny McKillop and Jack Murray ran amock with some great runs and catches. Edinburgh relied on the pace of #24 to keep in touch and had a solid defence but the Phoenix ran out comfortable winners.
In the second game we faced the Glasgow Tigers who were unbeaten vs the Phoenix last year but teams change quickly at this age group and the Tigers were no match for this years Phoenix team - again led by the strength upfront of Mr Gallagher and backed up by Chris O'Donnel, Connor Fowler, David Fisher, Grant Donnachie and Kieran Wilson. The game saw debuts for many rookie players including QB Ally Joyce who threw a pass completion to fellow rookie Kyle Ellis. On the defence there were good contributions from Jordan McKillop, Liam Horne, and Jim Crae while on Offence Danny Watson got his first TD for the team.
It then came down to the battle of the two unbeaten teams - Clyde Valley and the Phoenix. These two always have great games and this was no exception. The Phoenix got off to a slow start - allowing a long TD run and a fumble recovery in the endzone to go 13 - 0 down but came back with two touchdowns from the arm of Alex Cleary. Down by 1 at half time the Phoenix came out on attack in the second half but failed to score on the first drive. The defences held firm with Mr Gallagher once again requiring the blocking skills of 2, sometimes 3 Falcons to hold him back. It was getting very tense. With 90 seconds left on the clock Jack Murray caught a great long pass from Alex Cleary and the team went wild - possibly too wild - with excitement. Penalised for over celebrating the team lost its composure and with 25 seconds left, the Falcons showed their experience and went ahead for the final score of the game - running out the winners by 20-18. It was a great advert for Junior football - hard hitting, exciting football. Highly recommended!
Special thanks go to the family, friends and players who provided great support. Coaches Gillen, Allan and McInnes were highly impressed with the teams performance and look forward to our next tournament.
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