Cambridge Pythons 14 - 12 Loughborough Spartans

The rosters of both teams were small but filled with talent, with significant senior league experience from the Spartans in some key positions, and a small but valuable American contingent in the Cambridge roster.

After two minutes of silence had been held to commemorate those who had died to maintain our freedom, the first series saw a 3 and out forced by Cambridge. There were losses on each of the three plays, culminating in a punt in which the snap was fumbled. Cambridge then put together an impressive running drive which culminated in a run in touchdown for Pythons newcomer Connor Rooney. 

The reminder of the quarter saw defensive slogging, with Cambridge unable to make any yardage with the pass game. On a Cambridge punt inside their own 30, Spartans Daniel Gyimah burst through the line for the block; unable to pick it up for the score the ball was downed on the 1 yard line, giving the Spartans great field position for score, Aaron Price running in the 1 yard touchdown on the next score. 

With the score 6-6 at halft-time, the game was anyone's for the taking. Again the defences went to work forcing 3 and outs. In a drive starting from inside the Pythons own 30, the Spartans discipline somewhat imploded, giving away 31 yards on a single drive to put the Pythons comfortably inside the 5. Rooney again stepped up to the plate and got the second Pythons score of the day. LSBU answered this with a fantastic run by Aaron Price of 31 yards and 5 broken tackles, scoring the Touch Down.

The resulting Cambridge drive, bringing the game into the 4th quarter, saw a touchdown brought back for holding, and Cambridge knocking on the door; however the Spartans force the turnover on downs.  Eric Chapman and Ed Cozens got a sack on Spartans for a six yard loss, which led the drive to a 3 and out for the Spartans, with the 4th down punt being fumbled saw the Pythons take over inside the 20.

The next drive saw the first pitch play go over the head of Aaron Price who tried to recover it in the end zone, but was tackled for the safety. Now inside the two minute warning, the Pythons ran out the clock to win the game.