The Rams got off to a great start this past weekend with a shutout victory over Doncaster Mustangs in the White Rose Division. The visitors, fresh off a weather abandonment with Sheffield Giants in their first game of the season, ran out 57-0 winners.
A fast start from Quarterback Joe Mills saw a big early gain from Conor Moran who used his physicality to gain extra yards after the catch with running back Adam Foulds firing it in on the next play.
In what would become the theme of the day, the Rams dominant defence put the Mustangs under pressure immediately and set up their offence in perfect field position again for running back Brad Crisp to go in on another run play.
The defence then took over scoring from the offence entirely as James Abegglen, fresh off two nearly picks the week previous, read a route perfectly and ran it back to the house for another Rams score.
Mills would then show off the rushing upside to his game, electing not to pass but run it in himself and add another touchdown to the Rams ever-increasing scoreline.
Mills’ arm was soon on show again, finding athletic receiver Elliott Rock in stride on a deep route to make it 36-0 to the Rams. However, upon trying to convert the 2-point attempt after the touchdown, Mills went down injured causing a delay to the game as the QB dislocated his knee.
When play resumed, the Rams picked up exactly where they left off and added a special teams touchdown after a blocked field goal saw Freddie Loach take it 60 yards on a wonderful return to make it 42-0 at the half.
The Rams made some roster rotations in the second half of play but the pace didn’t slow and it wasn’t long before the Rams added another couple of rushing touchdowns with Nathaniel Wyse and Aliko Mwambingu running in respectively.
Matt Fox and George Dimopoulos added sacks to their season tallies and even more pressure to a Doncaster offense that saw seven turnovers, with defensive lineman Adam Cowley racking up three single-handedly.
The game would finish 57-0 with the Rams running out convincing winners and giving Jason Shaw a winning debut at Head Coach.
Head Coach Jason Shaw said: “It was great to finally get that first full game as Head Coach complete. Regardless of the result the team prepared superbly for this game, and it showed. The defence gave nothing away and handed us a superb platform to build on with our offence.
You could see that Joe’s injury unsettled the team somewhat, but they rallied around to finish the game strong and dedicate the win to him after his blistering first half performance.
I’m proud of every single one of the players, all of whom contributed to the win today, regardless of how many snaps they were on the field for.
Now we look forward to our tussle with the Humber Warhawks in our first home game of the year.”
MVP Awards
- Offensive: Joe Mills
- Defensive: Nathaniel Derrick
- Special Teams: James Abegglen
- Ram of the Day: Matthew Pearce