The Loughborough Aces welcomed the Staffordshire Stallions to ‘The Cage’ for the first home game of the season. The Aces have an impressive record at home, with only 1 loss over the last 2 season. They maintained the record and moved to 3-0 with a comprehensive 56-6 victory.

The Aces were pumped for the game and this showed right from the start when two Aces rookies combined to score. The first play from scrimmage saw John Kenyon force a fumble and Jon Varney picking up the loose ball and running 30 yards to the endzone. The Aces offense was prolific as usual with Adam Hope and Ben Burslem getting the ground game started swiftly. Chris Ossom then ran the next ball into the endzone, quickly putting the Aces up 14-0. Not to be outdone, the defense were quick to make three straight tackle for losses and force the Stallions to punt from their own endzone. The offense had a couple of miscues and had to settle for a James Caveney field goal. The rest of the half continued in the same manner with Aces defense cutting Stallions drives short but the offense making mistakes at crucial points and unable to put more points on the board.

The second half started on a more positive note, with Chris Ossom taking the opening kickoff back to the house. However, a flag on the field for holding had the play called back and the offense started with the ball at midfield. Solid play by the offensive line saw Hope run into the endzone a few plays later. Ash Miller and JP Jones had tackle for losses on the next drive to force another Stallions punt to the 40. Hope then got into his element with 3 consecutive rushes to take it into the endzone, highlighted by a hurdle and a few stiff arms. Same pattern of events continued with the defense forcing 4th and long and the offense taking it in. This time Chris Ossom trucked a few players on his way to the endzone.

By this point in the game, Aces had started rotating players. On the next offensive possession QB James Slack threw an interception off a tipped pass, but the defense held strong with JP Jones recovering a fumble. The next offensive series saw rookie James Onwuemezi run into the endzone on his first ever play for the Aces, putting the Aces up 44-0. Another fumble recovery by the defense let Andy Mayall run the ball in for his first score of the season. The pattern didn’t continue on the next drive as the Stallions broke off a 60 yard run and the Aces gave up their first score of the season. The next offensive drive saw Ben Burslem make a big catch through the middle and ruled down at the 1 yard line. He ran it in on the next play, just as the clock ran down the 0.

Final Score : Aces 58 – Stallions 6

Touchdown Scorers: Jon Varney, Chris Ossom (x2), Adam Hope (x2), James Onwuemezi, Andy Mayall, Ben Burslem

The Aces host Coventry next weekend and looking for another strong performance to move to 4-0 for the season.