The Battle of the Defenses South Holland Jets vs. Markham Patriots (Pee Wee)

On the beginning of a beautiful Sunday morning, who knew we would see such a battle between two teams playing much like the great defensive NFL teams the NY Jets, and the New England Patriots.

The Markham Patriots won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball. After two unsuccessful attempts at a first down, it was now 3^rd and 10 and the Patriots again were denied a first down thanks to the outstanding tackle made by James Randolph. The Pat’s would once again be denied this time by the one two punch combo of Dorian Cross II, and Brian Gray II, which lead to a turnover on downs. The Jets came up empty on their first possession.

With the Jets back on defense, the Pat’s were only able to gain 1 yard on 1^st and 10 thanks to the terrific tackling by Eddie Ell who proved to be the man throughout this game. The defense continued to perform well. Soon after, Randy Johnson earned the Jets  first quarterback sack of the year., The Pat’s quarterback did not know who, or what hit him! This sack caused a loss of 4 yards on the play. After that the Jet defense was really starting to get to the Patriots.  The next play was a fumbled snap by the Patriots, which Jermaine Thurmond recovered right away. The 1^st quarter ended, but not before the Jets got a first down due to the hard running of Eddie Ell.

Once the Jets did not score and were back on defense, the great defensive play continued with another defensive tackle by Bishop Byrd and Jermaine Thurmond. The first pass attempt by the Patriots was knocked down by Tyler Hill, one of the shortest yet toughest guys on the team. Another good defensive open field tackle came from Jermaine Thurmond to close out the first half.

The start of the second half began with a strong first down run by Benjamin Brokemond on a quarterback sweep. Now the offense was starting to click with a 20-yard blast by Jermaine Thurmond who proved he can be effective on both sides of the ball. With still no score in the game, the defense continued to dominate with  great gang tackling from Ryan Williams, Dorian Cross, Timothy Adams, and Nicholas Williams.

 At the start of the 4^th quarter there was still no score;   hence the title Battle of the Defenses. The Jet’s great team tackling illustrated   their dominance  with yet another loss of yards for the Pat’s from the three amigos, Dorian Cross, Brian Gray, and Malik Harris. Shortly after there was a turnover again caused by the defensive team tackling of Ryan Williams, Randy Johnson, James Randolph, and Timothy Adams. With 3 minutes left in the game, the Jets got a first down run from Eddie Ell. The Jets scored first with a 15 yard run play from Brian Gray, and the outstanding blocking from offensive linemen; Jalen Simmons, Dorian Cross, Jamal Reedy, DeShawn Doss, and Robert Love.

The Patriots also scored with a lucky tip pass to get into the Jets’ end zone. The extra point was denied thanks to the blocked pass by Eddie Ell, which if the pass had been completed would have won the game for the Patriots. Now with the score tied at 6  the game went into overtime.  The Pat’s had the ball first. The Patriots were denied a touchdown. With the Pat’s threatening third and goal Benjamin “B Twice” Brokemond gets the second sack of the day, pounding the quarter back. Now with fourth and goal James Randolph saves the day with  a terrific play, knocking down the Pat’s pass attempt.   The Jets take over on downs.  Eddie Ell runs for a nice nine yard gain, and the frosting on the cake comes from who else but, (B Twice) Benjamin Brokemond with a sweet quarter back sweep into the end zone, to end the contest with a final score of 12 to 6! Jets win!