Dan Innis After the Opening Touchdown

The first game at the new stadium, a sunny afternoon, a decent crowd, local rivals the Farnham Knights as the visitors and the scene was set for an excellent afternoon of football.

The Thunder took to the field looking to overturn a 36-12 loss only 4 weeks ago and celebrate with their first win of the season.
Right from the kick-off the Thunder showed their intent, a ten play drive taking them deep into Knights territory. Quarterback Eber Kington found tight end Paul Nixon and receiver Adam Fishlock for first downs. With Running Back TK Chisango also picking up yards. Kington who was 3 for 3 on the drive, tried to find Phil Allman but the pass fell incomplete. The home side decided to go for a 41 yard field goal but the attempt was just wide of the posts.

On the Knights first play, a big hit by defensive back Dominic Gould knocked the ball loose and was recovered by Carl Martin.
Kington was then sacked for a 19 yard loss but found Chisango for a 14 yard gain, but the Thunder was forced to punt and the Knights took over on their own 7.

The visitors continued with the running game but only 3 plays later another fumble by the Knights running back was recovered by Nixon.

The Thunder moved downfield, Kington’s pass to Allman looked a touchdown all the way as the receiver had beaten his man on the outside, but in trying to recover the Knights defensive back tripped the receiver, out came the flag for pass interference and the home side had a 1st down at the visitors one yard line. Both Chisango and Kington tried to force the ball home but the Knights defence held firm. On the next play however, they bit on another run play and Kington found Full Back Daniel Inniss in the end zone for the go ahead score. The PAT was good and the Thunder led 7-0.

The crowd were now well behind their team and the Thunder had dominated the first quarter to such an extent that they allowed the visitors only four offensive plays.

The visitors tried to catch the Thunder out by going to the air on their next drive, but defensive back Marcus Dilley picked off Joe Thompson’s pass.

Runs by Kington & Chris Lampey and two Kington completions to Inniss and Sam Yaxley moved the Thunder but a penalty stalled the drive and the Thunder were forced to punt.

The visitors went back the ground game with some success, a 13 play drive, aided by a couple of big penalties on the Thunder moved Farnham into scoring range, but a big stand by the home defence forced a field goal attempt which fell well short.
Thunder then went 3 and out. The Knights moved to the Sussex nine yard line as half time approached but again the Thunder defence led by American tackle George Korischar and Gould stood firm to stop the visitors getting on the scoreboard.
Into the second half and with the Thunder still holding the upper hand, the Knights were stopped dead and forced to punt from their own 21.

But disaster the struck for the home side, Kington was sacked for a loss and next play he fumbled the snap and the Knights recovered the ball. Six plays later, the visitors tied the game up with a 2 yard touchdown run, the PAT was good and the scores were tied at 7 apiece.

Both teams were forced to punt on their next possession, but Sussex returner Marcus Dilley fumbled the ball on his own 6 yard line and the visitors were able to recover. They only needed one play to take the lead, again the PAT was good and the visitors had a 14-7 lead. In the space of about 3 minutes, the Thunder had gone from being in control to trailing by a score.

Moving into the final quarter and Sussex continued to move the ball, but stalled inside the Knights red zone. They settled for a field goal, but the snap was fumbled and the Knights got the ball back.

Again the teams exchanged possessions. The Knights looked to try and kill the game off. But for the second time in the game, a pass down the sideline was picked off by Sussex, rookie corner back Andy Miles snagging his third interception of the season and the team’s eighth in 3 games.

The game was delayed for 25 minutes when Sussex offensive lineman Ryan Cameron was blocked in the back on the return and hit the ground head first. He was immobilised on the field by the Thunder medical team and an on call doctor was summoned. He was then taken off to hospital and thankfully released a few hours later with a mild concussion and whiplash and a large bucket of KFC.

The game became a little deflated after the incident. The Thunder had one final drive to level the scores but despite two more Kington completions, they were unable to get within scoring range and the game ended with a turnover on downs with a Sussex fumble.

A good hard fought local derby in front of a near 200 crowd ended with the Thunder dropping to 0-3 but Head Coach Tony Stitt said after the game “We are gradually improving, we have a lot of young rookies on the squad this year. Two games ago the Knights beat us by 24 points, today they beat us by seven in a game I feel could quite easily have gone the other way”.

Farnham Head Coach Ian Ellis added, “This young Thunder team is growing up week by week, they gave us a hell of a fright today, it won’t be too long before they get that win under their belts”

The Thunder now have a week off before the Bristol Aztecs make the journey to Thunder Stadium on the 20th June.

The game marked a first for British American football when it was streamed live on the internet, attracting viewers from as far afield as the US, Singapore and New Zealand. If any teams would like information on how to set up live streaming for their own games please contact

media@sussexthunder.com