Last weekend saw the Sussex Thunder host their annual Combine, this time with special event organiser Global Gridiron Scouting Limited, a specialist scouting company aiming to place college, Semi Professional and Professional players around the world. With this global stretch the event was attended by players across Europe.

Alongside the many veteran players, who clearly had been working hard during the off season there were some very exciting new prospective players really showing their skills, putting up some great numbers.

With strength and speed checked off, its onwards to the Rookie Day which is to be held Sunday 5^th of February 2012 at Surrenden Field, Brighton from 1030 until 1400. This session is open to all players regardless of experience, for further details contact recruitment@sussexthunder.com.

Tom Wort Suited Up

After a busy off season Sussex Thunder returned to practice this weekend. Amidst the flurry of players returning was a very special attendee, Tom Wort of the Oklahoma Sooners – fresh from his win against Iowa State in the Insight Bowl.

Tom is a Sussex native. His roots are in the outskirts of Crawley. Having moved to the States in his early teens, Tom has made a massive impact on and off the field. Playing his High School football at New Braunfels, Texas he was quickly scooped up by Oklahoma University to become a member of their overpowering line backing core. Tom has always embraced his British roots, having 2 patriotic tattoos and widely publicised his heritage.

Thunder welcomed Tom’s attendance and quickly suited him up. After warm ups, on what was a very frosty morning, they began some footwork, blocking & hitting drills, followed by a full contact scrimmage. Tom showed his fantastic awareness and lightning reactions, picking up a handful of solo tackles and two interceptions.

The day was a great success for the Thunder, creating what will be a strong bond with one of British Footballs finest athletes. In attendance was a team from Sky Sports TV to record a segment on the session for their upcoming coverage of the NFL Conference Championship games.

Tom left a lasting impression on many players, a true inspiration for Britball players.  Thunder would like to thank Tom for joining them and wish him all the best of luck in his coming season.

Tom left the following message for the Thunder.

Whether you are a player, a family member or just know someone involved with the team we now have a great way to help us raise the funds that wont cost you a penny, and could even save you cash!!

Thunder have partnered with EasyFundraising.org.uk – a massive shopping directory cram packed with deals. Just use this link and Sussex thunder will receive a donation op up to 15% at no cost to you!

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/sussexthunderafc

Shops include – Sainsburys, HMV, Sky Dell, JJB, JD Sports, Play.com and many more! Its completely FREE to register and you will never pay a penny more for your shopping if you use the easyfundraising. So if you shopping online this Christmas why not help support your team at the same time.

All you needs to do is:

1) Register with EasyFundraising.org.uk – HERE

2) Login to your account (so it knows you’re supporting the Thunder)

3) Choose the shop you want from the links provided

Once you purchase the shop will make a donation to us. However, you MUST remember to login through EasyFundraising before you start shopping otherwise we won’t get the donation. Feel free to pass this on to family and friends, we’ll get donations from everything they buy.

Free Ways to support the Team –

• Web Search – When ever you search online you can support, the average web user can raise upto £25! Just use this link – http://sussexthunderafc.easysearch.org.uk/
• MakeItCheaper – Save money on your gas / electricity bill and raise £12 for the Thunder
• eBay – Open and Account and bid on something and Raise £4.50 for the Thunder
• Graze – Free yummy grub and money for the club

All the free offers can be seen HERE –  just don’t forget to sign up before clicking on the deals.

Thank you for showing your support!

Due to a re-structure of the league, the Thunder will re-open some old rivalries and face some new opponents in 2012. The Thunder will remain in Division 1 after declining an invitation to return to the Premiership.

The team will play in the Southern Conference and the full line up will be

• Sussex Thunder
• East Kent Mavericks
• Hampshire Thrashers
• Essex Spartans
• Berkshire Renegades
• Kent Exiles
• Cambridgeshire Cats
• South Wales Warriors

The season will consist of 10 regular season games, meeting 3 teams twice and the others once apiece.

The season will bring a first ever meeting against the Renegades and only the second ever match-up with the Warriors, last years division 2 winners. Thunder fans will be looking forward to a re- igniting of our old rivalry with the Kent Exiles, who we haven’t met since 2008 when we won at their ground to take the conference title and knock them out of the play-off picture. Another old enemy on the list is the Essex Spartans, previous meetings go right back to the old B-52′s days.

The Northern section consists of

• West Coast Trojans
• Lancashire Wolverines
• Merseyside Nighthawks
• Nottingham Caesars
• Gateshead Senators
• Coventry Jets
• Shropshire Revolution

The Thunder had been invited by the BAFA National League’s management to rejoin the Premier division for next season, but partly due to the decision to have a two conference top division, which would have left the club in what was basically the old Premiership and that the club is still in a re-building phase, the Thunder committee decided to reluctantly decline and stay in division 1 for another year.

The Thunder begin their pre-season preperation’s on Sunday 22^nd January at their normal practice venue of Surrenden Field, London Road, Brighton.

Sussex Thunder 45 – 0 East Kent Mavericks

The Thunder confirmed their place in the end of season national play-offs with a dominating performance against depleted Mavericks. The Thunder, themselves hit by injuries and work commitments, started slowly but once in front, never looked back. Some excellent performances by a number of their back-ups and rookies bode well for the future. The Mavericks, who had promoted a number of their youth players into the squad for the first time, started well enough by stopping the home teams first two drives. But midway through the first quarter, running back Alex Brew, deputising at cornerback, picked off the Mavericks quarterback and returned the ball all the way back for six points. Chris Percival slotted the extra point to give the Thunder a 7-0 lead.

Despite being short-handed, the Mavericks were fighting hard and Sussex had to settle for a 40 yard field goal by Percival. The Thunder then suffered a blow with the loss of linebacker Percival with a dislocated shoulder (for the second time this season).On their next drive however, the Thunder finally broke the visitors resolve when the lead was increased when TK Chisango scored on a short run. At half time the Thunder led by 16-0.

After the break the Mav’s were starting to find the going tough as a combination of tiredness, inexperience and the powerful Thunder defence stepping up a gear began to tell. Thunder QB Eber Kington found wide receiver Sam Forbes in the end zone and a great over the shoulder catch gave the rookie his first ever touchdown, with John Searle Junior adding the extra point the home side now led 23-0.
It was all one way traffic and with the Thunder giving their rookies some important playing time increased the advantage further when running back Jamahl Alert powered home from 12 yards out. With the Mavericks pinned back deep inside their own 10 yard line, defensive stand-out Dom Gould burst through to tackle the Kent QB in the end zone for a 2 point safety. It wasn’t long before Gould was on the scoresheet again, when he intercepted a pass and ran it back untouched to stretch the lead out to 38-0. Things got even worse for the visitors when one of their players was taken off to hospital after breaking an ankle.

The Thunder rounded off the scoring when another rookie running back Sol Ogunmefun sprinted clear of Mavericks defence for his first ever score in senior football. John Searle Junior kicked the point after to give the Thunder their biggest win of the season.

The Thunder finish with a 7-3 record and runners-up spot in the Div 1 Southern Conference. The first round of the play-offs is on Sunday 28th August.

Head Coach Ian Ellis said after the game, “Everybody was expecting us to win easy today, but I wasn’t, we were missing 21 players today through various reasons. But after a slow start we stepped up, got a good lead and then decided to give our rookies a good run out, they also stepped up to the plate and showed what they can do. Three rookie scoring touchdowns in one game is a big boost for them and the whole team before we go into the play-offs. After two winless seasons, this as a great way to come back”.

It looks like a “short !” trip to the East Kilbride Pirates is next up, unless the Merseyside Nighthawks can do the Thunder a favour and overcome the Yorkshire Rams next week, if they do, the Leicester Falcons will be the Thunders quarter-final opponents.

Hampshire Thrashers 14 – 40 Sussex Thunder

The Thunder recorded another road win with an emphatic win over the Thrashers and moved another step closer to this years national play-offs. Veteran Wide Receiver Chris Jones notching up his third two touchdown outing of the year.

After a 35 yard return to the half-way line by first year running back Jamahl Alert, the thunder took just 7 plays to open the scoring, two first down runs by TK Chisango and a 20 yard completion from Eber Kington to Andy Miles put the Thunder on the home sides 8 yard line and the drive was finished off when Jones ran in perfectly executed reverse, the PAT was good from Chris Percival.
After exchanging possessions the Thrashers, thanks mainly to a 33 yard completion by Dayle Greenfield put them on the Sussex 1 yard line, but a big tackle for a loss on 3rd down by Dave Lawrey appeared to have forced the Thrashers into settling for a field goal, but Greenfield managed to thread a pass to his receiver to level the scores.

Sussex didn’t take long to regain the lead, strong running from Chisango enabled Kington to exploit the Hampshire secondary and his pinpoint pass was caught by Jones on about the 25 and a drop of the shoulder and a little sidestep enabled him run straight past his brother Nick for a 34 yard score, Jones Junior though got his own back later with a wipe out hit when Senior caught a pass over the middle. Percival again slotted the extra point.

Hampshire again went 3 and out. Sussex again were moving the ball well, first down runs by Chisango and Full Back Paul Robinson put them in good field position, but in the end were forced to punt.

The Thunder defence stood firm and again forced the Thrashers into 3 and outs on their next two drives. In between Percival failed with 36yd field goal attempt.
With the Thrashers pinned back at their own 20 approaching the half, Greenfield’s pass was picked off by Thunder rookie Nick Gandey, who took the ball back 36 yards to stretch the Thunders lead, his path to the end zone being cleared by a crunching block by Percival. The PAT was good and the visitors led 20-7 at half-time.

Sussex began the 2nd half same as the first. An interception by Dom Gould got them the ball back and four plays later Kington found Adam Fishlock in the end zone to stretch the lead to 27-7.

The Thrashers went for it on 4th and 1 on there next possession but a thumping stop by linebacker Callum Graham again stopped the home team.

Chisango picked up a couple of first downs and Kington found Miles for 37 yards but the drive came to nothing when Kington was sacked, the ball was knocked loose and The Thrashers defence recovered. It was their turn to convert a turnover into points when three plays later Greenfield found an open receiver to bring the score back to 27-14.

Thunder were then forced to punt the ball away, but Gould’s tackle forced the fumble on the return and Fishlock recovered.

The Thunder had upped it a gear by now, Kington found Miles for 30 yards and a short run by Chisango had them at the 2 yard line, however a penalty moved them back, but on the next play, Chisango powered in for six (33-16)

With the Thrashers now having to air it out to chase the game, up stepped Dom Gould with his second interception of the afternoon at the Hampshire 20.

With Sussex now rotating their rookies and back-ups into the game, it was Colin Brand who took the hand off from Jayden Ellis, he cut outside was met with a big hit from the Thrashers linebacker but a great 360 degree spin move allowed him to sprint clear down the sideline for his maiden touchdown. The PAT was good to move the score to 40-14 for the Thunder.

With the game over as a contest, the home side tried one last desperation drive to put another score on the board. Using the wildcat formation, they reached the Sussex 33, a bit hit on the QB forced a fumble and eventually the ball was recovered by the Thunder’s Simon Pinchin who took it the length of the field for a touchdown, but a flag for unnecessary roughness away from the play before the recovery negated the score and gave the Thrashers a first down inside the ten. The visiting defence stood firm though and on 4th down & 2, Pinchin and Aaron Montgomery stopped the ball carrier for no gain.

Rookie running back Jamahl Alert took his first ever competitive hand-off and the 10.6 100 metre man almost broke it for a touchdown, being just knocked out of bounds for a 30 yard gain.

There was still time for more turnovers, firstly an Ellis pass was brilliantly intercepted by the Thrashers safety. Then another Thrashers fumble was recovered by Paul McIntosh.

The Thunder move to 5-2 on the season. Next weekend see’s a trip to the Colchester Gladiators, where another win will move the Thunder closer to confirming a play-off spot.

Sussex Thunder 20 – 13 Ipswich Cardinals

The Thunder got back to winning ways and put them selves back into play-off contention with a hard fought victory over the Ipswich Cardinals on Sunday. The visitors, as always, proved a hard nut to crack in sweltering conditions at Thunder Field.

The Thunder started the game at a rapid pace, on the opening kick-off return, the Cardinals ball carrier was gang tackled deep in his own territory, the ball was forced loose and was immediately recovered by rookie Jamal Keys ,who was making his debut.

The home team wasted no time in opening the scoring, a good run by stand-in full back Oli DeRuyter brought up a first down, two plays later DeRuyter again took the hand off and ploughed his way into the end zone from the 4 yard line. Percival’s extra point effort hit the right upright to give the Thunder a 6-0 advantage.

With both defences on top, neither team had many chances to add the score. Ipswich were sticking to their tried and tested bruising running game, but were well shackled by Thunder unit led by captain Dominic Gould and Anthony Morrison.

As half-time approached Ipswich decided to try their luck through the air, the pass was thrown to wide receiver Mike Royster who caught the ball between three Sussex defenders and then managed to evade them all before going 30 yards for the touchdown. The extra point was blocked by Aaron Montgomery to leave the scores level at the break.

With the winner of the game taking a big advantage towards a play-off ranking, both teams were giving their all in the searing heat. For the first time in the game, the visitors were able to get up a head of steam and took the lead on a sweep play, the kick was good and they led 13-6.
Sussex, now realising their season could be on the line, struck back almost immediately by putting together a strong drive of their own. Running back TK Chisango grinding out yards on the ground and quarter-back Kington using his receivers to good effect. The drive was finished off when Kington found Chris Jones for the touchdown, the score being Jones’s 5th of the season. Percival slotted over the extra point to leave the scores level at 13-13.
With a far larger squad on the day and under the sweltering conditions, the Thunder began to get on top of their opponents. Kington, not having his best game of the season with 4 interceptions, came good with about five minutes left in the game, his offensive line gave him time to sit back in the pocket and he picked out Andy Miles down the left sideline, between the Ipswich corner and safety, the perfectly thrown ball enabled Miles to take the ball in full stride at the seven yard line and into the end zone for a 40 yard deciding score, Percival kicking the extra point to make the final score Thunder 20 Cardinals 13.

“Despite being without our whole starting defensive line for the second game running, we produced a great effort to shut down the Cardinals” said Head Coach Ian Ellis after the game, “This is a young team, but they are learning quickly and are capable of a lot more yet.”

Defensive End Anthony Morrison was voted Thunder MVP for a tremendous all round performance including a sack and an interception and 3 tackles for a loss.

The Thunder’s next game is on Sunday July 17th in Winchester against the Hampshire Thrashers. For further details go to the teams website www.sussexthunder.com