The Bury Saints American Football Club made it two wins from two after a hard fought win over the Southampton based Solent Thrashers running out a 19-6 scoreline at Thetford Rugby Club.

The Saints received the opening kick off and struggled to move the ball. Bury had to punt but Solent didn’t fare much better on their opening drive and did likewise.

This continued through the next two series and Solent was forced to punt a second time. That’s when the fireworks exploded as RB Cory Jenkins caught the punt and weaved through defenders for a 40 yard TD to give the Saints an early 6-0 lead. Rob Giles added the Point after TD to push the score to 7-0.

The punting and field position game carried on till the middle of the second quarter when Bury mounted an 11 play 57 yard drive capped off by a 29 yard TD pass from QB Derek White to WR Joe Hill. The PAT was wide right so the score stood at 13-0 to Bury.

Both teams were busy making adjustments during half-time, and Solent seemed to get the upper hand in the adjustments department after their own 11 play drive, but LB Chris Smith picked off a Solent pass to quash the threat. The Thrashers did get a quick strike after Bury fumble inside its own 10 yard line to close the gap at 13-6, but failed with the two-point conversion.

The game then became a series of defensive stands, punts, turnovers and field position battles until late in the 4th quarter when Bury recovered a fumbled punt catch by Solent inside their own 10 yard line with White running in the 7 yard TD to make the score 19-6. The PAT was missed and the Thrashers ran out of time to mount any further comeback.

Standout defensive performances were had by Herring with six tackles along with his INT, Smith, with five tackles. Jack Hewett also chipped in with two tackles for losses, a sack and also five tackles.

Newly-appointed head coach Christian Cantrill had heaps of praise for his team, but also cautioned getting too far ahead of the next opponent – the Hertfordshire Cheetahs.

“I’m proud of the Saints for stepping up when needed and staying focused to bring the Saints a second win. Our next opponent is yet another massive match-up and we will be busy making improvements and putting in the work to face them in two weeks’ time.”