"Are You Not Entertained!?"

The Ipswich Cardinals reached the halfway point of the 2010 regular season in grand style on Sunday. Playing in their second home fixture of this, their 25th Anniversary year, the Suffolk side breezed past local rivals the Colchester Gladiators by the convincing score of 34 – 0.
The Cardinals had prepared well for the visit of the Essex side from just down the A12, well aware the newly promoted side were more than holding their own in the higher division. That preparation was evident as Ipswich began well.
On their opening drive the Cardinals offensive unit, with star quarterback Don Byrd returning from injury, marched upfield. The power of Paul Borstel with ball in hand is a fearful sight, and he exploited some great blocking up front to churn out early gains. The drive stalled however when a series of penalties blighted the progress and forced the side into punting possession away.
The point scoring unit barely had time for a sip of water on the sidelines before taking to the field again however, as the fired up Cardinal defense forced Gladiators quarterback Dan Singer into an early mistake. Pressure from all sides had Singer throwing a pass high over his receivers and into the hands of Ipswich safety Troy Shelton. The former track star scampered toward the visitors endzone before being tackled, setting the offense up in great field position.
Three plays later Ipswich running back Mike Bell ran across the goal line untouched to register his sides first score of the day. Shelton kicked the extra point for a seven to zero lead.
On the Gladiators next possession the men in blue tried to establish their wide rushing attack. Having studied film of their opponents for the previous two weeks though, it seemed the Cardinals defenders knew exactly what was coming and quickly regained possession when the ball was knocked out of Singers hands and pounced on.
The Ipswich offense drove all the way to the Gladiators 1 yard line but were denied on fourth down as the visitors defense stood firm.
As the first quarter ended, the Cardinals had advanced to the 8 yard line once more. Borstel ran straight at the heart of Colchesters defense, which seemed to part like the Red Sea as the big man blasted right ahead. 13- 0.
The sides exchanged punts before a long pass from Byrd found receiver Mike Royster, setting up Borstel for his second touchdown run of the afternoon.
Shelton connected with the extra point kick and the lead advanced to twenty.
On the ensuing kick off, the visitors came closer to scoring than on any of their offensive series thus far as Matt Excell returned Sheltons kick all the way to the Cardinals 3 yard line. The former University of Essex standout was only denied by a last ditch tackle from Royster.
Once again however, the swarming Cardinals defense forced a turnover as Singer was again manhandled into fumbling the ball away.
At the halftime interval, as the appreciative Northgate crowd were entertained by the delightful singing voice of Laura Climpson, the Ipswich coaching staff urged the players to avoid complacency. A healthy lead, as well as total dominance throughout can be a recipe for laziness.
The Cardinals squad heeded the warning and stuck to the task well as the third quarter got underway.
The other Cardinal safety, Niall Simmons made a fantastic catch for an interception that set up Borstel for his hattrick, taking the lead to 27 with Sheltons PAT.
And so the pattern continued. Borstel smashed his way through bodies on his way to 160 rushing yards, while the defense refused to let the visitors advance beyond the halfway line. Shaun Rapley once again acted like a one man wrecking crew while Perry Guinn and Simmons led the tackling.
In the fourth and final quarter Byrd took a knock on the wrist of his throwing arm and was replaced by Ben Salisbury. Having led the side to victory in Kent the week before, the nuclear scientist looked confident and capable as he led the offense to the Gladiators 3 yard line. The visitors held firm again however and denied Bell a second TD.
Forced into taking over deep in their own half once again, the Essex men just had enough field to punt the ball away on fourth down as they crumbled under the persistant Ipswich pressure.
Shelton was waiting eagerly under the high ball and, having enjoyed several good punt returns already, set off towards the endzone. A mazy run was only halted at the 3 yard line, which set up Bell for his second touchdown after all.
Shelton added the final kick and time ran out with the score an impressive 34 to 0.
So local bragging rights were well and truly won by the hosts on this day, as they advance to 4 wins out of 5 games played. The Cardinals can rest up and heal for a week or two now before their next game on July 4th at Peterborough.

Coach Girling