It was too close for comfort, but after a see-saw battle the West Sydney Pirates put away the Sutherland Seahawks 34-30 to grab the vital premiership points.
The win means the Pirates are in third place on the ladder of the NSW Gridiron division one competition.
It was their ninth win of 2014 and with the business end of the season looming it came at a vital time.
This was always going to be a hard game for the Pirates. Not just the fact the team was light on numbers but also because the Sutherland Seahawks 2014 model has been one of the best in recent times.
Coming into this game, Pirates were 8-1 and Seahawks 6-3. Pirates started with the ball first but didn’t do anything with the opportunity.
Then Seahawks turned with a short field due to a bad Pirate punt. They didn’t do much more and Pirates took over on their own 22 yard line after a penalty on first down.
Again the Pirates’ offence didn’t get a first down and was forced to punt.
Some good defence followed as both teams traded punts. Then the scoring started with an 82 yard touchdown catch by Jason Ram and it was 6-0 to the Pirates.
The Seahawks answer back with a drive and touchdown of their own and a 2 point conversion to take the lead 8-6. And the see-saw battle had commenced.
Pirates had a solid 83 yard drive that resulted in a Todd Russell touchdown catch. The scoreline now read 12-8 in favour of the Pirates, but the Seahawks answered right back with a touchdown and a 2 point conversion to take the lead at 12-16.
Pirates again mustered a long drive that ended in Jason Ram’s second touchdown of the game with Raneen Shamoon getting the 2 points and putting the Pirates back in the lead, 20-16.
Seahawks started driving again but perhaps a key play of the game was a Chris Snagg interception deep in the Pirates’ own half to snuff out that chance for the Seahawks.
Pirates then mounted a drive in the remaining 38 seconds and got close to scoring. Still, they led at half time, 20-16.
Seahawks started with the ball in the second half and drove down for a touchdown, taking the lead 20-22.
The Pirates hit back with a solid drive that included a 43 yard reception for Todd Russell. Ryan Coronel scored and Todd Russell got the 2, taking the score to 28-22.
Seahawks drove down into scoring position but failed on a 4th down play, turning the ball over to the Pirates. This was a crucial stop by the Pirates’ defence.
Pirates then failed to get a drive going and gave the ball back to the Seahawks via a punt.
You can’t give the Seahawks another chance and not expect them to do something with it, and they did. Seahawks had to work hard but they scored and got the 2 points to take the lead again 28-30.
With 2 points down, the Pirates needed to answer back soon as the game was into the 4th quarter. That answer came with only two plays on a 33 yard Jason Ram catch and a 37 yard Albert Bernard run into the endzone. Score now 34-30.
Which was the final score, with the Pirates managing to hang on.
BY DAVID WARD
