By JARROD POTTER
A BRUISING come-from-behind victory was savoured by Berwick Diamonds Women’s Gridiron Team as they raised their helmets for their first ever win.
The big plays came first up on defence as the Diamonds struggled to curtail the running prowess of Raiders’ running-back Alyssa Stewart. Stewart pushed through to score the first touchdown and the following two-point conversion, but the Raiders didn’t have it their way for long as the Diamonds struck back.
The howling wind at Rawling Field left both sides struggling to make their long snaps as the Diamonds went to punt and the Raiders tried the shotgun offence.
The Raiders’ offensive efforts would backfire as they left their quarterback and running backs open to the relentless tackling of the Berwick defense, led by Silia Johansson-Teoteo and the repositioned efforts of Loretta Williams at defensive end.
The Diamonds started to shine in the second term as the wind pushed them towards the end zone and allowed quarterback Vanessa Roman to sneak in around the back of the pocket to make their first touchdown at their home ground.
Sarah Mu and Larni Gubatanga combined to push the margin out to 14-8 as the Raiders started to feel the pressure from the Diamonds’ D-line. Northern kept persisting to their final drive – getting some of the longest passing of the day completed – but fell short as co-captain Cat Bouwhuis made the pick that sealed the game.
To add extra pain on the Raiders’ day, a final-play hand off to Gubatanga and a couple of great side-steps left her to run in the third touchdown on a whopping 60-yard rush to cap the win and take a 20-8 triumph.
Diamonds coach Jamie Stafford said the team’s execution impressed him most as Berwick kept toiling and stuck to the strategy even when the match was favouring Northern.
“The biggest difference from this week to the last game we played was obviously experience and not coming in blind to this match,” Stafford said.
“We scouted their offense and defense and created a game plan on both sides of the ball and had a good win.”
The coach praised his defense with Johansson-TeoTeo and Erin Gubatunga laying out tackles and sacks at will while Williams’ switch to DE also impressed.
Not to be outdone by the defense, his offensive arsenal included rushers Bliss Love, Larni Gubatunga and Roman who the coach believes is rapidly improving and will be a significant threat in the league.
“Vanessa is getting better with every training session and every game,” Stafford said.
“She works really hard on her quarterback technique and skills and it is starting to show in how she plays.
“I thought early she was fantastic – very accurate and threw the ball really well.”
The Diamonds face Melbourne Uni Lions at Henry Turner Reserve, Footscray on Saturday morning from 10.45am.
