Recap: Birmingham Patriots vs. Narbonne Gauchos
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but the Birmingham Patriots had no problem doing just that on Thursday. They breezed by Narbonne at home to the tune of 57-19. Considering Birmingham has won nine contests by more than 30 points this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Birmingham's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ronnell Hewitt, who rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.2 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Kingston Tisdell, who threw for 132 yards and two touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Narbonne to a paltry 31 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Birmingham's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid the passer out five times before it was all said and done. The heavy lifting was done by Bo Tonga and Maynor Morales who racked up 4.5 sacks between them.
The victory (which was Birmingham's sixth in a row) raised their record to 10-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.5 points per game. As for Narbonne, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 4-7.
Birmingham will face off against Carson at 7:00 p.m. on November 17th. Narbonne does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
