Having gone unbeaten through their first five games, Titans 1sts would begin cross-conference play at home with games against London Flash and Victoria Park Panthers. Despite absences on both sides of the ball, the Titans were confident they could extend their winning start to the season.

The day couldn’t have started any better with Matt finding Ollie wide open deep for a touchdown on the first play of the game. This was backed up by the defence as Antoine picked off the opposing quarterback to give the ball back to Titans . Having been burned so horribly on the first play, the Flash overcompensated, allowing Matt to complete a number of short passes to Melvin and Callum before the latter scored his first touchdown of the game. However, the Flash responded by showcasing the best deep passing game the Titans had seen all season to set up their first score of the game. Both sides traded scores - including a second of the game for Callum - before a defensive stop gave the Titans the ball with one minute left in the first half. Thanks to some excellent clock management, Callum completed his first half hat-trick with one second left to allow the Titans to go into half-time with a 27-12 lead.

Knowing a defensive stop would allow the Titans to take control of the game, the defence delivered just that. Once again, Callum reached the end-zone to extend the lead to 22. Another defensive stop further reinforced the dominant position the Titans were in. However, A disallowed touchdown meant the Titans offence had a rare turnover on downs. The Flash began to rally with a touchdown to make it a two-score game. Another turnover on downs for the Titans set up another flash score to make it 34-27. Thankfully, with only 50 seconds left, the Titans were able to kneel out the clock to secure victory.

Over the course of the game, as many as five Titans players picked up injuries. Therefore, the upcoming game against Victoria Park was expected to be a tense, hard-fought affair. Whilst the offence started strongly, the Panthers’ experience showed in the early stages of the game as they kept the score at 14-14 after the first ten minutes. The offence continued to move the ball without much trouble, as Matt kept finding established weapons Ollie, Sam, Callum and Melvin whilst also finding debutant Kris for a couple of touchdowns. Backing this effort up was a resilient Titans defence, with defensive captain Ollie making adjustments that stifled the Panthers offence, meaning the Titans ended the first half leading 26-14.

The second half saw the Titans continue their strong end to the first half, with the Panthers managing just a solitary touchdown, which was never going to be enough with the Titans offence maintaining their excellent form. Highlights including Kris completing his hat-trick and Melvin grabbing a couple of touchdowns in his last game for Titans. Defensively, the Titans continued to keep the Panthers out of the end zone. The only disappointment occurring when Kieron was denied a pick-6 due to an offensive penalty. Despite this, when the final whistle was blown, the Titans had won 46-20.

The two wins pushed the Titans record to 7-0 and further extended their lead at the top of the South West division. They will look to build on this with another two games coming up on the 24th June at Cheltenham. This game day was also notable since it was the last appearance Melvin would make for the Titans before his return to the US. Over the past few seasons he has been instrumental in making the team believe in themselves and has been a key part in everything they have achieved over the last two seasons. On top of this is his infectious personality and ability to make anyone feel like a champion. Everyone at Titans wishes him and his family all the best for the future.

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