Report by Phil Wade, May 16th 1999.
Norwich Devils 21 – Ipswich Cardinals 07
Another tough East Anglian derby – another win for Norwich. This latest successful trip to Northgate Sports Stadium means the Devils have beaten the Cardinals in eight straight games.
The first quarter saw both teams turn the ball over with intercepted passes and it was Ipswich who scored first in the second quarter when running back Stuart Brereton scored on a 3 yard burst after a long Ipswich drive. The PAT was good and the Cardinals found themselves 7 points up. Norwich struck back immediately after Shaun Norris had given them good field position on the run-back of the kick-off. QB Darren Bailey found Shaun goal-side of the defense with an accurate pass and Shaun ran it in the rest of the 54 yards untouched for the score. Tony kicked the PAT to make the teams level, and that’s the way the half ended.
The Cardinals drove well in the third quarter, but a TD was called back for offensive pass interference. The Devils then drove down the field and capped the drive with a 9 yard TD run from QB Darren Bailey who scored easily behind the blocking of Tony Ryan who went on to kick the PAT. In the fourth quarter Mike Wilson ran back an Ipswich punt 59 yards for an excellent TD and Ryan again kicked the PAT to make the score 21-7.to give them fresh hope but Mark Dady intercepted a hopeful pass to snuff out another chance for Ipswich
Ipswich fought back well but big fullback Borstel fumbled on the Norwich 4 yard line and another long drive came to nothing. They also blocked a punt to give them fresh hope but Mark Dady intercepted a hopeful pass to snuff out another chance for Ipswich. Norwich then proceeded backwards with penalties and good defense from the Cardinals and had to punt from their endzone – but not until a lot of valuable time had been run off the clock. The final play of the game featured Mike Wilson picking off another wayward Ipswich pass which he ran back to the halfway line as time expired.