Lorne Sam smashed Coventry's record for passing yards in a season as he lead the Jets to a 36-3 victory over the Farnham Knights and booked a place in the playoffs for a sixth straight season. Needing just 17 yards to break the record Sam wasted little time in completing a 48 yard pass to Jeremy Simms on Coventry's second possession. The former Denver Bronco and Green Bay Packer now stands just 170 yards shy of an impressive 2000 yard performance in his debut season with the Jets.
As well as hitting the yardage mark Sam also threw for three touchdowns, first hitting Mark Cohen from six yards for the legendary receivers 96th Jets score, before twice hooking up with fellow American Courtney Pope as the former Peterboro' Saxon kept alive his streak of scoring in every game. Cohen's opening score was followed up by Vince Brown's three yard run for his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. Alan Steel booted the extra point after seeing his first one blocked to give the Jets a healthy 13-0 lead.
Coventry's defence was also in fine form, Jon Dwyer made his long awaited return and the towering defensive tackle was a constant threat for the Knights offensive line. Following on from his two interceptions against Sussex Dave Cowen added a punt block to his season statistics. The athletic linebacker came off the edge to get a good hand on Simon Meik's kick, the ball headed for the endzone where Cowen was unable to grasp it. Meik covered the ball to limit the damage to a two point safety as the first quarter ended with Coventry leading 15-0.
Head Coach Gerry McManus' side showed no signs of letting up as they added two more touchdowns in the second quarter. Pope's first came on a nine yard strike from Sam with Cohen running in the two point conversion. A ten play drive that featured two lengthy receptions for Dervan Alleyne was capped by Tony Perkins' one yard run. The Birmingham born running back was surprised to score as Sam had run down to the goal line before flipping the ball back to Perkins to step into the endzone for the easiest touchdown of his career.
Steel's point after stretched Coventry's lead to 30 but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Jets put Farnham in position for Joe Thompson's 26 yard field goal with the final play of the half. The kick was the only blot on an otherwise perfect half of football for the Jets as they played a home match in the rain for the first time in their six year history.
Sam began the second half with a big completion to Simms before an even longer pass to Pope who was flagged as he danced his way into the endzone. Steel's kick was wayward as the Jets took the score to 36-3. With the result beyond doubt the game petered out, David Saul's two interceptions providing the only excitement of an otherwise uneventful fourth quarter.
"We were excellent in the first half but once again took our foot off the accelerator and coasted" stated McManus. "It's disappointing as we'd talked about killing teams off at the break after we'd let up versus Sussex in the previous game. Credit to Farnham though, they never quit and made us work for every yard. I'm delighted that we're in the playoffs again but we have one more game to play before we can start to think about that."
The Jets travel to play the Sussex Thunder in two weeks time and will have a weekend off before their semi-final trip to either the London Blitz or Bristol Aztecs. The defending champion Blitz wrapped up the number one seed with a 20-6 victory over the Aztecs and haven't lost a domestic game since the Jets beat them in the 2008 final. For more details on the Coventry Jets please visit their website www.coventryjets.co.uk or follow them on Twitter www.twitter.com/CoventryJets.