    | Eagles School of Excellence Under 14 Boys News
Under 14 Boys Squad
Follow the fortunes of the boys throughout the season by following macth reports below. Pictured is Head Coach Ben Mal.
MATCH REPORTS 2008 - 09 SEASON
Date: Sat 21st March
Competition: vs Leeds Carnegie & Barnsley Leaders
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence team were on the road for the final time this season in what would be the deciding factor in them making this season’s U14 playoffs.
Game 1:
The Eagles came into this game focusing on executing their team offences and preparing themselves for there final showdown versus Barnsley Leaders later in the day.
The Eagles started this game with some great teamwork with the entire starting five getting on the score sheet early. With the Eagles team holding
In the second quarter coach Berwick rested his starting five and called upon his bench to continue the onslaught. However,
Going into the 2nd half the Eagles looked to put on the pressure with the big 3, Mattimore, H. Wright and Short all on the receiving end of some great passes from G.Wright. This helped the Eagles secure a 44 – 21 Win. Next up, Barnsley Leaders.
SCORERS: Wright 11, Mattimore 11, Short 8
Game 2:
This is the game that the young U14’s had been waiting for all season. Since there first defeat away to
The Eagles got off to a flying start by applying the pressure early on defence and executing there offence to perfection. Baskets by H.Wright and Mattimore within the offence help the Eagles to a 16 – 12 1st quarter lead.
The second quarter however was a different story, as the Eagles were a step to slow on the defensive end. This allowed Leaders guard Danks to 9 1st half points. The half finished up tied 19 – 19. The 3rd period was much of the same and the Eagles struggled with stopping Danks attack the basket. Coach Berwick even switched up the defensive match ups to try and contain the scoring guard but the Eagles defence was just one step too slow.
Being down 34 – 24 just going into the 4th quarter coach Berwick called a time out to re-group and re-focus his players. With a clear plan in mind the Eagles went out on an 11 – 2 run bringing the game within 2 pts. Again it was Leaders guard Danks that found his way to the basket increasing
Coach Berwick commented after the game “As individuals we worked really hard today at both ends of the floor but as a team we were just out of sync on the defensive end as we couldn’t react quick enough to there scoring guard. We didn’t step up on the offensive end when needed either and we found ourselves just watching the person with the ball thinking the offence would create itself. Its our first season in National League and while its a big disappointment not making the playoffs I’m proud of how much effort the team put into not just this game but the whole season in general. Finishing 5th in the league is a great achievement and the players deserve a big pat on the back for making it happen.”
SCORERS: Short 11, Guy 7 Date: Sat 14th Feb
Competition: vs Thirsk Thunder & York Vikings I
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence squad were again on the road to face Thirsk Thunder and a top of the table York Vikings
Game 1:
The Eagles came into this game with the intention of running there defensive press to its full effect and they did exactly that. With 24 steals in the whole game, 5 of which came from an outstanding performance by captain G.Wright the Eagles put the pressure on from tip-off to the final buzzer and ran away with a 67 – 23 victory.
SCORERS: G. Wright 11, H. Wright 9, Mattimore 8
Game 2:
With York missing a few players due to illness the Eagles came into this game with the confidence that they could get the win away and bounce back from there 30pt loss at home.
The game started with
Going into the second half with
Coach Berwick commented after the game “We didn’t shoot the ball well from the free throw line today and that along with our slow reaction time on defence didn’t help us. That being said, I can see the team growing in confidence each week and I’m sure our time to grab a win against a team like this is only just around the corner.”
SCORERS: Short 11
Date: Sat 7th Feb
Competition: vs York Vikings II & Leeds Tigers
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence squad were on the road again for the second weekend running. Hoping to bounce back from last weekend’s 51pt loss against Sheffield Sharks the Eagles faced York Vikings II and the unbeaten Leeds Tigers.
Game 1:
The Eagles came into this game wanting to redeem themselves from the previous weekend’s performances and they showed they were up for the challenge from the tip off. The first five opened the court and off some great team offence and some good ball movement by PG Gavin Wright the Eagles opened up the game on a 10 – 2 run.
Going into the 2nd quarter the
Going into the 3rd quarter the Eagles went to their full court press which lead to some open court baskets from Mattimore and Wright. The Eagles continued to put the ball in the basket and hold the York team to below 30pts. The game was capped off with a half court heave by Mattimore which found itself swishing through the basket at the buzzer. Eagles win 56 – 25, next up Leeds Tigers.
SCORERS: Wright 12, Mattimore 12, Short 8
Game 2: Newcastle Eagles 24 : 75 Leeds Tigers
Again the Eagles faced a strong opponent in their second game in as many weeks.
Prior to the game Coach Berwick commented “When you face a team like Leeds Tiger you have to set yourself a game plan and some achievable goals to aim for. Ours today is to stop them getting out on the open floor and keep the game as low scoring as possible. As a team we need to take care of the ball and make better decisions on the offensive end. If we can do that then we can take something positive away from the game and prove to ourselves that we’re improving as a team”
The game started off close with the Eagles team controlling the tempo and running their offence with confidence. The defence was working well for the Eagles and as a collective they held the Tigers to only 9 first quarter points with Leeds lead man and U16 International Forrester struggling to score inside.
The 2nd quarter seen the Eagles defence open up and the Tigers took advantage. The Leeds guards just kept driving to the middle and finding the open man under the basket and with a few forced passes on offence the Tigers were able to get out onto the break and open up an 18 – 8 first half lead.
Leeds continued their run into the 3rd Quarter and was able to get the ball inside for some easy baskets. However, the Eagles showed there fighting spirit and behind some gutsy post play by Eagles forward Short the Eagles finished the game on a positive note even though the 45 – 20 scoreline showed a different result.
Coach Berwick commented after the game “We can take a lot of positives away from that result in terms of how we controlled the tempo, ran our offence and played aggressive defence. We played arguably the best team in the league and certainly showed we can hold our own. Now all we have to do is work on the little things and be consistent with the way we performed and who knows we might be able to surprise a few teams”
SCORERS: Short 10 Date: Sat 31st Jan
Competition: vs East Riding Harriers & Sheffield Sharks
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence squad faced the East Riding Harriers and the fierce Sheffield Sharks in a testing away fixture this weekend
Game 1:
The Eagles started off slow against a vastly improved East Riding team who went out to an early lead. The Eagles starting five were slow in transition and after the 8 – 0 run by the Harriers coach Berwick was forced to call a time out. It wasn’t until the end of the second quarter when the Eagles started to claw their way back behind some great inside drives from Guy.
Going into the second half the Eagles pressure defence picked up and forced the Harriers to make some crucial turnovers which lead to some easy fast break baskets for the Eagles. Some good inside play from Wright and Short off the Eagles inbounds play kept the lead.
Wright kept hustling after the offensive rebound and finishing with the put back in the final quarter to take his tally to 12pts and helped give the Eagles the 45 – 34 victory. Coach Berwick commented on the Eagles slow start by saying “Having played and beaten this team before we expected to come out and take the lead early. How wrong we were. You can never judge a team by their previous performance in this league as all the teams just keep getting better and the Harriers where an example of that. It was just a good job we executed our defence and took the opportunities on the offensive end to secure the win”
SCORERS: Wright 12, Mattimore 8, Guy 8
Game 2:
Going into their second straight game of the day the Eagles were anxious after an unconvincing win against the Harriers. It didn’t help that this one was against the Sheffield Sharks who narrowly beat the Eagles in their first fixture of the season.
The Eagles started off well playing tight man to man defence and running their offence patiently until an opportunity opened up. It wasn’t until the Sharks started attacking the middle that the Eagles defence buckled. After some unforced turnovers on the offensive end the Sharks went out to an early lead. The Sharks continued their attack and with the Eagles committing turnover after turnover on the offensive end the Eagles team looked helpless.
The Sharks continued to build upon their lead in the second half with their bench players in what was clearly a one sided match as the Eagles struggled to piece together anything on offence or stop the strong inside play of Dixon the Sharks big man.
With the Sharks running away with the 75 – 24 win Coach Berwick added “Even though we were physically outplayed by a stronger more physical team the stat sheet tells a further story. How can we expect to win games when we turn the ball over 34 times? As a team it’s clear we need to take care of the ball under pressure to be able to compete against physical teams” School of
Date: Sat 18th Jan Competition: vs Thirsk thunder & Rotherham Hawks Newcastle Eagles 60 v Thirsk Thunder 15 ( 18-0, 10-2, 20-2, 12-11)
top scorers Jack Wylde 10, Gavin Wright 9, Greg Short 8, Jonny Guy 7, Aaron Donnally 7, Josh Tovey 6, Harry Wright 4, Johnny Mattimore 4, David Pears 2, Johnny Dick 2, Elliott Galt 1.
Rotherham Hawks 60 v Thirsk Thunder 35 ( 16-6, 20-3, 18-11, 6-15)
Newcastle Eagles 34 v Rotherham Hawks 33 ( 13-8, 6-11, 4-10, 11-4)
top scorers Greg Short 10, Johnathan Mattimore 9, Johnny Guy 6, Gavin Wright 4, Jack Wylde 3, Elliott Galt 2.
The Newcastle Eagles under 14s headed into todays triangle tournament at home to both Thirsk Thunder and Rotherham Hawks without usual head coach Berwick due to personal reasons.
They started their game with Thirsk in a ful court man defence and the pressure told on the visitors as the Eagles romped to an 18 to 0 period.
The second quarter stand in coach Heath took the press off and rotated in his bench getting all 12 players into the game by the half with much of the same result hard defence leading to easy baskets as the home team took the second 10 to 2 to lead 28 to 2.
In the second half the home team continued their impressive performance at both ends of the floor as they took the 3rd 20 to 2 to lead 48 to 4.
In the 4th quarter and with the result in no doubt the home team took their foot off the gas and looked towards their next game they managed to sneak the last 12 to 11 taking all 4 quarters and the match. The final score being 60 to 15.
Newcastle Eagles 34 Rotherham Hawks 33
The Eagles after watching the Hawks beat the Thunder 60 to 35 tipped off their second game in the triangle tournament and lead by Johnathan Mattinmore went in at the 1st 13 to 8 up.
In the second period the visitors stepped up their game and with the home team missing a lot of opportunities the Hawks took it 11 to 6 making the half time score 19 to 19.
At the start of the second half Coach Heath tried to get his troops to pick up the momentum again but it was Rotherham who looked the most likely to win this game as they hit the Eagles 10 to 4 to lead 29 to 23.
The last started with Gavin Wright given a task of man marking their star player Graves who had been doing all the damage for the Hawks. The plan worked well with the Eagles gonig on a very strong 9 to 2 run and with some excellent scrambling took the period 11 to 4 and winning the game 34 to 33.
School of
Date: Sat 6th Dec Competition: vs Bradford Dragons & York Vikings
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence squad faced the York Vikings and the Bradford Dragons at home this weekend it what was a two testing fixtures.
Game 1:
Having beat the Bradford Dragons by pts weeks before the young Eagles started the game on the back foot as the dragons jumped out to an early 5 - 4 lead. However, Eagles forward Greg Short showed his moves inside and helped give the Eagles a 12 - 7 lead to end the 1st quarter.
The 2nd quarter was very much the same as the
Coach Berwick could see his troops were running in second gear and ask them to step it up going into the 3rd quarter. The Eagles stepped up there game by applying there full court pressure defence and ran out on 10 – 0 run to finish the 3rd 31 – 16 up.
In the 4th the Bradford point guard kept pushing the ball and with
After the game coach Berwick expressed his concerns “To go from beating a team by points away to only winning the home game by points just shows we didn’t play as well as we can. We weren’t disciplined today and our rebounding let us down. In a league where the top 4 positions will be decided on points, every basket counts”
SCORERS: Short 14
Game 2:
The second game of the day was against a York Vikings team who came off the back of a dominating win against
York went out to an early lead behind a number of fast break layups as the Eagles defence was slow in getting back on transition and found themselves trailing 15 - 7 in the 1st quarter.
The Eagles forwards started the 2nd quarter in foul trouble and both Jack Wylde and Elliot Galt found themselves on the bench earlier than expected. With the energy off the bench the Eagles defence then turned it around by stopping the fast breaks they executed an 8 – 2 run in the space of 5mins and bought the game within 10pts.
The second half started off with the Eagles still applying the pressure on defence and behind a 3pt shot from G. Wright and an inside play by Wylde the Eagles looked like a team that could bring home a win. Nevertheless, for every basket the Eagles made,
York took this momentum into the 4th and went out on a 9 – 0 run in the first 5mins after the Eagles missing chance after chance inside With the Young Eagles looking like they had given up too early coach Berwick called a much needed time out. Coming back into the game the Eagles held off the
After the game Coach Berwick added “When you play against experienced and athletic teams such as
SCORERS: Wylde 10, Tovey 6, Wright 6, Under 14 School of Excellence out class East Riding and Bradford Date: Sat 22nd Nov
Competition: vs East Riding Harriers & Bradford Dragons
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence squad faced the East Riding Harriers and the Bradford Dragons away this weekend. After a two week break from competition the young Eagles were keen to get on the floor and get back into competition.
Game 1:
Having watched the first game of the day from the sideline the Eagles witnessed the Harriers & Bradford Dragons game go into overtime with the Harriers taking the game by only 2 points. This gave the Eagles an advantage going into their first game of the day against an exhausted Harrier’s team.
The Eagles quickly stamped their style of play into the game by hustling on defence for every rebound and loose ball. It was behind the hustle play of Harry Wright with 8 first quarter points that the Eagles team went up 18 – 6 in the 1st quarter. The second quarter was much of the same as the Eagles managed to hold the Harriers to only 4 quarter points. With some great full court pressure by Greg Short the Eagles were able to increase there lead at halftime by 40 – 10.
The Eagles came into their own in the second half and coach Berwick was able to rotate the bench. Aran Donnelly and Jonathon Dick lead the charge off the bench with some great play at both ends of the floor. This enabled the Eagles to hold the Harriers scoreless in the 4th quarter, finishing the game with a 69 – 11 win. Coach Berwick added “we were able to turn on the style throughout the second half as our confidence just kept getting better. This helped the bench come into the game and be effective as we passed the ball well and played unselfishly as a team”
SCORERS: Wright 14, Guy 12, Short 12
Game 2:
Going into their second straight game coach Berwick went back to his rested starting 5. With Bradford just losing out to the East Riding Harriers by 2pts earlier in the day the
Going into the second half with a 25 – 6 lead coach Berwick looked to keep up the energy on defence and rotated the bench, bringing Tovey, Wright and Galt into the game. This proved to be effective with Harry Wright scoring at will inside with 8 straight points in the 3rd quarter helping the eagles hold onto a 39 – 8 lead. Going into the 4th the Eagles defence began to crack and players started to become tired. This enabled the Dragons to go to the line 3 straight times down the floor and nearly outscore the Eagles 7 – 9 in the 4th. However, by this time the game was won and the Eagles took there second victory of the day with a 48 – 15 win.
SCORERS: Wylde 15, Wright 12,
Competition: vs York Vikings II / Leeds Tigers
Intro: The U14 Newcastle Eagles School of Excellence squad competed in their first set of home fixtures at
Game 1:
The First game of the day saw the Eagles take on York Vikings II. Having won a pre-season game against the Vikings by more than 40pts, coach Berwick took the opportunity to rest some of his starting 5 for the following game against
The 3rd quarter started with the Eagles starting 5 applying the full court pressure and forcing an inexperienced Vikings team to turn the ball over. At the end of the 3rd the Eagles found there lead extend to 45 – 16 behind some great full court play from Johnny Mattimore and Greg Short. However, in the 4th the Eagles let off the gas slightly which resulted in some sluggish defence and some unnecessary fouls. Although the Eagles found themselves in team fouls early in the quarter they stayed focused and ended the game victorious by winning 59 – 25. Coach Berwick commented by saying “The result looks like we dominated the game but that’s certainly not the case. We should’ve kept them to less than 25pts and our defence was lazy in the 4th quarter. Whether it was because we were tired or due to having the lead there is no excuse for sitting back and allowing the other team to put points on the board, so we can certainly take some learning’s away from this game and apply it into our training programme”
SCORERS: Mattimore 13, Galt 10, Wylde 10
Game 2:
Leeds Tigers came into the game having beat York Vikings II by more than 20pts in the previous game with 6,4 inside/outside player S, Forrester and England Development guard D, Hannam on the bench the Eagles players looked as if they had lost the game before it had started. Coach Berwick emphasised that in order to win the game it would mean keeping the ball out the middle of the floor on the defensive end. Having said this, the young Eagles team failed to exploit an aggressive
Coach Berwick gave his motivational speech at halftime on hard work and heart to try and inspire his troops. This may have helped as the Eagles came out in the 3rd quarter with some great confidence and defensive intensity which was yet to be seen from the young Eagles. Even though they kept Leeds to 10pts in the quarter with some great help defence, the Eagles teams failed to execute on each opportunity at the offensive end and by the end of the 4th Leeds claimed their dominance with a 52 - 18 win behind a 20pt hall from Leeds man child Forrester.
SCORERS: Mattimore 6 |
Next Home Match
Friday, 24th September, 2010
VTip-Off 7:30pm Sheffield Sharks
League Standings
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