London Blitz Youth American Football team lost their unbeaten record at their third tournament of the season in Billericay on Saturday.

The Finsbury Park based club took on south east champions Kent Exiles in their opening match.

Both teams struggled to move the ball against staunch defences, until Blitz quarterback Ugur Tokgoz connected with Marcus Barbosa for a 35-yard pass to open the scoring .

Running back Jordan Willams managed to pull in the point after conversion to give the Blitz an 8-0 lead at half-time.

In the second half Kent Exiles proved too strong for the Blitz, with rising star Johnny Nudumbe in blistering form as he scored two touchdowns in his first game.

Quarterback James Cook threw a short underarm toss into the endzone to get a passing touchdown on the board. The Exiles defence managed to hold out for the second period preventing the Blitz from mounting a challenge.

With a 20-8 victory for Kent, the Exiles take control of the South East Conference and all but secure their return to the national finals in Doncaster at the end of September.

The next two games against hosts Essex Spartans and Norwich Devils proved less demanding affairs.

The Blitz eased to a 46-6 win over the Spartans and had no problems beating Norwich 70-0.

London Blitz’s hopes of a fifth consecutive appearance in the national finals is still alive but the team will have to host the wildcard tournament in August at Finsbury Park Stadium.

The tournament will consist of the four highest runner ups from the south east and south west conferences, with the winner going though to the finals.

Stand outs for the day in defence were new signing Harry Keeling in his first tournament. He managed to intercept the ball three times, running two of them back for touchdowns and also scoring a safety (tackling the opposing ball carry in their own endzone).

Linebacker Oles Morris made more than ten tackles, two safeties and interrupted the pass twice.

In offence, wide receiver Marcus Barbosa made a big impression making 17 catches for 208 yards and 37 points, while Julius Andresier proved a versatile player as he stepped up to quarterback, hitting seven out of eight passes for 118 yards and 22 points.