THE opening tournament of the season took place on Saturday in Leyland for Burnley Tornados.

With not quite a full complement of players, due to the change in school holidays, the Tornados were to face Chorley Buccaneers, Pennine Panthers and Chester Romans.

First up were the team who were seeded eighth nationally last year were the Chorley Buccaneers. The captains for the game were Tommie Bryan (stand in QB), Jacob McNally and Tom Lockett.

The Tornados defence were first on the field and with some nerves and the newness of the team they let the Bucs score. Once the team settled down it was up to Oliver Norwood to run in for the Tornados to equal the score and then Tom Milligan capitalised on a Bucs error and scored a second touchdown for the claret and blue team. At the half the Tornados were winning 12-6.

The second half started much in the same way as the first with the Bucs getting on the scoresheet to level the game, despite the excellent tackles made by the captain, Jacob McNally, Niall Doherty and Rob Welti. With the Bucs pressuring the stand-in QB the Tornados turned to a running game and again Oliver Norwood showed how to push through three tackles and sprint into the endzone, leaving the final score 18-12. The Tornados had finally beaten the Bucs.

After a short break the Tornados were to face Pennine Panthers, a team they knew nothing about. The captains for this game, Tommie Bryan, Jacob McNally and Tom Doherty, met the ref, Lee Taylor, and the opposing captains, won the toss and elected to play defence first.

The defence, now with renewed fire in their bellies, attacked the Panthers from the outset. Shane Thompson, Niall Doherty and Tom Milligan, pressured the QB into making mistakes and enabled the Tornados offence to get back on the field. Having moved the ball successfully downfield Tommie Bryan was able to make a completed pass to Tom Doherty for his first Tornados TD. Rob Welti made the extra points to make it 8-0.

In the second half, Shaun Daffern was able to get the ball cleanly into the hands of the QB and give him time to throw the ball.

Some excellent catches were made by Khan Durnall, Rob Welti and Tom Doherty, but it was running yards gained by James Buckley that helped the Tornados score. With Oliver Norwood again taking the ball over the line, the final score was 14-0 to the Tornados.

With tensions running high for the third game against Chester Romans, captains Tommie Bryan, Jacob McNally and Shane Thompson settled the players to try to win.

Defence were again up first, and despite the tackling being well executed the Romans were first to score.

The Tornados were beginning to tire and passes were being dropped and the Romans were able to score again before Khan Durnall intercept the Romans to stop any further scores at the half. Down by 13-0, the head coach gave a resounding team talk and spurred the players on.

A comeback looked to be on the cards when Tom Doherty intercepted the Romans and ran back 33 yards to score, but the Romans won the game 13-6.

Following the games Paul Brammer, Head Coach said “The Tornados family has seen some great days in our history and Saturday goes down in that book very near the top.

“Players and supporters hear us oldies reminisce about the memories of the old boys- today saw a new set of guys setting the stories for the future. Each and every player gave there all and we can’t ask for anymore than that.”

MVPs decided by the coaches were to Tommie Bryan, Tom Doherty and Shane Thompson.