OVER AND OUT

FRANKFURT GALAXY 27
SCOTTISH CLAYMORES 24

The Scottish Claymores World Bowl dreams finally bit the dust in Frankfurt this evening, going down 27-24 to Frankfurt Galaxy at the Waldstadion.

The result leaves the Scots with a 1-7 record and now three games not only to restore some pride, but also fight for the future of the franchise, judging by recent suggestions in previous match programmes.

Following their 15-13 defeat by the Galaxy at Hampden last week, it was all or nothing for the Claymores who had to win their remaining fixtures as well as get help from other results in order to give them an outside chance of reaching the NFL Europe Championship final on June 12th.

The Germans were the first to get of the mark four minutes into the first quarte4r with a two yard touchdown run from Skip Hicks, which was converted by Ralph Kleinman for a 7-0 lead.

With less than five minutes of the quarter remaining, the visitors finally broke their duck when Rob Hart nailed a 34 yard field goal to reduce the deficit to four points.

But the Galaxy stretched further ahead when Chad Haynes picked off an eight yard pass from J.T O’Sullivan for another score with 1.17 of the quarter remaining.

Frankfurt then appeared to be cruising when Hicks ran in his second touchdown of the day from 9 yards out midway through the second.

Then the Claymores with nothing to lose found themselves back in the game when Ahmadd Galloway ran in a 2 yard score 34 seconds before the break, which was converted by Hart to make it 21-10 in favour of the Germans.

The Claymores got off to the best possible start in the second half when Maurice Hicks ran in a second Scottish touchdown.

But the momentum swung back in Frankfurt’s favour when Kleinman nailed two consecutive field goals in the third quarter to give them a 27-17 lead.

Then there were hopes of the dramatic Claymores come back when Maurice Hicks ran in his second touchdown of the day, which was converted by Hart, reducing the deficit to just three points, with just over 10 minutes left on the clock.

The Claymores then got themselves a break when heavy defensive pressure forced O Sullivan to fumble the ball, which was recovered by Damian Gregory at the Scottish 7 yard line for a 2 yard gain.

But the lack of killer instinct on the Claymores offense that had been plaguing them all year, came back to haunt them again having to punt away possession at their own 25 yard line.

This left the Galaxy all the time to run down the clock, leaving the Claymores an all or nothing pass from Curt Anes with one second left and not surprisingly failed to find it’s target.

The Claymores play their final game on the road this coming Friday against Amsterdam before two more run outs at Hampden Park against Berlin and Cologne.

Whether this will be the last ever appearance of any Claymores side will depend on what happens at the next NFL owners get together and whether the fans want to turn up and give them a big send off.

There is no doubt that having professional American Football in Scotland has been like a breath of fresh air to the country’s sporting scene and hopefully WE HAVE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF IT.