BULLS REGAIN SCOTTISH TITLE
pics and report c/o Kirkcaldy Bulls

Kirkcaldy Bulls American Football Club is celebrating once again. They put on a 5 star display at the SFFA Senior Finals Day to claim the Scottish Championship for a fifth year running.

The Bulls, seeded number one in the play-offs, had to face the Glasgow Hornets (4 th ) in the semi-final.

The Bulls raced to a 14-0 lead as both McLennan and Dickson scored a touchdown and conversion each.

The Hornets replied on their next possession fighting their way up-field for the score to keep them in the game.

The Bulls stepped up a gear as McLennan scored his second and third touchdowns of the game on consecutive possessions following an excellent interception by Neil Arnold.

With a 20 point deficit the Hornets had to score before the interval if they had any chance of a fight back.

A solid drive by the Glasgow based team saw them score to bring them back to within two scores.

With only a minute remaining in the half the Bulls quickly progressed up-field as first Bramwell made first down setting Dickson up for his second score of the game. A conversion from McLennan saw the Bulls with a 33-12 half time lead.

The game lost momentum in the second half as a string of stoppages interrupted both teams play.

The Bulls defense stayed switched on though as they shut out the Hornets for the rest of the game as Neil Arnold, Paul Arnold, Guthrie, Todd and Bramwell racked up 19 tackles, 5 deflections and a sack between them. Neil Arnold finished the game as he rushed for a touchdown to give the Bulls a 40-12 victory.

The Bulls had to wait to see who they were to play in the final as the young Carluke Cobras took on the Grangemouth Broncos.

A hard fought game saw the Cobras victorious and saw them in the final against the Bulls. Superb play on both sides of the ball saw the Bulls take a 20-0 lead as Dickson scored two touchdowns and Bramwell scored a third as well as two conversions.

The Bulls defense was awesome with both Neil Arnold and Bramwell intercepting. The Cobras scored before the interval to keep themselves in the game.

The second half saw the Bulls offense control the ball as McLennan, Bramwell, Dickson, Cook, Mackenzie and Jones all made good receptions and firstdowns. Mackenzie scored to extend the Bulls lead to twenty points again but the Cobras fought on scoring on their next possession.

The Bulls put together another solid drive which saw Jones make an excellent fingertip catch for the game ending score. Dickson converted to give the Bulls a 33-12 lead.

The Bulls went retro as they finished the game with the original 5 offensive players on the field that started their first SFFA league game back in 2003.

With an average age of 37, 46 national caps and 43 years of playing experience between them Neil Arnold, Paul Arnold, Stevie Bramwell, Rob Cook and Sean Mackenzie made light work of making first down, calling plays from the 2003 playbook. However, whilst in celebration mode they lost track of the game-clock and ran out of time to score before the final whistle.

smm7.com game M.V.P.s were awarded to Gavin Dickson and Rob Cook.

In 5 seasons the club has won a total of 14 major trophies including 7 national championships as well as a 4 th place finish in the biggest European Club Championship, held in France.

Head Coach Neil Arnold commented "I am extremely proud of my whole squad today. They all performed extremely well and we showed what a professional and well disciplined side we are."

"Other teams were always going to find it very difficult to beat us on the day as we were all in a very positive frame of mind. With the date of Finals Day changing from Saturday to the Sunday with only about 10 days notice proved a challenge for us but this seemed to motivate us even more. That's 5 years in a row now we have been Scottish Champions, and during this time we have well and truly put Kirkcaldy on the American Football map."

" I would like to thank all the players that have ever been involved with the Bulls for making this massive achievement possible, and if anyone would ever have said to myself and Stevie right at the beginning we would be 5 times Scottish Champions we would probably have laughed at them."

"We have only ever lost 1 game in Scotland but it is getting harder every year with ever improving teams to compete against. We now have a few new younger faces in the squad so lets hope we can continue what we have built on to date".

For further information contact Neil Arnold on 01592 569871, email enquiries@kirkcaldybulls.com or visit www.kirkcaldybulls.com