Clansmen's
cardiac kids do it again pt 1
BCAFL 2003/4 Play Off Round
1
STIRLING CLANSMEN 32 GLASGOW
TIGERS 24
In the land of William Wallace, reigning British
College League Champions, Stirling Clansmen showed themselves as
true gridiron bravehearts today ( Sunday Feb 29th) at Stirling’s
Airthey Castle Playing fields, coming from behind once again to
record a memorable back to back victory over Glasgow Tigers.
The Tigers were well in the driving seat, when a
touchdown from Ian Bertram and two from Andy Hall, gave the visitors
a commanding 18-0 half time lead.
But the Clansmen, who came from behind record a
dramatic 30-28 victory to pip the Tigers to the Northern Conference
title at the same venue took the game by the scruff of the kneck
with 30 unanswered points, including two touchdowns apiece from
Quarterback, James Thompson and Jon Sutherland.
Despite dominating the second half, the Tigers still
manage to dig deep into their reserve to claw back the deficit with
Robert Campbell grabbing a consolation score in the fourth quarter.
The Clansmen had already tasted victory twice against
the Tigers, but both sides came into this return clash with a clean
slate with only one side certain to progress to the next round of
the British College League Play offs.
The Clansmen failed to make any impression on their
opening drive, but the Tigers were having more success on their
opening possession with Andy Hall gaining some early yardage.
But Quarterback Matt McCusker then changed his options
when he took to the air with a long pass to Ian Bertram who exposed
a gap down the far side for the opening touchdown.
The Clansmen tried to get back into the game and
were handed a lucky break when a long pass from Thompson did not
find his target and was almost picked off by Stuart Proudlock.
But in the end Stirling failed to male any significant
headway and had to punt away possession which finished deep in
Tigers territory.
The visitors were back on the move again with
Hall exposing a weakness in the Clansmen defense with powerful
run through the middle for a new set of downs.
A ten yard holding penalty brought the Tigers
in sight of the home red zone and McCusker tried to hook up with
Bertram again, but the pass was just inches from the receiver’s
fingertips and eventually resulted in a turnover on downs.
The Clansmen continued to struggle on offense
and had to punt the ball away again, which finished at the half
way line.
The home side appeared to halve held off the Tigers
offensive threat and looked set to punt the ball back to Stirling,
but an offside penalty of the punt, kept the Glasgow drive alive.
And the threat of the Tigers offensive line opened
up the Clansmen defence again with Hall bursting through from
a few yards out to put the visitors 12-0 up.
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