DUNDEE HURRICANES SCHOOL FOOTBALL PROGRAM

UK NFL SCHOOLS FINALS - RESULTS
Report and Pics C/O Bruce Foster

St Johns Eagles travelled down to Woodham, near Durham to compete in the UK Finals of the NFL World Schools Flag Football Championships on Saturday.

Both the English and Scottish finals were played with the winners from each moving on to play for the honour of representing the UK in the European Championships on the 23rd June in Germany.

Scottish Final
The days event opened with the Scottish final, between St Johns Eagles and Royal Academy Buccaneers of Inverness. St Johns won the coin toss and started the game with a touchdown pass to Eamon Alnaqdy with their opening possession (6-0).

Royal Academy fired back with a score of their own with their next possession (6-6) The first half ended all square.

The second half saw the Buccaneers increase their lead with another score (12-6). But when they tried for the 2 points the pass was intercepted and returned to the Buccaneers endzone for a 2 point score in the Eagles favour (12-8).

Despite an earlier score by the Eagles being called back for a penalty, St Johns did managed to take the lead, with just over 5 minutes left in the game when Glen McArtney ran the ball in to the endzone (12-14).

Unfortunately St Johns left too much time on the clock and the more experienced Buccaneers squad used this in their favour and won the game with a run into the endzone (18-14).

English Final
Both teams where from Woodham area and have been the UK representatives at the European championships for the last 2 years. In what appeared to be a second Woodham team being groomed for a possible championship run next year, the Woodham

A team was never threatened by their younger counterparts. Winning comfortably over their opponents 33-0 and setting up the Scotland v England battle with Royal Academy.

3rd/4th place
Woodham B competed against the St Johns Eagles. Woodham taking the lead with an early touchdown and extra point attempt (7-0). Woodham accounted for the only scoring of the first half. In the second half, the Eagles RB, Glen McArtney leveled with the first of his two touchdowns in the game.

But the 2point attempt was unsuccessful (7-6), leaving the Eagles trailing by a point going into the final minutes of the game. With under 2 minutes left in the match, McArtney scored his second touchdown of the game and gave St Johns the lead for the first time.

A successful 1 point attempt meant Woodham would have had to score themselves to tie the game. After an Eagles time-out, the Eagles coach desided to attempt the 1 point play.

They succeeded with the attempt when RB Glen McArtney utilised his throwing skills and found Josh McCluskey in the endzone to silence the Woodham crowd. Despite Woodham having just over 1 minute left to try and salvage the game, they could do very little against a determined Eagles team. St Johns Eagles held their opponents scoreless in the 2nd half, securing a well deserved victory over their english opponents 13-7 and taking the 3rd place spot.

UK Final
Woodham A were in a determined mood, with their opponents Royal Academy Buccaneers being no match for the current UK champions.

The champions opened the game with a series of runs that resulted in the opening score (7-0). This was to be the first of many touchdowns Woodham would score on their scottish opponents throughout the contest.

This was to be a relentless frenzy of scores with Woodham finishing 28-0 up at the end of the 1st half. In the 2nd half the Buccaneers faired no better, with more of the same medicine being dished out by Woodham.

The champions increased their lead to 36 points, before the Buccaneers halted any potential shut-out with a score of their own (36-6). But Woodham finished the game with a final score of their own to make it 42-6 and book their place in the European finals for the 3rd year running.

St Johns High compete as member of the Dundee Hurricanes Schools Flag Football Program and have only been operating since early March.

Other member high schools competing are Dundee High, Braeview Academy and Monifieth High.

The Dundee Hurricanes are interested in setting up other interested high school teams to join the program and compete in the school flag football league.

Although the high school flag football age group is 12-16 years old, the Dundee Hurricanes also has playing opportunities for 16-18 year olds and over 18 year olds in flag and kitted programs.

If you are interested in starting your own team or wish more information, then please contact Program Co-ordinator Bruce Foster on 07762 914772 or visit www.dundeehurricanes.com