TIGERS FAIL TO WEATHER
THE STORM
Glasgow Tigers blew the chance of
a morale boosting first win of the season, going down 34-12 to
the BSL Scottish Division Two leaders, Dundee Hurricanes.
Having shared twenty eight points
during their last encounter at Dawson Park, the Tigers were determined
to finally get their season off the mark following another share
of the points on the road last week against Edinburgh Wolves.
Things could not have gone better
for the home side when they went twelve points ahead in the first
quarter.
But Glasgow’s offensive machine
then proceeded to break down with Quarterback Matt McCusker conceding
four interceptions and the defense surrendering 34 unanswered
points ensuring that the Taysiders held on to their undefeated
record.
After making very little headway
on their opening drives, the Tigers got the first break when a
punt went over the head of returner Mahamadou Niakate, giving
the home side excellent field position.
Then minutes later Tigers opened
their account with a 5yard run into the corner of the end zone
for the opening six points
The
Tigers defense stepped up the pressure on the visitors on the
first play of the Hurricanes drive when Quarterback Bruce Thompson
was intercepted, giving Glasgow excellent field position.
They were then promptly punished
when McCusker fired a pass to the right to Tight End Johnny Smith
for another score, leaving the score 12-0 at the end of the 1st
quarter.
Dundee hit back in the second quarter
when a big run up the middle from Alex Brannan along with penalty,
took the Taysiders to the Tigers six yard line.
This left Running Back, Niakate to
finish the drive off by powering over the goal line for their
opening touchdown, which was followed ay a two point conversion
catch from Fraser Thomson to put the visitors four points adrift
Then disaster struck fir the Tigers
when Fraser Thomson ran between two receives for a perfectly timed
interception running back 40 yards into the end zone and infront
for the first time.
In the 3rd quarter Dundee coped with
the rainy conditions much better not surprisingly stretched their
lead when Alex Brannan ran in from 18yards which was then converted
by Niakate to make it 22-14.
The Glasgow Offence continued to
struggle and after a good punt return by Dundee, Niakate managed
to shake off a number of challenges to run in for another score,
making it 28-12 for the visitors
The
Tigers now had a mountain to climb, but to their credit, continued
to battle hard to get back into the game and were making some
good progress up field.
But things fell apart when McCusker
was picked off twice, once in the end zone.
The Hurricanes suffered a set back
when Quarterback QB Bruce Thomson retired injured, but with Alex
Brannan taking over at the offensive controls continued to cause
more problems for Glasgow.
And with over 6minutes of the final
quarter, he led Dundee to the final score of the day with a 5
yard pass to Fraser Thomson making it a 34-12 final score line
This result leaves Dundee 4-0-1 with
Glasgow at 0-2-2.
The Tigers have the chance to get
a quick revenge when both teams have to do it all over again,
this coming Sunday.
