UNSTOPPABLE !!!!!

British University American Football League – Borders Conference

Glasgow Tigers 50 Paisley Pyros 0

It felt like linking up with an old friend.   For the first time in almost three months, I found myself back on the gridiron trail covering an American football game and it was nothing to do with the upcoming Superbowl. 

Don’t just blame it  on the weather, don’t blame it on the lack of league activity, don’t blame it on one’s bank balance, blame it on the boogie - there will be stacks of reasons why there has been a lack of match coverage on Hot Iron. 

But we are back!  And even though it was so cold you could hear distant brass monkey’s wincing, it was great to be back amongst the action again.

We have the new look Hot Iron site and a new place for our match reports, The Locker Room.   And I could not think of a better subject for the first report than a fixture between the last two West Coast sides in the British College set up.

In the red corner you had the 2008/2009 Scottish Champions, The Paisley Pyros, a team with a short history, but over the years have built up a reputation as a very tough hard hitting outfit.

In the black corner you have the 1994 College Bowl Champions, the Glasgow Tigers, who so far this season have been leading the line in terms of the league stats having not dropped a game, whereas according to the league standings, the Pyros have been struggling and are yet to record a victory this season.

And it was soon evident that it was not going to be the Pyros day when after a less than impressive opening drive, Paisley outfit were in trouble when Glasgow’s top rusher this season, Lewis King, ran in the opening touchdown.

The Pyros appeared to be shaking off their nervous start and were driving hard up the middle of the Tigers rear guard, pushing them back deep into their own half of the field, but the eventually run out of steam following a tough stand off by the home defense and the visitors turning over possession at the Glasgow 26 yard line.

Now I have said that I have missed going to live American football games, not just because of the hard hitting action, but you are certain to get some interesting decisions from the match officials and this game was no exception.  

Only in gridiron matches, do you get penalised for taking the “!£$ and today, on the next Tigers drive, they were hampered with penalties to begin with including an unnecessary roughness penalty by the Quarterback – now there is something you don’t see every day.

But home side found their rhythm and had the Pyros on the back foot with big gains from King, moving the Tigers in sight of the Paisley goal line. 

And early in the second quarter it looked as if the drive was going to stall until a fourth down gamble paid off when a fake hand off move ended with quarterback Gregor Beattie delivered a precision pass to the far corner to Phil Enjemi for a second touchdown, with King running in a 2 point conversion.

Paisley’s headaches continued with a breakdown on special teams, when the returner fumbled a Tigers punt and was recovered by Winston Ojei who came close to running the ball all the way back to the endzone, but was stopped juts six yards short.

There was no surprise minutes later when King ran up the middle for another touchdown with Scott McIntosh bringing in a 2 point catch.

But as the final minutes of first half ticked away, a great response by the Pyros, had the Tigers under real pressure for the first time, with the visitors looking at a first goal, with only a few inches to go.

Now that would normally result in a touchdown, but the Tigers managed to hold the strong Paisley front line at bay during those final seconds and were denied a score as time ran out of the visitors and they had to endure a morale busting setback at half time.

The momentum was fully on the side of the Tigers at the start of the second half and increased their lead with a similar play that nailed the Pyros in the first half.

A fake hand off move saw Beattie once again pick off Enjemi at the far corner for another touchdown.

Even though appeared to be in the bag, the Tigers stepped up the pressure and increased their lead with another touchdown from King and Beattie walking in a 2 point conversion and a 36-0 lead.

Paisley were playing for pride and tried to take something from the game with some impressive play, taking the visitors up as far as the Glasgow 22 yard line, but the Tigers defense were bending but did not break, with no change in the scoring going into the final minutes of the game.

But inside the 2 minute warning, the Tigers finished off an impressive day at the office with a flourish when Beattie picked off Ewan Beesley for another touchdown with King bouncing off two players to carry in another 2 point conversion.

Then Glasgow drove the final nail in the Pyros coffin when Beattie’s fired a diagonal pass straight into the hands of Chris Sutcliffe who had acres of room to run in the final six points of the day and the half century