DEDICATION - IS WHAT YOU NEED!!!!

Glasgow Tigers 16 Edinburgh Timberwolves 14

If anybody wanted to question the dedication of people involved in American Football in Scotland should have taken a trip across to Glasgow’s Garscube Sports Centre this afternoon as the Glasgow Tigers recorded a moral boosting victory over the Edinburgh Timberwolves.

In weather conditions that typified the season of winter rain, sleet, wind – lots of it and more rain, testing the resilience of the players and the sanity of the people on the sidelines, both teams braved the elements hoping to get their quest for the BCAFL Play Offs back on track.

But if you had to hand out the “Dedicated to the Cause” award for performing above and beyond the call of duty then the runaway winner would could to the hardy bunch of Glasgow Tigers Cheerleaders, who not only had no crowd to raised their spirits, but dressed in their short skirts continued to dance their routines, cheer the Tigers and despite being soaked to the skin, were still smiling.

Or was their mouth locked in the one position due to the cold weather. We will never know.

With only a few weeks to go before the Xmas break, both sides were looking to get their season back on track having lost their last game.

And the Timberwolves got the game off to a flier on their opening drive when on a fourth down attempt, James Sherrard lateraled the ball to Will Murray who took the ball down to the Tigers 25 yard line.

Then minutes later, Sherrard, under heavy pressure from the Tigers defense managed to launch a high ball over the heads of the Tigers DB, which was grabbed by Mike Cakebread for the opening touchdown.

On the next play, Alan Price exposed blown coverage on the next play to add a successful conversion attempt for the visitors.

Even though there was no ease up on the weather, we well all crying out for a bit of sunshine – and it came at the start of the second quarter, courtesy of the Tigers offensive unit when a great piece of scrambling from the Tigers Quarterback, Paul “Sunshine” Kirkland gave the Tigers excellent field position.

A 15 yard personal foul penalty put the Tigers within touching distance of the Edinburgh goal line.

And minutes later, Kirkland handed the ball to Paul “Pebbles” Gaffin who ran into the far corner of the endzone for six points.

Then as soon as the ref signalled the end of the first half, there was a mass exodus to the dressing rooms for the teams, for a much needed team talk and for the rest of us a mad rush to the cafeteria for much needed coffee.

Eventually we all trudged out for the third quarter, where with the lack of action on the field, many of us were starting to question our sanity, standing in monsoon weather, watching two teams fight for on the field domination with nothing to show for it, except the possibility of catching hypothermia.

So why do we do it – for the love of the game of course.

There was no let up on the monsoon conditions as the temperature continued top plummet and it looked as if the visitors were going to sneak a valuable away win.

Going into the final quarter, with five minutes to go, the Tigers found their second wind –as if there was not enough to go around already.

But the resolute Men in Black dug deep into their reserves and soon had the Timberwolves on the back foot.

The “Sunshine” got to work again, firing the ball to * Seltzer, who did enough to keep in the endzone to tie the scoring.

Then on the next play, Pebbles Gaffin powered through for the two point conversion to put the Tigers infront for the first time.

The minutes ticked away and the Tigers had found a new boost in confidence in their battle with their East Coast rivals and even Mother Nature.

Even though they dominated proceedings, there remained no change in the score line of what was an end to an eventful game – in more ways than one.