WOLVES AND TIGERS SHARE HONOURS AGAIN
A crowd of 200 people surrounded a windswept Jack Kane Centre in Edinburgh as the Edinburgh Wolves and Glasgow Tigers kicked off their 2005 seasons. Both teams played tough, hard-nosed football as honours ended evenly in what was a fair reflection of the game. Both sides featured a large number of new players and after some early mistakes, the quality of American football on display improved. Edinburgh, after receiving the opening kick-off marched 75 yards before the tenacious Glasgow defence bit hard and stopped the Wolves from opening the season in style. On Offense, the Glasgow side had young QB William “Kojak” McLauchlan at the helm and he couldn’t have had a worse start, throwing an interception to Wolves Linebacker Dan Cameron. The Wolves, however, could also not capitalise with Martin Devlin’s 25 yard field goal falling short. In the second quarter, Glasgow broke the deadlock, when QB McLauchlan connected with Rob Campbell from 27 yards out for a touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete to leave the west coast side leading 6-0. The Wolves came right back, moving the ball 80 yards in little over 2 minutes thanks to runs of 35 and 15 yards by David Molloy and Sebastien Ossywa respectively and a beautiful diving catch by Ali Pullen to the Glasgow 1 yard line. The Tigers stopped Osswya as time ran out on the half to maintain their lead. Early in the third, the Wolves moved the ball swiftly down the park before running back Mark Cadle forced his way into the endzone for a score. The wind took the extra point attempt wide left to tie the score at 6. Both teams had good opportunities to win the game in the 4th quarter but some good defensive plays and the gale force winds put paid to any further scoring. With two more encounters to come between these sides it will be difficult to separate them. Wolves coach Peter Laird commented afterwards, “The team showed their maturity in this game. Their demeanour on the sidelines is very much improved this season. The bickering of the past is gone, replaced by a focus on reducing mistakes and playing together. Both sides played hard, and a draw is a fair result.” Tigers Head Coach
Derek Taylor said: “I was pleased with the effort from the guys,
especially the 8 new recruits who were playing their first game for us
today. Hopefully we can build on this result and improve as the season
goes on.”
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Edinburgh
Wolves 6 Glasgow Tigers 6
