Claymores 27–24 Dragons
Montjuich Olimpic Stadium, Barcelona
 The players look on as the team goes about its business Photo: Ruth Hutton |
Summary: The Scottish Claymores won for the first time ever in Spain to cap a frustrating season with a solid victory – in what was an entertaining match throughout. The Claymores, led by James Brown in his first start at QB, and powered by the league-leading rushing of RB Herbert Goodman were never behind and looked a better side than their final 5–5 record suggested. The game did also have an end-to-season feel about it amid the bright sunshine and high temperature of the Olimpic Stadium. Both teams gave up over 300 yards and the Claymores secondary gave up their one-and-only big pass play of the season – a 61-yd bomb to Dallas Cowboy Richmond Flowers over the flailing James Rooths.
On the other side of the ball the Dragons were sentenced to a 2–8 record although they were never really out of this game until Rooths intercepted QB Ted White in the dying seconds to seal the victory for the departing Scottish team of 2002.
World Bowl watch: the Claymores were already out of the World Bowl hunt before this game, as were the Dragons. Perhaps some would see this as a meaningless end-of-season fixture? Fortunately the players didn't treat it that way (well those that played... QB Scott Dreisbach announed in his Detriot Lions diary that he had achieved all he had wanted to in NFLE and was handing over to JB for the final game.)
Lawrence Tynes kicked off for the Claymores and the game was underway. The defense held firm on the Dragons first possession and soon Barcelona punted the ball away. At this point the pale Scots fans were sipping their first in game beer and happily blowing on their Amsterdam airhorns. James Brown came on at QB and the Dragons crowd (and I can't believe the attendance is legit...) came to life thwacking their noisemakers and creating what can only be described as an unnerving russling with a drum and trumpet backing when the Claymores were on Offense.
Herbert Goodman got the ball fed to him on the first drive and 10 minutes later the Claymores had marched 64 yards for a Goodman TD on the ground. Beer 2. Such were the good spirits I'll even mention Scott McCready getting a 16-yder on the drive (as did Kwame Cavil), in fact McCready – often anonymous during the season – had 5 for 80 on the day.
The Dragons got a big return on the kickoff and with a few doses of Derek Homer and some Ted White (Forca Dragons!) passes to Flowers, Martos and Robbie Snelling move the ball to inside the red zone. Pop. A 19-yd pass to Flowers from White and the Dragons were level after a 4-minute drive. It was just a fantastic catch. We were sure (i.e. hoping) he was out of bounds but no such luck.
Yubrenal Isabelle got his hands on the squibbed kick-off and rumbled to the Claymores 42. JB picked out Fontana for a 19 yd pass and first quarter ended.
By this point there was a party atmosphere going and in between the all-dancing all-trumpeting-and-drumming band on the sideline we could pick out the Claymores FO enjoying themselves on the sunny side of the stadium.
The 2nd Quarter started with a huge play to Kevin McKenzie to the 1-yd line. We were jumping about like he had gone in, it was at the far end from us. Goodman tried to run it in, a pass went incomplete to Cavil before Brown threaded the needle on a hot pass to Stevan Fontana for the TD. Ya dancer! Cue celebrations and we were 14–7 up, and time for an ice cream with the next beer.
Mike Watkins came on at QB for Barcelona and a bit of punting ensued between the two teams. Watkins came out for his second shot and I helpfully shouted for him to throw a pick. Well. he threw at Rooths again but this one didn't go for a 69-yd INT TD as it had in week 1. No, this one went over the scampering James Rooths into the soft hands of Richmond Flowers who then eluded Rooths' last chance attempt at a tackle, before romping into the end zone for a spectacular 1-play 61-yd TD. Ouch. Believe me, some clown wearing a Rooths shirt in the crowd got total pelters for that (ahem...). 14–14 and the beer was going flat.
It was for sure when Brown threw an INT on the Mores next possession. The D as it has all season held and after we got punted the ball back we moved steadily up the park through the two-minute warning. Gilliam, Carson, McCready and Cavil ate up the yards but not the clock before Whisper Goodman plunged in for a 6-yd TD with 44 seconds left in the half. Cause for optimism indeed. We were back on our feet and at 21–14 we looked good for a victory.
We made a bit of a mess of the squib kick and gave the Dragons good filed position (their 42). They quickly got to our 44 before a stange madness descended on QB Watkins. Twice he underthrew the same open receiver out in the flat. really weird. The Guy was getting no yards even if he had caught it and was way in bounds. I just didn't understand. They then wheeled on Pistetsky who gunned the ball wide-left on a 56-yd kick. It had the legs (there was a strong following wind in the Stadium going in that direction) but it was No Good for a 4-point attempt. Maybe the Dragons were wanting to try for a 4-pointer?
Half-Time: 21–14 to the Scots.
Of course, the second half didn't live up to the scoring fireworks of the first and the beer and heat was beginning to have its effect on the travelling fans. Scotland punted on their first possession and then the Dragons went 56 yards capped with a 32-yd Angoy FG. Joe Germaine in at QB for Barcelona. What a shame the season has been for him, nice guy too. By the way, ex-Claymore (briefly, we swapped him for Fontana in camp) Snelling dropped three passes on that drive. He then dropped another pass on their next drive before breaking his leg, ending his hopes of even a camp place in the NFL. Really tough on Robbie.
The Claymores came back and capped a 6-minute drive across the end of the third quarter with a Tynes 44-yd kick. Claymores lead 24–17.
But Barcelona came back and I was choking on my beer as Hurley Tarver got flagged for Pass Interference at the 1 on Marco Martos. Stil, the D held on first down, and second. Then third. On 4th and Goal from the 1 Ted White hit Ben Zagorski in the end zone. Gahhhhh! 24–24 and it was looking grim for the 2002 Claymores. Could we lose another?
Behind Brown the team rallied and moved into FG range. They couldn't get a TD and a 3rd and 3 inside the two-minute warning to McKenzie went incomplete. Tynes kicked a 38-yard field goal to give the Claymores a 27–24 lead. The Dragons stats crew were even excited they put the score up as 27–24 to Barcelona!
The Claymores just needed a decent kick-off and coverage on the return. What a disaster as Derek Homer ran 46 yards to midfield.
Still the D had not given up and Radell Lockhart mugged Carl Fair causing a fumble which Barcelona managed to recover. White was then sacked by Procell before he hit Martos for an 11-yd gain on 3rd and 18. With 44 second left White put the coin in the slot, cranked his arm and gambled.
White went deep on Rooths trying to hit Carlos Rosado and paydirt. Rooths leapt high and picked him off and Rosado slid to the ground. The Scots fans went wild. Meanwhile Rooths was heading upfield being pulled along by Scott Shields ... which caused him to drop the ball. Sheer panic as Rooths then scooped the ball back up before a Dragon could get it. Unbelievable. Then there was a flag...
Holding on the return, after the INT. We win! Brown dropped a knee twice and we were done.
Player Watch:
Herbert Goodman (Claymores, RB) 23 rushes for 72 yards and 2 TDs, 3 for 12 in the air. Strong performance may be too late to make All-NFLE team...
Richmond Flowers (Dragons, WR) 6 for 141 yards, 2 TDs. Strong performance may be too late to make All-NFLE team... (see Goodman, H)
 Coach Gene Dahlquist after the win Photo: Ruth Hutton |
Coach Watch:
Gene Dahlquist (Claymores, HC) lots of smiling, handshaking and being pleasant to the punters at the end of the game. He looked genuinely happy to have won (as opposed to his usual happiness at losing) and the mood was definitely that he is coming back. He can point to an improved record of 5–5 on last year's 4–6 but everyone feels the team should be better than that. Still, for Coach D the bitter memories of the Frankfurt debacle and the knife-drawing that folllowed have probably been put to one side as he pulled the season out the fire. Whether all our position coaches will be back is another matter entirely...
Number Watch (season end): Scott Shields led the Claymores with 44 tackles all season (34 UT, 10 AT). Michael Hawkes led in UT with 37, Hurley Tarver had 36 UT. Hurley also led the team in Passes Defensed with 9, while Shields led in INTs with 3 one of which was returned for a TD (Rooths and Franz also scored on INTs). Pittman and Tovo shared the sack lead with 4 apiece. Robert Arnaud led with 12 Special Teams tackles. Rob Hart led in scoring with 50 points, while Goodman led in TDs with 6. "Whisper" also had a team record (and league high) 873 yds rushing. Gilliam led the receivers with 400 yds of catches and 4 TDs. McCready had the most catches at 22 and 2 TDs. James Rooths led the league in Kick Returns with 15 for 429 and a 28.6 average (long of 56). JJ Moses had 14 for 344 (24.6 avg) on Kick Returns, with a team-high 25 for 280 on punt returns (long of 68). The QBs were sacked only 6 times all season. Dreisbach completed 95 of 225 for 1154 yds, with 14 INTs and only 9 TDs for a passer rating of 46.0. Only Ryan Leaf has a worse rating in pro-football over the last 30 years.
MVP: Herbert Goodman for the Claymores and Richmond Flowers for the Dragons. They both made this a highly entertaining game. Goodman put in a hard day's work for the tenth time this season and deservedly finishes 2002 with the league rushing title. He has been battered and bruised getting there but his 6 TDs and 873 yds on the ground have been the backbone of the side throughout the season. On the downside his booty of TDs in the last two weeks won't be enough to get him on the All-NFLE team, or the Touchdown Claymores offensive MVP award as both of these were sewn up before weeks 9 and 10. Both he and Richmond Flowers should be on the all NFLE team all things considered, but won't be. They both had excellent games today. It's a shame more fans weren't here to enjoy the sunshine and football fayre on show.
Attendance: 8,119 (allegedly).
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CLAYMORES 7 14 0 6 27
BARCELONA 7 7 3 7 24 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: SCO - TD, HERBERT GOODMAN 1 YD RUN (ROB HART
KICK), 9:58. CLAYMORES 7-0
BAR - TD, RICHMOND FLOWERS 19 YD PASS FROM
TED WHITE (JESUS ANGOY KICK),
14:18. CLAYMORES 7-7
2ND QUARTER: SCO - TD, STEVAN FONTANA 3 YD PASS FROM JAMES
BROWN (ROB HART KICK), 1:13.
CLAYMORES 14-7
BAR - TD, RICHMOND FLOWERS 61 YD PASS FROM
MIKE WATKINS (JESUS ANGOY KICK),
6:31. CLAYMORES 14-14
SCO - TD, HERBERT GOODMAN 6 YD RUN (ROB HART
KICK), 14:20. CLAYMORES 21-14
3RD QUARTER: BAR - FG, JESUS ANGOY 32 YD, 10:59.
CLAYMORES 21-17
4TH QUARTER: SCO - FG, LAWRENCE TYNES 44 YD, 1:59.
CLAYMORES 25-17
BAR - TD, BEN ZAGORSKI 1 YD PASS FROM TED
WHITE (JESUS ANGOY KICK), 8:33.
CLAYMORES 25-24
SCO - FG, LAWRENCE TYNES 37 YD, 13:09.
CLAYMORES 29-24
TEAM STATISTICS SCO BAR
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 25 16
Rushing 9 5
Passing 16 10
Penalty 0 1
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 5-10 7-14
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-0 1-2
TOTAL NET YARDS 368 302
Total plays 65 54
Average gain 5.7 5.6
NET YARDS RUSHING 94 74
Rushes 28 21
Average per rush 3.4 3.5
NET YARDS PASSING 274 228
Completed-attempted 22-36 16-32
Yards per pass 7.6 7.1
Sacked-yards lost 1-0 1-7
Had intercepted 1 1
PUNTS-AVERAGE 2-27.5 3-47
RETURN YARDAGE -15 8
Punts-returns 0-0 1-9
Kickoffs-returns 4-86 5-123
Interceptions-returns 1--15 1--1
PENALTIES-YARDS 4-25 5-25
FUMBLES-LOST 1-0 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 34:04 25:56
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
CLAYMORES rushing: Herbert Goodman 23-72, James Brown 5-22.
BARCELONA rushing: Derek Homer 8-38, Carl Fair 9-20, Mike Watkins
2-15, Joe Germaine 1-1, Ted White 1-0.
CLAYMORES passing: James Brown 22-36 for 274 yards, 1 INT, 1
TD.
BARCELONA passing: Ted White 9-15 for 117 yards, 1 INT, 2 TD. Mike
Watkins 2-7 for 67 yards, 0 INT, 1 TD. Joe Germaine 5-10 for 51 yards,
0 INT, 0 TD.
CLAYMORES receiving: Scott McCready 5-80, Stevan Fontana 4-49,
Kwame Cavil 2-44, Dondre Gilliam 4-41, Kevin McKenzie 1-38, Herbert
Goodman 3-12, Elliott Carson 2-6, Robert Arnaud 1-4.
BARCELONA receiving: Richmond Flowers 6-141, Robbie Snelling 2-34,
Marco Martos 3-21, Daniel Guy 1-12, Derek Homer 1-11, Carlos Rosado
1-9, Carl Fair 1-6, Ben Zagorski 1-1.
Att: 8,119 Time of Game: 2:45