American football: Highland Wildcats are crowned Scottish champions
The Highland Wildcats are once again Scottish Champions after completing their regular season.
Going into the final tournament of the season with a perfect record, the Wildcats picked up two more victories against the East Kilbride Pirates and the Edinburgh Napier Knights – the latter of which being much closer than the final scoreline suggested – to seal another Scottish title.
Having already confirmed their place in the restructured UK-wide play-offs, a 10th conference crown at under-16 level will only serve to boost confidence ahead of taking on the best that Britain has to offer.
“It’s absolutely huge, we are all on cloud nine at the moment,” head coach Ben Senior said.
“It was an incredible day. It was a long trip and the boys were all pretty tired, so it was difficult to shake the cobwebs off for the first game but the boys did a great job in embodying our ‘reset, reload’ mentality.
“The scoreline didn’t do the clash with the Knights justice because it could have gone either way.
“We had the resolve to get it done in the end. From the coaches on the side to the water boys and girls and the players, it was a monstrous team effort on a very hot day to come away with an undefeated season in the Scottish Championship.
“When you get pushed it tests you and shows you how much effort you need to put in to go to the next level.
“They know their work is cut out, and we’ve got four weeks now to reset and reload to make sure we’re peaking at the right time of the year.”
Lots of hard work will go in over the next few weeks – but even Senior knows it will be difficult not to think about going all the way and becoming UK champions.
“You can’t help but look forward when you get to this stage and think that it’s a possibility that we could bring silverware back to the Highlands,” he reasoned.
“I didn’t think it would be possible in my first year as head coach, so I’m so proud of the team for stepping up and putting themselves in a position where that’s a real possibility.”