July has been another busy month for the club, not least because we hosted three game days.
On the 14th of July we hosted BAFA Div 1 games. Two of the five games involved the Colts.
The first was against Carnegie Flag. This was our first encounter with the Dunfermline team, currently undefeated in the league in 2018. There were few highlights for the Colts in this game, but Andy Brown threw to Mark Wallace for our TD, then Louise Donnelly scored her first point for the Colts in the league with the XP. The 42 – 7 defeat was not unexpected.
In their next game, the Colts were looking for revenge for the defeat to the Aberdeen Silvercats in Glasgow in June. Grangemouth quickly took control of the first half and had built a 27 – 6 lead by the half. The second half was no less exciting, but neither team got into the end-zone, so a big win for the Colts. Two running TDs from Andy Brown, TD passes to Gordon McSherry and Mark Wallace, plus two XPs for McSherry and one for Wallace completed the Colts scores.
With the rest of the results on the day, the Colts now knew they had to match Aberdeen’s results in the next fixture if they were to hang onto second place in the league and win themselves a trip to the National Finals.
On the 15th of July it was the Broncos turn to host, this time it was BAFA Premier games being played.
Of the five games being played, the Broncos would be involved in two. In theory, this would have been the Broncos most important fixture of the season fighting it out with the two other top teams in Scotland, the Aberdeen Oilcats and the Glasgow Hornets. Unfortunately, with the injuries and availability issues the Broncos have had, the opportunity for advancing themselves from third to second in the league seemed to have gone.
In the first game of the day the Comets beat the Oilcats before the Broncos were due to face them. In a match that came down to the final play, the Broncos held off the Oilcats 27 – 25. Two TDs for Matthew Ross, an interception returned for a TD and 2 XPs for Callum Woods and a TD and XP for Liam Fleming were the Broncos scores.
Could the Broncos pull off the double by beating the Hornets.
Well, no. But it was a much closer game than the pundits had called with the Hornets running out winners 39 – 27. Two TDs for Liam Fleming, a TD and XP for Matthew Ross, a TD for Scott McKenzie and an XP each for Kevin Simpson and Jimmy Thomson.
The Colts final fixture of the regular season was in Aberdeen. They knew they needed to match Aberdeen Silvercats’ results to claim second place.
Both teams were in action at the same time in the first matches. The Silvercats as expected overcame the Sabers, 32 – 19, but the Colts also won against an under-strength Paisley Spartans, 40 – 6. That left both teams to play against Carnegie. The Colts were up first and did not fare well in a 69 – 2 defeat, with Louise Donnelly’s Safety the ONLY highlight. There may have been some nerves that the Silvercats might pull off a shock, but they didn’t last long. A 67 – 12 win for Carnegie meant the Colts would be going to Div 1 National Finals.
The following day, the Broncos would see out their Premier regular season with another home fixture and games against Clyde Comets and Edinburgh Outlaws.
With even more players injured or unavailable the Broncos could still theoretically lose their third place in the league. However a great performance against the ever improving Comets ensured that couldn’t happen.
TDs from Andy Brown(2), Matthew Ross(2), Kevin Simpson(1) and Jimmy Thomson(1), plus XPs from Brown(3), and Simpson(1) gave the Broncos a comfortable(ish) 40 – 27 win.
In their second match against the Outlaws, the Broncos ran out of gas and lost 27 – 20, but the job had already been done. They can now look forward to getting players fit and available for the BAFA National Plate competition in September.
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