Mermaid Bowl X, Sunday July 5th 1998

Aarhus Tigers AFC vs Kronborg Knights 48 - 20

THE FINAL ROAR

Sunday the Tigers completed an almost perfect 1998 season by winning the Danish Championship in a 48-20 rout over two time runner-up Kronborg Knights. On a rainy Sunday afternoon at Fredericia Stadium the Tigers ended their 1998 season by beating the only team they had lost to all year, as they trounced the favored Knights. The Tigers won their last cointoss of the season and elected to receive, well aware that the two return men Kusanti Abdul Salaam and Mohammad Hadii Abdullah combined for the most deadly return duo of Danish American football history. Abdullah received the first kick off, broke one tackle and made it all the way to the 50-yard line before being forced out of bounce by the Knights. The Tigers offense entered the field and QB Scott Lane handed the first ball off to FB Freddy Bang, who was hit hard immediately by the Knights defense. Bang twisted his ankle severly and left the game for good after just one play. This, of course, was a hard blow for the Tigers offense, but backup full

back Jimmy Gullove took over, and played possibly the best game of his career. Gullove is not the greatest ballcarrier you ever saw, but he blocks like a truck, and did so for the rest of the game to create giant holes in the Knights run stuffing defense for HBs Kusanti Abdul Salaam and Robert Nederby. This resulted in a Tigers humiliation of a tough Kronborg team, as Nederby, Salaam and Lane combined for 300 yards on 40 carries, an average of 7.5 yards a carry. Salaam as well as Nederby had more than 100 yards on the day, Salaam breaking the 150 mark late in the 4th quarter, and both had one rushing TD. Passing wise the Tigers did not do much, as they only put the ball in the air 8 times and completed just 2 passes. Both completed passes went to TEs and the Tigers had 10 receiving yards all game. This marked the first game in WR Jesper Elmings career that he did not have at least one catch. However, as the game turned out, the Tigers did not need a passing offense, as they were able to run all over the place, play tough, hard hitting defense, and execute well on special teams. The punt return unit was upgraded heavily when Mohammad Hadii Abdullah joined the team 4 weeks ago, and just as he had weaved his way through defenders on his first kick off return, he spun, juked and faked his way up the field on his first punt return. Actually Abdullah did not stop until he was in the end zone, 82 yards from where he caught the football, giving the Tigers a 21-0 lead. Kusanti Abdul Salaam had opened the scoring on the Tigers second drive as he took an inside hand off bounced around a couple of defenders,

then broke three tackles before turning upfield for a 73 yard TDrun. Lane made it 14-0 when he hung on to the football on an option play to the left, and went in from the 9 yard line. The Knights final drive of the half ended in a TD, when WR David Alm caught a 10 yard pass from QB Kenneth Suhl in the back of the endzone. On this drive the Tigers defense had played terribly, as they racked up 45 yards worth of penalties giving the Knights a first down on 4th and 7 after two consecutive off sides. This was, however, the only time in the game that the Tiger defense was a little unconcentrated, playing almost mistake free football the rest of the game. Halftime score 21-7 for the Tigers. In the second half both teams again played tough football, and the Knights opened the scoring on their second offensive drive, narrowing the Tigers lead to 8, 21-13. This was the closest the Knights came, as first Salaam scored on a 6 yard offensive play, and then seconds later added a 35 yard interception TD to his almost perfect season, consisting of 9 rushing TDs, 3 reception TDs 2, special teams TDs, and the Int TD. On the Knights next drive the game was effectively over when Mohammad Hadii Abdullah intercepted a Kronborg pass - his second of the day - and returned it for another defensive score, giving the Tigers a 42-13 lead. Philip Sannig for the Knights and Robert Nederby for the Tigers scored late TDs to send the final score to 48-20 for the Tigers, hereby winning their first championship since 1991. The game had a rather bizarre finish as first Tigers' head coach John Lawson was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, then another 15, and

was ejected for arguing one of the official's calls. Tigers' Offensive Guard and captain Martin Friis Fjordside got into a fist fight with a Knight defender after Nederby's final score and both were ejected. Fjordside went straight to the sideline and put on a championship T-shirt that the Tigers had brought with them to Fredericia. After the game Kusanti Abdullah Salaam was named offensive MVP of the game and Philip Sannig defensive MVP. Game stats