Game Report

The La Nucia Spartans (Flag football team) took to the field for the 1st ever time on sat the 21st of august at the inaugural Bowl de verano at the La Nucia polideportivo.
The team just into their 1st few months of existence faced a uphill battle from the stat as all the other teams have at least 2 years of league experience under their belts where some of the Spartans had only had a handful of training session and were very new to the sport let alone the team.
With fireworks sounding of the 1st of the tournaments games the Spartans took the field against the Valencia Giants a team that were regional runners up in the latest league and 2 time finalist in division 2 of the Spanish national contact league. With both teams starting of slow it was the Spartans that drew 1st blood with the 1st ever touchdown in Spartans short history and pass from QB and Coach Ben McMahon to Team captain Russell Cann.
That score wasn’t alone within a few minute rookie David Santaeufemia Picked off a pass (interception) from the giants and returned it for a touchdown,
With a strong showing from other rookies on the team especial Jorge Berry the Spartans would go on to beat the giants 25-10 in their 1st ever game.

The next game saw the Spartans face off against the Alicante sharks; with both teams winning their 1st game (Giants 12 - 32 Sharks) the winner of this game would win their group and avoid the national champions, regional champions and 3 time national kitted champions the Valencia Firebats.
Both teams took time to feel each other out with little movement until a small mental error in the Spartans Defense let the sharks into the game. At the half it was 7-0 to the sharks, In the second half the Spartans came out much more composed and starting to put points on the board however the sharks were matching them punch for punch,
The Spartans were down by 7-0 with just under 6 minutes to go and thought they took the lead with a deep pass for a touchdown with all but one official signaling it was good. To their dismay the official on the other side of the field signaled for pass interference which nullified the score which would be questioned by the spectators for the rest of the day.
Without being dejected the Spartans Defense took to the field spurred on by the call they forced the sharks to turn the ball over to the Spartans with just over 2 minutes left in the game.
The Spartans now had a point to prove a drove the length of the field scoring a long passing touchdown from McMahon to Enrique Lujan Perez with time expiring. The Spartans then had a tough decision to make, weather to go for a 1 point conversion that would result in a tie or a 2 point conversion from 12yrds out that would give them the win and 1st place in the group, with everything to gain and nothing to lose they decided to go for the 2 which fell just short
Final score Spartans 19 sharks 20
With The Spartans becoming runners up within their group then had to face the winners of group B the Valencia Firebats,
With a daunting task ahead of them the Spartans took to the field and did themselves proud but in the end the quality and experience of the firebats showed through with the Spartans struggling to stop the high octane offence of the defending national champions who would go on to score at least 45 points on every team in the tournament. However in the second half the Spartans did manage to get on the scoreboard twice but it wasn’t enough but proved a valuable lesson for this young but promising team
The final score was firebats 53- Spartans 14
With the Sharks beating the mustangs in the other semifinal 19-18 it set up a sharks, firebats final with the Spartans playing the mustangs for 3rd or 4th and the giants playing the ricers for 5th or 6th
The Giants would go onto beat the Sueca Ricers 24-12 to secure 5th spot
In the last game of the day for the Spartans they came up against the young guns of the tournament with and average age of 17 the Muchemiel Mustangs still look spritely at the start of the game, however with the Spartans also having the smallest squad of just 8 and picking up small injuries throughout the day the Spartans were down to just 4 healthy players with other contributing as much as possible, the hard loses of the previous games as well as it being the hottest day of the year took its toll on the Spartans but they held in the swapping scores until the half. They continued to fight on bravely till the end but the mustangs pulled away from the Spartans, even an inspirational reverse by Jamie Bethell and a continued gutsy performance from Daniel Cottel and other rookie Jamie Farkins couldn’t push the Spartans past the mustangs as a result the Spartans had to settle for 4th spot in their 1st ever competitive action With the final score 31-12 in favor of the mustangs
The final game down to the 2 group winners with no punches held back, the scores went back to and forth with the two leading candidates for the tournament MVP leading their teams on in the searing heat but once again the quality of one team shone through with the firebats edging the sharks 45-36 to become the 1st ever champions of the bowl de verano, la nucia 1st ever flag football games and tournament
The tournament MVP went to QB Fernando “Kelly” Altarriba of the firebats

At the end of the tournament La Nuica Spartans head coach had the following to say.
We came into just with the hope that we could keep up with these other great teams, some of my players didn’t even know what American football was 2 months ago but they have worked hard and leant the game in a short period of time which I couldn’t off asked more . Not only did we come to this tournament and keep up with the teams but we also competed with them and hopefully turned some heads in the process. This was a great learning experience and we have had a lot of interest shown from potential new players so I look forward to teaching them the basic of the great game and seeing them grow as players.
This team has a lot of potential and I truly believe that if we can get out head down and work hard we can compete for the liga Valencia title.

If you would like to get involved with the Spartans or would like more information please feel free to join their forum at lanuciaspartans.forumotion.com or search for their group on facebook