Up 7..12 Seconds left....You had the ball...they had no timeouts...And you won in OT!?!?!?!?!?

Hello everyone,

I have been playing organized sports for as long as I can remember. I have been watching sportscenter for as long as I can remember....and I have even played sports video games forever but never...I mean never...in my entire life have I seen something this crazy!!!

This may rank as the most insane football game I have ever been apart of....Even more then when Joseph Allen from the Vacaville Bengals ran a deflected pass 70 yards to the house with no time left to beat us in the pop warner championship (I cant believe I still remember that...)

Anyways....to the Saints game. We played this past weekend in Tampere...Which is a nice city about 2 hours from Jyvaskyla. The Saints have not won a game yet. "Oh...An easy win you think"...Not quite...The Saints are a hard nosed team with an American coach and 3 imports, and have played hard in every game. So we knew this would be tough......

So the first half goes by as both teams struggle to get on the scoreboard. It is turning into a defensive battle, and as a result is tied 0-0 at halftime. The Jaguaarit make some key adjustments at half time, and are ready to play in the second half. We come out driving...Moving the ball successfully on several plays until an interception, that is returned all the way to our 5...Saints run it in on the next play...Saints 7 Jaguaarit 0...

So, without hesitation we drive down the field again, only for Lukkes Gilgan to make an amazing run where it seemed like nobody blocked, to make it 7-7.

"Perfect....close game you say"...Well things started to get out of hand. On two consecutive series...as a result of two consecutive Saints turnovers, we scored 60 yard touchdowns. Making it 21-7 Jaguaarit as we neared the middle of the 4th quarter.

Here is where it gets interesting....We are forced to punt on a series in the fourth, and the Saints are able to put together an impressive drive, making it 21-14 with 2 minutes left. "Perfect you say...Couple of first downs and this one is over...." Well...to make a long story short we were forced to punt, so the Saints had the ball, 70 yards to go, and 2 TO's with 1 minute 30 seconds left..

And the Saints picked up right where they left off, dinking and dunking the ball down the field until they got to the Jaguaarit 30. Tensions are rising as they only have to go 30 yards for the game tying score. However...The Jaguaarit D did a great job of keeping them in bounds, so the Saints are out of Time Outs. So, after a completed pass out of bounds, our outside Linebackers make two amazing plays, and on 4th and 10 the ball flutters to the turf, giving us the ball with 12 seconds, and a knee away from winning!

So the Victory formation takes the field. For those of you that may not know, that is when a team simply snaps the ball, takes a knee, and the clock runs out, securing the win. Whenever this happens I always remember my High School Coach Steve Ellison yelling "This is my favorite play!!!" whenever we took the field in this formation. Well, as I have learned over the years from my High School coach and all the others, it is important in football to make sure that you always pay attention to detail, so the un-thinkable doesn't happen.

So back to the field...We are on the ball, when I notice that we only have 10 guys...Our Right Guard had been hurt on the series before, and his backup was no where to be found...So I quickly motioned for a WR to stand there, thinking all we were doing was taking a knee so it wont be that big of a deal. However, the snap was fumbled!!! Based on the fact that no one was paying attention, and we didnt have a lineman over the DT....THEY RECOVERED!!! SAINTS BALL!! AHHH!!! Can you believe it!!!???

"We are fine you say..they still have to go 35 yards in 10 seconds!!!"...

Well ladies and gentleman...The Saints QB put one on the money, and yes...the unthinkable happened...the Saints scored, on a beautiful 35 yard TD pass and sent the game into OT!!!!! 21-21!!!!!

"Wow" you say...And all I can do is agree! Overtime in Finland is the same as it is in college in the US, where each team gets a chance to score from the 25 yardline...So if the first team scores a TD, then the second team must score a TD or they lose. On the other hand, if the first team does not score, then all the second team has to do is score and the game is over.

So, after winning the toss we elected to be on Defense first. And I must say, the Jaguaarit showed their true heart on those three downs. Stuffing the Saints for a loss of yards and forcing them to kick. It was incredible that the D was able to overcome that adversity and keep the Saints, who had moved the ball successfully, from getting in the endzone!

Now to the kick! On fourth down the Saints called for what was about a 35 yard FG, which was a chip shot compared to what this guy had made in the pre-game warmup. So, as you may have guessed from the title of the blog, the kick sailed wide left!! YES!!! We can win it!! All we need is 3 measly points!!!

Well to make a already long story a little shorter, our kicker...Who had played tough all game at outside Linebacker, came to the huddle cool as ice. We all offered him encouragement, but he didn't need it. Perhaps more confident then any kicker I have played with, Mika NAILED THE GAME WINNER FROM 20 YARDS OUT GIVING THE JAGUAARIT THE VICTORY!!!

There was Pandemonium on the field...We mobbed Mika, and it just reminded me again why I love the game of football so much.

I love those games....So insane...And yes, I am probably saying this because we won but honestly it was one of the most fun I have ever played in. It was amazing to see how well the Jaguaarit responded to adversity, and shows the true character of these guys. I am having a blast playing with them, and I hope they have learned from me as I have learned from them! I look forward to another great game this weekend against the Crocodiles!!

Stay tuned for more updates and keep checking out the Jaguaarit Website for players of the week and interviews with coach's and players.

God Bless!!!