A toothless flock of Tigers saw their season end at Gentofte Stadium courtesy of a 31-0 Towers win in the wild card round of the 2011 play-offs.

The Towers came off a convincing win against the Herlev Rebels in the last game of the regular season and showed no sign of letting up in the play-offs. The team rolled to 24 unanswered first half points and added another 7 in the second.

QB JR Artozqui tossed four TDs to four different receivers before handing over the team to back-up QB Anders Halkier late in the second half. Kicker Heinz Quast booted a 40-yard FG and was perfect on four extra point attempts.

The Tigers played their first season back in the National League after having spent a few seasons in Div I. They had a respectable season, going 4-4 and earning a spot in the play-offs. However, lacking in size and experience the Tigers could not get their game going against the Towers. Falling behind early, the Tigers were forced into passing situations, but with very little success against a fierce Towers pass rush and tight coverage by the Towers secondary. The Tigers did show glimpses of the play that earned a play-off spot.

Safety Magnus Bitsch was awarded the game ball for playing an all round good game. Bitsch is a newcomer to the Towers, but has become an integral part of the defensive secondary.

Sadly, the game was relegated to the Towers’ practice field as the game field was occupied by a soccer game. This meant that the playing surface left much to be desired. Rain had soaked the field for much of the day and turned the grass into mud in places, which made for very poor footing.

Towers president Martin Ægidius was pleased with the team after the game: “The Towers’ senior team has gone through a very positive development over the past two seasons. Both coaching-wise and player-wise we have seen great progress and that should very well earn us another two games this season.”

Semifinal

Up next for the Towers is a chance to avenge the 31-26 loss to the Razorbacks in May. Having earned the top spot in the Danish conference with a 7-1 record, the Razorbacks had a first round bye in the play-offs and home field advantage in the semi final.

Winning two games in a row by a combined score of 77-7 could be considered an ideal morale boost prior to the semi final. However, another school of though would claim that motivation drops as confidence soars.

Towers head coach Peter Herbild is certain that the latter is not the case for his team. “We are aware of the fact that the Razorbacks are at a considerably higher level than our latest opponents.” Herbild explained and continued: “We bring a talent level that can match their talent level, a focused and cohesive team and a very clear idea of how to play them.”

The Towers travel to Vejle on Sunday for a 15.00 (3 p.m.) kick-off. The game will determine the second participant in the Mermaid Bowl. The first semi final is played on Saturday in Herlev.

Scoring summary

Tigers @ Towers 18sep11