Sharks Crush Lions 32-6

We had a huge win yesterday 2.5 hours north in Granada. It's a really cool town with huge snowy mountains as a backdrop. What a perfect day for football too, not too hot, not too cold, and not a cloud in the sky. We were a little nervous all week that we weren't going to have enough players at the game; you need 22 players dressed or else you forfeit. All week we had guys getting sick from a bug going around and a few guys had work/family commitments and couldn't make it. We took the field with exactly 22 guys. Lucky.

We got the ball to start the game and immediately starting pounding it down their throats on the ground. Once we got into the red zone, we ran a perfect bubble screen to my roommate AJ for a 20 yard touchdown. Our kicker is one of the sick players, so I took a halfback dive in for the 2-pt conversion to go up 8-0. We stopped them and got the ball back on our own 5 yard line. Two plays later AJ took another bubble screen 92 yards for a score and a new Sharks record for longest play in history. We missed the try, but were up 14-0 very early.

The second quarter was ugly, we had the ball close a few times and but were either stopped or turned it over. So we went into the half ahead 14-0. The Lions had a big play on the opening drive of the second half and got the ball down inside the 5. They punched it in a few plays later for a score. They also must have been missing their kicker because they went for two as well. The QB rolled out to my side and tried to thread one in behind me but I made a really cool one handed interception and started taking it the other way. Now I'm no Usain Bolt, so when I heard AJ yell my name, I turned and pitched it and he took it the rest of the 70 yards for 2 points. That was huge, because now we were up 10 points and it was a two possession game.

Our American QB Mark had a few good passes in the 3rd quarter to our #2 receiver, Jose Luis. And then our 250 pound bull of a fullback, Tokero, punched it in for another score from a yard out. We held strong defensively, had a few more interceptions, and then in the fourth quarter we were really starting to wear them down. I had a couple of big runs, but then the big moment came early in the fourth quarter. From 20 yards out, I bounced a dive left to the outside and ran for daylight. Saw the pylon and scored my first career TD in Spain as well as my first as a running back. It felt good to get the first one and really seal the game away. We were up 32-6 and there was no chance for Granada. They made a few more tries but we ended up taking a knee for the win a few series later.

We committed much fewer penalties this week, but still a little too many. This was a huge win for us cause it sent a message to the rest of the league that we can score points. There are only 5 teams in each of the 3 conferences. We play in the National Conference against Sueca (Valencia), Granada, Coslada (Madrid), and Barcelona. We play each of those teams twice and the winner of the conference goes to the playoffs. We have a big game at home against Coslada this Saturday coming up and they playing Barcelona right now actually. You can see the complete league standings at www.AEFAweb.com and there is also a write-up of the game on our website www.marbellasharks.es. This weekend is big because it's almost like our home opener, since last week was a monsoon and we had a very small turnout. We're expecting a decent crowd, we have a popular local DJ coming, and the cheerleaders are excited for their first game.

After that, we have a bye week before we play at Barcelona. Let's hope we can keep this winning streak alive.

UPDATE: Although our starting kicker was not at the game, apparently Granada didn't have goalposts, so that's why both teams went for two point conversion tries. Haha.

Also, Barcelona beat Coslada by a lot today, so we are the favorite going into this weekend, but of course, you can never take anyone lightly.