2004 Season - Cougars v Seattle v Victoria May

Record Breaking Day sees Cougars undefeated

Yet another glorious Vancouver day saw the Cougars come out for their first hit out of the season with traditional rivals Seattle and the 2nd stouch with new kids on the block – Victoria in a three-way mini tournament.

Much of the pre-game focus was on the Cougar records that were to be broken that day, but that would have to wait as Victoria and Seattle headed out for game 1.

As expected, the first half of the game saw the experience of the Seattle Boys prove to strong as they skipped out to a strong 3.5.23 to 1.3.9 lead at half time. However, despite being new to the NWPAFL, Victoria are certainly proving to be no chumps. In the second half, they proved they came out to play and really gave it to Seattle. In a tense struggle, it was only a late goal by the dangerous Chevlan that finally put the game out of Victoria’s reach.

Final score – Seattle 6.9.45 to Victoria 4.8.32

As the magnificent Safari Pies began to fill the Burnaby fields air with a delicious aroma, the Cougars hit the field for their first game of the day against the Victoria boys. The game saw Cougars legend and veteran Handyman Hilton reached the magic 25 game club. (He was joined in the very next game as Goalsneak Jase also posted 25 games). The honour of being officially the Cougars 100th player went to Cashie, after he gracious played for Victoria during the first game of the season, and missed the title then.

So it was on to the game. Despite having just played a game only 30 minutes before, Victoria came out with guns a-blazing in the first half. The game was physically affair from the start with some fantastic body on bodywork from both teams. The Victoria boys were quick to bombard the Cougars backline. Campo, fresh from a 5 goal outing in the Cougars v Eagles game a few weeks before, was naturally thrust into the back-line for this game and played some inspirational football. Together with big Tommy O, Justin, and Cashie they prevented a potential Victoria blow out.

Thanks to some hard fighting work in the packs by Becks and Shine, the Cougars showed passages of brilliance to bomb the ball deep into the forwardline. One of the highlights of the game was the unearthing of a potentially new and devastating forwardline force – Andrew “Pretty Boy” Farr. Throughout the game he led hard and pulled down seemingly everything that came his way. Playing his first game in a long time, none other than Slim Keyhoe showed flashes of Dermie Breaton as he crashed the packs. First gamer Mike Setta snagged a great little goal from the pocket and the Cougars went into the first half with a small lead.

At the first half – Cougars 3.1.18 to Victoria 2.4.16.

The second half was all Victoria. They came out strong from the first bounce and constantly thrust the ball into the forward line time and time again. Morgs, The Hulk Bannan, Campo, and Special K had their work cut out for them. However, solid pressure proved the difference as Victoria were forced into error, and some costly misses kept the Cougars close.

Punter Mitchell and the RookieCoach started to gather some stats through the middle and when the Cougars got it forward, Pretty Boy Farr did the rest, and another two goals saw the Cougars home.

Final Score – Cougars 5.1.31 to Victoria 3.10.28

Goals – Pretty Boy – 4, Setta – 1

So it was onto game 2 as traditional rivals Vancouver and Seattle headed for battle.

As with the Victoria game, this game quickly settled into a hard hitting scrappy affair. The deadlock was broken early when Glamour Boy Vargo snuck down into the forward line and took a nice mark deep in the forward pocket. After spending the obligatory 30 odd seconds considering, but ultimately ignoring all leads, he proceeded to slot a nice left footer from the boundary to finally top the 50 career goal mark for the Cougars.

However, it was soon to be all Seattle as despite the relatively closeness of the game, Seattle got the better on the scoreboard as they proceeded to slot through four of the next 5 goals. Only a magnificent on the run goal by Special K kept the Cougars in it.

Half time – Cougars 2.3.15 to Seattle 4.0.24.

The Cougars would not be outdone however, and kicking with the wind in the second half they began to take over. Campo was once again solid in the backline, while new-boy Andrew “The Wookie” started to gather some nice possessions. Punter Mitchell was playing a blinder in the back flank and on the wing, while Becks, Happy and the Glamour Boy started to get on top through the centre. Up forward, the Pretty Boy wasn’t pulling down as many big grabs this game, but the rovers were licking up the scapes. He did however slot a nice goal, as did Edgar to put the Cougars in front early in the quarter. The rest of the quarter was all Cougars as they peppered the goals. Goalsneak Stratford slotted 5 points as he just couldn’t quite manage to get it through the sticks.

Late in the game Cashie made his own highlight reel play as he proceeded to put in a thumping hip and shoulder that took out two Seattle players in one hit.

In all, a solid come from behind win by the Cougars to end the day 2-0.

Final Score – Cougars 4.11.35 to Seattle 4.1.25.

Goals – Pretty Boy – 1, Glamour Boy – 1, Special K – 1, Shine – 1.