Many thanks to Stephen Mudd who is the Historian and Author of this excellent document originally produced by David and Doreen Sheppard in May 1994

1985 - Air Cougars

Sunday 7 April 1985. This was it the day all the planning, hard work and preparation of the past 15 months would either pay-off or the Cougars would fall flat on their faces. On paper, the Cougars appeared to have everything going for them, they were favoured to challenge for the Northern Division title of the AFL (UK) by the then oracle of British American Football Publications 'Gridiron', and had been handed a season opening home game against the least fancied team in the division, the Fylde Falcons. However, as we all know, games are not won on paper and everything appeared to be conspiring against the Cougars. The weather on the opening Sunday was, as it had been for most of the previous week dark, wet and dismal - hardly the inspiration to get people from their homes and along to McLaren Field, Bramley (our home base for the 1985 campaign) to cheer us along.

From the opening kick-off it was apparent that the game was not going to be a classic, To say the conditions were heavy would be an understatement - the ball was wet and was going to be difficult to control.

The Cougars main offensive weapon was a pass-orientated gameplan which when working was not only effective and dangerous, but allowed the centre to open up for an adequate running game, this unfortunately, due to the conditions, was not to be the case today. This fact had obviously been realised as the Cougars opened up the first quarter with a game plan which involved misdirection plays and a very effective reverse sweep. The quick Fylde defence were hoodwinked and in the conditions were unable to react quickly enough to prevent the Cougars scoring thirteen unanswered points.

Slowly but surely the conditions were beginning to tell on both teams and moving the ball became more and more difficult with the Cougars being forced to concede a safety. Then to everyone's surprise the Falcons threatened to turn the game around with a spectacular 40 yard tackle breaking catch and run play to pull within one score. This was the test - both offences tried unsuccessfully to move the ball - a score had to come, there had to be a big play and this would settle the match.

That point arrived midway through the final quarter when deep within the Cougar half of the field a heavy pass rush forced the Cougars Quarterback Glenn Stevens to scramble. The Falcons had gambled - and they were to pay. The ball was released on the run and found receiver Dave Wilson in open field, the defence reacted and pulled him down -------just short of the end zone after a 67 yard gain. What happened next was to become a very familiar sight during the season as Glenn Stevens scored on a QB sneak There was now no way back for the Falcons and the Cougars had opened their account with a very hard fought 19 - 8 victory.

From one extreme to the other in terms of opposition for the week two fixture with the Cougars travelling to everyone's favourite for the Divisional Title - the Manchester Spartans. The game appeared to be going to form when, having just conceded a touchdown on a blocked punt to trail by 14 - 0, the Cougars decided to tear up the script Call it pride, call it Yorkshire Grit, call it what you will, but into the fourth quarter they then proceeded to stun the home crowd.

A Paul Pryce run set them on the way soon to be followed by a Glen Stevens run and two point conversion to level the scores. The Spartans tried to move the ball but the momentum had gone - there was one team 'fired up' and is was Leeds. Their next possession produced a hand-off to Paul Pryce who evaded tackles and headed for the end zone only to fumble the ball on the way. The ball bobbled into the end zone to be recovered for the touchdown by Andy Kershaw who was quickly smothered by ecstatic Cougar players. Final score 20 - 14 to the Cougars. They were now on a roll and full of self belief and confidence with a free week prior to travelling to Gosforth for an encounter with the tough Tyneside Trojans.

Tough was not the word as this match-up would produce a definite front runner for the Divisional Title The Trojans had not only won both their opening games to stand, like the Cougars, at 2 - 0, but they had yet to concede a single point'

The weeks lay off did not allow the growing injury list to be reduced and the Cougars took to the field without seven starters and with what appeared to be a distinct disadvantage against the strong, experienced Trojans side. Crash, bang, wallop, a 12 0 half-time score soon became 19 - 0 early in the third quarter as a cold start by the home side together with an excellent performance by our veterans supported by one big play after another from our rookies virtually assured us of victory. The Trojans did come back late in the third and fourth quarters, but too late to catch the Cougars who themselves added a further touchdown to give a final score of 25 - 14, posting a perfect 3 - 0 record.

The vast geographical area covered by the Northern Division was highlighted during May with the whole month devoted to games against teams from north of the border. A home fixture against the Glasgow Diamonds saw the Cougars overcome the elements and some fine first half defence from the visitors to record another victory during an explosive second half by an impressive margin of 34 - 0. The following week saw the Cougars on the road enduring the long journey to tackle the Blue Eagles in Edinburgh. Those supporters who made the journey were forced to stand by the side of the Eagles open playing field for the entire game, but there did not appear to be too many complaints as they were rewarded by some fine Cougar play.

Seemingly unaffected by their long journey the Cougars systematically began to take the Eagles apart. Initial first half resistance, which saw the Cougars leading by 12 - 2 was eventually overcome and first downs were gained using a combination of passing and rushing plays The passing game really began to click for the first time and the Eagles had no answer to either the short pass or long bomb. The defence played well to record five sacks and two interceptions and only conceded a touchdown in the dying seconds of the game to leave the final score 38-8. Once again QB Glenn Stevens scored his now usual two touchdowns to bring his tally to 11 after five games.

Two home games against Glasgow Lions and the Blue Eagles brought two hard fought but unimpressive wins with good all round team performances enabling the Stevens/Pryce combination to roll on. The highlight of the season so far being the 43 yard diving touchdown reception by Sammy Pryce to seal victory in the dying seconds of the Lions game

The Cougars now stood at 7 - 0 and were rated as the number one team in the UK with their now famed 'Air Cougars' attack being the talk of the league. Hardly the time then for the Fylde Falcons (currently with a 0 - 6 record) to be pitched against us. Home advantage for the Falcons and the knowledge that they had run us close in the season opener were to count for nothing - the Falcons were in for a long, hard afternoon as the inevitable result was set up early with the Cougars aerial circus in excellent form. Sammy Pryce scoring a hat-trick of touchdown catches was the highlight of another excellent team performance. Final score 51-6.

Standing at 8 - 0, leading the Division and having beaten both our leading challengers away from home it should have been plain sailing to the Divisional Title and play-offs for the number one rated team, but our growing list of injuries and tough schedule were taking their toll. Everything had gone fairly smoothly up to now, just like a well oiled machine, but things were to change , someone was going to put the spanner in the works!

The following weeks game was a re-match with the hand hitting Glasgow lions on their own patch, and for this game the Cougars were without ten regular players through injury and various other commitments. The game was never going to be easy and the task was made even harder when QB Stevens suffered a hand injury thus denting our offensive gameplan. Our players were having difficulty adapting to their first venture onto the synthetic playing surface, frustrations were mounting and we did not look like stopping the Lions when they led 12 - 6 late in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars were stating defeat in the face when they suddenly seemed to summon up additional willpower which enabled a fine drive to be capped with an Andy Kershaw touchdown to tie the game. Try as they might to sneak the win, they could make no ground on the two-point conversion and for the first time the Cougars had been held.

Another tough game was thrown up the following week when the ever improving second placed Trojans arrived in town. Already without several players we were dealt a further blow when it was announced Stevens would not play due to the previous weeks injury. This fact seemed to matter little as we steadily built up momentum to score on two Sammy Pryce touchdowns whilst holding the Trojans to a first half safety for a 12 - 2 lead at the break

The second half, however, saw the whole of the Northern Division blasted wide open as the Trojans turned up the heat, firstly on defence where severe pressure forced us into previously unseen errors which were punished to the full. We were deep in our own half when a fourth down punt snap sailed over the kicker and into the end zone. The Trojans were through the line and in pursuit, a clear head tells you to drop onto the loose ball and give the safety, but clear heads are few under such pressure and the attempted punt was batted down to be recovered by the jubilant Trojans.

What followed then stunned the usually vocal home crowd into almost total silence as Tyneside increased the pressure by unleashing their power running game in which running back Steve Combe starred. Leeds had no answer to the pressure on both sides of the ball, they got the ball only when the Trojans scored but could only punt it back

A solid second half show by the better team on the day saw the Trojans run out winners by a 35 - 12 margin.

Coasting along only two weeks earlier we were now in turmoil, but fortunately the fixtures left us with a two week break before our next journey north of the border to meet the Diamonds. This was a time for our injuries to heal along with our battered pride as we could not afford one more slip if we wanted the title because although the Spartans had just lost to the Lions they had to play the Trojans twice leaving the three of us with everything to play for down the final stretch.

With a win badly needed, the trip to Glasgow took on immense importance and although the Cougars were strengthened by the return of QB Stevens from injury they stuttered along throughout to be held 12 - 12 by a determined Diamonds side until the last two minutes when a final drive was rewarded with a 15 yard touchdown pass from Stevens to wide receiver Jeremy Dove with less than 40 seconds remaining in the clock.

The Cougars had achieved the win they so badly needed, and a win the same day for the Manchester Spartans at Tyneside meant the following weeks fixture between us would decide the title if we could win.

The match between the Cougars and Spartans provided the high scoring, high drama confrontation expected with the meeting of two dominant offences as the battle for the Northern Division reached fever pitch.

The Cougars had QB Stevens back in form, spraying passes to his receivers whilst the Manchester running game began to click. However it was the Spartans who opened with an 80 yard touchdown bomb past a bewildered Leeds secondary. Spurred on by this setback the 'Air Cougar` attack clicked to give Leeds a deserved 22 - 12 half-time advantage

After the break the Spartans stepped up the pace and entered the final quarter 34 - 30 behind, but not for long as a 5 yard run brought them the lead. The Cougars could not respond and once again the Spartans threatened, only to fumble within sight of the endzone. The ball was recovered by Leeds and the home crowd which had been fearing the worst was suddenly brought to life sensing possible victory. With less than a minute to play and deep within their own half, Stevens had to chance his arm with some long passes, but each one fell agonisingly short of its intended target and the chance was gone. The win was not to be - The chance of a divisional title gone, but the game itself was a classic battle which had everything and is still talked about today by those who were fortunate to be there.

The Spartans second victory over the Trojans a week later confirmed them as Divisional champions and left us with a home play-off game against the 7 - 5 Nottingham Hoods who had qualified in third place from the Midlands Division.

Pre-season expectations had been high and predictions were many. The view of chairman and linebacker Pete Simpson that anything other than a Bowl appearance would be a disappointment seemed to be wildly optimistic, but our mid-season standing made this dream appear possible. By comparison, the view of head coach, tight end and stand-in quarterback Drew Roberts was much more realistic when he stated, `the play-offs are bound to be very difficult and I just don't know how far we'll get but if we reached the Final I'd choose either the Ravens or Birmingham it wouldn't matter which because if we played one in the Final we'd probably have to beat the other to get there". With so many good, well experienced teams (many of them having gone unbeaten through the regular season) our task of fulfilling the chairman's dream would be difficult as we had no definite yardstick by which to compare the strength of teams left in the competition, all we could do was go out and play.

The Nottingham Hoods come to town with a large following of supporters who promptly took over the entire centre of the McLaren Field stand. They were well drilled and often drowned out the large home following with their "Dirty Rat" chants.

The game itself was a tight defensive struggle with the Hoods at a distinct disadvantage when they lost leading rusher (1500 yds. plus 20 TD) Andy Smith with a broken jaw very early in the first quarter. This blunted their ground attack but did not prevent them from taking a 7 - 6 lead at the half. The second half continued in much the same vein, but the longer the game went on, the more the Hoods tired. They held the advantage, but did not have to power to force home their slender lead. No surprise then when the Cougars finally wrapped up the game in its later stages to run out winners by 20 - 7, the Glenn Stevens/Sammy Pryce connection working well to produce two scores.

We were not blessed with a Home tie in the Quarter Finals, indeed we were handed a very difficult Saturday evening game under lights at Saffron Lane, home of the Leicester Panthers. The Panthers were a well drilled large squad who had moved easily through the regular season, not only undefeated but they had not allowed any team to score more than 13 points against them, whilst scoring more than 44 themselves in every game!

Sadly, we were not to change this amazing statistic as the Cougars were completely shut down by the dominant Panthers defence. The famed "Air Cougars" aerial game never got rolling and indeed it was the Leicester offence, missing their main rushing threat through injury who demonstrated their passing game, The score mounted and it was only a Sammy Pryce consolation in the third quarter which prevented a shut-out

Although the players tried right to the end, they were very much outclassed by a better team as the Panthers ran out 46 - 6 winners and advanced to the Semi-Final showdown with the mighty London Ravens.

All in all, and on reflection, 1985 had been a highly successful year, a year which saw the Cougars emerge from the pack to make all the running in the tough Northern Division and establish a very effective passing game , "Air Cougars" had become a formidable threat. The improvement had been phenomenal, "I don't really know what it is that has improved us so much" said coach Roberts, 'but one thing that has shot sky high has been our team spirit'. The fact that the team only trained together once a week made their precision passing game even more remarkable. The seeds had been sown and the hope was that these would bear fruit in 1986.

Two further games were played later in the year, both against the Manchester Allstars who like ourselves had advanced to the Quarter Finals before being eliminated.

The first of these contests turned out to be a complete non-event as the full strength Allstars squad took on a rookie Cougar squad missing several key players including quarterback Glenn Stevens and receiver Sammy Pryce who was away on International duty. The Allstars scored a total of 12 touchdowns with only one in reply to run out easy winners 90 - 6. The fact that they led 58 - 0 at the break seemed to matter little as they continued with the onslaught into the second half and this could have had something to do with the bad tempered exchanges which were to be a feature of the return game three weeks later.

The return was much closer than the final 50 - 14 score suggests but with tempers running high, the Cougars were often penalised and more than once found themselves going backwards. An early Cougar lead with a 30 yard touchdown pass from Stevens to receiver Dave Wilson was the first half highlight but a second half of playing catch-up football proved beyond the Cougars as quarterback Stevens was sacked four times and threw three interceptions and the Allstars did not need any further encouragement.