Sensational win makes Falcons a contender in Mercury Sports Awards

​If the Leicester Mercury Sports Awards included a most dramatic win category, American football outfit Leicester Falcons would be red-hot favourites for the trophy.

In only their second season in the British American Football League, the Falcons won promotion to Division One in sensational fashion, making them contenders in the Mercury’s Team of the Year section.

Having qualified for the play-offs by finishing runners-up in the Central Conference, Leicester hinted at the glory to come when they comprehensively beat a previously undefeated Manchester Titans side, who were among the championship favourites.

What followed, though, bordered on fiction. In the tensest of matches against Glasgow Tigers, defences dominated until the Falcons edged ahead 7-0 in the final quarter.

The game was far from over, however, and Glasgow pegged the lead back to 7-6 in the dying moments only to miss the chance of levelling the game on the final play.

That was nothing, though, compared to the nerve-shredding clash with Colchester Gladiators in the BritBowl Division Two final at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.

The advantage swung back and forth but with just 17 seconds left, the Falcons had their noses in front at 33-26. Colchester rallied and scored a touchdown to move to within a point of the city club.

Incredibly, though, the Gladiators hit the post with the conversion attempt which would have levelled the game.

“It really was the stuff of the movies,” said Falcons’ general manager Guy Kersey. “I had the feeling they would miss and that it was our day.”

Running back Timi Dada, who ran in three touchdowns, earned the Most Valuable Player award in the final, but as Kersey pointed out, Falcons had heroes all over the pitch throughout the season – and they were superbly led by head coach Lester Hopewell.

The players and staff were entitled to celebrate their success, but they also know that they cannot lose momentum now as next year’s Division One programme will provide them with enormous challenges on and off the field.

Kersey said: “We are already planning for next season. The players are quicker and more athletic in Division One. Our guys will have to work hard in the off-season and we will have to do some recruitment as well.

“But I think that we have the team and the structure capable of competing at that level.”