Maragaritaville West Bay Hellcats pulled something out of the bag with less than 28 seconds to go for one of the most dramatic endings in the history of Cayman Islands flag football.
As the clock ticked down against Next Level Nightmares, Hellcats’ unbeaten season looked set to go. Next Level were 7-2 up and looked set to cause the upset of the season at the Outpost Field on Saturday.
Celebrated quarterback Frecko Ebanks had been stifled throughout the game but he showed his brilliance with a pinpoint pass in the far corner that Perry ‘Boy Wonder’ Levy barely caught as he fell out of the end zone.
Next Level protested loud and long that both Levy’s feet had not touched down but the score was upheld. Watching spectators – mostly Hammerhead Sharks players – agreed it was a sound decision and with six seconds to go Hellcats had retrieved their record to go 12-0 and become Western division champs.
Both teams had started at 100mph. The tension was palpable. Frecko was being swamped by a fired up Next Level defense and West Bay looked as if they couldn’t handle the pressure and for the first time this season were imploding.
Next Level were matching them in every aspect. Levy and Craig ‘Festa’ Frederick, aka Soca Warrior, looked like the only Hellcats to be on their A-game. Festa sacked Next Level QB John Mack three times in the first half to take his tally to 16 for the season, far ahead of anyone else in the league.
The fact that Next Level scored an early touchdown helped settle their nerves. Little Phil O’Connor was a giant. He ran through the middle in typical electric style.
Frecko tried to hit Levy and O’Connor outjumped him for a brilliant interception on the five yard line. That was the closest Hellcats got to scoring before the break.
The second half was equally entertaining. O’Connor made another storming run and got tackled one yard out. Soon after he was smashed in the face by a desperate tackle that deserved more than just a penalty. He went off to get patched up and returned like the soldier he is.
Next Level were 7-2 ahead with minutes to go but instead of playing to increase their lead, their tactics seemed to just consolidate it. Big mistake.
As the seconds ticked by they tried to play out the clock but Frecko produced the great throw for Levy’s spectacular catch for an 8-7 victory.
Levy said: ‘I kept telling Frecko to give me the ball. The guy who was guarding me was too short. I’m not tall but play a lot of basketball and can jump high. We have to give Next Level credit, they always push us close.’
In the Eastern Division final Digicel Spartans took on the Hammerhead Sharks. Digicel had only lost once – to Hellcats – all season but the result was never a foregone conclusion.
Early on, penalties were hurting Digicel, causing them to give up a lot of territory. The Sharks were containing Digicel’s running game because they were pinning down QB Luigi ‘Hova’ Moxam. But he managed to find enough space to scramble from 15 yards for the only score of the first half.
Leading 7-0 after the break, Moxam threw a superb cross field ball for Michael Carey who made an amazing one handed catch to put Digicel 13-0 up. Oliver ‘Darkstar’ Parker ran through for a five yard touchdown to seal the match 20-0 after perfect blocking by Digicel.
It was a much improved second half display by Digicel but they’ll have to play better in all departments to beat Hellcats. The Sharks didn’t do themselves any favours by conceding many penalties.
Moxam said: ‘We’re looking forward to competing against Hellcats. Hellcats are personal to us. The only team able to contain them is us. I’ve only been a quarterback two years, Frecko has more experience. He’s got a good arm but I’ll do my best to lead Digicel to the championship.
‘Our defense has been consistently the best in the league and we proved that today with three interceptions. Darkstar ran exceptionally well and we blocked very well for him.’
Digicel captain Rhys ‘R Capone’ Ebanks said: ‘Hellcats always come with 110 per cent. Even if you’re ahead and there’s little time to go they can score heavily very quickly.
‘They got one over us this year in the league, winning 12-6, so it was close, only one score. If we bring our A-game we can beat them. They’ve been our Achilles heel these past three seasons. I hope it doesn’t come down to the last minute, they always seem to find a score at the last.’
The final is at the Outpost Field on Saturday 8 September at 3.30pm.
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