Cayman’s flag football reaches its equivalent of Superbowl when the league’s two top sides clash this weekend.
Digicel Spartans have only lost once all season and that’s against their opponents in the final at the Outpost Field on Saturday, Maragaritaville West Bay Hellcats.
The all-conquering Hellcats almost came unstuck last weekend, clinching a thrilling 8-7 victory at the death, literally in the final seconds against Next Level Nightmares to become Western Division champs. It was a nail biting ending, worthy of two great sides and maintained West Bay’s unbeaten season of 12 games. Digicel, on the other hand breezed through against Hammerhead Sharks, beating them 20-0 to become Eastern Division champs.
They face a different proposition against West Bay who despite playing below par, still found enough juice for victory.
Luigi ‘Hova’ Moxam won’t have a second’s peace against the marauding Hellcats, led by the most effective defensive player in the league, Craig ‘Festa’ Frederick, the Hot FM DJ who calls the tune on the field as well as the airwaves. Festa – aka ‘Soca Warrior’ – said: ‘Against Next Level was nerve-racking. With two minutes to go I almost gave up, convinced we weren’t going to wind but I just focused on what I had to do to turn the match around.
‘Even with seconds to go against West Bay, it is never over. We can pull something out. That was the most adrenaline fuelled sporting experience of my life. Considering I’ve played soccer for the national team from 13 up to seniors, volleyball, local league and softball, that’s saying something.
‘It was the sign of true champions that through controversy we could still triumph. Our coach Teddy Hydes deserves a lot of credit. He told us to keep our composure and to stop giving a lot of stupid penalties. If there was a coach of the year award he deserves it.’
Hydes said: ‘That was a rough one. My players will give me heart trouble. Frecko proved that he is capable of scoring every time he gets the ball. We simply made too many mistakes. For example, Big Dog snapped over Frecko’s head. That was the first time he’d done that in the whole season. We were stressing too much.
‘Against Digicel, if we can play as well as we did in the regular season we can do it. We’ll be okay on Saturday.’
Besides Moxam, Digicel’s brilliant running back Oliver ‘Darkstar’ Parker is going to be exceptionally busy. He said: ‘It will be a tough game against West Bay but if our QB has a perfect game, which I expect him to, then we can win. Our defense is pretty tough, so Hellcats will have to get past them. We’ve only given up five touchdowns all season.’
Darkstar has scored eight touchdowns this season with his electric pace and elusive runs. The 30-year-old mutual fund administrator is relishing the challenge. ‘I’m looking forward to it. I wanted Hellcats to lose but the only way to win this championship is to beat them. The first week of the month is very stressful in my job and I’m looking forward to taking it out on West Bay on Saturday.’
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