For the Compton Cougars the Southeast Asian Pro League Championship game had all the makings of an instant classic, future movie of the week. They, the underdogs, would march into the game to face the undefeated Taiwan Royals, and thwart their pursuit of perfection while taking home the title for themselves, showing an amount of heart unseen before.
However, when game time came and went and everything was left on the field, the blood, sweat and tears shed, the reality differed greatly from the dream.
Everyone knew to win this game the Cougars would have to show a great amount of heart on defense for the underdogs to have to triumphed in a rare movie-of-the-week fashion.
Unfortunately, as the game went on it became obvious that heart was exactly where they were lacking. And as their heart died off, all hope faded away with it.
Instead of an instant classic for the undergod Cougars, Royals wide out Michael Westbrook would be the one having the epic game destined for a movie of the week.
He outmatched every corner who played him to the tune of an astounding 17 receptions for 127 yards.
One positive for the Cougars is that they’d managed to keep him out of the end zone; the same however cannot be said about Kenny Newsted who beat Mr. Shutdown for a 36 yard score in the third quarter to all but put the Cougars hopes away.
“It’s a tough loss…” Corner Chris Grim says sitting in his locker after the game. “We thought we had a chance, we limited our turnovers, we got a couple picks… In the end it wasn’t enough.”
The Cougars still have hope for the future having locked up Rob Eversliegh, Johnny Tomlinson, and Chris Grim through next season. The question is, will players like Ajack Moore, Mr. Shutdown, and Leunidas Dashall stick around?
Until next season, however, all the Cougars can do is sit and wonder about what could have been had they not come up one game and one heart short.
However, when game time came and went and everything was left on the field, the blood, sweat and tears shed, the reality differed greatly from the dream.
Everyone knew to win this game the Cougars would have to show a great amount of heart on defense for the underdogs to have to triumphed in a rare movie-of-the-week fashion.
Unfortunately, as the game went on it became obvious that heart was exactly where they were lacking. And as their heart died off, all hope faded away with it.
Instead of an instant classic for the undergod Cougars, Royals wide out Michael Westbrook would be the one having the epic game destined for a movie of the week.
He outmatched every corner who played him to the tune of an astounding 17 receptions for 127 yards.
One positive for the Cougars is that they’d managed to keep him out of the end zone; the same however cannot be said about Kenny Newsted who beat Mr. Shutdown for a 36 yard score in the third quarter to all but put the Cougars hopes away.
“It’s a tough loss…” Corner Chris Grim says sitting in his locker after the game. “We thought we had a chance, we limited our turnovers, we got a couple picks… In the end it wasn’t enough.”
The Cougars still have hope for the future having locked up Rob Eversliegh, Johnny Tomlinson, and Chris Grim through next season. The question is, will players like Ajack Moore, Mr. Shutdown, and Leunidas Dashall stick around?
Until next season, however, all the Cougars can do is sit and wonder about what could have been had they not come up one game and one heart short.
