First Game vs. the Hässleholm Hurricanes

The week I'd been looking forward to most since I arrived was finally here.  This was our last week to prepare for our first game, where we would be facing the Hässleholm Hurricanes.  For those of you who don't know, last August I was an assistant coach under George Contreras helping the Hurricanes in the last month of the season.  I made a lot of friends in Hässleholm during my two months in Sweden last summer, so facing them the first game of the season was exciting, and an opportunity to jumpstart the season with a friendly rivalry.

We had two excellent practices on Tuesday and Thursday.  We had some of the best turnouts we've had since I arrived and were able to go 11 on 11 in our team period, with subs rotating in.  It was incredibly productive and ABSOLUTELY what we need to have as our practice atmosphere if we want to have success this year as a club.

At the end of the Thursday practice the Predators' board members had laid out the uniforms  for the Saturday game.  Players hustled over to claim their desired number.  Despite the fact that I was the first to claim #11, it was somehow usurped by Benjamin Hörnquist.  I wish football were like baseball, where the coaching staff gets to dress out... just in case.

The weather continues to be beautiful, and we took advantage of it Friday.  Being Good Friday, most shops and businesses were closed.  I met Alex Nilsson (WR/DB), Emil Blomgren (WR), Marcus Johnsson (WR), Sacce Hörnquist (LB), and Ben Hörnquist (WR) at Tivoliparken, a park near the train station on the west of the centrum, to throw a football around and enjoy the sun.

We also took another trip to the Naturum to check it out and fika.

My Friday night was much less relaxing, as I had some pregame jitters.  I always feel like there is more to be done to prepare and my mind was racing when I tried to go to sleep.  I woke up early and headed to the clubhouse early.  Once I arrived there, though, my nervousness turned into anxious excitement.  We had a team breakfast and a walkthrough at the clubhouse before heading over the Kristianstad IP where the game would be played.

Representing the Predators above are Johan Svensson (OL), Sacce Hörnquist (LB), Ben Hörnquist (WR), and Sorin Pandrea (DB).  These four guys have shown leadership and dedication and were rewarded as captains for the Predators first ever Senior game in Division I.

The Predators D, pictured above, was all over the field all day.  We had a number of tackles for a loss, lots of gang tackles, and managed an interception despite the Hurricanes few pass attempts.  The defense played great all day.

Hampus Linde (QB) had a big day, as well.  He was able to connect with Ben (#11 above) for multiple touchdown passes and ran for a TD as well (below).  Yes, that picture clearly shows his knee down before the endzone, but it was called a TD nonetheless.  It also shows a clear horse collar tackle, which was also not called.  It all balances out in the end, right?

Our special teams were, for the most part, very solid.  Our kick coverage was good, our punts (Magnus Hansson, above) were good, and we had a chance to block a couple of punts.  Alex Nilsson and Hampus Linde did a good job with PAT and Alex also hit a field goal.  With the limited practice time we have, I was very satisfied with how well our special teams played overall, and it definitely helped us get an upper hand in the field position battle.

I remained perhaps a little too intense throughout the game.  I may or may not have incurred an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for voicing my displeasure with the officials blowing their whistles while a fumble was still live on the ground, then awarding it to the other team.

Sacce gets a sack late in the game.

Niklas Petersson caps off the scoring with a short touchdown run in the 4th.

Celebration!  The Kristianstad Predators jumped out to a 21-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter thanks to three TD passes from Hampus Linde to Ben Hörnquist.  The score was 34-0 at the half due to a pair of TD passes by Hampus, one to Marcus Johnsson and another to Ben.  Hampus and Niklas Petersson each had TD runs in the second half and Alex Nilsson succeeded on his only field goal try of the day.

Final score: Kristianstad Predators 50, Hässleholm Hurricanes 0.

The picture above includes Karsten Strömberg (Board Member and Senior Team Leader, top left), Anders Klang (President, standing next to Karsten), Dan Petersson (DL Coach, kneeling far left), Lukas Klang (injured OL/OL Coach, kneeling next to Dan), Tyson Guillen (Board Member, U17 Head Coach, and Senior Assistant Coach, kneeling far right), and Lars Dahl (U17 Defensive Coordinator and Senior Assistant Coach, kneeling next to Tyson).  Everybody in this picture did a fantastic job on gameday and in the preseason.  They all put in lots of work to make the game succesful, whether it was administrative, organizational, physical, or mental, it took everybody in that picture to make the first game a success.

Next week we play Ekeby, who had a bye in their first week.  Hässleholm will have a week off before taking on Limhamn the following week.  The only other game that was played this opening weekend in Division I Södra was Ystad defeating Limhamn 6-0 in a defensive struggle.  It will be interesting to see how the young Predators react this next week after such a strong opener.