Belgian Bowl XXVII: Ghent Gators Overwhelm Brussels Tigers, Claim Belgian Crown

Belgian title now lives in Ghent!

[su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]n front of the biggest crowd of the season, the Ghent Gators dismantled the Tigers from Brussels 38-0 to capture the Belgian championship – Belgian Bowl XXVII – for the first time in their history.

The Gators took control from their very first possession. Taking the ball from their own 15 yard line after a Tigers punt , quarterback Bart Killens marched his team down to the Brussels 10 yard line, finding Stef Dufour in the end zone for the game’s first score. Ghent does have a quirky habit of trying for the two-point conversion on every touchdown leaving the score 6-0. They do not kick PATs.

The next time they had the ball, the pattern was much the same. Killens again guided the team on a drive with Dufour his main target. From the Tigers 10, this time he found Senne Vermassen for another touchdown. With the score now 12-0, (failed two-point conversion again), Ghent was gaining momentum. The Tigers were having problems just getting first downs. And every time they turned the ball back to the Gators, someone would catch a touchdown pass. Ghent scored four touchdowns in the first half, two to Vermassen and one each to Dufour and Gilles Brasseur, to lead 24-0 at the end of the half. Again, not one PAT.

In the second half, the Tigers switched to zone coverage in the secondary which slowed down the Gator offense, but Ghent maintained ball control. Trying to play catch-up against the Ghent defense proved costly for Brussels as they were picked twice for touchdowns, with free safety Eckhart Piqueur grabbing one and corner Floris the other.

The final score was 38-0 and a new title holder was crowned in Belgium. Bart Killens, quarterback for the Gators, was named the game MVP.