October 1/2   Match Report by Willi Taylor

It's a 4-peat! Denver wins it's fifth national championship since 2000, and it's fourth straight. In a tough and well played Grand Final match, Denver manages to beat Milwaukee.

Sunday
Denver had the early game for the final match of pool play and came out strong against a tough Boston side. Goals were shared around and Denver ended up winning comfortably. Milwaukee took care of business in their pool and so the match-up was set: Denver Bulldogs vs. Milwaukee Bombers for the 2005 Cooper's USAFL Cup. Bounce down was at about 3:45 pm on an overcast but althogether perfect day for some footy. Denver adhered to their plan to kick the first 2 goals of the game but shortly thereafter found their lead cut in half. After winning the ball strong out of the middle and keeping it locked into the Bomber's half most of the time, Denver found themselves in a great position to take their 4th straight title and won by the comfortable margin of 4.8 (32) to 1.1 (7). Highlight of the game had to be Obi-wan's duck-and-run to leave 2 Milwaukee players standing there scratching their heads and wondering what the hell happened to their sure tackle. Congrats to everyone on making this a very memorable tournament. Here are some highlights:

• Bruce's monster snap banana that kept Denver's season alive
• Hands retiring on top - after 96 games. Good onya.
• H2 streeeeeeeeeeeeetttttcccccchhhhhh
• To the pool, to the pool, to the pool
• 1st premiership in 7 tries to Obi
• 1st premiership in 3 tries to Lochie
• The trailer down by the sidelines
• All the supporters who came out and well, supported
• Did I mention 4th straight?
• Sasha & Erik for all their work putting this trip together
• Milwaukee for putting on such a great tournament
• Milwaukee for making so much beer
• Many more that I can't think of at 6:30am

Saturday
Denver comes out of the day with a pair of victories. First up was San Diego in what will probably be the match of the tournament. They came out hard and capitalized on several Denver miscues and found themselves in the lead with less than 5 minutes to play. A missed goal shot by Denver from 40 with a minute on the clock almost spelled the end but with 30 seconds left to play Cali-killer Bruce Durrell came out of a pack and snapped a banana that he simply willed between the posts. Final scores to be posted soon, but Denver wins by 3 or 4 points in a real nail biter.

Next up was the new-comers to Div I Chicago who played a tough game but Denver was back on track and ran away comfortably with a 10 goal cushion at the horn.

The following pictures pretty much sum it up