Maastricht Wildcats
The Maastricht Wildcats (formerly the Limburg Wildcats) of the AFBN (American Football Bond Nederland) is an American Football League team from Maastricht. They play in the Dutch 1st division and are rivals with the Amsterdam Crusaders. They won the 2007 Dutch National Championship by defeating the Amsterdam Crusaders 25-16 in the Tulip Bowl. In 2004, the Wildcats, coached by Mel Crandall, won the 3rd Division Championship and advanced to the 2nd division. Then, in the 2005 season, they won the 2nd division championship and advanced to the 1st division.
In 2007, their player/Head Coach was Jon Horton, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers.
Many of the current and past players of the Maastricht Wildcats are U.S. Military members, former American high school and collegiate players, now stationed in the neighboring areas, and former GFL players. The Maastricht Wildcats won the Dutch National Championships on 28 October 2007 by defeating the Amsterdam Crusaders, which had won the national title 5 times in a row, with a score of 25-16. However, on July 13 2008 the Amsterdam Crusaders exacted revenge and regained the Tulip Bowl with a score of 20-8.
Despite posting a 9-1 regular season record losing only to Amsterdam Crusaders, Maastricht's 2009 season fell flat as they were shocked 10-7 in the semi-final game by Lightning Leiden.
Another strong regular season in 2010 saw the Wildcats post an 8-2 record, losing only to Amsterdam Crusaders and Alphen Eagles. This time Maastricht took care of business in the playoff game, dismissing Amsterdam Panthers 44-20. Despite coming back strongly in the Tulip Bowl, the Wildcats were not quite able to overturn a 22 point first-half deficit, eventually losing the championship game 28-22 to rivals Amsterdam Crusaders.
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