“We get the majority of this team back next year to develop further and learn from it and we're going to be in a really good place, so I hope we'll be back there in the final.”
Eddie Koszler.
11:48, 10 Apr 2026
View 3 Images
SGS Pride backed to bounce back after falling short in national American Football final (Image: Charlotte Murden)
The South Gloucestershire and Stroud College Pride American Football team are being tipped to turn pain into gain following heartache in their national cup final showdown.
SGG Pride suffered a 20-6 defeat against Brunel Burners in the British Universities and College Sport National Vase Cup final which took place on the Loughborough University campus.
But SGS Pride head coach Ben Herod, who is based at the college’s Stoke Gifford campus, has no doubt that his team will be better for the experience when they set their sights on going one better next season.
“We were quite heavily underdogs going into the game due to the number of Americans that Brunel had but I think that we shocked a few people with how our defence played and how well they turned up,” Herod said.
“We just learned a valuable lesson that against teams that have more Americans playing on their squad for however many years - I know it's more than more than a couple, but against a unit that has that many Americans it has to be a perfect game as far as focus and attention to detail, and we were not.
“We get the majority of this team back next year to develop further and learn from it and we're going to be in a really good place, so I hope we'll be back there in the final.”
SGS Pride backed to bounce back after falling short in national American Football final
View 3 Images
SGS Pride backed to bounce back after falling short in national American Football final
Pride may have been second-best but they certainly went down fighting as the sun was beamed down on Loughborough where SGS looked to win back-to-back titles after lifting the trophy the year prior.
But Brunel were quickly on the front foot and following the kick-off they won a turnover early on after a fumble on the passover from Ash Bailey to Owayne Montaque, giving them possession and the chance for a touchdown.
Only a few minutes into the game, the Brunel University team were eyeing up a touchdown. David Moore III would run around the SGS before squeezing the ball into the endzone to give Brunel the early lead - the field kick was missed by the narrowest of margins, but this wouldn’t ruin Brunel’s mood going forward.
It would be another turnover for the London-based team as Brunel managed to retrieve the ball after a tackle on Xavier De Almada. Pride would retaliate by keeping their defence strong, with JJ Aboagye landing a huge tackle onto Brunel’s quarterback to keep SGS in the game.
Brunel weren’t fazed and kept possession of the ball into the 2nd quarter where the Burners would strike again. Joao Camara was left open and delivered the ball thrown by their quarterback Christian Dzulynsky. The extra points would once again remain elusive as the safety was strongly denied by SGS Pride’s defence.
After a quiet second quarter, it would be back to action in the second half with Cole McFarlane swapping in as quarterback for Brunel and making his presence known. It was a one-man job for McFarlane as he called for the ball and made the run to the endzone for Brunel’s third touchdown of the game.
SGS Pride backed to bounce back after falling short in national American Football final
View 3 Images
SGS Pride backed to bounce back after falling short in national American Football final
He would go for the same play again for the conversion and once again get the touchdown and finally the extra points for Brunel Burners. It would be a failed punt from Brunel that gave SGS possession once again as Adam Deverill protected the ball after it deflected off a Brunel player, that would present Pride with multiple opportunities to try and make the touchdown.
Deverill himself would make the play by spearheading his way into the Brunel defence and just squeeze out the touchdown to give Pride their six points. After a miss on the tackle, SGS had two minutes to make a miracle happen if they wanted to raise the trophy.
Brunel’s Camara would miss the deep throw from Dzulynsky and lose out of the six-points, a very lucky moment for Pride in the final two minutes of the game. The Burners would keep possession after foul tackles and gaining yards on their pushes, making things look very dire for the Filton team with just thirty seconds left.
Some heroic weaving from Dzulynsky knocked the timer down to five mere seconds and ultimately wrote the ending itself, with
Cole McFarlane would take the Finals MVP after his beautiful touchdown in the third quarter contributed to Brunel’s win as well as scoring the most points for the London-based team with his follow-up on the conversion to net him eight points overall.
Herod added: “Offensively, we just turned the ball over, too many times in the first half we gave their offence a short field and just couldn't convert when we needed to.
“In the second-half it was a tight ball game and our offence finally started to show up a little bit more but again, it wasn't enough. I didn't feel it was Brunel that beat us more than ourselves.
Article continues below
“Our football IQ as a collective wasn't good enough on the playing field to give that type of performance. We have perfect effort and perfect hustle and we really got after it, but in the end mental mistakes proved costly .”