I will tell you about the happy Moanday of Święci Częstochowa American Football team. This is my entry to Contest created by @Pete. Why do I nominate them to happy moaners? Well take a look how they luckily advanced to playoffs but it didn't go well.

Photo by Andrzej Kotas Photography Source

Święci means Saints and Częstochowa is the famous city in Poland which is visited by pilgrims so their name suits to them very well. To make it easier to read I will write Czestochowa Saints or just Saints.

In the LFA9 league Czestochowa Saints so far played 4 matches. In my previous post I wrote that they won all 4 games. Nevertheless I would like to precise one thing. They lost the last match, against Tychy Falcons B, after a very hard fight with a score of 20-40. However, it turned out that during the game in the team of our rival there was an unauthorized player, whose disposition very strongly strengthened the team Falcons B (this player threw all, 5 touchdowns). As Saints wrote on their facebook fanpage:

We are far from assessing the attitude of the opponent, there is the LFA Disciplinary Commission, we thank the rival with a hard, clean game and we are very happy to take part in the semi-final :) We promise that we will try to use our chance in 100%!

Due to the performance of an unauthorized player, the Disciplinary Commission verified the match of Tychy Falcons B - Częstochowa Saints as a walkover in favor of the guests (Saints). All in all the result was 0:20 but I felt that I need to precise it.

The other three games Saints won with the following results:

  • Częstochowa Saints 42:18 Miners Wałbrzych, 15 July 2018
  • Częstochowa Saints 20:8 Silesia Rebels B, 29 July 2018
  • Miners Wałbrzych 22:27 Częstochowa Saints, 12 Augst 2018

During the last weekend there were two matches. First one took place on Saturday and the next one on Sunday. On Saturday 15th on September Święci Częstochowa faced with Kraków Kings in playoffs. They had the chance to play in the LFA9 final. Unfortunately for them they were practically smashed by Kings.

Częstochowa Saints' happy Moanday 6 - 46 Krakow Kings B

Looking at the result it seems that for Krakow Kings it was one of the easiest games in this season. They won without any problems and send Częstochowa team away. After the first quarter, the Kings were leading 14:0 thanks to the touchdowns of Łukasz Donat and Szymon Lorenc and additional two points gained by Tomasz Skowroński. In the second part of the match Mateusz Wiecheć practically completely deprived Częstochowa people of hope for participation in the final. The talented quarterback of the Krakow Kings team made amazing three touchdowns after solo running events. After the first half Kings B go down to the locker room with a 32-0 lead.

Photo by Andrzej Kotas Photography Source

In the third quarter, Święci Częstochowa managed to pass the touchdown, but Damian Belica's successful point action was just to wipe away the tears. It was not possible to gain additional points, while in the second half the Kings gained another 14 points. Firstly, the second touchdown after the kick was made by Szymon Lorenc. Then Mateusz Wiechec entered the list of scorers for the fourth time on Saturday afternoon. The Kings' quarterback also participated in the action, which set the score at 46:6 for the guests. It was after his pass when Paweł Woźniak gained additional two points.

“Winning is fun…. Sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.” — Pat Summitt

I think that the above quote perfectly reflects the ideas that accompany Saints. Even though they lost I'm glad they didn't give up. On their fanpage they wrote:

"On Saturday in Olsztyn we lost the semi-final with Krakow Football Kings B - a rival who was prepared tactically, physically and technically, a team just better at this moment.
It was so close to the finals, only one victory, but we do not despair, on the contrary, we know how much work we still have to do, we need humility and self-denial. Now it is time for well-deserved rest and regeneration, for many of us it was the longest football year in my life, some players performed from the beginning of March until the last weekend. The opportunity to re-represent the colors of Saints, to play in family parties in front of our beloved audience, again in the group of people with whom everything began is a great motivation and happiness for us! It was not an ideal season, both in terms of sport and organization, but we are constantly moving forward, we have clear goals and we know that in the future we will fully realize them."

Go Saints! Keep working, do not give up and hopefully you will be able to make it to the finals next season.