On August 21, in the city of Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, the Sofia Bears team represented Bulgaria in the Arena Football 2011 final. After 7 matches, the Bears were in 2nd place in the general standings. The regulation dictated that they play in the semi-final with the team from Požarevac - the "Robbers", and the "Legionaires" from Sremska Mitrovica played the other semi-final with the "Golden Bears" from Bor.
So far, the only Bulgarian team in this tournament was surprisingly crushing and had one victory over all the teams in the tournament. The team from Pozarevac was determined to defeat the Bulgarians, as both teams had exchanged 1 victory each. The match started well for the Bulgarians and they took the lead first. The opposing team tried several times to bring the score closer, but managed to score only in the second half, and the very good play of the Bulgarian defense, with several intercepted passes and one touchdown, dashed their hopes. Thus, the Bulgarians deservedly qualified for the final. In the other semi-final, the favorites - the host team "Legionaires" - simply ran over the inexperienced and young team of the "Golden Bears" from Bor.
Thus, in front of an audience of 100 people at the local stadium in Sremska Mitrovica, the Bulgarian "Bears" and the Serbian "Legionaries" faced off in a fierce battle.
However, the game did not start well for the Bulgarians, as after a very good game of the "Legionaires" attack, they led with 2 touchdowns. The Bears offense managed to get one back thanks to captain Aleksandar Kenanov, but after another touchdown was scored by the Serbs, the half ended at 18-6.
The Bulgarians did not give up and did their best to stop the very well played attack of the Serbs - they never lost the ball and powerful running attacks alternated with quick and short passes. Individual mistakes by the Bulgarians in defense led to 2 more passing touchdowns. The Bears offense seemed to wake up in the second half and scored 2 touchdowns, but also dropped some very good passes thrown by quarterback Christian Chan. In the end, the time was not enough for anything more, and the experience of the "Legionaires" spoke for itself and they deservedly congratulated themselves with the victory with a final score of 32:18.
An award ceremony followed, in which the Bears team received its first official cup in a tournament outside Bulgaria, albeit for 2nd place.
Thus ended the summer "adventure" of the Bears, who during this period always rested and conducted summer training, and now they traveled nearly 3000 km., went 3 times to different parts of Serbia, defeated some of the strong teams of the Serbian League and won the respect of the Serbian players. And all this from a team that does not have a local championship, has only existed for 4 years and is supported exclusively by its players.
Here are the final rankings and results:
Semifinals:
Požarevac Outlaws - Sofia Bears 6:18
Sirmium Legionaries - Bor Golden Bears 49:6
3rd place match:
Požarevac Outlaws – Bor Golden Bears 26:0
Final:
Sirmium Legionaries - Sofia Bears 32:18
Final ranking:
1. Sirmium Legionaries
2. Sofia Bears
3. Požarevac Outlaws
4. Bor Golden Bears
On September 1, preparations for the autumn half-season begin, and for now the "Bears" expect 2 visits to Romanian teams and will travel once to Hungary and once to Romania.
In the summer, a youth team was formed for children aged 14-18. Anyone can join and train.