By Jon Haugaard and Brian Woodward, editing by Mikkel Winther, Bo Thygesen and Peter Friis.
2010
After coming close to qualifying for the National League in 2008 and 2009, the 2010 season would prove to be the year the Tigers could finally make it happen. The push, fittingly, was led by offensive lineman import Jake Dembow (Marist College), the club’s first import player since 2007. Dembow’s impact went above and beyond his on-field play; his approach to the game and contributions in instilling a new mentality amongst the front five and the team as a whole, and his work with younger Tiger players proved beneficial for Aarhus in 2010 and the seasons that followed.
Head Coach Kelvin Varst stood again at the helm and got help in 2010 of the young, homegrown quarterback Mathias Lilhauge who had earned his stripes as a youth player in the Tigers organization and on the Danish Junior National Team. The team went 8-0 in the season’s first games, but dropped the season’s final two. The Tigers finished as number two in the first division, and earned a spot to play for the NL berth, but during the season DAFF decided to expand the NL to 9 teams for 2011, and so Aarhus qualified automatically.
The U16 team had a difficult season, that meant only 1 victory out of 8 games. The U19 season was a bit more even with 5 victories out of 9 games and the new Tigers DS team managed to win 7 games out of 10 in its first season.
2011
The Tigers felt the rapidly improving level of play in the Danish NL in 2007 and watched that level develop even further the previous three seasons. Aarhus witnessed the ‘08 qualifier Slagelse Wolfpack go winless in the 2009 NL and saw Aalborg limp through the NL in 2010. Despite the respect for what lie ahead, there was optimism for the new season.
Kelvin Varst decided to vacate the head coaching job at the beginning of the season, and the club made the unorthodox decision to split head coaching duties between the offensive and defeinsive coordinators, Brian Simonsen and Anders Bysted. The club had also succeeded in resigning OL Jake Dembow who in 2011 brought his previous Marist teammate, Jason Tillery to Denmark. Tillery’s primary duties were on the defensive line, but he could also double as an offensive guard.
Tillery didn’t take long to get started. On the first play of the first game of the season against top club Triangle Razorbacks, he burst through the Razor offensive line to record a crushing sack. The rest of the game didn’t go as well for Aarhus, but despite the 23-0 loss, the Tigers troop felt it had met the NLs best and was ready to meet others. The first NL win came the following week, when Aarhus got a rematch of the 2008 qualification game against Slagelse. It was an offensive showdown, but, in the end, the Tigers pulled ahead and got their first NL win, 51-32. The team finished the season 4-4 and just squeezed in to the playoffs before losing in the first round. But it was a successful season overall and the best debutant season in the NL since 2008, when the Søllerød Gold diggers made it all the way to the Mermaid Bowl.
The U16 team had yet a difficult season, that meant only 2 victories out of 8 games. The U19 season was yet again a bit more even with 4 victories out of 8 games and the Tigers DS team managed to win 4 out of 10 games.
2012
In 2012, Brian Simonsen took the reigns as the sole head coach with help from newcomer Islam Abzorov. The team bid farewell to both Dembow and Tillery, who went on to play in other European clubs.
Due to budget concerns, the club chose not to recruit imports in 2012, but just before the beginning of the season, the Aalborg 89ers chose to release import-WR Jonn Mathews (Grand Valley State) and the Tigers quickly picked Mathews up after having experienced his dominant play the previous season.
Mathews proved to make a big impact for the team in the few games he played that season, but he was forced to return to the US to finish his studies and the team lost him for the season’s final three games. Despite a 3-7 regular season record, Aarhus made the playoffs but was quickly eliminated in the first round.
The U16 team played in the DS West and had a good season with 6 victories out of 9 games, but it was not enough to qualify for the playoff. The U19 team had to pull out of the Junior National league before it even started. The DS team managed to win 7 out of 10 games.
2013
The 2013 season saw another head coaching change. This time, the job went to Tiger veteran Jesper Christensen, who played safety for the Tigers for the previous several years. At the same time, club leadership succeeded in re-signing Mathews in hopes that his offensive play and coaching and Christensen’s defensive approach would be the right combination for an improved 2013 season.
The season started with a win over Esbjerg and a surprisingly close game against the Copenhagen Towers that ended in a close loss. The team pressed on and in the following game, for the first time since returning to the NL, knocked off Herlev, 24-6. The Tigers then took on perennial powerhouse Triangle Razorbacks and played them to the final second, recording 10 defensive sacks on Vejle’s American quarterback along the way. Trailing 12-17 and just two yards from the endzone, the Tigers lost the race against the game clock and saw time expire for the second loss of the season.
This was also the year of the infamous “Friday Night Lights Out” game against Vejle later in the season. The game was agreed upon between the two clubs as classic American Friday Night game to be played at Vejle Stadium. After the start of the game, however, it became clear that adequate stadium lighting had been overseen by the home team and, at halftime, the referee crew decided to call the game due to darkness. That began a long tug-of-war between the two clubs about how and when to reschedule the game, because they couldn’t find a weekend in which both teams had free before the end of the season. The game was eventually replayed on a Wednesday evening in Vejle, which Vejle won and which resulted in Aarhus having to play 3 of the regular season’s games games in the course of just 8 days.
The 2013 season ended with a 7-3 record, a win in the wildcard game and a 38-13 loss in the semifinal against the later Mermaid Bowl champion Copenhagen Towers.
Tigers U19 team managed to rebuild after a 2012 season without any games, and they did it with style in the DS west tournament with 8 victories in 8 games. In the semifinal the Tigers team was to much a handful for the Herning Hawks that was left no chance in the 42 – 0 Tiger win. The U19 DS Bowl opponent was the Copenhagen Tomahawks/Amager Demons team and it was a very close game that Tigers could pull out victoriously with the score 8 – 6 and hereby bring the trophy to Aarhus.
The U16 team also played in the DS tournament and had almost a similar season. They went through the regular season with 9 wins out of 10 games. But the season ended in the semifinal against the Copenhagen Towers.
Tigers second senior team had taken the jump to the 11 man qualification tournament. It became a tough season that ended with 10 loses in 10 games.
2014
In 2014, The Tigers moved into their new, permanent clubhouse and fields at Bøgeskov practice field. The new facility was the result of several years of diligent work on the part of club leadership, led by Peter Friis, and a close partnership with the municipality of Aarhus.
The club had been in a state of limbo since the city reclaimed the Tiger’s original facility on Åhavevej in 2009 as part of an expansion of the motorway into Aarhus. For a time, it even appeared that the club would be moved to Lystrup – or even further out. After years of trying to get the Tigers competitive again athletically and economically, the situation initially seemed like a fatal blow. An agreement was, however, eventually reached for a temporary home at Vårkjærvej in Viby with the help of the Aarhus sports community, and it ended with an entirely new facility.
The new fields, financed 50/50 between the municipality and the club, brought the Tigers to a comparable facility level with other NL teams and meant a significant improvement of playing fields, locker rooms, equipment rooms, meeting facilities and even a small bleacher area for spectators. Not least, it supported the Tiger’s longer-term ambition of providing attractive facilites and an inviting environment for players in the youth programs.
On the new field, the results of a team on the move forward were also apparent. In the season’s first scrimmage against the Middlefart Stingers, the Tigers scored over 100 points. The first game of the regular season ended 66-6 over long-time rival Odense Swans and in the first regular season game on the new field at Bøgeskov ended in the highest winning margin in Tiger history with a 71-0 win over Esbjerg. The Tigers were flying high thanks to the offensive play of QB Mathias Lilhauge, RB Marco Rysgaard and WRs Jonn Mathews and Frederik Oldenburg and an OL that had begun to gel as a unit.
The spring’s final two games, however, brought the Tigers back to earth. First when the defending champion Towers came to Aarhus and handed the Tigers a 42-20 defeat, and then in a big 42-7 loss to the rival in Vejle. QB Lilhauge missed the Vejle game with an injury sustained during his play for the Danish National Team and going into the summer break, the season had seemed to turn for the worse.
In the fall, Lilhauge was back. The summer break seemed to do wonders for both he and the Tigers as a whole. In his return game, Lilhauge scored six touchdowns by the end of the first drive in the third quarter. That game, against the Amager Demons, ended 54-7. Then the Esbjerg Hurricanes got another dose of Tiger’s offense to the tune of 48-0. The final game of the season was a rematch with the defending champion Towers in Copenhagen, which ended in a big shutout win for Aarhus 22-0.
The Tigers ended the season number two in their side of the regular-season bracket and were forced to play the wildcard round. The wildcard was another easy victory for the Tigers who again rolled over Amager 52-6.
That set-up a showdown with neighbor, rival and conference winner Vejle at the Razorback’s home field. Following the trouncing Vejle gave earlier in the season, the Tigers showed up loaded and ready. On the first play of the game, Jonn Mathews took a receiver screen all the way and proved why many regarded him as one of the Danish NL’s best players. Marco Rysgaard followed suit with an explosive semifinal, adding three rushing touchdowns to the four he scored in the first playoff game. The game ended as one of the better playoff games in memory and as one of the most intense in the Vejle-Aarhus rivalry. In the end the Tigers could call themselves 37-29 victors, and they had earned a trip back to the Mermaid Bowl for the first time in 14 years.
The defending champions from Copenhagen Towers were all that was left in the Bowl at Randers Stadium. With Marco Rysgaard’s recent crowning as league MVP and a 1-1 regular season split with the Towers, the game promised to be one for the ages. The Tigers emerged from the tunnel in new, sparkling “champagne-white” uniforms, but almost from the kickoff things went wrong. Rysgaard pulled his hamstring on the first play from scrimmage, and the Tigers never managed to get their offense rolling after. The game ended with a convincing 26-3 Tower victory and, for Aarhus, a second place NL finish for 2014.
Tigers U16 team lead by QB Severin Bjerre toke an extra step up the latter in this years tournament and qualified to the Challenge Bowl VIII after having cruised through the season with 8 out of 8 possible. A defeat to a better playing Søllerød Gold Diggers was the result of the final. The U19 team did also have a good season in the DS west tournament and came out of the regular season with a 7 – 1 record. This qualified the U19 team to the semifinal against Slagelse Wolfpack that later could bring home the trophy.
Tigers second senior team entered the 2 division west and had a much better season than in 2013, with 4 wins in 8 games.
