Pirates Feast On Big Macs For Easter

April 22nd, 2025

East Kilbride Pirates 31 – Nottingham Caesars 12

The Pirates moved to 2-0 with a win over the newly promoted, but highly fancied Nottingham side. The victory featured 3 TD’s for the McDonald brothers with Fraser pulling in 2 while Arran added a third.

On a bright and warm Easter Sunday both teams took a couple of drives to get into their stride, with the ball being mainly kept on the ground. The short yardage, pound and ground game was suddenly burst open when QB Logan Gallacher launched a long pass in the direction of Fraser McDonald. The big receiver pulled in the catch before breaking away from the Nottingham defenders to score a 70-yard TD. New kicker Rory Kay added the PAT for a 7-0 lead. Surprisingly that turned out to be the only score of the first half.

Sean Dickie pulled in an interception of the Caesars’ QB on the second play after the restart, giving the Pirates good field position, and just 4 plays later running back Greg Black ran in a 14-yard TD that Kay again converted. The visitors responded immediately and put together an 11 play drive, capped by a 5-yard run by their QB. The conversion attempt was blocked to hold the score at 14-6

EK’s next drive started with a breakout run from Black and his 40-yard carry moved them deep into Nottingham territory. The Caesars’ Defense held strong though and the Pirates had to settle for a 27-yard Field Goal from Kay. It looked like that would be the last points of the quarter until on the final play of the period, Gallacher again went long to Fraser McDonald. The 42-yard scoring pass and Kay’s conversion gave EK a bit of breathing space at 24-6.

Midway through Q4, Nottingham reduced the deficit on a 12-yard passing play, although the 2PAT pass fell incomplete. There only remained time for Arran McDonald to haul in his first Senior TD and join his brother on the scoreboard, when he grabbed a 25-yarder from Cameron Dunn. Kay duly tagged on the PAT to conclude the scoring.

The Jack Daniels MVP award went to Fraser McDonald for for his 6 catches for 192 yards and 2 TD performance.

East Kilbride now have a week off before they travel South for the return match against the Caesars on 3^rd May.

Game report by Bill Campbell
Photos courtesy Duncolm Sports Photography – you can find a full gallery here

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