The (12-1) Jacksonville Sharks defeat Monterrey Steel (7-5) and continued their journey to the first ever NAL championship game, Saturday night in Florida.

The score of this long-fought battle was 43-32.

Jacksonville Sharks Defeat Monterrey Steel advance to Title game

The Early Stages of the Game

The game was very interesting at first and got many fans wondering if Jacksonville would pull away or if a repeat of the last game would happen when they lost to the Steel in the last week of the regular season.

Things were off to a shaky start, as Monterrey and Jacksonville continued to fight for a close game.

The first quarter was mainly turnovers or turnovers on downs, and ended with a 7-7 score.

The second quarter was a little more interesting because Monterrey kicked a field goal to put them up by three, but Jacksonville had something to say about that, scoring a touchdown to make it 14-10.

Sharks FB Derrick Ross had a crucial fumble that also left fans concerned about the game. After more turnovers and empty possessions, the Sharks finally scored a touchdown.

It wasn’t just any normal touchdown, it was a 48 yard catch and run from Damien Fleming to Joe Hills. Hills just returned to the Sharks after deciding to leave the Tampa Bay Storm.

As the half comes to an end, the score is 21-10 with Jacksonville on top.

Jacksonville Pulls Away In the Second Half

To start the second half, Jacksonville received the ball, but couldn’t do anything on their opening drive, resulting in a fumble on the one yard line about to score.

Monterrey had an empty drive, throwing an interception. Jacksonville found the end zone to pad their lead.

On a promising drive for Monterrey, they get the ball all the way to inside the five yard line about to score, but turn it over on downs.

Jacksonville, looking for more points, finally got their answer on a play to Ross from Fleming. Ross with a 33 yard catch and run, hurdles over a defender and jukes more defenders for the touchdown.

“[I need] to get in the endzone,” Ross said. “I had to redeem myself from the fumble earlier, so I had to get in there.”

The rest of the game was continuous scoring for Jacksonville, as they pad their lead to secure their spot for the championship game.

NAL Championship Game

After Columbus’ victory over Lehigh Valley and Jacksonville beating Monterrey 43-32, the #1 Jacksonville Sharks will host the #3 Columbus Lions on Monday, July 10, 2017 at 7:00 pm.