The Bradford Bears – the American football team of the University of Bradford – came from 8-0 down to scrape past Leeds Celtics 14-8 after the third overtime in their first game in the newly-formed BUCS American Football National Championship North-East Conference.

The first half was tough for the Bears, who struggled to get out of their own half.

This led to the first score of the game as the Celtics’ defence tackled the Bears’ runner in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead.

The Celtics continued to press in the second quarter and broke the resilient Bradford defence to get the touchdown. They failed to convert though and so led 8-0 at half-time.

The Bears came out fighting in the third quarter and put the Celtics under pressure but couldn’t find the end zone. As the game moved into the fourth quarter and the Celtics started to tire, the Bears finally made the breakthrough, with Steven Zurheide running in for a touchdown and getting the two-point conversion to level the scores at 8-8.

The Bears had the chance to win it in normal time but penalties picked up on offence put paid to that and the game was sent to overtime.

Two periods of overtime couldn’t settle the game, with both teams taking it in turns to try and score from 25 yards out. The Bears’ defence then held out the Celtics offence for a third time, after a fourth and 36 couldn’t be converted by Leeds.

The Bears’ offence then came on to the field and took no time at all to seal the win, with Zurheide running all 25 yards in just three plays to give the Bears their opening win of the season.