To say it was a bizarre weekend for the Nipissing Wild would be an understatement.
The 2-4 Wild found out late in the week that their opponents, the Clarington Knights were folding, which gave the Nipissing Wild an automatic victory Saturday to move their record to 3-4.
The forfeit gives the Wild a 3-game winning streak heading into their final regular season game next Saturday at home. Wild Head Coach Brian Samson wishes it didn't come down to this.
"I'm not a board room guy, I leave everything on the field," said Samson from a parking lot Saturday afternoon where the Wild was running a fundraising bottle drive.
"If you beat a team on the field there is nothing that can be done in the board room. Obviously we would have liked to have the kids on the field this week as it gave us a two-week bye which is sometimes a good thing but also a bad thing. Football is a weird sport, you have to be hitting each other otherwise you kind of go soft."
That forfeit win put the Wild in a position to potentially claim the fourth and final playoff spot in Mike Ramsey Division.
But the Wild needed some help Saturday afternoon and they did not get it.
The 4th place Sudbury Gladiators faced the unbeaten North Halton Crimson Tide, and the Gladiators (4-2-1) clinched that final playoff and eliminated the Wild thanks to a tight 16-13 upset win over the Tide.
That stunning Gladiators win means next Saturday's regular season finale (2:00 p.m. at Steve Omischl Sports Complex) between the Gladiators and the Wild will not have any playoff implications.
Instead it will be the final game of the season for the Wild.
The organization will be accepting donations for the Special Olympics Ontario 2015 Winter Games which will take place in North Bay next January and February.
