The current Maastricht Wildcats was founded in 1998 by Michael Redwine, Karel Holtjer and Richard Jager. The very first players to be active in the organization for the Wildcats were among others Maurice Ramakers, Ray George, "The Beast(Gert-Jan), Richard Jager, Harold Crets and AC Antonia. The team's very first game was against the Aachen Demons, with Michael Redwine and Del Newman as coaches. Richard Jager coached the DB's.
The club gradually started growing and in 2001 the Senior team immediately had a great impact when they reached the Holland Bowl, unfortunately losing to Hilversum 7-6. The same team had been successful in the years before that as well.
The Senior team fell apart though in 2001 because of the international situation at that time. The current Wildcats Senior Team thus started with a very small group of junior players.?The only people left were a couple of junior player who decided to keep playing the game.
In 2001, the Juniors played their very first game against the Arnhem Falcons at a tournament. They lost their first game 22-06. The second game was even a bigger loss: 33-00.
Still, in?the two games after the tournament, the Wildcats were able to win one, and lose one in overtime. It was a good sign that there was potential in this team.
The 2002 season witnessed a bad start with a loss against the Rotterdam Trojans 20-14 and Arnhem Falcons 06-00. The 4 remaining games were all won, including the final against the Arnhem Falcons, 12-06.
The Wildcats went 3-2 for the season, beating Rotterdam, and Arnhem twice.
The 2003 season was good till the final. We set a record by scoring 84 points in a game against the Amstelland Panthers, and all the other games were won as well, except for the final against the Amsterdam Crusaders and the first game of the season, also against the Crusaders.
2003 Season, scores:
Wildcats vs. Crusaders 00-46 L
Wildcats vs. Trojans 52-06 W
Wildcats vs. Lightning 38-18 W
Wildcats vs. Panthers 84-00 W
Final:
Wildcats vs. Crusaders 12-24 L
With the 2003 junior season over, the Wildcats decided to make the switch to the senior third division league, and it was a successful choice, for the Wildcats remained unbeaten, and defeated the Hurricanes II 42-00 in the final.
The second division, except for one game against the Lightning Leiden, was dominated by the Wildcats. They were able to beat the Raptors three times, the Unicorns once, the Giants, The Pirates twice and Lightning once.
In the play-offs the Wildcats defeated the Giants 52-00, and advanced to the "Runners-up" bowl in which they beat the Raptors and in a good but nerve breaking game by 20-13.
This Year will be the first season for the Wildcats in the Top Division. In total, they will play 8 games. The season starts on March 12, 2006 against the Eindhoven Raptors.