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Wolves turn it around, win the Hungarian title

Gergely Koroknai

The Budapest Cowboys entered the Hungarian Championship Final against the Budapest Wolves as the underdog, but nearly accomplished a miracle, as they led for more than three quarters, before eventually going down 20-14.

The Cowboys had a quick start with Gábor Kalovits’s touchdown reception on their second play. On the Wolves’ first play, the miracle continued when Tamás Pató intercepted a pass -- though they didn’t immediately score, the Cowboys showed they were capable of winning the final, and soon they scored on a 7 yard run by their quarterback Balint Michaletzky.

The nervous Wolves offense produced more penalties than yards so they punted for the second time, but got the ball back on a fumble on the last play of the first quarter. In the second quarter the Wolves defense started to make big plays stopping the opponent’s every drive, and their special team blocked a field goal, but their offense continued to struggle, finishing the half with no points.

The Budapest Wolves had previously never been fourteen points behind any Hungarian team, so Head Coach Lee Hlavka had a lot to say to his players during halftime.

The players followed their coach’s advice and scored on the first possession of the second half, with a reception by Krisztián Piros, but with the missed extra point from Majoros they were still 8 points behind.

The two defenses made great plays in the next two drives, but after that Attila Lendvai and Csanád Király brought the Wolves inside the 20 with two great passes, and two more plays later the QB found Csaba Majoros in the corner of the end. The attempt to make if even failed as the defense stopped the QB sneak just inches before the goal line.

Four turnovers, three by the Cowboys, were needed to finally put the Wolves in a situation to complete the comeback. After the Cowboys lost the ball inside their own 20 yard line, Lendvai eventually found Majoros for the second time to give his team the lead, and the win, at 20-14.
The Cowboys, who were leading for more than 40 minutes had less than four minutes to turn the match around, but they were stopped after a few great runs and the Wolves only had to kneel down twice to win the game.

Attila Lendvai was named the MVP and Head Coach Lee Hlavka lifted the trophy first before his team started the big celebration.