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Conference battles

Goran Košutić

Branimir Milovanović

Martin Bauer has 112 rushing yards this year

The Budapest Wolves host the Gladiators, while the Novi Sad Dukes will do the same with the Kragujevac Wild Boars in the second two game weekend in SELAF. Newcomers to SELAF, and by many the favorites in the North conference, will face off for the first time this year, and after just three games Dukes are very close to reaching a milestone in 2007.

The Wolves will have their second of three matches on back to back weeks, this one, against a conference rival, likely the most important. The good news is that they had a relatively easy game in Ljubljana last week, beating the Silverhawks 37-16, resting their starting quarterback Vasyl Yordan in the second half . In addition, while Péter Cseperkáló ran for 96 yards and a touchdown, he did so on just 5 carries, and in total no Wolves’ player logged more than 5.

The bad news is that the Gladiators will be a lot tougher opponent, having themselves won convincingly in Slovenia, and with their somewhat surprising home loss to the Vukovi, a win is important for them in this game. Before joining SELAF in 2007, these two teams’ last game was a friendly last year that the Wolves won 45-20.

The game will be played at BVSC Stadium in Budapest at 4PM.

The Novi Sad Dukes can become the first team to clinch a playoff spot, hosting the Wild Boars on Sunday at 4PM. If they beat the winless Wild Boars, 3-0 Dukes will secure a top two placing and a postseason appearance even if they don’t win a single game the rest of the way.

The 2006 champions from Kragujevac have fallen on hard times in 2007, losing all three games with the worst being the last in Belgrade against their biggest rival. This game also represents a rematch for the first game of the season, when Dukes won 30-5 in Kragujevac suggesting things to come for both teams.

With the two teams being in completely different situations, underestimating the Wild Boars would be an easy thing to do for Dukes. Filip Vezmar guarantees that won’t happen.

“Our realistic expectations are to win, considering we’re in the best form thus far, though the game will be hard. With our experience playing them and knowing what we know about Kragujevac, we know that they’re not a pleasant team to face and it’s clear to us they have nothing to lose, so an interesting game is expected”, said Dukes strong safety.

Whether the motive of preventing Novi Sad from clinching a playoff spot will be enough for Kragujevac to overcome many problems they have faced this season, we’ll see on Sunday, but after all that’s been seen in 2007 that would be a big surprise.