The Dukes fans have become used to great games when the Vukovi come to town, and these teams again did not disappoint, with the Vukovi winning 36-43 after two overtimes, and players on both sides giving some of the most convincing performances you’ll ever see in the CEFL.
After barely escaping the first overtime, with Ivan Međugorac hooking the potential game winning field goal for the Dukes wide left, it was fitting that their best player for the game, Brandon McDowell, won the game for the Vukovi in the end. Entering on defense on the Dukes attempt, he intercepted Čaba Juhas’ pass to seal the deal and remove any doubts who the player of the game was — previously he had scored three touchdowns. On their attempt on offense, Jordan Green passed to Aleksandar Lazović for the deciding score.
With it, the Vukovi survived a game in which they lost many players during the game because of injury, including quarterback Jordan Green, who was out for almost the entire second half with a leg injury. That part didn’t turn out so bad, as the Vukovi overcame the only Dukes lead of the game, 29-28, when Andrej Tasić hooked up with Mario Lugonja for a 73 yard score.
The Dukes on the other hand wasted phenomenal efforts from receiver Jovan Plećaš and Juhas. Plećaš had another beastly performance with 14 receptions, including a touchdown, and Juhas played along with Rastko Jokić at quarterback and receiver, but took over in the second half, shredding the Vukovi’s defense. It even appeared he brought his team to a win, but his overtime touchdown was overturned because he was ruled to be over the line of scrimmage.
The Vukovi led or the game was tied for the majority of the game — it was 14 all at the half. Green ran for a 35 yard score and the Dukes’ running back Marko Đanić also scored his first to tie the game — he would later score another on Jokić’s pass in the fourth quarter. After that it was pretty much all McDowell for the Vukovi, and the Dukes followed with Juhas and Jokić hooking up for a score, along with Juhas and Plećaš.
The Dukes had an opportunity to take the win in regulation, after intercepting Tasić’s pass, but couldn’t convert on 4th down on their way to the end zone. A lot of big time performances went down the drain for them, but the Vukovi also had their own big time player, who carried them to victory.
“Great game between two teams that are hungry. I give all the credit in the world to Novi Sad — they came out here and played 100% hard, we were just lucky enough to outlast them in the end. I give my hats off to those guys, they played a hell of a game”, said McDowell after his impressive CEFL debut. “I think we got a lot of injuries, but I also think a lot of our young guys got a lot of good experience. I wouldn’t call it luck, I’d just say our young guys were hungry and wanted to step up … That shows you what kind of a team we have, the heart of our team.”