The season’s opening was another classic between the two oldest rivals in the League, SBB Vukovi and Silverhawks. Clashing again after last year’s finals this was a game for the ages.
The Silverhawks were a better opponent from the start. Rainbow passes by Clark Evans were finding open targets down the field, two of them for touchdowns. Rok Sedej was at the receiving end of the first one of 25 yards and Matic Tomse of the second one for 47 yards to put their team in the 0:14 lead. SBB Vukovi woke up late in the first half, with their workhorse running back Mihailo Josovic going the distance for 23 yards. David Hanomihl Lukic flipped the ball to Anthony Washington for the second one with 40 seconds before the intermission, nearly equaling the score at 13:14.
Evans continued running the show in the second half passing for another long touchdown of 85 yards to Andrej Copot and crossing the line himself for the 2 point conversion. Lukic and Washington took over from there with two more touchdowns of 26 and 63 yards to put their team in the lead for the first time with half the fourth quarter to go and the score at 26:22. Silverhawks were all in from that point, their drive leaving them with one more play in the final two minutes near the end zone. Evans spotted an opening in the defense and kept the ball to himself running wide right, only to fumble inches close to the end zone after being forcefully hit by Washington. The ball rolled into SBB Vukovi’s end zone, where it was recovered by a Silverhawks player. The rule in this rarely seen situation on 4th down states that only the fumbling player can recover the ball in order for it to remain in offensive team’s possession is the one that cost the Silverhawks the touchdown. Starting their drive with the whole offensive unit lining up in its end zone SBB Vukovi were running off the time even allowing for a safety in the process to stop the score at 26:24.
The Silverhawks proved to be a tough team yet again, almost surprising their favored opponent. A lot was at stake for both teams in this game and SBB Vukovi took the win by the skin of their teeth.