The Novi Sad Dukes proved why they were favored to win at home against the Ljubljana Silverhawks with an easy 38-0 win. After their second straight shut out of Ljubljana at home, Dukes are now 3-0 for the season with playoffs in sight after only one month of play.
Dukes scored 18 points less than in their last season’s game in Novi Sad against Ljubljana, but Čaba Juhas was as convincing as the last time. He passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two, more than making up for the absence of Marko Đanić.
Siniša Bilić caught the first of his two touchdowns to open the scoring in the first quarter receiving a 5 yard pass from Juhas. All in all, Dukes sealed the deal in the first period of play, getting to 21 with a 3 yard run by Juhas and one more pass, this time to Jovan Kleut.
Vladislav Petković kicked a field goal in the second quarter and Juhas ran in for another score to end the half at 31-0. Before the game was over, Bilić caught his second touchdown in the third quarter for the final score of 38-0.
“I’m very pleased with our 3-0 start. Our plans for the season are slowly coming to life, and that is try to play both finals, SELAF and for the Serbian Champion”, said Predrag Nikolić, head coach of Dukes. “We are also showing avid form and great progress in comparison to last year. We prepared ourselves since October and that has paid off. Also, our desire to show everyone that we are currently the best in Serbia has been here from the start and is still here.”