With the Budapest Wolves SELAF season opener in Ljubljana coming up on 12th of May it is time to look at what the Hungarians have been up to lately. The Budapest Wolves have been playing back-to-back games the past five weekends; a pre-season against the Bratislava Monarchs, and four league games in the Austrian Division I, resulted in a combined record of 4-1.
We have already covered the games against the Monarchs and Titans, now here are some notes from the Wolves’ past three Austrian league games.
Dodge Vienna Vikings II vs. Budapest Wolves
27:7 (7:7, 7:0, 7:0, 6:0)
The team from Budapest played its second league game on the field of the three time Silver Bowl winner Vienna Vikings II who had a 22 game winning streak coming into the game. Their unbelievable record was not threatened by the Wolves that afternoon as the Hungarian defense could not stop the Vikings’ west coast offense while the Wolves offense couldn’t get the passing game going at all. The only score for the Wolves – by FB Péter Cseperkáló – came on drive featuring almost exclusively running plays. New HB István Demeter had his moments in the game forecasting greater things to come.
Budapest Wolves vs. ASKÖ Steelsharks Traun
21:13 (0:7, 0:6, 7:0, 14:0)
The Wolves played a terrible first half letting the Austrian team score twice and succeed on three fourth downs while producing only two first downs themselves. The Hungarians turned it around after intermission by intercepting Titans QB Stefely three times, John Trikkas returning one for a 30 yard TD. A drive featuring almost 30 rushing yards and a running TD by Wolves QB Vasyl Yordan and the following XP meant the lead for the home team. The victory was secured by FB Péter Cseperkáló’s 60 yard TD burst.
Budapest Wolves vs. Dodge Vienna Vikings II
42:35 (7:7, 7:14, 7:7, 21:7)
Coming into the game after an easy win in Vienna for the Vikings and a shaky victory against the bottom of the league team Traun for the Wolves not many people had seen this one coming. The Wolves offense came out firing on all cylinders, scoring on every opportunity they had except for the first drive that ended with an interception. QB Vasyl Yordan completed passes to six receivers, three for touchdowns (Piros, Király) and ran for a score himself. The defense had stopped the Vikings once by forcing a punt and once by intercepting (John Trikkas again) QB Philipp Jobstamann and that proved to be just enough. The Wolves RB duo of Péter Cseperkáló and István Demeter punished the undersized Austrian defense for serious yardage, with the latter running for two touchdowns utilizing the great blocks set by the FB and the offensive line. Last year’s Wolves TD leader Krisztián Piros also scored twice, the second time avoiding numerous tackles and racing 60 yards to the endzone. The Vikings lost for the first time in an official game in almost three years, with their unbeaten streak coming to an end at 24.