In recent years, among the best games of the year were the ones between the Dukes and the Vukovi, especially when the Vukovi were coming to Novi Sad. The top two teams of the South in the last two years now reside in separate groups, meaning this is the only chance these great rivals of past years will have to meet on the playing field.
Although both teams won in the opening week, neither was greeted by great game conditions, resulting in two slightly ugly games, especially the one in Novi Sad. In their win over the Silverhawks, the Dukes struggled much more than the Vukovi did, but they are still coming into the game unbeaten in the last two CEFL games in Novi Sad.
When the Vukovi won on a last minute touchdown in 2006, it’s likely they didn’t anticipate Novi Sad becoming such a tough field to play. But in 2007, the Dukes won for the first time, in another close game, and last year they won again behind Čaba Juhas’ five touchdown performance. This year, the quarterback who is expected to play, if not exclusivelly, then the most, Rastko Jokić, threw for the game winning score in the fourth quarter, but he was also intercepted three times.
„Since the season just started and considering we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, we’ll have to use the start of the season as the last part of preparation. Specifically, against the Silverhawks, I can’t say it was a well played game“, says Jokić. „Against the Vukovi is only our second game. We’e trying to prepare as much as we can — it’s true that it’s a big Serbian game, but the game itself is not that important. It’s the first time we’re coming into the season knowing that the start isn’t as important. Of course, it’s important because it affects who’ll make it, but the real season is in October. We didn’t have that in mind before.”
What’s in Belgrade’s favor is that although they didn’t win in a CEFL game, they did win a Serbian playoff league game in Novi Sad last year, so that city for them still isn’t a place where they can’t win, despite the struggles. Additionally, their import player for this year, Brandon McDowell, played last week in the Serbian league, after missing the CEFL game against the Gladiators because of a light injury. Although against a team not nearly on the Dukes’ level, he was impressive, with two touchdown runs.
Unless they meet in the playoffs, which is more probable now than it was before, the Dukes and the Vukovi will play their first and last game of this year. After spending last year on various fields in Novi Sad, the Dukes will host this on on FK Kabel stadium, where they played in 2006 and 2007. The game starts 3PM.