In a hot and humid day two winless teams met on a bank at river Sora. Both teams knew they had the best chance in the entire season to achieve their first victory of the season. That’s why it was obvious that the game itself is going to be even hotter.
Silverhawks won the coin toss and Matvž Kirbus returned the ball for 40 yards but fumbled after he was brought down and the visitors quickly seized the opportunity to recover the ball.
The first drive looked promising for Thunder. Silverhawks gave them a nice present after Rok Skornšek was penalized for roughing a punter and Zagreb was able to extend the drive. Alen Keranović fired a nice bullet to his tight end and brought the team to the 10 yard line, but his team was not able to go any further… penalties and two stuffed runs forced Thunder into a field goal which was unsuccessful due to a fumbled snap.
Silverhawks struggled with penalties from the beginning and were forced to punt, but quickly recovered a ball after David Turšič intercepted a pass from Keranović. The punishment came quickly – Miloš Vrhovec passed to Jan Jakus who ran into the distance for 76 yards and put the first points on the board. Milan Narat hit the PAT and Silverhawks never relegated the lead after that.
Troubles for Thunder started in the next posession. After a kickoff return a couple of penalties and a sack, they were forced to run from their one yard. Disaster struck after they fumbled and Silverhawks recovered a ball. It was another punishment by the Silverhawks offense, when Rok Sedej ran to his right and scored an easy touchdown.
After that, tempers started to fly … a bunch of penalties on both sides kept interrupting the rhythm of the game. Thunder again failed to put points on the board after the ball sailed wide right on a field goal attempt.
Opportunity knocked on Zagreb’s door again in the next drive. Silverhawks’ QB Miloš Vrhovec made the only mistake in the game – he started the action before everybody were set and was flushed out of the pocket. He tried to fling the ball to Jan Jakus, but the pass was intercepted and returned to 42 yards.
Zagreb’s drive stalled again, but a young QB Luka Alaupović saved the situation after escaping the pressure and zipping a 30 yard pass down the sideline. Silverhawks were barely able to prevent the touchdown and were pinned on their 4 yards. But still they were able to put a massive goal line stance. They didn’t allow anybody to cross the line and would withstand the pressure if not for another penalty. After the fifth try Zagreb finally managed to score with a QB sneak but failed again to kick the ball through bars and the halftime ended with 14:6.
The second half didn’t bring any changes penalty-wise, but Silverhawks managed to make some progress. Matej Pavlič was zipping between defenders and was a major contributor to the third TD of the home team. It was FB Luka Potočnik who lumbered into the endzone and Milan Narat was accurate again on PAT.
Speedster Pavlič was finally able to score himself – in a series of runs he managed to find the way to the endzone and set the final score of the game 27-6. Silverhawks failed to put an extra point on the board even though Milan Narat wasn’t really far from the endzone.
After this touchdown, Silverhawks started to play with replacement players and fireworks of penalties ensued. One time in the game, referee Zoran Tadić was even forced to call both head coaches on the field and instruct them to calm down the players or he would be forced to start ejecting people out of the game. After a short pause the game continued, but the warning did little good to any team. A festival of yellow laundry continued and in one single drive, Silverhawks managed to advance for 90 yards but were penalized for 120 and even people in the stands started to grumble.
The fourth quarter didn’t show any football at all and it seemed everybody just wanted to go taking a shower. Weather took the fight out of them and finally the whistle ended the suffering.
It was an exhausting game for both teams. Silverhawks prevailed and if not for the penalties, the score would be higher. Now they head to Budapest to try getting another victory.
On the other hand, Zagreb showed improvement and sooner than later, they will become a serious contender.