The beginning of the season again looked bleak for Ljubljana Silverhawks. It seems that every new season brings some sort of trouble for the best Slovenian team. This year there were enormous problems with import players. After a terrible decision to bring QB Craig Maynard last November and Maynard’s blindside hit to go to Austria just before the start of the season, Silverhawks were in big rush to bring in a new passer. Due to USA and Slovenian bureaucracy Kenric McNeal just missed the home opener and so did the linebacker Jason Kramer. All in all – Silverhawks were still without imports on Saturday.
Their opponents, reigning champions, mighty Belgrade SBB Vukovi, already had two scalps under their belt. Sitting well on top of the standings table with 2-0 they were absolute favorites for their third SportKlub CEFL game of the season.
When it became clear that Silverhawks will have to play with homegrown players only, their head coach Rok Štamcar was trying to put together a game plan that would at least ensure some sort of survivability against the American-led SBB Vukovi offense. Silverhawks defense was not so questionable, but a team that plays without a good QB has got serious problems moving the ball in SportKlub CEFL competition.
The stands of the Slovan stadium at Kodeljevo were packed even before the coin toss which was this time performed by a special guest, U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli, who also brought a special coin for the occasion. It favored the visiting team who were given the ball for the first possession of the game. It didn’t do well for SBB Vukovi when they were playing offense on fourth down deep in their territory and lost possession of downs. But Silverhawks also didn’t manage to move the ball and they punted the ball to SBB Vukovi’s one yard line.
Here, the first surprise of the game came – SBB Vukovi offensive line was not able to contain the rush and domestic team’s defenders were able to bring Vukovi’s runner to the ground and score a safety! While the stands erupted it was the Silverhawks offense that got the ball back but it was still too much for the blue team to capitalize. Rok Štamcar has installed a special QB committee that consisted of two best athletes on the team and a backup QB Matej Musič. The idea of such offense was to keep SBB Vukovi defense guessing and try to surprise them with one or two passes. But one of those passes had sailed away and it wasn’t hard for SBB Vukovi’s cornerback Marko Bates to intercept it. However, home defense was playing hard in the first quarter and it was 2:0 at the beginning of the second.
It was actually this quarter that saw most of the action. SBB Vukovi started to drive downfield and it seemed like they finally found the rhythm they had in previous games. QB Shaun Rutherford kept finding his receivers with quick short passes that were moving the chains and also did some damage running. Finally, SBB Vukovi managed to get the ball on a one yard line and it was Rutherford who faked the handoff and ran into the endzone. Having their starting kicker Stanojev injured, a substitute kicker’s first PAT attempt was blocked, but the play was negated due to the penalty. After that SBB Vukovi tried with a 2-point conversion but the home defense prevailed and it remained 2:6.
Silverhawks remained unfazed by SBB Vukovi’s lead and started to churn out big yardage on the ground. It was Gregor Črepinšek who did the most damage and moved Silverhawks offense downfield. Then Eugen Sumić rolled over into the endzone on a QB sneak and sent the stands of more than 600 spectators into another frenzy. Aleš Zakšek was ineffective at PAT and it was 8:6 for Silverhawks.
Since this moment on, the gridiron turned into a defensive battlefield. Linebacker Dextrell Simmons finally started to find Črepinšek’s number, while Silverhawks’ defensive line layed siege to Rutherford. Both Jans – Jakus and Lipovec kept breathing into Rutherford’s grill who had to get rid of the ball sooner than he’d like to.
It was the same picture through the third quarter. Both teams tried in vain to score new points and Silverhawks were ferociously defending their slim 2-point lead. With Gregor Črepinšek stopped by a hit into the ribs, his offense ground to a halt and both teams were exchanging punts.
It was the fourth quarter that has seen decisive action. SBB Vukovi were finally on pace to catch up. With the help of opponenets’ penalties and Rutherford’s passes they were coming hard into the red zone. Things would look much different if one of those passes didn’t end up directly in the hands of cornerback Sandi Holub who was able to sprint down the entire field into SBB Vukovi’s endzone. Zakšek was now accurate and Silverhawks were celebrating, 15:6.
The final minutes of the game were hectic with lots of attempted long passes, but another interception by Luka Klarič after a ball deflection has finally ended SBB Vukovi’s efforts and gave the home team a great victory.
By no doubt was this game a manifest of defensive performance. Even without the help of import players Silverhawks were able to sustain all sorts of pressures from the champions and this victory comes on par with the victory in the 2012 bowl game or the epic battle of 2009 in Budapest. Victories over SBB Vukovi team don’t come often and don’t come easy, so it was a testament of good offseason work and good fundamentals of a small team from Ljubljana.