Austrians waltz into the semis

Dacia Vienna Vikings — Kragujevac Wild Boars

Dacia Vienna Vikings have hosted Kragujevac Wild Boars on Saturday. It would be an understatement to claim that this meeting was lopsided, as the two teams showed different levels of play entirely. Furious Vikings have set a record in CEFL games up to this point scoring 82 points. Almost all of their drives have resulted in touchdowns and the team hasn’t punted once. From the very first quarter they’ve crushed all hopes of return by the visitors, who were left completely powerless. Austrian quarterback, Nico Hrouda, has a field day racking up 6 touchdowns.

The Wild Boars open the game with Isaiah Weed’s long pass to Milan Novaković. A couple of plays later their 37 yard field goal attempt gets blocked. No one could have anticipated it then, but it turned out that this first ineffective drive has foreshadowed Wild Boars’ whole performance for the day. From these first 3 minutes of the game, to the last 3, it was all about the home team.

The Vikings have fielded a balanced offense, moving the chains with both rushes and passes from the start. Then a rainbow pass for 43 yards by Nico Hrouda to Eystin Salum gets the Austrian team on the opposing 2 yards line. On the very next play Andrew Spencer runs it in and Alexander Rabl ups it by 1 for first point in the game 7–0.

The Wild Boars fail to run the ball and after their quarterback gets sacked by Leon Balogh and Oskar Kranich, he punts it short to own 35 yards.

After Vikings’ offense takes over, Spencer runs through the middle and finds a hole in the defense and sprints 24 yards for another score, and Rabl gets it to 14–0.

Guest teams’ offense can’t get in gear and they try to convert 4th down but fail at their own 22 yards.

On the next play Hrouda finds Philipp Dubravec on the vertical for a 22 yard touchdown. Dennis Tasic scores a PAT for 21–0.

Offensive line of the Wild Boars’ is no match for the Vikings’ defenders who are easily stifling every play. Weed completes a pass to Stefan Đurić down the right sideline for 14 yards, but then gets intercepted by Luis Horvath.

Then Hrouda tosses it to Daniel-Elias Schwam for 20 yards before Florian Wegan rushes for a 22 yard gain. Defensive sparks fly as first Milorad Novaković sacks Hrouda, and then he gets pressured again, scrambles left, throws into the end zone and is intercepted by Veljko Stojanović.

The Wild Boars try running again but the speedy Vikings’ defenders stop all attempts and a 3rd and long desperation pass falls incomplete. Spencer grabs the punt at midfield and returns it to opposing 39 yard line.

Hrouda completes to Dubravec for 17 yards and Florian Wegan hauls it in for 28–0. Then Tasic kicks it short and Nikolaus Huszar recovers it for the home team again on Wild Boars’ 35 yard line.

Austrians go through the air when Hrouda connects with Rudolf-Fabian Lee Frey for 15 yards and then locates Maurice Wappl on a corner routefor 35–0.

When the visiting team gets the ball their running back Ashton Heard rushes for 11 yards, but they can’t move from there. After three and out they go for the conversion on the last try and fail when Weed gets sacked by Alexander Watholowitsch at their own 15 yard line.

Vikes’ Kevin Wojta rushes for 19 yards and then Hrouda and Wappl link up for another score, 42–0.

In the last minute of the first half Weed tries to mount a drive passing for first down to Heard and rushing himself for another one. On a fourth down conversion he attempts another pass which falls incomplete.

With 18 second left in the first half Hrouda rushes for 42 yards but a 28 yards field goal boot is no good.

Wojta opens the second half with a 12 yard gain. Then Hrouda and David Schaaf play pitch and catch for 34 yards before Wojta finds the end zone for a 5 yard score and 49–0.

Weed’s passes are corralled by Novakovic and Filip Nedeljković for first downs but the Wild Boars are stuck there and a turnover on down is now at midfield.

Nico Hrouda wastes no time brothering up with Raul Hrouda down the left sideline for a touchdown, 55–0.

This time Weed completes a few passes and has a couple of rushes for good yardage. His team can’t keep the momentum though and they hand it over to the Vikings on fourth down yet again.

The Viennese are a yard short on their next drive when Wojta bolts twice for a total of 31 yards in the first play of the last quarter. Jakub Ovecka adds his own 13 and another 6 yards that take him across the goal line for 62–0.

Reduced to passing, Weed is strip-sacked by Vito Millauer, and the ball is recovered by Nikolaus Plenert on the Wild Boars’ 9 yard line.

Kevin Wojta surges for a 4 yard touchdown for a titillating 69–0.

Three incomplete passes lead the guests to a punt which lands in their own end of the field.

Ovecka and Wojta plough the green and Hrouda chalks up another six when he pins Marcel Helnwein for 17 yards. After a missed extra point the score is 75–0.

This time the Wild Boars get on the board. First, Weed delivers the ball ahead of the chains to Aleksa Smiljić and Novaković. On a quarterback keeper he rumbles down the left sideline for a 48 yard touchdown. Milan Stojanović tacks on one more for 75–7.

The Vikings answer on a 3rd and 22 play when Hrouda lifts it up for his sixth touchdown to Helnwein on a post route with a 58 yard score for the final 82–7.

Swarco Raiders Tirol — Milan Seamen

On the same Saturday another Austrian elite team, Swarco Raiders Tirol, have an excellent outing. Their offensive team leader, Sean Shelton continues where he had left off in CEFL Championship 2019, posting 4 touchdowns through the air and one over the ground. The meeting was marred by numerous penalties, mental errors and mistakes, mostly by Milan Seamen who have found their footing very late in the game.

The Raiders have the ball first. Sean Shelton employs Rafael Belici, Simon Pilger and Toni Rabensteiner for first downs. He adds yards over the ground too, capping the drive with a quarterback sneak to put his team on the scoreboard. Arno Schwarz appends the point after for 7–0.

On their first drive the Seamen respond with short passes by Luke Zahradka. A 15 yard penalty pushes them back and they punt to Raiders’ 7.

With their backs to the goal line the Raiders mount a coming out offense over Romed Zangerle’s rushes when a 15 yard defensive penalty helps them along. Shelton takes over with a pass to Rabensteiner for first down, and then hits Marco Schneider in stride and he turns on the jets and goes to the finish line for 54 yards and another score, 14–0.

The Seamen try to answer but only manage to dig themselves into a deeper hole with another penalty stricken drive. Zahradka takes charge connecting with Stefano Di Tunisi for big yards but an illegal forward pass negates his advancement. Faced with a 3rd and long Zahradka overthrows his receiver in traffic and Vincent Müller gets a pick 6 for 21–0.

Visiting team builds a promising drive and yet its momentum is again broken with a false start penalty. Zahradka alleviates the arrearage with a 15 yard rush but gets sacked by Alex Ferrari on 3rd down. Di Tunisi punts to opposing 20 yard line but Davion Washington cradles the ball and utilizes his blockers in front and is only tackled by the punter on the Seamen’ 25.

Home team has trouble moving the chains this time when an offside and a pass interference penalty place them on the Milanese 2 yard line. On a play action pass Shelton lobs it to Schneider who hauls it in for 28–0.

In the last minute until half time Zahradka flicks it to Ismail Lamamra for a 15 yards run before Sebastian Schaar punches it out of his hands for a fumble which gets picked by Raiders’ Tim Unger at the visitors’ 37 yard line.

With 38 seconds left before the intermission Shelton quickly locates Rabensteiner and then chucks it down the middle into Pilger’s sure hands for a 28 yard touchdown and 35–0.

In the third quarter neither offense can get their drives going. Multiple penalties from both sides stifle their team’s offensive attempts. Austrians have the ball last in this period when Shelton hooks up with Pilger and Belici. As the fourth quarter opens Shelton lifts an overhead pass into Schneider’s basket for 54 yards and then a back shoulder throw to Davion Washington for a 6 yard score, 41–0.

Teams trade penalties on Italians their next drive as well but this time the Seamen won’t be denied. Zahradka gets off the block with short passes to Leonardo Franchi, Di Tunisi, Andrea Fiammenghi and Jordan Bouah. William Petrone grounds out tough yards and Zahradka rockets it to Fiammenghi who’s all alone on the goal line for 50 yards and their team’s first points. Di Tunisi tacks on one more for 41–7.

Maurice Sailer launches the drive for the Tirolese over the ground when Enzo Mensah forces a fumble but Raiders’ Jeffery Asare falls on it. Home team’s offense still stalls and punts with less than 2 minutes left on the clock.

Zahradka gets the ball back near midfield and quickly dials up Fiammenghi for 45 yards. Next he finds Di Tunisi for 5 and Bouah for 6 yards to lower the score to the final 41–14.

These convincing wins are leading Austrian teams to the semifinals. The game will be played in two weeks, on 29 May at the Americal Footballzentrum in Innsbruck with the kickoff at 16:00 CET.