Last regular season game of the CEFL Cup was played this Sunday in Poland. Current national runners-up, Tychy Falcons, have welcomed Czech champions from last season, Vysočina Gladiators. This was the first time for both these teams appearing in the CEFL and they’ve left their mark on the Cup tournament.
As the final matchup of the Northern group, this game held no competitive edge since Prague Lions have already placed in the finals by beating both these teams. The home team has opened the scoring session and the Gladiators managed to tie but that was all they could do. The Poles have scored 29 unanswered points until the end, winning every individual quarter.
The Falcons open the game with the ball in their possession. Their quarterback’s first pass gets intercepted by Jan Leština, and the Gladiators have the short field. They get pushed by defensive penalties to the 3 yard line. When their efforts get stopped by a stout goal line defense, Darius Lewis adds insult to injury blocking their field goal try.
Polish team is on the offense again. Grzegorz Dominik grabs a couple of passes for 24 yards and Bartosz Woch adds 11 more over the ground. Jan Szwej grinds out the remaining 38 yards in 4 running plays, the last of which ends behind the goal line.
Falcons: Jan Szwej 10 yard rush, PAT is good, 7-0
Ensuing kickoff is returned to opposing territory by Stanislav Lepič but his team can’t budge from there. Then Woch breaks off into an 18 yard run but the Falcons have to punt after their quarterback gets sacked first by Jan Prosr and then by Martin Kulha. The visitors waste no time equalizing the score on a go route.
Gladiators: Jan Dundáček 47 yard pass to Tomáš Hlach, PAT is good, 7-7
The home team answers right back with a long drive featuring rushes by Lewis and quarterback Christopher Jeffrey. A familiar face takes the ball to the house again taking the Polish team into the lead.
Falcons: Jan Szwej 8 yard rush, PAT is good, 14-7
Their kickoff team posts another highlight when Kacper Pustołka forces a fumble on a returner and Mateusz Kamiński recovers on the Gladiators’ 8 yard line. A play later the home team scores on a quarterback keeper.
Falcons: Christopher Jeffrey 7 yard rush, PAT is good, 21-7
When the second half begins, the visiting team fumbles twice and recovers both times, but has to punt. Their defense shows up when Leština sacks the rival’s signal caller and the Falcons need to punt as well. Home teams’ defensive unit does one better when Deivydas Merkelis picks off opposing quarterback. When their offense steps onto the field Jeffrey dials his own number on a long scamper to the end zone.
Falcons: Christopher Jeffrey 30 yard rush, 2 point conversion is good (Darius Lewis 3 yard rush), 29-7
After another fruitless attack by the Gladiators, Szwej sprints for 50 yards to get the Polish team into the red zone. Two penalties for 25 yards make them go the wrong way and they fail to score a field goal. More of their penalties advance the visitors’ drive for 30 yards before Marek Ryguła and Krystian Kowalczyk share a sack. Tomáš Hlach hauls in a 22 yard pass but his offense can’t move the chains on the next 4 downs. When the Falcons take over, Lewis bolts for 26 yards on a pair of plays and a Jeffrey’s trifecta drops the curtain on the matchup.
Falcons: Christopher Jeffrey 4 yard rush, PAT is good, 36-7