Current Italian champions Parma Panthers have greeted Swiss national league winners Calanda Bronocs in the last quarterfinal of the CEFL Championship. Errant snaps, muffed balls and sacks plagued both teams’ offenses throughout the first half. Although they struck empty in the front quarter, the guests posted 5 touchdowns on the day to take home the W.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parma Panthers | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 20 | Loss |
| Calanda Broncos | 0 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 34 | Win |
The nerves got the better of both teams coming into the game. On their first offensive play the Broncos fumbled the exchange on a reverse play and visitors’ DB Luca Montaresi recovered it. The Panthers had their own share of troubles moving the chains and couldn’t take advantage.
Teams traded punts before the Italian team’s domestic QB Tommaso Monardi linked up with Luca Aldrighetti and Dario Zatti to keep the drive going. Michael Alfieri added more yards over the ground to get his team inside the red zone and Francesco Diaferia sent it through the uprights for the opening points 3-0.
The Broncos answered right back when Robin Sennrich launched a rocket to Maxwell Gray and then spotted Adrian Sünderhauf for a new set of downs and again on a skinny post to claim the lead they will never relinquish, 3-7.
A couple of punts later the Florentines got the ball back in their possession. Monardi went deep and the underthrown ball was picked by Matthias Tanno. Another pair of punts followed and painfully for the Panthers, their punter had to chase after an overhead snap and barely send it to own 19 yard line.
Noah Bachofen brought the visitors 5 yards away from the scoring area and Sennrich hit a slanting Phillip Holm Boye in it to raise the bar to 3-14.
At the start of the second half, Monardi catapulted the ball to Alinovi for the better part of the field. Alfieri found a hole in the front seven dashing to the 3 yard line and Jaylin Parnell broke a tackle to rumble in for his team’s premier touchdown, 10-14.
Following the home team’s next unproductive attack, their punt was caught by Gray. He hurdled one tackler and escaped three more with a rolling move, speeding up to the opposing 25 yard line. Sennrich connected with Selome Adzayi on the 4th down to extend the drive and Gray scampered in for 10-20.
Italians responded with Monardi tossing to Alinovi when Andre Blackett Jr. forced a fumble on him, but Alfieri was alert, scooped the ball and bolted forward for a large gain. That wasn’t profitable for the Panthers as they couldn’t convert the 4th and 1 from the opposing 16 yard line.
Empowered by that, Sennrich raced the length of the field on a couple of QB keeper plays to up the scoring difference to 10-27.
The last period began with Monardi hooking up twice with Matteo Ghelfi and Alfieri breaking tackles to place the ball in field goal range. Diaferia booted another 3-pointer for 13-27.
On the ensuing kickoff, returner Simon Beer got stripped of the ball by Montaresi, and Gabriele Paganini recovered it for the Florentines and pushed through to the Swiss 15 yard line. Parnell rumbled in and they were suddenly just a touchdown behind with 20-27.
Still, the visiting team had other ideas. Never fearing the 3rd and long situation, Sennrich lobbed it to Gray to get the pressure off and then to Celeste Conceprio who darted ahead of the chains. After another couple of QB runs, Blackett Jr. ploughed forward to the final score of 20-34.
The Panthers were in desperation mode passing the ball. Just when they got within the striking distance, Ola Gaarden recorded an interception in his team’s end zone late in the game.
Calanda Broncos are the only team to advance to the semifinals playing on the road this season. They will continue their journey at Flash de La Courneuve on 1 June. The French team has squeaked into the semis win a close shave versus Stockholm Mean Machines.
