The second CEFL Championship semifinal was played in La Courneuve where the Flash greeted Calanda Broncos. It was a defensive fest, with all points scored in the second quarter. The visitors’ electric running game was unstoppable which made all the difference.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash de La Courneuve | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Loss |
| Calanda Broncos | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Win |
Home team’s offense was the first on the turf but their drive ended with a punt after 3 and out. The Broncos were more concrete, mostly using their QB Robin Sennrich’s legs to capture a bulk of the yardage. Nonetheless, their 4th down conversion flopped on the opposing 14 yard line.
Flash offense still couldn’t budge and had to punt again, yielding the short field to the rivals. Maxwell Gray sprinted ahead of the chains and Sennrich first tossed to Noah Bachofen and then found a hole for a 6 yard touchdown, 0-7.
Parisians shifted their focus to the ground game. François Pion and Judson Saint Louis ploughed the field but a sack erased much of the gain and another punt ended their expectations.
Broncos’ power pair continued where they left off. Gray and Sennrich kept pounding the ball over and over gaining first downs. To top it all off they connected on a passing play for a 24 yard score, 0-14.
With 24 seconds left in the first half the Flash could only get close enough to attempt a 34 yard field goal but the ball missed its mark.
More of the same followed in the sequel. Sennrich and Gray carried the team forward with Bachofen picking up the slack. As they were closing in for another score a face mask penalty confronted them with a 2nd and 25 which proved too much and a turnover on downs ensued.
Hosts’ running backs Saint Louis and Jason Bofunda lead the way on the next drive, which still ended on a fruitless 4th down attempt. Their opponents’ offensive series resulted with an equal outcome.
Time flies when you’re running. It was already the last quarter and the Flash were in panic mode. Badis Grami tossed to Yassine Sifeddine to extend the offensive march but the chains were glued there on all 4 downs.
Offensive plan didn’t change for the Broncos. There was no reason for them to abandon the running strategy. Gray broke tackles for hefty gains and Sennrich followed suit milking the clock. When they finally punted, there was 3:33 left to go.
That wasn’t of much use to the Flash as they concluded their last drive on another turnover on downs dispersing their hopes with it.
Winning this semifinal Calanda Broncos will play in the final game once again after 2019. This time they’ll face Danube Dragons Vienna in the CEFL Bowl XVIII on 22 June.