ELF Recap: Week 5

By Peter Mann

Victories for last seasons’ finalists in Week Five as Nordic Storm continue to reign supreme in an impressive, debut season thus far for the Scandinavian franchise, whilst German outfit, Rhien Fire, put their recent troubles aside to return to winning ways with a dominant, shut-out victory.

THE FIRE ARE ON FIRE The German franchise has endured a tough time but victory for RHEIN FIRE, at home to fellow countrymen Hamburg Sea Devils, tied their early season tally at 2-2, following an impressive, 43-0 shut-out victory.

Having suffered back-to-back losses to Vienna Vikings and Paris Musketeers, the Fire welcomed the Sea Devils to the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena with twenty-three points being registered in the first half, and the other twenty, they all came in the fourth quarter.

The Fire’s Chad Jeffries got the ball rolling with a close-range TD pass to Justin Schlesinger, whilst Jonathan Scott added two rushing TDs either side of the half; his first through 15yds, and second at 28yds.

In the fourth quarter there were additional TDs from Harlan Kwofie (Chad Jeffries, 5yds), and Rory Starkey (Rohat Dagdelen, 6yds), to complete the rout; overall Chad Jeffries posted 122yds, 2TDs and Jonathan Scott 135yds, 2TDs (rushing).

THERE’S A STORM BREWING The Scandinavian powerhouse, NORDIC STORM, moved 4-0 in the North Division, after they registered an impressive, 35-0 shut-out victory, against German side Frankfurt Galaxy (3-2, second in the West).

Similar to that of the Fire-Sea Devils, the Storm racked up the majority of their points in a dominant first half, posting twenty-nine points without reply (Q1 16-0, Q2 13-0), quarterback Jadrian Clark in his usual, aggressive form, throwing for three TDs, to Brendan Beaulieu (25yds), Adria Botella (45yds), and Edvin Almeida (4yds).

The Storm also posted two rushing TD scores, Jordan Heath from close, and the irrepressible Alexander Chaanhing on 19yds; overall Clark posted 273yds, 3TDs, with Beaulieu 127yds 1TD receiving.

IT’S TIGHT IN TIROL AS A POINT SPLITS RAIDERS AND BRAVOS AT THE DEATH The RAIDERS TIROL welcomed Madrid Bravos to the Tivoli Stadion, Innsbruck at the weekend, the hosts edging a near seventy-point game, by one, from a contest that really could have gone either way.

Separated by one TD at the halfway stage of the contest, the Raiders leading 21-14 thanks to N’Kosi Perry two TD passes (to JaCorey Sullivan, 24yds, and Philipp Haun, 22yds) in the second quarter, and an 8yd rushing TD in the first, afforded some breathing space.

The visitors kept themselves in the hunt though thanks to Reid Sinnett and Aron Cruickshank, the pair combining for Bravos’ first score, off a 27yd pass, before Sinnett hit Emilio Ibanez close-range for their second.

Lukas Haslwanter rushed for an impressive, 52yd score, with Tobias Bonatti then doing so from close range in the fourth as the Raiders kept their noses in-front; Sinnett and Cruickshank were having none of being dominated though, the pair combining twice, the last in the dying seconds, only to be narrowly edged out.  

Sinnett first hit Cruickshank from fully 63yds down the middle with a little over nine minutes remaining moved the Bravos withing nine points, then the pair combined again from close-range, with sixteen seconds left, but it was too little, too late, the Spaniards agonisingly missing out by one.

A tough loss for the Bravos as both they, and the Raiders, move into Week Six with a 3-2, winning record.

50-UP FOR BOTH RAVENS AND PANTHERS In opening the weekend’s games, the WROCLAW PANTHERS travelled to Germany and left with a big win, easing past the hosting Cologne Centurions, 57-3, to tie their season at 2-2, DJ Irons (205yds, 4TDs passing; 43yds, 1TD rushing) proving effective with the football.

Leading 43-0 at the half, and 50-0 at the end of third, it was a result that could easily have been much higher, with six TDs coming in the first half alone; Irons threw for three, and rushed for a fourth, as the Centurions had no answer for the Panthers star.

His best was a 29yd throw to Kacper Jaszewski in the second quarter, whilst there was also two impressive, rushing scores from Dawid Brzozowski (146yds, 2TDs rushing), who did so from first 36yds, then doubled up with a 70yd dash for added measure, Jakob Aldas with a 22yd FG in there for added measure.

Following the dominant first half, the Panthers eased off the gas in the second with just a close-range rushing score from Irons, and a 25yd pass for Przemyslaw Bana, and a full-length tear through the Centurions by Cornerback, Devan Burrell – the hosts completely deflated and defeated off that one.

Meanwhile the MUNICH RAVENS also hit a 50+ score when they moved to 3-1 following a 58-14 home win over the now 0-4, Helvetic Mercenaries, forty-nine of those points coming in a hell-fire of a first half for the visitors.

Seven TDs were registered in that first-half demolition, Russell Tabor (216yds, 3TDs) involved in three, whilst the other four were all rushing scores, from fifteen yards or less, courtesy of Justin Rodney (1yd), Benedict Pohler (9yds), Marvin Rutsch (13yds), and Levin Adrom (2yds).

Isiah Weed gave the Mercenaries a glimmer of hope with two scores over the third and fourth quarter, but the Ravens were already well out of sight, more as Daniel Schweiger hit a 38yd FG between those scores.

The Ravens closed out the scoring with a final TD of their own, their eighth of the contest, Adrom (111yds, 1TD) with a 25yd pass to Jannik Nowak to wrap up the win.

BRAVOS PAIR, SINNETT AND CRUICKSHANK, CONTINUE TO IMPRESS Despite the Madrid Bravos being narrowly edged in Austria, the pairing of Reid Sinnett and Aron Cruickshank continue to impress, the often-unstoppable duo adding another set of scores to their partnership.

The connection in which Sinnett has, not only with Cruickshank but also the likes of Juan-Carlos Calderon, and Justus Seelig say, is both an impeccable, and intuitive one; with Calderon the pair have already linked up for a half-dozen TDs, whilst the blossoming partnership with Cruickshank, after five matches, hit eight with the treble against Raiders Tirol.

In the previous two weeks, Sinnett-Cruickshank have connected for a pair of TDs, with the Q2, 73yd pass, in the 45-7 success away to the Fehervar Enthroners, the largest of their scores.  

In their last outing, the one-point loss in Austria, Sinnett posted 254yds, 5TDs (passing) and 25yds (rushing), whilst Cruickshank nailed 32yds (rushing) and 146yds, 3TDs (receiving).

Thus far, after five weeks of the regular season, both Cruickshank (827yds) and Seelig (344yds) are in the top five of the league’s receiving yards leaders, the former topping the pile, whilst Sinnett’s 1685yds has him topping the passing yards leaders.

Now, with WEEK SIX just around the corner, there’s the intriguing, return match-up, of Rhein Fire (2-2) and Vienna Vikings (4-0), as the Germans head to Austria, and the undefeated Nordic Storm (4-0) welcome Wroclaw Panthers (2-2); there’s two, all-German clashes, on Sunday evening, with the weekend closing out with Frankfurt Galaxy (3-2) making the trip to France and Paris Musketeers (2-2).

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
5/5