ELF Recap: week 6

By Peter Mann

And then there was one, perhaps surprisingly it’s the expansion franchise at that. Following the round of matches in week six only Nordic Storm remain undefeated, why, well Vienna Vikings lost their clash of the titans against visiting Rhein Fire. There was also plenty of entertaining, high-scoring action, across the league, but it’s the Storm that are impressing.

THE STORM CONTINUES TO BREW The only franchise to remain undefeated in this season’s ELF campaign, and it’s the expansion franchise, NORDIC STORM (5-0), after they came from behind to see off visiting Wroclaw Panthers (2-3).

The Panthers led 7-0 and 13-8 in the second quarter before the Storm rallied impressively, and led 24-13 at the halfway mark, turning up the heat through the third and fourth quarters to seal a 47-19 success.

All the TDs from the Storm were from close-range, with the longest being QB Jadrian Clark to TE Adria Botella from seventeen yards in the third as the two, home MVPs turned the screw the longer the game progressed; Clark finished with figures of 370yds, 6TDs, and Botella with 63yds, 4TDs (rec) as they continue to make the league look easy.

The Panthers would lead twice with second quarter scores from Dawid Brzozowski and DJ Irons, close-range rushing TDs, Jadrian Clark however having a huge say in how the half finished when throwing for Adria Botella, Simon Foens, and Jonathan Nielsen, for TD scores.

Although Irons added another score for the Panthers in the third, the remainder of the contest was all about the accuracy of Clark, and a further three TD passes for Botella to score.  

RETURN OF THE RHEIN A recent bump in the road was, at present, seemingly just that, a blip, as German giants, RHEIN FIRE (3-2) avenged their earlier loss to Vienna Vikings (4-1) with a stunning, 33-26 win in Austria.

Both scored impressive TDs but it was the Fire’s QB Chad Jeffries who’d come out on top, his side registering five unanswered in a strong, fourth quarter, he finishing with 174yds, 1TD; 26yds, 1TD (rush), whilst in reply, Ben Holmes and WR Reece Horn also impressed, the former posting 296yds, 3TDs, and the latter 159yds, 3TDs.

It was to be a back-and-forth contest of epic proportions as well, the Vikings only leading once, late in the third quarter as Jeffries and Holmes enjoyed a battle of wits, the Fire drawing first, and the Vikings last, along with the presence of a couple of FGs for added measure.

Dennis Tasic was first to register there, for the Vikings, from 43yds in the second quarter, Erritros Haggi adding a kick of his own, from 29yds, for the Fire in the same; Haggi also kicked for 25yds in the fourth to keep the Fire in front, although it would be the Vikings who’d register the game’s biggest scores.

Ben Holmes threw for 59yds to Reece Horn in the third quarter, he also hitting Horn from 40yds in the first, whilst Jeffries hit Harlan Kwofie from 55yds for the opening score in what became a busy game.  

GERMAN DELIGHT (I) Of the two, all-German contests, closing out the weekend’s action, the first would see MUNICH RAVENS (4-1) pick up a 35-12 win away to compatriots, Berlin Thunder (2-4), although it never looked like that after a scoreless, first quarter.

The Ravens though pocketed fourteen points in both the second and fourth quarters to see out the win, QB Russell Tabor again impressing with 265yds, 3TDs, whilst the Thunder QB Jakeb Sullivan replied with 338yds, 1TD; 24yds, 1TD (rush).

Tabor showed his range against the Thunder with the scores arriving at three different lengths – 20yds (Benedikt Pohler), 31yds (Philip Okonkwo), and 52yds (Michael Stadler).

GERMAN DELIGHT (II) The last game of the weekend, and second of the two, all-German contests, would see STUTTGART SURGE (4-1) ease to high-scoring, 88-7 win away to winless Cologne Centurions (0-5), the Surge certainly cooking in the game statistics.

Kicker Tim Bronn helped himself to three FGs, whilst there was doubling up for a number of the Surge roster, QBs Lars Heidrich and Reilly Hennessey leading the way with 201yds, 2TDs, and 82yds, 2TDs respectively; in addition, there were further scores via RBs, Ghanaian Bryan Yankson, American Micah McCullough and German Kai Hunter with 126yds, 2TDs (rush), 84yds, 2TDs (rush) and 48yds, 2TDs (rush).

Five of the Surge’s TDs were rattled out in the first quarter alone, the shell-shocked Centurions folding as Hunter bagged the first two, Hennessey hit Michael Harley Jnr from 37yds, then he went on a 71yd punt return rushing score, and Yankson completed the 35-point demolition.

After that it was one-way traffic, all the way, Hennessey hitting Florian Lengauer from 14yds, McCullough and Heidrich also adding a couple apiece, along with a trio of FGs from Timo Bronn from 30yds, 25yds, and 31yds.   

THE NORDIC STORM (TROOPERS) Debut season for the franchise, but not for the players, who have gelled brilliantly and are making NORDIC STORM an early force to be reckoned with. Irrespective of who it is on the Storm roster, they’re putting up stats to impress across the board.

Whether it be at quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, or even defensive end, the Storm are showing up and making strides in the leagues’ leader’s charts, they being led by the impressive TE, Spaniard Adria Botella (a four-time All Star, four-year ELF veteran, with four different franchises – Hamburg Sead Devils, Vienna Vikings, Paris Musketeers, Wroclaw Panthers), who leads the way with eight receiving TDs and is third in passing yardage sitting on 1500yds.

Four-year, ELF veteran, American QB Jadrian Clark, understandably, leads the passing TDs with an impressive 22, American WR Brendan Beaulieu in second in receiving yards with 633yds, and British DE Max Parkinson (who spent last season with Rhein Fire) heads up the sacks chart with seven to his name.

Heading into week seven of the ELF regular season and the league is teaming up with DKMS, under their motto of ‘We Tackle Blood Cancer Together,’ with four of the games in Germany – at Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Cologne, having DKMS booths present.

Game-wise, the weekend begins in Hamburg as the Sea Devils (2-4) welcome Madrid Bravos (3-2), it’s a case of the undefeated against the winless in the late game as Helvetic Mercenaries (0-5) travel to Nordic Storm (5-0), whilst Sunday sees Prague Lions (3-2) clash with hosts Frankfurt Galaxy (3-3), Vienna Vikings (4-1) travel to Tirol Raiders (4-2), and the weekend finale of the two 4-1 franchises, Munich Ravens hosting Stuttgart Surge.

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

 
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