ELF Recap: Wildcard Weekend

By Peter Mann

For some, the weekend’s results in the European League of Football Wild Card games went as expected, for others, myself included, it was kind of a surprise – personally I’d have gone with Madrid Bravos over Stuttgart Surge, and thought it would be a game too far for Nordic Storm and Rhein Fire to book their place in the final four.

Happy that the Storm progressed, I’m a little disappointed with the Bravos exiting in the opening throes of the post-season, but it happens, and the Surge and the Fire deserve their place in the semi-finals.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES ANOUNCED Award nominees have been announced in the ELF ahead of the ceremony, in Stuttgart, in 6 September; they are, among others, that of the Comeback Player of the Year, Defensive Rookie Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie Player of the Year, Offensive Lineman of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, and Homegrown Player of the Year.    

COMEBACK – Florian Bierbaumer (TE, Vienna Vikings), Gerald Amein (RB, Frankfurt Galaxy), Jon Cole (WR, Fehervar Enthroners)

DEFENSIVE ROOKIE – Arthur Kingdom (LB, Prague Lions), Niklas Steinbuchel (SS, Cologne Centurions), Jaimie Riedel (DT, Hamburg Sea Devils)

OFFENSIVE ROOKIE – Tyler Foster (WR, Stuttgart Surge), Justus Seelig (RB, Madrid Bravos), Chrisman Kyei (RB, Hamburg Sea Devils)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN – Brendan Oswin (OT, Madrid Bravos), Alessandro Vergani (OG, Stuttgart Surge), Roman Wahreit (OT, Munich Ravens)  

DEFENSIVE PLAYER – AJ Wentland (LB, Wroclaw Panthers), Kyle Kitchens (DE, Hamburg Sea Devils), Lautaro Frecho (S, Prague Lions)

OFFENSIVE PLAYER – Aron Cruickshank (WR, Madrid Bravos), Ben Holmes (QB, Vienna Vikings), Jadrian Clark (QB, Nordic Storm)

HOMEGROWN PLAYER – Lukas Haslwanter (RB, Raiders Tirol), Aleksandar Borkovic (S, Fehervar Enthroners), Lars Heidrich (QB, Stuttgart Surge) 

Other award nominees can be found on the leagues’ website, and social media channels.

SURGE DOWN BATTLING BRAVOS AT HOME Winners of the West Division, STUTTGART SURGE progressed to the final four of this season’s ELF competition with a battling, but ultimately comfortable, 41-17 victory at home to Madrid Bravos.

A scoreless first quarter was brushed aside by the German hosts, who put on twenty-nine points across the second and third quarters combined (21-3 & 7-0), to go into the fourth with a 29-3 lead.

The Bravos finally pushed themselves in the final quarter but, too little too late, was an understatement as the Surge ran in 6TDs to the Bravos 2TDs and 1FG, the usually dominant Spaniards freezing in the post-season spotlight.

Alvaro Penas registered the Spaniards only points of the first half, kicking a 30yd FG in the second quarter, and, by the time the fourth was reached, and fourteen of their seventeen points were put on the board as Reid Sinnett finished the tie with stats of 321yds, 2TDs (pass), connecting with Aron Cruickshank and Sixten Dragan.

On the opposite side meanwhile and Reilly Hennessey was firing on all cylinders, posting 234yds, 1TD (pass), 20yds, 1TD (rush), alongside Kai Hunter 35yds, 1TD (rush), with Marko Vidackovic adding returned punt from Sinnett.

Of the three passing scores from Hennessey, he connected twice with Louis Geyer (57yds and 34yds), and once with Michael Harley Jnr (29yds) in what was a productive outing for the Surge.

NEWCOMERS STORM TO ANOTHER WIN, SEEING OFF THE FIRE As debut seasons go, that put on by the NORDIC STORM is fast becoming the stuff of dreams.

A 10-2 regular season, North Division winners, and now Wild Card winners, progressing to the final four and this having lost MVP running back, Glen Toonga, back at the start of it all, and had three, bruising encounters with German outfit, Rhein Fire, back-to-back ELF Champions, 2023 and 2024.

A narrow win for Storm in July was followed by defeat a month later, fast-forward to late August and another, tight encounter was witnessed, the Storm winning through with a 28-23 success, registering 5TDs to 2TDs and 3FGs.

Sebastian Van Stanten would kick those three scores for the Fire (33yds, 37yds, and 57yds), but the defending champions fell just short; Chad Jeffries 156yds, 1TD (pass), and Jonathan Scott 158yds, 1TDs (rush), Jeffries’ one TD pass connecting with Harlan Kwofie; Scott’s rushing score was over 59yds in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Storm’s MVP QB, Jadrian Clark was at his usual, irrepressible best, posting 309yds, 3TDs (pass), connecting with Simon Foens, Edvin Almeida, and Adria Botella, whilst Armand Soulerot added 83yds, 1TD (rush).

Following a full-on regular season, and the two Wild Card games this past weekend, the semi-finals of this season’s ELF Championship are well-and-truly locked in, and, perhaps surprisingly mind, it’s the four, divisional winners who’ve made the final four.

North Divisional winners, and ELF newcomers, Nordic Storm, are in Austria, against the East Division winners, Vienna Vikings, whilst there’s an all-German clash in the other tie with West Division winners, Stuttgart Surge, making the shortish trip to the South Division’s Munich Ravens – it’ll all make for an interesting weekend of action.

SEMI-FINAL ONE; NORDIC STORM @ VIENNA VIKINGS (30 AUGUST) The newcomers, they’ve taken the league by storm this season as NORDIC STORM head to Austria having won the North Division, then ousted, for a second time in three meetings over the past few months of action, defending champions Rhein Fire, beating them in the Wild Card game to set up a clash with the Vikings.

VIENNA VIKINGS meanwhile, they not only won the East Division, but were also the #1 seeds with a bye into the semi-finals, and will be hoping to carry on the run which took them to last seasons Championship Game.

Led by MVP quarterback of the past two seasons, Jadrian Clark, the Storm have impressed, whilst exciting an ever-increasing fanbase, and that’s despite the loss of star running back, Glen Toonga, early in the campaign.

Clark is very ably assisted by running backs Anton Witmeur and Alexander Kennedy, and wide receivers Simon Foens and Brendan Beaulieu, in what is an action-packed roster; Clark’s stellar season, to date (his fifth in the ELF following spells with Hamburg Sea Devils and Rhein Fire).

Having now played 50 career games, this campaign has seen him post stats of 4017yds, 50TDs, his best return with still, at least, one more game to play.

Austrian powerhouses, the Vikings meanwhile, have seen the quarterback effortlessly led them to this season’s final four whilst being brilliantly supported by his running backs Karri Pajarinen and Florian Wegan, and wide receivers Reece Horn and Noah Toure.

In his second season both in the ELF, and with the Vikings, he has certainly impressed thus far and, in his dozen games this time around has posted stats of 2787yds, 40TDs and will look to help push his employers to a second successive Championship Game.

PREDICTION – a tough one to call, both franchises will want to go for it and, with a pair of MVP-standard quarterbacks, it could easily be anyone’s game. Let’s go for a close encounter (could be high scoring) and half-dozen points either way.

Why, head says Vikings and heart says Storm….

SEMI-FINAL TWO; STUTTGART SURGE @ MUNICH RAVENS (31 AUGUST) An all-German contest in the second semi-final sees West Division winners, STUTTGART SURGE, make the short trip to South Division top franchise, MUNICH RAVENS, after the Surge had seen off visiting Madrid Bravos in their Wild Card clash.

The Ravens are led by their quarterback, Russell Tabor, who’s ably supported by running backs Justin Rodney, Benedikt Pohler, and Simon Homadi. and wide receivers Malik Stanley and Jannik Nowak, the 22yr old QB enjoying his first season with the Ravens.

Of his dozen games played, thus far, Tabor has posted stats of 2315yds, 27TDs, whilst teammate Rodney is enjoying his best-ever season; his third year with the Ravens, after two with Frankfurt Galaxy, Rodney has posted himself, 1082yds, 11TDs, better than most of the previous four seasons, combined.

As for the Surge, having brushed aside the Bravos, 41-17 in the Wild Cards, Reilly Hennessey has been storming his way ahead for the Germans, well-assisted by his running backs Kai Hunter and Bryan Yankson, and wide receivers Michael Harley Jnr and Louis Geyer.

Hennessey is in the midst of his third season both in Germany, and with the Surge, but is yet to reach the heights of last seasons’ 35TDs; this time around the American has registered 2410yds, 23TDs.  

PREDICTION – Thinking this one may well be a much wider affair than the other contest, with (sorry Surge fans), Ravens coasting through by a 10+ points winning margin.

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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