ELF Recap: Week 14

By Peter Mann

And then there was six; the regular season is now done and dusted and it is now time for the play-offs, with just six franchises remaining, and five games, before the 2025 European League of Football champion is crowned. Of the sextet in the off-season, two have been in this position before, and they’ve both gone all the way to lift the trophy as well.

So, here goes, the first point this week is that off-season and….

THEN THERE WAS SIX The ELF post-season is just around the corner and there’s just six franchises left in the mix as we prepare to crown a new, or even old champion as the apple falls.

The upcoming Wild Card weekend sees the two-time, defending champions, Rhein Fire (North Division runners-up; 2023, 2024 champions) on the road at league newcomers, Nordic Storm (North Division winners), whilst the other game will see Spaniards Madrid Bravos (South Division runners-up) travel to Germany and the hosting, 2023 runners-up, Stuttgart Surge (West Division winners).

The winner of each of those Wild Card matches are also both on the road, the winner of the Fire-Storm clash at the 2022 champions, and 2024 runners-up, Vienna Vikings (East Division winners), and the victors of Bravos-Surge face a trip to Munich Ravens (South Division winners).

Of those qualifying, the Vikings and Ravens have the best regular season record, progressing having finished 11-1, whilst the Storm and Surge were both 10-2, and the Bravo and Fire progressed 8-4.

Just missing out on the post-season dance was that of Paris Musketeers and Prague Lions, who were both 7-5, whilst Frankfurt Galaxy and Raiders Tirol finished honours even at 6-6.

SINNETT IS THE QUARTERBACK KING REID SINNETT only moved to Spain in October last year, ahead of this, 2025 season, and, alongside teammate Aaron Cruickshank (below) have both clicked massively, and, more-often than not, set the league alight.

The 28-year-old, Iowa-native, who’s been mentioned many times in this column throughout the season, has had NFL experience with primarily the Miami Dolphins (twice), as well as with Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals, and in the UFL with San Antonio Brahmas (twice) over the previous four years.

This season though, in the ELF, has been a one for the ages for Sinnett, finished the regular season with not one, but two league records attached to his name, leading the Madrid Bravos to an 8-4 record, and into the play-offs and a Wild Card berth.

This season has seen Sinnett claim both the Passing Yards record (3953yds), and the Passing TDs record (50TDs); overall this season he’s had a pass completion rate of 72.98% with six of his twelve games having seen him register for five of more TD scores.

CRUICKSHANK CLAIMS A LEAGUE TRIPLE CROWN Like his teammate, Reid Sinnett, Madrid Bravos’ wide receiver ARON CRUICKSHANK has had a season to remember as well, the Spaniard’s 8-4 regular season record qualifying them for the play-offs.

At just 24-years-old, Cruickshank has a good number of years left in the tank, and can be the heart in which a big, bright future is built around in the Spanish capital.

Again, like his teammate, Cruickshank has had some NFL experience having spent time with the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers in 2023; upon his arrival in Madrid, it was said that: “t will be exciting to see if he can find a connection to QB Sinnett.

“If so, the Bravos have acquired a dangerous, A-import duo.” January 2025

Well that certainly happened, Sinnett and Cruickshank have connected beautifully.

Over the dozen games the Bravos have played this season, Cruickshank has posted receiving stats of 1729yds, 20TDs, 122 receptions, he also has a catch percentage of 76.73%, with seven of Cruickshanks twelve games have seen him post a C% of more the eighty.  

FIRE QUALIFY WITH DEFEAT OF THE STORM With the Storm having already qualified for the post-season as winners of the North Division, defending champions and back-to-back winners, RHEIN FIRE, needed to win this one in order to qualify themselves.

And win they did, registering a battling, 27-19 success at home to the league newcomers, who they’ll now face on Wild Card weekend; both the Fire and the Storm scored three TDs apiece, with the victors succeeding courtesy of two FGs from Sebastian Van Santen, 46yds and 41yds respectively.

Chad Jeffries registered game stats of 164yds, 2TDs (rec), connecting with Jonathan Scott and Harlan Kwofie, whilst Scott also added a rushing score to finish the game with 55yds, 1TD (rush), 83yds, 1TD (rec); replying for the Storm Jadrian Clark had 392yds, 3TDs (pass), all connecting with Simon Foens 140yds, 3TDs (rec).

SEA DEVILS AND THUNDER SHARE AN ENTERTAINING, HUNDRED-POINT GAME In the highest scoring game of the weekend, German duo, HAMBURG SEA DEVILS and BERLIN THUNDER shared a hundred points, the former registering a 56-44 win.

The Sea Devils would move ahead and claim victory with high-scoring second and third quarters, 21-7 and 14-7 respectively, having lost the first and tied the third; the Sea Devils posted eight TDs whilst the Thunder replied with six TDs, a safety, as well as a FG, in a quite hectic game.  

Nils Schauerte kicked a 30yd FG which had the Thunder 16-0 ahead in the first quarter, the Sea Devils getting back into the contest in the closing minute of the opening salvos, from which they never really looked back, finally taking the lead themselves just before half-time, going in 28-23.

Sea Devils quarterback, Carlton Aiken, posted 268yds, 6TDs (pass) and 141yds, 1TD (rush), Chrisman Kyei added 59yds, 1TD (rush), the quarterback connecting with five teammates throughout, Zinedin Bendjabou posting 95yds, 2TDs (rec); in reply for Thunder and Jakeb Sullivan was 403yds, 4TDs (pass), along with Adrian Peter 29yds, 1TD (rush), Tyler Foster adding 147yds, 2TDs (rec) for measure.

This weekend sees the WILD CARD PLAY-OFFs taking place, Saturday 23 August being that of Madrid Bravos (8-4) away to Stuttgart Surge (10-2), whilst the following day, Sunday 24 August, has the defending champions, Rhein Fire (8-4), away to league newcomers Nordic Storm (10-2).  

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

 
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