ELF Recap: Week 3

By Peter Mann

The third week of the ELF regular season was certainly an exciting one for keen observers of the game, and not just for the fact that there were three shut-outs registered, or for a victory at the death that could have easily been a fourth but for a late ‘collapse.’

Add into that mix the extension of an unbeaten regular season record, with a revenge victory, and the season is already heating up, quite impressively.

TRIPLE SHUT-OUT Although there could easily have been four games on this but for a late comeback and an even late winner, there were three shut-outs witnessed across the ELF this past weekend, RAIDERS TIROL top-scoring on that with a 68-0 dismantling of hosts, Cologne Centurions on Saturday.

In posting eight TDs, and a handful of FGs, the Raiders were pretty relentless from the get-go, posting 17 (Q1), 21 (Q2), 10 (Q3) and 13 (Q4) points across the game; Tobias Bonatti and Lukas Haslwanter both claimed close-range, rushing scores, but the game highlights belonged to trebles for Adrian Platzgummer and Jan Wiesauer.

Veteran athlete, Platzgummer, older brother of the Galaxy’s Sandro, posted 154yds, 3 TDs in an impressive afternoon; his first was a 52yd to Marco Schneider, whilst the other two, from 54yds and 40yds respectively, were to JaCorey Sullivan.

Then running back, Wiesauer took over late on in the contest, he adding three rushing TDs of his own; 20yds, 35yds, and from close at 2yds, to bulk out the scoring and have final figures himself of 110yds, 3 TDs in Cologne.

PRAGUE LIONS claimed their shut-out success with a 40-0 win away to Fehervar Enthroners (also on Saturday) whilst the other went to expansion franchise, NORDIC STORM, who moved 3-0 in their maiden season, with a 35-0 success over visiting Berlin Thunder, and sit proudly atop of the North Division.  

The Storm’s victory made all the sweeter in that it was their first home game in franchise history – what a way to celebrate, victory at the Gladsaxe Stadion.

THRILLER IN FRANKFURT Although there’s every feeling the hosting Frankfurt Galaxy didn’t want this game to go down the way that it did.

Hosting the Paris Musketeers, in the Stadion Am Bieberer Berg, the Galaxy found themselves roaring into a then comfortable, nineteen-point, half-time lead; a dominant first half had seen them register 2 TDs and 2 FGs courtesy of Matthew McKay (see below for more) and Ryan Rimmler, the latter kicking two FG attempts from 46yds and 49yds.

Although the visiting Musketeers added an early, 37yd FG from Mathys Dupont, the Galaxy were still hopeful, until Jaylon Henderson claimed 3 TDs to spin the tie on its head; the first two were from close-range to Hugo Takedam, whilst the third was a solo effort, with a close-range rushing score to take his game statistics to 251yds 2 TDs (passing) and 97 yds, 1 TD (rushing).

Rimmler though popped up with his third FG of the game, this from 28yds, with just fifteen seconds remaining on the game-clock, to snatch victory for the relieved hosts.

REVENGE IS SWEETER, IN THEIR BACK YARD!! Having lost to Rhein Fire in the 2024 Championship Game, VIENNA VIKINGS were out for revenge in week three’s ‘Game of the Week,’ and, although it was a tight affair, revenge was what they achieved

Back in September last year, in Gelsenkirchen, the ever-strong Rhein Fire went back-to-back in the Championship Game, posting a 51-20 victory; eight months later and their opponents from that game, the Vienna Vikings, have put a little dampener on hopes of a three-peat.

In Dusseldorf, home of the Fire, the Vikings ‘stormed the castle’ and battled to, not only a 12-7 success, but stretched an unbeaten, regular season record which dates back to early September 2022, when falling to Wroclaw Panthers.

A very defensive clash of the ELF’s two, titanic franchises, saw the Vikings take a 6-0 lead in the first quarter after Ben Holmes hit Noah Toure from 20yds for a TD; the score stayed that way for seemingly age as the two behemoths continued to cancel each other out.

Further scoring, that didn’t arrive until the fourth quarter, with both Vikings and Fire registering; the visitors struck first, Holmes linking through the middle with Daniel Schwam from 23yds before the Fire looked to get back into the contest quickly, Chad Jeffries hitting Rory Starkey from fully 68yds out.

For the Fire, defeat cost them an unbeaten start and they move 1-1, whilst revenge for the Vikings, that sees them move 3-0 atop of the East Division.

As those crazy stats flowed, victory for the Vikings stretches that regular season point past the 1,000 day-mark, defeat for the Fire saw them not only lost on their first game in Dusseldorf in 18 years, but was also their first loss, of any sort, in 358 days.

QUARTERBACK McKAY CONTINUES TO LEAD THE GALAXY LINE Against the Paris Musketeers, 25-year-old McKay, a former XFL QB having gone undrafted in 2023, posted 200yds, 3 TDs passing, and 61yds rushing, allowed his side a little momentum.

The North Carolina native posted good numbers in high school and was named the third best in NC, and in the top fifty across the state has continued that form in the ELF, this season having seen the Musketeers game stats adding to that from the opening two weeks of the season.

Week One saw McKay post 177yds, 1 TD passing, 27yds rushing, against Stuttgart Surge, following up in Week Two with 215yds, 2 TDs passing, 72yds 1 TD rushing; going into gameday four, and an all-German clash at home to winless Cologne Centurions, expectations are that McKay will continue to increase his seasons stats.

STORM CONTINUE TO SHINE The expansion franchise, Nordic Storm, continued their impressive start to their debut season in the ELF as they moved 3-0 with a shut-out victory over Berlin Thunder.

It was the first game at their Gladsaxe Stadion home and, despite losing star running back, Glen Toonga, for the season, halfway through their opening game, other players have been putting on their numbers.

Quarterback Jadrian Clark has had a part in some 13 TDs and 857yds in the opening three outings of the season; WR Brendan Beaulieu has added half a dozen touchdowns, whilst RB Anton Witmeur, RB Alexander Kennedy Chaanhing, and TE Adria Botella, have also stormed the opposition defences.

WEEK FOUR sees two undefeated franchises, Vienna Vikings and Munich Ravens, both in action, the former hosting Raiders Tirol, in an all-Austrian affair, at the Generali-Arena, whilst the latter face an all-German encounter away to Stuttgart Surge, at the GAZi-Stadion auf der Waldau.

Two other, all-German affairs are also on the schedule, the weekend starting with 1-2 pairing Berlin Thunder travelling to Hamburg Sea Devils, whilst 0-2 Cologne Centurions heading to 2-1 Frankfurt Galaxy, at the PSD-Bank Arena.

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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