Instant classic in Wrocław derby: Devils win 31-24 in overtime
The little field on Sztabowa street was packed with a standing-room only crowd for the Wrocław derby on Sunday, and the game not only lived up to expectations, but surpassed them. The Devils tied the game on a touchdown and two-point conversion with 18 seconds left, and then beat the Crew in the first overtime to keep their hopes of an undefeated season alive with a stunning 31-24 triumph.
If the game was indeed a preview of Polish Bowl V, as many people believe, we are in for the best final game yet in Poland. The Devils controlled the game for most of the first half, although a Crew touchdown on the final play kept the lead down at the break. The Devils were helped by a rare penalty on the last play of regulation that gave them a short field to work with in overtime, after being shut out for most of the second half.
The beginning of the game was somewhat ominous for the Devils, who were routed 75-0 by the Crew in last year’s derby. Though they stopped the Crew on the game’s opening drive, the Devils quickly lost a fumble on their own possession and the Crew took over at midfield. The drive ended quickly, when American quarterback Mark Philmore scrambled for 30 yards and the game’s first touchdown. Kamil Ruta’s extra point made it 7-0.
His counterpart, Krzysztof Wydrowski, on the other hand, played an excellent game. He threw for four touchdowns, the first coming towards the end of the first quarter on a 41-yard bomb to Patrycjusz Pałac. Krzysztof Wis’s extra point was blocked, however, and the score stood at 7-6 at the end of a quarter of play.
Wydrowski has now thrown for 22 touchdowns (against only one interception) on the season and run for four more, a total that is miles ahead of anyone else in the league and has to make him the favorite for league MVP. He threw his second touchdown of the game in the second quarter, to Dawid Tarczyński, and a few minutes later Wis booted a PLFA season-long field goal of 49 yards to give the Devils a 16-7 lead. The kick just cleared the crossbar inside the left post, and it began to look like everything would go the Devils’ way this afternoon.
That changed when the Crew got the ball back just inside the two-minute warning, and drove quickly down the field on a series of quick runs. It looked like they would run out of time, however, as Philmore took the final snap of the half with only five seconds remaining. He heaved it down the left sideline and completed his only pass of the game, a 27-yarder to Telley Cheeley, who leaped to catch it and just got both feet down inbounds in the end zone to change the complexion of the game going into halftime. The score stood at 16-14 for the Devils.
Both offenses bogged down in the second half, as the Devils bent but mainly didn’t break against the one-dimensional Crew offense, and the Crew did the same against Wydrowski, who went 17-30 in the game with 207 yards passing. That total towered over the 27 yards of passing offense by the Crew, who outrushed the Devils 308 to 108. Ruta’s 33-yard field goal was the only scoring of the third quarter, but it gave the Crew the lead again, 17-16.
Jakub Płaczek ran for 121 yards for the Crew, and he and Philmore accounted for more than 80 percent of the team’s offense. The duo led the Crew down the field on a long drive that ate up most of the second half of the fourth quarter, and culminated with a 9-yard score from Philmore. Ruta’s extra point made it 24-16, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty meant the Crew would kick off from their own 15-yard line.
That was costly, as the Devils were able to return the kick into Crew territory, setting up shop at the 46-yard line with 1:42 remaining. Wydrowski was cool under pressure, and he drove his team down inside the ten with under a minute remaining. A quarterback draw got the ball to the one-yard line, and with no timeouts remaining and the clock running, Wydrowski took the next snap and found Tarczyński in the end zone to get the Devils within two. They lined up to go for two, of course, and Wydrowski rolled to his right and found a wide-open Daniel Delahoussaye to tie the game.
The Crew won the toss and elected to start on defense, meaning the Devils would get the ball at the 12-and-a-half yard line. They took three plays to get into the end zone, with Delahoussaye’s diving catch at the goal line giving the Devils the lead once again. Wis’s extra point made it 31-24, and the Crew took over for their possession, starting at the 25.
They were called for offensive holding on the first play, moving the ball back to the 35, and then Płaczek ran for six yards to make it second-and-fourteen. Philmore took the snap and found a hole to his right, getting seven yards downfield before he was hit hard by a Devils defender. The ball popped loose, the Devils fell on it, the game was over, and the crowd exploded.
The Devils are now 6-0, with only a road game against the 2-4 Sioux Krakow Tigers on July 3 blocking their path to an undefeated regular season. The Crew are 5-1, and will face the Pomorze Seahawks in Gdansk on July 4 to finish the season. Those games are only tune-ups for the two Wrocław teams, who will each host a semifinal game a week later. If they win those semifinals, then they would meet again in the title game on July 24. It is an enticing thought, after a game that both teams and most spectators agreed was probably the greatest game of American football seen in Poland.
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31 |
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The Crew Wrocław |
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Seahawks back in the playoffs after 19-0 shutdown of Steelers
The Pomorze Seahawks ensured a return to the playoffs on Saturday after a one-year absence, easily taking care of the Zagłębie Steelers Interpromex 19-0 in Gdansk. With the win, Pomorze improved to 4-2, good enough for third place in the PLFA I standings, while the Steelers finished their season in last place at 1-6.
The Seahawks got on the board on their first offensive series, through Sebastian Krzysztofek. The former MVP continued his good run of play with two touchdowns, including one on Pomorze’s first offensive series. A Steelers fumble and the second of Krzysztofek’s runs gave the Seahawks a 13-0 lead.
The Seahawks held that advantage through the rest of the first half, although several dropped passes from wide receivers undermined their attempt to extend it. The Steelers were not without chances of their own. A goal-line stand by the Pomorze defense in the middle of the second quarter kept Zagłębie off the board.
The Seahawks grew their lead to 19-0 in the third quarter when quarterback Maciej Siemaszko hit Gaweł Pilachowski on a 30-yard catch and run for the game’s final score. Siemaszko played well for a second straight week, six days after leading Pomorze to a come-from-behind victory against the Sioux Krakow Tigers.
The Seahawks will finish their season at home on July 4, against a team they could face in the semifinals a week later, the second-place Wrocław Crew. The Crew are 5-1, coming off their first loss of the season, last week to the Wrocław Devils. The Steelers will pack away their gear until October 9, when they will have to face the winner of the PLFA II third-place game for the right to play in Poland’s top division in 2011.
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Kozły sets up final week showdown against Eagles with 28-8 win
Almost a thousand fans were on hand at the Fortress in Poznań on Saturday, hoping to see Kozły defeat the Sioux Krakow Tigers to even their record at 3-3 and move into a tie for the final playoff spot. They did just that, winning 28-8 over the suddenly punchless Tigers.
The win was the third straight for Kozły, who continue to emulate their form from last season, when they won three straight to close the season and clinch their first-ever playoff berth. Poznań will play the very team they are tied with, the Warsaw Eagles, in Poznań on July 4, in a bid to replicate that feat. There are no tiebreakers involved; the winner will move on while the loser will have to watch the playoffs from the stands.
The Tigers were not intimidated in the first half, playing level with the home team. Poznań struck first on a 16-yard touchdown run by Krzysztof Supel in the first quarter. Michał Studziński then punched in the two-point try to give Kozły an early 8-0 lead. Krakow tied it up in the second quarter on Filip Mościcki’s quarterback sneak and Dawid Rechul’s conversion, giving both teams eight points.
The Tigers were eventually undone by a lack of offense, having now scored only those eight points in their last six quarters of play. The second half looked similar to the second half the last time these two teams played, two year ago. In that game, the Tigers took a 14-0 lead into the locker room, only to lose 22-14 in overtime.
This time, Studziński gave Poznań the lead in the third quarter, scoring from 26 yards out in the third quarter to make it 14-8. He tacked on another two points after Supel’s second score, which came in the fourth quarter, and Bartłomiej Kimnes recovered from two first-quarter interceptions to finish the scoring with a six-yard toss to Łukasz Boduch.
The Tigers, now 2-4 and in sixth place overall, have one game left on the season. They will go into it knowing that they have at least secured their place in PLFA I next season, with two teams already having finished the year with a single win. Krakow’s last game will come on July 3 at home, against the undefeated Wrocław Devils.
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Kozły Poznań |
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Sioux Kraków Tigers |
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8 |
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8 |
Alexander Zarganis
PLFA Press Bureau
[email protected]
Photos: Devils vs. The Crew ; Author: Piotr Wojnarowicz and Grzegorz Skrzypczak.