The Antwerp American Football Club dominated in their second game of Belgium’s FAFL Division II played in Ghent, blanking the Limburg Shotguns 27-0. Two weeks ago, the AAFC thrashed the Leuven Lions by 33 points. .
Limburg was playing their first game of the season.
After winning the toss, the Shotguns elected to receive. Their first drive ended with a short three and out. The opening drive for the AAFC was not much better. After a bad snap, quarterback Cody Butler recovered the ball for a 20-yard loss. Antwerp had to punt as well.
After another short series, the second punt for the Limburg Shotguns swung the momentum in favor of Antwerp. A great punt return from Nils de Groef gave his offense outstanding field position. Starting on the 30 yard line, the AAFC offense scored their first points of the day. After a long pass from Butler to wide receiver Lieven Baeke, running back Darnnhel Kabongo put up six points with a five-yard run.
The next drive for the Shotguns was another quick three and out for Limburg with stops from Sebastian Morales Rosales and Bilal Sakibou. The Antwerp offense took over on the 40 yard line of the Shotguns. A pass from Butler to Piet Wauters on third down resulted in a big first down. Five plays later, the AAFC scored again. Tim De Keyser caught the ball over the middle and scored his fourth touchdown of the young season with a 15-yard catch and run making the score 13-0.
The Antwerp defense continued to deliver and the Shotguns were forced to punt once again. On the punt return things took a bad turn for the AAFC. Punt returner Nils de Groef fumbled the ball on a tackle made by Shotgun Leslie Jans. Rookie Thomas Leynen recovered the ball for Limburg. They failed to make something of the opportunity and give the ball back to Antwerp. The AAFC then scored their third touchdown of the day through Cian Borra extending the lead to 20-0.
Shotguns could not capitalize
In the second half, the Shotguns started strong. On the AAFC’s opening drive, a badly thrown ball from Butler was intercepted by cornerback Dries Nauwelaers. Once again Limburg failed to capitalize on their chance. The AAFC got the ball back once again. On the ensuing drive, Piet Wauters converted another critical third down but after that the drive stalled.
Two drives later thing went south again for the team from Antwerp. On a fouth down, a badly handled snap gave Limburg the ball back in AAFC territory. The Antwerp defense held on though, stopping the Shotguns on fourth down, giving the ball back to their offense. They finished strong this time and after a big completion to Tim de Keyser and a fourth down conversion from Mathias Lagae, Butler threw his third touchdown pass of the day to Tim De Keyser for the 27-0 victory.