There is a new number one in Serbia as the Belgrade Blue Dragons held the defending Serbian champion Kragujevac Wild Boars to one touchdown beating them 14-7 in Belgrade.
With the win, Belgrade remain undefeated and alone in first place in the Serbian standings. In fact, this is the first time that the Blue Dragons have knocked off one of the big three – Wild Boars, Vukovi, Novi Sad – and they did it with defense.
Heading into this game, the Blue Dragons had only allowed 21 points in four games, an average of 5.25 points per game. They kept almost to that average holding the top scoring team in Serbia to seven points.
Belgrade head coach James J. Fayed:
“Great win, but the guys know this is not even close to over. We got a day to celebrate and right back to work. Vukovi is an excellent team and you can bet they are going to be ready to play. We will look at the film, gather the troops, have a great week in practice and do it all again this weekend. Boars are a great Club. I am proud of the guys they saw what it feels like to play a top level team and they rose to the challenge.”
Blue Dragons QB Mladen Zlatić Photo: Milos Rafailovic
Belgrade took a 7-0 halftime lead after quarterback Mladen Zlatić threw an 11 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Milana Nikolića in the first quarter. Defensive back Marvin Desir added another touchdown in the third quarter to increase the lead to 14-0.
Then the Blue Dragons held on. They picked off Kragujevac four times adopting a bend but don’t break approach. They were not prepared to give up any big plays.
The Wild Boars were unable to crack the Belgrade red zone. Meanwhile, the Blue Dragons resorted to running the ball and killing the clock.
Kragujevac running back Laurent Tshimanga was finally able to reach the end zone on a 25 yard run to close the gap to 14-7. But that was as far as they got.
Next up for the Blue Dragons is SBB Vukovi Belgrade in another huge test.