Ceara Caçadores win decisively, are team to beat in CBFA’s Conferencia Nordeste

Ceara Caçadores – 35
Recife Pirates – 15

Estadio Presidente Vargas – Fortaleza, Ceara

The Caçadores continued to roll with a decisive victory over a solid Pirates teams.

TB Battle got Ceara started early by returning the first two punts he fielded for touchdowns. He would end the day with three punt returns for a total of 203 yards.

Caçadore quarterback, Romario Reis, looked sharp, by notching a touchdown through the air, to his brother Marlo (5 catches on 9 targets for 79 yards and a score) and on the ground. Romario finished the day 13-24 for 170 and zero interceptions and added 28 yards on six carries.

Eduardo Maranhao made it four out of five games on the season where he has topped the century mark in rushing yards, doing it this time to the tune of 102 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.

‘’We like to run the ball,’’ said Caçadore Head Coach, Mike Lima, of a rushing attack that has eaten clock, gained yards and kept opposing offenses on the sideline all season.

Defensively, end Marco Giovati, was in the Pirate backfield all day, notching a sack, as well as forcing and recovering a fumble. Linebacker Kaleo Melo was in the mix as well, notching a sack and two tackles for loss, along with two quarterback pressure. Strong safety, Israel Vasconcelos added five tackles and a pass breakup.

In addition to Battle’s punt returns, the Caçadore special teams were aided by kicker, Danilo Arrais, who had a splendid day, going 4/4 on PATs and hitting field goals of 28, 29 and 30 yards.

‘’We’ve allocated, on many occasions, up to 30 percent of our practice time to special teams,’’ said Lima.
‘’Strong effort in practice gives us a strong effort in games,’’ said Lima, of a Caçadore squad who appears to be hitting on all cylinders. ‘’We are very mechanical in our approach. Everything our coaching staff does is based solely on results and the ability to adjust if said results are not what we expected them to be,’’ he added.

With a win against the UFERSA Petroleiros, Ceara finishes as the overall number one seed in Conferencia Nordeste and will have home field advantage throughout the Nordeste portion of the playoffs. For Lima and the Caçadores, it will be more of the same moving forward.

‘’We are not changing anything in our practice preparations, only intensifying them,’’ he said.

AFI’s take: Ceara is well coached, always prepared, extreme discipline to the game plan and talented athletes – These guys are good.

Check out the entire Caçadores – Petroleiros game here: