CEFL: Calanda Broncos stage road upset; beat Poland’s Wroclaw Panthers

Switzerland’s Calanda Broncos staged the first upset in the opening round of the Central European Football League tournament by traveling to Wroclaw, Poland and beating up on the Wroclaw Panthers 27-3.

In a heavy downpour, Calanda took advantage of a Panthers team hobbled without starting quarterback Chris Forcier who left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.

Broncos quarterback Connor Manning threw two touchdown passes and ran another one in himself. Severin Murk hauled in one of those touchdown passes while Lukas Lütscher caught the other. Melvin Sassi also scored on a rushing touchdown.

Wroclaw grabbed the early lead as Piotr Golacki kicked a 25 yard field goal.

Then it was all Calanda as Sassi scored on a 66 yard touchdown off of a sweep on the next possession to give the Broncos a 7-3 lead. With Forcier out and Bartosz Dziedzic behind center for the Panthers, the Calanda defense was able to keep Wroclaw bottled up.

Meanwhile, Manning kicked the Broncos offense into a higher gear, finding Murk and Lütscher for two more scores to put Calanda ahead 20-3.

Manning closed out the first half, finding a seam and running the ball in himself to give the Broncos a 27-3 lead at the break.

In the second half, defenses took over as neither team could gain any offensive momentum.

Wroclaw head coach Val Gunn switched between Dziedzic  and Janek Wawrzyniak at quarterback and threw in Deante Battle on option plays at times but to no avail. Broncos linebacker Marco Mahrer, who was named Game MVP, created all kinds of problems for Wroclaw recording a pair of interceptions and generally harassing the Panthers quarterbacks all game long.

Next up for Calanda in the CEFL Eastern Conference is the Istanbul Koç Rams on May 11. Wroclaw will travel to Istanbul, Turkey take on the Rams on April 27.