Finnish Maple League heading into home stretch
In week 8 of the Finnish Maple League, in a year filled with upsets, the top three teams held their ground. First it was the Helsinki Roosters defeating the Porvoo Butchers 42-8 on a Thursday night TV-game, then the Turku Trojans beat the Helsinki 69ers 38-22 on Saturday and finally on Sunday the Seinäjoki Crocodiles demolished Vantaa TAFT 59-14. With the top three teams winning their games the league standings did not change and the Seinajoki Crocodiles sit on top, with the Trojans and Roosters right behind. The 69ers and Butchers will battle for the last playoff spot while Vantaa TAFT is still trying to get to their first win this year.
It is the first time in league history that there has been a six team Maple League and all the teams have at least two losses. It seems to have created quite an interesting ending for the remaining three regular season weeks.
The Maple League has one weekly live television game on Finnish premier sports channel NelonenPro and webcasting at ruutu.fi. Live games are available globally over internet, but require ordering the service. Highlights of each week’s game are free to view.
Roosters 42 – Butchers 8
This Thursday night TV-game on Nelonen Pro featured three fumbles and one interception as the Helsinki Roosters rolled out to a 28-0 lead before backing off and cruising to a 42-8 win. Roosters quarterback Mic Brown was in fine form and took a well deserved rest in the fourth quarter as his backup Otso Flinkman finished the game. The Butchers fell behind behind early and scored their only touchdown of the game late in 2nd quarter while already down 28-0. Roosters running back Jaycen Spears led the scoring with four touchdown runs and was named game MVP. Butchers linebacker Sebastian Krabin broke the league record with 6.5 tackles for losses. The Butchers finished with six turnovers and two of those came from their kick-off return team.
Highlights:
Turku Trojans 38 – Helsinki 69ers 22
Turku Trojans quarterback Sean Shelton threw three touchdown passes to lead the Trojans to a 38-22 victory over the Helsinki 69ers. Despite playing without their starting quarterback Jabari Harris, the 69ers fought hard and kept the game close into the second half. Turku scored two touchdowns in the second half to finally put the game away. 69ers quarterback Henri Vaananen was 11 for 17 for 239 yards with one touchdown and no picks, but was sacked seven times.
Vantaa TAFT 14 – Seinäjoki Crocodiles 59
Seinäjoki Crocodiles running back Damonshay Pitt ran for 213 yards and pair of touchdowns, while quarterback Justin Sottilare added five touchdown passes to three different receivers as the Crocodiles ran roughshod over Vantaa TAFT 59-14. TAFT pleased the home crowd during the first half though, keeping the game close until halftime at 24-14. But in the second half the Crocodiles scored 35 unanswered point to leave TAFT behind. TAFT’s day was not helped when starting quarterback Londry Jackson had to leave the game at half time due to injury. TAFT running back Ian Sadon ran for 165 yards, but could not find the end zone.