Dacia Vienna Vikings win Austrian Bowl XXXIII

The Dacia Vikings Vienna returned to the podium Saturday winning the Austrian Bowl for the 14 time and the first time since 2015 by beating the Swarco Raiders 45-26 in front of a crowd of 4,400 at Wörthersee Stadium.

The Raiders were looking for a three-peat but Vienna had other plans and showed it from the opening whistle. Vienna rolled up 565 yards of offense while holding Swarco to just 50 yards rushing and 13 first downs all game.

Vikings quarterback Kevin Burke was was named game MVP and for good reason. He threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns and led all rushers with 121 yards. Receiver Bernhard Seikovits was the top points getter scoring three touchdowns and kicking a field goal and five extra points for a total of 26 points. He also caught four passes for 133 yards to lead all receivers. Marko Gagic and Stefan Postel both scored rushing touchdowns while Bernhard Raimann hauled in a touchdown pass from Charles Dieuseul on a running back option play. In fact, the Vikings dipped into the trick playbook for two touchdowns in this game, the other one on a fake field goal.

Sean Shelton completed 12 of 22 passes for Swarco and threw two touchdown passes while rushing for two more. Sandro Platzgummer caught four passes for 129 yards and a touchdown while his brother Adrian hauled in the other touchdown pass.

Vienna took a 10-0 lead on Raimann’s touchdown with just over a minute to go in the opening quarter and a Seikovits field goal midway through the second. and then the two teams exploded for four touchdowns in the pace of seven minutes.

First a botched Vikings kickoff after the field goal gave Swarco the ball on the Vienna five yard line. Shelton made no mistake scoring on the next play and reducing the lead to 10-7. But Burke wasted no time finding Seikovits on a beautiful 70 yard touchdown pass restoring Vienna’s 10 point lead.

Shelton responded with a 78 yard touchdown pass to Platzgummer making the score 17-14. Less than two minutes had elapsed following the Vikings field goal. And the fireworks weren’t over.

Burke engineered a 12 play, 66 yard touchdown drive that ate up over five minutes with Stefan Postel scoring from two yards out after the Vikings had line up for a field goal with five second left and Vienna went into the locker room up 24-14.

In the second half, Burke continued where he left off marching Vienna on a six play drive capping it with a 45 yard touchdown pass to Seikovits and taking a 31-14 lead.

Shelton responded taking the Raiders on a 79 yard drive and throwing a a 25 yard touchdown pass to Adrian Platzgummer to close the gap to 31-20. This was still only a two score game with plenty of time left.

Thing is, Burke and the Vikings were playing a wonderful ball control offense. This time they ate up almost six and a half minutes in marching the ball from their own 28 yard line with Seikovits catching a 10 yard touchdown pass giving them a 38-20 lead early in the fourth.

Swarco would not quit. Again Shelton responded, this time calling his own number following a six play, 65 yard drive narrowing the lead to 38-26. And this was Kevin Burke ‘s night and he came back with another drive of his own, handing the ball off to Gagic who scored from 33 yards out with four minutes left to give Vienna a 45-26 lead.

The Vikings then ended Swarco’s hopes picking Shelton off and with the offense controlling the clock,Burke finally took a knee and Vienna started celebrating their 14th Austrian title.