Denmark: Søllerød Gold Diggers edge Triangle Razorbacks, head to Mermaid Bowl XXIX

The Søllerød Gold Diggers downed the defending champion Triangle Razorbacks 17-15 Sunday in the Danish semifinals to advance to the Mermaid Bowl, Denmark’s championship final, for the seventh time since 2008.

The Gold Diggers jumped out to a 14-0 lead and then watched Triangle claw back to take the lead 15-14 in the fourth quarter before finally putting the game away with a late field goal.

Quarterback Morten Forsbøl threw touchdown passes to Stephan Nickelsen and Daniel Mortensen while Mathias Knudsen kicked the game winning field goal as well as both extra points.

For Triangle, quarterback Ken Suhl threw touchdown passes to  Oliver Holmlund and Robin Sebeille and the Razorbacks defense forced a Gold Diggers safety to account for the scoring.

Both offenses struggled in the first half, playing tentative football and it wasn’t until late in the second quarter that Søllerød could gain any momentum. Forsbøl began connecting with his receivers on the final drive before the half, capping it with a touchdown pass to Nickelsen to give the Gold Diggers a 7-0 lead.

After the break, the Gold Diggers offense continued to click and on their second series Forsbøl found Mortensen to increase the lead to 14-0.

That is when the Razorbacks began to click. The offense with Suhl behind center began moving the ball. And the defense kept the Gold Diggers in check, especially after a Suhl interception. Triangle forced a safety to get on the scoreboard and then Suhl threw a touchdown pass to Oliver Holmlund to bring Triangle closer, 14-9.

With the Razorbacks defense bottling up Søllerød, Suhl went back to work in the fourth quarter connecting with Sebeille for the go-ahead touchdown and although they missed the two-point conversion, Triangle led 15-14 late in the game.

This seemed to give new life to the Gold Diggers. Forsbøl marched his team down the field into field goal range and Knudsen made no mistake, retaking the lead for Søllerød , 17-15.

A last gasp field goal attempt by the Razorbacks failed and Søllerød began celebrating.

The Gold Diggers will now face the Copenhagen Towers in Mermaid Bowl XXIX on October 7.