The New Yorker Lions have reached the Eurobowl for a consecutive fourth time with a win over Spanish champions Badalona Dracs. The team of head coach Troy Tomlin will play for the European football crown thanks to a convincing 54-14 victory.
Braunschweig dominated the match from the beginning, scoring a defensive touchdown by Georg Burmeister after 90 seconds. The following PAT was missed.
After a Badalona three and out, quarterback Casey Therriault was able to lead his team downfield, completing the Lions’ first drive with a short touchdown pass to Niklas Römer. The ensuing PAT by Tobias Goebel made the score 13-0. The Lions finished this impressive first quarter with another touchdown pass to Römer after a turnover by Tim Unger gave Braunschweig a good field possession.
The Lions continued their dominating performance by scoring a short field goal by Goebel.
Before the half Braunschweig was able to score against the guest from Spain another three times, first a pass to Justus Holtz followed by a touchdown catch by Christian Bollmann and a red zone run by David McCants. These touchdowns plus three Goebel PATs increased the Lions’ lead to 44:0 going into half time.
Coming out of the break and feeling the win secured, Tomlin pulled his starting lineup, letting backup quarterback Tom van Duijn lead the offense. But rather than adding to the lead, the Lions fumbled the ball, giving Joan Carlos Canero the chance to score on the return. Badalona’s kicker Xavier Gonzalo Arango added a point with his successful kick.
However, the German hosts kept on scoring, first with another short field goal and then a pick six by Tissi Robinson.
A never surrendering Badalona squad fought their way back into the opponent end zone and scored their second touchdown of the day with a catch and run by receiver Joey Chamberlain, thus putting the finishing touches on this game.
The Badalona Dracs (8-1 LNFA, 0-1 Big6) return to their Spanish league schedule next week to face the Valencia Firebats. The New Yorker Lions (0-0 GFL, 2-0 Big6) open their German Football League season in Hamburg against the Hamburg Huskies.
The Lions await their opponent from Group B. If the Milano Seamen prevail this weekend against the Samsung Frankfurt Universe, they will move on to the Big6 final. If the Seamen lose, we await the outcome of the Universe versus Berlin Rebels game the following week.
Scoring Summary
06:00 42 Yard Interception return TD G. Burmeister
13:00 8 Yard TD pass C. Therriault to N. Römer
20:00 10 Yard TD pass C. Therriault to N.Römer
23:00 22 Yard field goal T. Goebel
30:00 20 Yard TD pass C. Therriault to J. Holtz
37:00 31 Yard TD pass C. Therriault to C. Bollmann
44:00 14 Yard TD run D. McCants
44:07 36 Yard TD run J. Canero
47:07 27 Yard field goal T. Goebel
54:07 17 Yard interception return TD T. Robinson
54:14 34 Yard TD pass S. Gonzalo Arango to J. Chamberlain