Badalona Dracs surge to top of standings in Spain
Spain’s Badalona Dracs won their third straight game to open the season with a 3-0 record and take over sole possession of first place in the Spanish top division.
The Dracs downed a stubborn Murcia Cobras squad to remain the only undefeated team in Spain. Meanwhile, the Reus Imperials disposed of the Valencia Giants to improve to 2-1 and the Valencia Firebats notched their first win of 2017 beating the Barbera Rookies
Badalona Dracs (3-0) 26 – Murcia Cobras (2-1) 7
Photo: Joan Sancho – Fotoart
The Badalona Dracs jumped out to a 20-0 halftime lead against the league newcomers for 2017, the Murcia Cobras and then extended it to 26-0 before giving up a fourth quarter touchdown, downing the Cobras 26-7.
Badalona quarterback Sergi Gonzalo tossed four touchdown passes, two to Hunter Lee in the victory. Nevertheless, Gonzalo threw four interceptions giving him 15 in three games.
Philipp Rolf and Eduard Morlans scored the other two touchdowns for the Dracs. Murcia quarterback Angel Clemente threw the Cobras lone touchdown pass to Benedict Von Jagow.
Valencia Firebats 30 (1-2) – Barbera Rookies 18 (0-3)
The Firebats finally got into the win column this past weekend after dropping their opening two games of the 2017 season in Spain. But the Rookies did not make it easy taking a 10-6 lead at halftime. However, running back Hector Pertegaz finally got untracked and scored two straight third quarter touchdowns for Valencia while quarterback Fernando Altarriba found receiver Alejandro Silvestre to give the Firebats a 24-10 lead still in the third quarter. Firebats head coach, Juan Pablo Terán, scored the final Valencia touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Rookies receiver Cory Soto scored one touchdown himself and threw for another replacing injured Sebastian Frausto at quarterback. Sergi Ortiz kicked a field goal to round out the scoring for Barbera who remained winless at 0-3 with the loss.
Reus Imperials (2-1) 50 – Valencia Giants (1-2) 27
The Imperials broke open a high scoring but close game scoring 24 second half points against the Valencia Giants to win going away 50-27. Reus had taken a 26-20 halftime lead after both teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter. In fact the Giants took a 27-26 lead early in the third period before the Imperials finally took control.
Reus quarterback Brady Huber threw five touchdown passes, two to Nazih Essalhi El Garas and ran one in himself while Nate Stephens and Chris Smallwood scored one each in the win. Henri Laine added the final score for the Imperials who atoned for their embarrassing loss to Badalona two weeks ago.
Giants quarterback TJ Tutone threw three touchdowns passes to Álvaro Cosín and ran one in himself.
