ELF: Vienna Vikings defeat Tirol Raiders to win ‘Battle of Austria’

The Vienna Vikings (2-0)  won the first Battle of Austria for the year after using a strong second half to defeat the Tirol Raiders (1-1) 27-6 at home .

Since both teams entered the European League of Football, Vienna has won all five matchups with their arch rivals.

The Raiders opened the scoring after quarterback D’Angelo Fulford marched his team down to the Vienna nine yard line. The Vikings held and Darragh Leader booted a 26 yard field goal to give the visitors a 3-0 lead with six minutes to go in the first quarter. Another Vikings drive stalled and the Raiders took over. Fulford moved his team down to the Vienna 25 yard line but could get no further and Leader kicked a 42 yard field goa with just over a minute to go in the first to up the lead to 6-0.

The Vikings‘ offense finally gained momentum as quarterback Ben Holmes found Noah Toure for a 35 yard gain early in the second quarter. Then from the Raiders 32, Holmes hit a streaking Jordan Bouah who ran untouched into the end zone to tie the game at 6-6.

Both defenses stiffened until Holmes marched his team down to the Tirol three yard line and then found running back Karri Pajarinen wide open in the end zone to give Vienna a 12-6 lead going into the break.

The third quarter saw a defensive battle although the Raiders did reach the Vienna seven yard line.

The Vikings‘ offense began to click again in the fourth and with eight minutes left in the game, Holmes again connected with Bouah, this time for a 20 yard gain down to the two yard line. Then on a second and goal, he hit tight end Florian Bierbaumer in the corner of the end zone. Pajarinen then scored the two-point conversion to boost the lead to 20-6 with six and a half minutes left in the game.

Vienna got a huge break on the ensuing kickoff return as Raiders kickoff return man Darion Chafin fumbled at his own 35 yard line. Two plays later, Vienna’s backup quarterback Alexander Reischl, who was replacing an injured Holmes, found a gap up the middle and raced all the way to the end zone. This time the PAT was successful and Vienna took a 27-6 lead they would not relinquish.

With the win, Vienna remains atop the European League of Football’s Eastern Conference while the Raiders fall to 1-1 in the Central Conference.