ELF: Vienna Vikings stay unbeaten with 2nd win over Tirol Raiders

| American Football | 07/27/2022

The Vienna Vikings kept their undefeated season alive this past weekend in European League of Football action with a 29-13 win over archrivals, the Tirol Raiders, who fell to 4-3 with the loss.

The majority of the action in this game came in the first half. The Vikings got off to a fast start in front of their home crowd with a couple of long touchdown passes in the first quarter.
Quarterback Jackson Erdmann found speedy wideout Jordan Bouah for an 85-yard bomb with just under five minutes left in the quarter, and later connected with Mike Breuler for a 34 yard score on the last play of the quarter. After Raiders quarterback Sean Shelton answered with a six yard touchdown pass to Philipp Haun, the Vikings’ offense kept up the pressure, adding two more touchdowns before halftime. A two-point conversion after one of those scores made the score 29-7 at the break. From that point, there would only be six points scored the rest of the way, as running back CJ Okpalobi  took a toss and scampered into the end zone from the eight yard line, late in the fourth quarter.

Erdmann completed 15 of 25 passes on the day for 305 yards and three touchdowns, though he did throw two interceptions. Bouah led the team in receiving yards with 85, all of which came on just one catch, while Breuler had six catches for 80 yards and a score. Running back Anton Wegan had a productive day, carrying the ball 15 times for 100 yards and catching a 21 yard touchdown pass. On the other side, Raiders quarterback Sean Shelton completed 21 of 38 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown along with one interception. A key difference in this game was the disparity in the offensive line play. Shelton was sacked five times by the Vikings defensive front, while Erdmann was not sacked at all. Raiders defensive back Dominique Shelton was a standout in the loss, intercepting two passes.

Next week, the Raiders will travel to Leipzig to take on the Kings, while the Vikings are also on the road as they head to Stuttgart to face the winless Stuttgart Surge.

A current student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carter played football in high school and has been a lifelong avid football fan.