2013 Finnish Maple League champs look to return to finals!
– Helsinki, Finland
[su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]he defending champion Helsinki Roosters (9-1) will face the Porvoo Butchers (5-5) in one of the semifinals in the SAJL Finnish Maple League on Saturday, September 6th.
The Roosters beat the Turku Trojans on last game of regular season in a defensive battle with a score of 21-10 to secure the #1 spot and home-field advantage for the playoff.
The Roosters defense played a great game limiting the Trojans offense to a less than 200 yards of total offense and a field goal. On offense, Roosters RB Jaycen Taylor has returned from injury and scored 2 TD on offense and looks ready for the playoffs.
The Butchers also won their last game of regular season and with their 42-21 win over Vantaa TAFT, clinching the #4 spot. Butchers RB RJ Jackson scored 3 rushing touchdowns and rushed for 200 yards.
Keys of Game
1. Can the Roosters defensive line hold their ground so that linebackers Santtu Äyräväinen, Roni Salonen and Matias Sarvela can stop the power run of Butchers and RJ Jackson? Jackson lead the league in regular season with 1,369 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns with incredible 10.3 yards per carry.
2. Can the Butchers young Finnish National Team safeties Niko Roiko & Toni Nyström can cover the Roosters “Air Raid” offense that is led by American QB Sean Shelton. Shelton did play in 5 games during regular season and racked up 1,496 yards of total offense and the lead the league with 298.4 yds of total offense per game. Shelton’s main target has been Kimi Linnainmaa that finished the regular season with 42 catches for 551 receiving yards.
The game will be aired via Finnish pay-per-view TV-channel Nelonen Pro and on their web service channel Ruutu+Pro (www.ruutu.fi) .
You can also follow the game via live Play-By-Play stats from here: https://www.sajl-tilastot.net/roo/xlive.htm