The Football Season in Portugal Producing Fireworks
The Lisboa Devils and Cascais Crusaders staged a Super Bowl Sunday shootout, the Braga Warriors and Braga Black Knights finished with a shutout while the Paredes Lumberjacks and Porto Renegades waged a thrilling battle for third place. In other words there was plenty of action in Portugal this past weekend.
Crosstown Derby in Braga
Braga Warriors 22 – Braga Black Knights 0
The Braga Warriors played the Black Knights in the first official match between these two teams from Braga. The game was “blessed” with the worst conditions possible with rain, wind and hail. The Warriors scored three times and all on running plays since the passing game was impossible to get going. Warriors quarterback João Pitrez scored twice himself to lead his team while Diogo Figueiredo added the third score.
The Warriors were two of three in two point conversions with João Pitrez and Gonçalo Leite getting one each. The Black Knights were not able to score and are now out of playoffs as the league enters the second phase of the regular season.
Battle for Third
Paredes Lumberjacks 14 – Porto Renegades 8
The Porto Renegades and Paredes Lumberjacks battle for the third position in the North group in a match long waited. On a day when the Renegades celebrated 11 years of history they really wanted to get a W and upset the visiting team. The game was very close and controlled by both defenses and at halftime the score was 0-0.
In the second half, the Lumberjacks scored first on a safety but the Renegades answered with a touchdown pass from quarterback João Amaral to the wide receiver Miguel Vasconcelos. In the last quarter the Lumberjacks answered with two rushing touchdowns, first by Miguel Dias and the other one by Vitor Carvalho. On the try for the two point conversion, Renegades safety Sandro Oliveira grabbed an interception and took it all the way back for the two points to close the gap and give Porto another shot to get back to the game.
However the game ended with the final score 14-8 for the Lumberjacks.
Devils Stay Undefeated In Shootout
Lisboa Devils 60 – Cascais Crusaders 54
In a prime time matchup on Super Bowl Sunday, the Crusaders hosted the Devils in Cascais in a game that saw an amazing 15 touchdowns scored.
Both offenses entered at full speed and scored right away. Crusaders running back Juzz Tiny scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and got a third one in the second half. The Devils were able to answer with back to back touchdowns for Pedro Almeida, one on the ground and the other on a touchdown pass from Joey Bradley.
The Devils passing game started to ignite when the combination of quarterback Joey Bradley to Collin Franklin produced three touchdowns late in the second quarter and also in the beginning of the third. However Crusaders linebacker Henrique Patricio got a pick 6 near the goal line that gave his team a shot to get back into the game. And then Thomas Primo, the Crusaders quarterback, connected with Duarte Cruz and Vinicius Moreira to close the gap.
In the second half the Devils started to manage their game running the ball more with Willian La’Prado and Jerónimo Sebastião carrying the load and each one scored a touchdown.
In a great game, the Devils got the win with 60-54 score and remain undefeated. The Crusaders are still in the battle for the playoffs but they will have to depend on results from other teams.
Photo credits: Photosports, Margarida Cautela
