The Swedish American football season kicks off the second weekend of the 2016 season tonight as the Örebro Black Knights will play host to one of the most storied franchises in Swedish American football, the Stockholm Mean Machines.
The game, which will be nationally broadcast on TV4 in Sweden in their second Friday Night Football event , promises excitement as both teams come in totally revamped.
The Örebro Black Knights have played in the Swedish championship final for the past three years and come up short against the Carlstad Crusaders all three times.
With a new head coach and a new attitude the Black Knights have set their sights on the championship again. Head coach Aaron Fiddler is here for the long term and has signed a five-year contract.
He has brought with him quarterback John Knox (6’0″, 190lb) who was a four-year starter at the University of Charleston (Div. II) playing both quarterback and defensive back.
Fiddler has also added an American defensive coordinator, Matt Hamme who most recently ran the defense for Columbia University (D1-AA). Prior to that, he was at the University of Albany, Asa College, the US Merchant Marine Academy, Monroe College and St. Mary’s Hall. He will be protected by Sweden’s top offensive lineman in Sebastian Nilsson.
Returning from the 2015 Swedish finalists are the Murphy twins, Eric and Josh, who helped make the Black Knights the best defensive team in Sweden last year. They will be helped in the secondary by all-star cornerback Alexander Sundstrom who has now moved to safety. Also returning are Swedish national team linebackers Filip Jönsson and Niklas Persson–Ghylfe.
The Stockholm Mean Machines are in the midst of a rebuilding phase and opened their season with a disappointing 24-14 loss last week to the Limhamn Griffins.
Nevertheless head coach Fredrik Pilbäck is confident in his new quarterback, Zach Anderson from Tennessee. Last week’s top receiver Ivan Pavlovic from Serbia had 14 receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown. The offensive line is bolstered by Milos Nestorovic, also from Serbia.
The Mean Machines also picked up kicker/safety Kristof Szakacs from Hungary.
Stockholm has not had an easy time of it against the Black Knights in recent years having been blanked in the past three outings against the black-clad team fromÖrebro.
Kickoff is 6:30 PM (12:30 PM EDT) and the game is being broadcast live on TV4 in Sweden (PPV). TV4 gives the first 30 days for free.
Instructions in English on how to access the TV4 broadcast.