Photo Jarmo Vehkomäki
The Helsinki Roosters made short work of the Porvoo Butchers in Finland’s semifinals this past weekend pummeling them 47-7.
The Roosters, unbeaten in the regular season, had defeated Porvoo twice during the regular season, both times easily and this time was no exception. Helsinki rolled up 509 yards of offense, 410 in the first half alone in jumping out to a 40-0 halftime lead.
Quarterback Brandon Connette threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns and scored another two on the ground before giving way to backup Miro Kadmiry in the second half. Running back Kaari Pajarinen added a rushing touchdown while Adam Connette caught two touchdown passes from his brother Brandon and Tommi Pinta caught the other. Alexander Kuronen caught a 13 yard touchdown pass from Kadmiry.
Darion Hall scored the lone touchdown for the Butchers while quarterback Mikko Seppanen threw for 107 yards and rushed for another 102.
Watch all the game highlights here.
Helsinki set the tone on the first possession of the game as Pajarinen rambled for a 43 yard touchdown on the fifth play and the Roosters never let up scoring three times in the first quarter and three in the second.
Trailing 40-0, the Butchers opened the second half with promise as Hall pulled in a Seppanen pass and raced 57 yards to close the gap to 40-7.
That was it though as Kadmiry and the Roosters played a ball control offense the rest of the way, controlling the clock, while the defense allowed Porvoo to reach Helsinki territory only once (44 yard line). Kadmiry wound up the scoring in the fourth quarter tossing a 13 yard touchdown pass to Kuronen.
With the win, Helsinki moves on to the Maple Bowl for the seventh consecutive year where they will face the Kuopio Steelers. The Steelers defeated the Wasa Royals 34-26 in the other semifinal.
