Hungary: Budapest Wolves remain unbeaten; Miskolc Steelers still without a win

The third round of the Hungarian Football League (HFL) wound up last weekend with two exciting games. While the Fehérvár Enthroners hosted the reigning champion Budapest Wolves, two teams, the Miskolc Steelers and the Kyiv Capitals (Ukraine) fought for their first win of the season, in Felsőzsolca.

Budapest Wolves 34 – Fehérvár Enthroners 10 (7-7, 21-3, 6-0, 0-0)

The game started out well for the reigning champion Wolves as they recovered the opening kickoff.  The visitors even took advantage of it: Dávid Danku ran for the first touchdown of the game (0-7). The Enthroners were able to turn the score around with Nándor Tóth’s touchdown catch and Ferenc Baksa’s field goal (10-7). However, the Wolves offense woke up and made big plays in the second period. Máté Gecser’s touchdown grab and Danku’s second rushing TD established a two possession lead (10-21). The defense also put up points on the scoreboard: Dániel Bicskei stripped the ball from Ryan Tuiasoa hands, and it was picked up by Bernard Dawson who raced 50 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-10.

The second half also started out well for the visitors: Danku scored his third touchdown of the game upping the score to 34-10. But that was it as the Enthroners’ defense had a great second half after getting two interceptions by Jebray Regan and Máté Gyarmati. However, the offense underperformed in the last two quarters failing to add more points. Thus, the score remained 34-10 in favor of the reigning champions.

Kyiv Capitlas  41 – Miskolc Steelers 14 (7-0, 0-7, 13-7, 21-0)

Troy Rice returned to Felsőzsolca, but this time as a Capitals player. The Miskolc Steelers also signed a new player, Morris Carson who joined last year’s runner-up following an injury to Jeremy Dixon. Nevertheless, the visitors scored first with Ihor Lysenko’s catch in the first quarter, but in the second period Carson threw his first touchdown pass in the HFL to Martin Szabó (7-7), thus, the score was equal in the break.

The third period brought a lot of excitement. Although the Steelers took the lead with Andre Whyte’s rushing touchdown, Troy Rice’s catch and Hubrii Roman run handed the lead back to  Kyiv (20-14). Nevertheless, the Capitals put up an outstanding performance in the fourth quarter. Lysenko’s and Rice’s second catches gave a three possession lead to the visitors (33-14). The Steelers offense did not have the energy for a comeback and ended up making severe mistakes. Carson even threw an interception at the end of the game. Kyiv could also took advantage of it: Oleksandr Menychuk ran for the sixth Capitals touchdown of the match, while the two point conversion by Kulyk Mykhailo finalized the score. Capitals got their first win in the HFL with a 41-14 victory, while the Miskolc Steelers are now 0-3.