Hungary: Budapest Wolves win capital city derby, get first seed

With only one round left in the Hungarian Football League (HFL) regular season, two teams have already secured their spots in the playoffs.

The Fehérvár Enthroners demolished the Miskolc Steelers in Felsőzsolca this past weekend while the two capital city teams, the Budapest Cowbells and Budapest Wolves fought for top spot in the regular season standings. In the third game, the Kyiv Capitals from the Ukraine improved to 2-2 against the Győr Sharks.

Fehérvár Enthroners – Miskolc Steelers 44-6 (20-0, 17-0, 7-6, 0-0)

Suffering from injury woes and looking for their first win the Miskolc Steelers were no match for the visiting Fehérvár Enthroners. The visitors crushed the home team in the first half. Touchdowns by Ryan Tuiasoa, Nándor Tóth and Patrik Bakonyvári gave the Enthroners a 20-0 first quarter lead. With György Zách adding a field goal and Tuiasoa and Dávid Novakov scoring one touchdown each, the mercy rule was put in before the end of the second quarter as Fehérvár took a 37-0 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the Enthroners began substituting liberally. Quarterback Ádám Nardai threw a TD-pass to Ákos Szakácsi to balloon the lead to 44-0. The Steelers’ problems worsened when quarterback Morris Carson got injured, leaving Miskolc without a quarterback. Andre Whyte then took control of the offense. He scored a touchdown for the Steelers to avoid the shut out and . The Enthroners are now in a position to finish as the second seed.

Budapest Wolves – Budapest Cowbells 9-7 (0-7, 0-0, 3-0, 6-0)

The number one seed was at stake for the Wolves in this game, at the Cowbells’ field. Although the reigning champion Wolves started out with Marcus Brown’s interception, they could not take the lead. The Cowbells as the home team scored at the end of the first period with Márton Mészáros’ catch (7-0). The offense of the reigning champions struggled throughout the first half making many mistakes and taking a lot of penalties.

The Cowbells’ defense did a great job of holding the Wolves’ offense scoreless through one half. Nonetheless, the visitors narrowed the gap after Benjamin Lyons’ field goal (7-3). The last quarter held some excitement after the Wolves mounted a scoring drive which ended with András Storcz’s touchdown grab (7-9). The two-point conversion was unsuccessful. The Cowbells still had a chance to turn the game around, but interceptions by Balázs Ágota and Marcus Brown ended the game giving the top spot for the reigning champion in the regular season.

Kyiv Capitals – Győr Sharks 20-7 (0-0, 7-7, 13-0, 0-0)

The winless Győr Shaks got another opportunity for getting its first victory at home against a tough Kyiv Capitals. The first half brought a close game. Although the visitors took the lead after Dmytro Serbins catch, the Sharks managed to equalize with Andres Fernandez’s amazing 50 yard catch (7-7).

The third quarter was decisive. Kyiv took back the lead with Troy Rice’s touchdown and increased it with  a Kulyk Mykhailo  punt return TD (7-20). The Capitals’ defense weas outstanding in the last period of the game keeping the Sharks’ offense scoreless. Thus, K+yiv already secured fourth seed, however, they will still be visitors in the wild card round.