Ancona Dolphins, Firenze Guelfi, Parma Panther all winners in Week 4 action in Italy’s top league

| American Football | 03/30/2023

This weekend’s action in the Italian Football League (IFL) saw the Ancona Dolphins secure a statement win over the Lazio Ducks and put them in the running as one of the league’s favorites, the Firenze Guelfi steamroll the Legnano Frogs and the Parma Panthers finally get their first win of the season.

Ancona Dolphins 47 – Lazio Ducks 22

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Depsite being the most highly anticipated game in Week 4, the Dolphins Ancona vs Ducks Lazio game ended in a landslide victory. Going into the contest the Ducks sported the number one offense and the Dolphins the number one defense, but it was the Ancona offense that showed how dominant it can be.

The Dolphins ripped off huge play, one after the other from the first snap of the ball and scored on all but three drives in the game. Runningback Cristiano Brancaccio had an especially brutal impact for the Ducks, ending the game with 120 yards and two touchdwons on just six carries.

But it wasn’t only the ground game that was working for the Dolphins, quarterback Collin Di Galbo and his receivers teamed up to shred the Lazio secondary for 300 yards and four touchdwons. 

Firenze Guelfi 49 – Legnano Frogs 28

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Saturday night’s game had slightly less buzz around it. Reigning champions Guelfi, who have started the season tremendously well, went up to the Milano suburb to play the Frogs – who made the questionable decision to start their quarterback at safety.

Interim Guelfi quarterback (due to the injury of starting quarterback Andrea Fimiani) Jared Gerbino came out slinging. On one of the first plays of the Guelfi drive, Gerbino hit his Italian wideout Fermosa on a 42-yard bomb down the sideline to open the scoring up. 

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Gerbino did little else wrong from here on out and dissected the Frogs defense clinically with a mix of run and pass. The Dartmouth graduate finished the game with 209 yards through the air and four touchdowns, and 111 yards and one touchdown on the ground.

Parma Panthers 25 – Stainless Steel Warriors Emilia 16 

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Following a scary start for Parma fans last week, the Panthers are now back on track with their win over the Warriors (albeit barely).

After some pretty tough defense from both sides in the first quarter and a Parma field goal, the Panthers were able to get on the board midway through the second quarter as quarterback Anthony Paoletti hit 23-year old Italian wideout Dario Zatti on a 50-yard touchdown pass. The Warriors struck back on their two following drives however thanks to some plucky play from quarterback Derek Green to bring the score to 10–13.

More back and forth followed in the third quarter until finally the Panthers and their run heavy offence punched two touchdowns in later in the fourth to win the game 26–16. Defense was won the day for both sides however with both quarterbacks combining for just 26 completions on 54 attempts and two touchdowns, and neither team collectively running for more than 85 yards.

Daniel Mackenzie is a Press Association graduate who works in journalism and communications in the third sector. Daniel began playing football for the London Warriors and Team Great Britain and has since played across Europe.