Lisboa Navigators Top Cascais Crusaders in Portugal’s LPFA VI Final
On Saturday, June 6th, the Lisboa Navigators became champions of the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Americano after defeating the Cascais Crusaders 32-13 in the LPFA VI Final. The match was held at the Municipal Stadium Taveiro in Coimbra. With the result, the Navigators are the only team to win the Portuguese championship six times in a row.
On their first offensive drive, the Navigators opened the scoring with a touchdown by wide receiver Filipe Grangeiro. On the next ball possession, running back Marco Madeira recorded the second TD of the Lisbon squad. The two point conversion made the score 14-0.
The Crusaders responded with a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff, by RB/KR Juzz Tiny. The Cascais team’s kicker missed the PAT so the score was now 14-6.
#23 Juzz Tiny noted two TDs for Crusaders
Before the end of the first quarter, Grangeiro found a gap in the Crusaders defense and scored his second TD of the game, and the third for the Navigators. They missed the PAT leaving the score 20-6.
In the second quarter, the defenses took control of the match and the score remained unchanged at 20-6.
Early in the third quarter, the quarterback of the Navs, José Pedro, found a gap in the Crusaders defense and ran into the end zone to score Lisbon’s fourth touchdown.
In the fourth quarter, Juzz Tiny pulled the Crusaders closer on the scoreboard with another touchdown and after the PAT the score was now 26-13 . However, with four minutes left in the game, José Pedro connected on a pass to wide receiver Filipe Marques for the final touchdown of the game giving the game and the title of Portuguese Champions to the Navigators.
APFA’s Award
After the game, the Associação Portuguesa de Futebol Americano (AFPA) awarded the best players of the season 2015.
Playoff MVP: RB Marco Madeira (Lisboa Navigators)
QB: António Pedro Santos (Cascais Crusaders)
RB: Juzz Tiny (Cascais Crusaders)
WR: Bruno Cardoso (Lisboa Devils)
TE: Jonathan Miron (Algarvre Pirates)
OL: Rui Ferraz (Braga Warriors)
DL: Ivo Nascimento (Lisboa Devils)
LB: Tiago Costa (Porto Mutts)
CB: Matias Manuel (Cascais Crusaders)
S: Lourenço Tavares (Lisboa Devils)
