LIVE STREAM PPV: Friday Night Football from Sweden – Örebro Black Knights @Uppsala 86ers, April 13, 6p (12 Noon EST)
The Örebro Black Knights head to Österängens IP field in Uppsala, Sweden Friday night to face the Uppsala 86ers in the season opener for the 86ers in Sweden’s Superserien.
These two teams faced each other twice in 2017 with Örebro coming away the winner both times, 36-0 and 30-0.
The Black Knights are coming off a disappointing 39-32 loss to the Carlstad Crusaders last weekend.
Örebro quarterback Raleigh Yeldell III was a one man wrecking crew in that game though scoring four touchdowns on his own and throwing for the fifth. However, a foot injury sidelined him in the fourth quarter, stalling the offense. Apparently he has practiced this week and if he starts, the Uppsala defense will be put to the test.
Other highlights for the Black Knights included the play of new running back Timmy Göransson who rushed from 129 yards against a tough Carlstad front seven. National team wide receiver Tomas Jacobsen caught four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown and is always dangerous. Meanwhile, young Johannes Lindeus had two catches for 44 yards but also returned five punts for 101 yards and had five tackles and a pass break up.
On defense, Eric Murphy has moved to safety where he can use his speed, playing more of a rover role. He had six tackles against Carlstad to go along with a key fumble recovery and a pass break up. Linebacker Filip Jonsson leads a front seven that is difficult to run against.
The Black Knights special teams had a tough game against the Carlstad Crusaders, allowing one punt to be blocked and another partially blocked which led to a Carlstad touchdown. The kickoff cover unit gave up a 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown and the team had two failed two-point conversions and missed an extra-point conversion.
According to Örebro head coach Aaron Fiddler, this will all get remedied and was the result of opening game jitters and a slew of new faces on all the special teams units.
For Uppsala, new quarterback John Rock is a veteran of football in Europe. He spent the 2017 season with the St Pölten Invaders in Austria’s Division 1 league helping the team to a 5-3 season. He has played quarterback for the Fontenay-sous-bois Météores from France’s Div. 1 in 2016, the Albershausen Crusaders (Germany), Bolzano Giants in Italy’s top league, Denmark’s Triangle Razorbacks and the Samsung Frankfurt Universe in Germany.
Rock has an excellent trio of wide receivers to throw to; Stefan Galweski, Isac Wikman, and Mattias Gauthier. Australian linemen Jackson Broe and Brendan Oswin have helped bolster both the offensive and defensive lines along with Iceland’s Vidar Önundarson. Galewski is a big target. The 6’3″, 230 lb tight end from San Jose State is a sleeper and the Black Knights need to keep him under control.
Defensively, the return of defensive lineman Filip Palmqvist from a season in Germany with the Berlin Adler has been important along with the addition of hard-nosed defensive back Jamal Hussein to the secondary.
Kickoff is 6:00 pm (12 Noon EDT) and the game is being broadcast live on CMore in Sweden (PPV) and shown in a tape delay at 10:20 pm on TV4.
Watch the game live (Pay per View) by clicking here. The broadcast is “semi geo-restricted”. A Swedish credit/bank card is necessary. Click on the button that says “Standard Sport”. Then fill in your email address, name and password and click Skapa konto, Open account. Add your credit card number. You can choose two weeks for free “Prova 2 veckor gratis” or you can choose to watch a single game. The game costs 99 Swedish kronor, or about $11 while a subscription is 199 kronor per month.
