The Brussels Black Angels will travel to Sportpark Sloten in the Netherlands to take on the defending champion Amsterdam Crusaders Saturday, July 1 in the second annual BNL championship final, BNL Bowl II.
The Black Angels finished first in the BNL regular season earning them a bye into the final while Amsterdam reached the final after staging a fourth quarter comeback at home against the Limburg Shotguns last weekend to down the visitors 28-20.
The last time these two teams met, in the last game of the regular season, Amsterdam defeated the Black Angels 24-19, handing Brussels their first loss of the year. In the only other encounter, the Black Angels came away with a 17-14 victory at home in Brussels.
Watch the game live. Amsterdam Crusaders @ Brussels Black Angels, July 1, 18:00 CET (6 pm, 12 noon EDT).
On paper, these two teams are as evenly matched as possible. The Brussels offense has averaged 33.4 points per game while the Crusaders have scored an average of 33.6. Defensively, the Black Angels surrendered 9 points a game compared to 10.9 for Amsterdam.
Brussels running back Jimmy Onema is a key but the excellent receiving corps of Terrence Stillwell, Jonathan Leroy, Killian Philips and Laurent Bogaerts can cause problems.
Amsterdam relies on quarterbacks Jasper Nijland with back up Jordi Anrochte while running backs Berto Stuit and Mani Blijd anchor the backfield. Wideouts Sem Haan and Melvin Maasdamme have key targets with Maasdamme scoring the winning touchdown in the playoff game against Limburg. Meanwhile the defense features defensive back Soufyan Dardour along with linebackers Amir Zahoor and Travis Fraser.