The Helsinki Roosters 6-3 visit the winless Kotka Eagles in this Maple League matchup. The Roosters are in need of a tune-up game after an unexpected close victory last week. They hope to improve and to make a Cinderella run at the Maple Bowl title.
Helsinki Roosters @ Kotka Eagles August 11th, 17:30 CET, (5:30 pm, 11:30 am ET)
The Roosters are coming off of a big win against the Porvoo Butchers where they escaped with a 41-34 win. In that game, quarterback Bryce Stancomb found Lassi Pajarinen with 20 seconds to go on a wheel route as the Roosters avoided the upset in a dramatic fashion. The young Finn had 92 total yards and the game-winning touchdown in his coming-out party this season.
Defensively, Helsinki will look for key players Christer Berg, Taavi Aronpaa, Kaleb Wezdenko, and veteran Cam Gruel to step up as they were gashed on the ground by the Butchers last week. In the secondary, Emory Polley and Nolan Bernat hope to get their hands on any errant passes as the Kotka like to throw the ball deep often.
Kotka showed improvements last week as they gained 276 total offensive yards. However, turnovers, penalties and overall inexperience had them drop another game to the UNC Crusaders. One player to watch on this team is Peter Anderson. The two way receiver and defensive back has been making two to three big time plays per game throughout the season. Last week he had a 97-yard pick six and 229 all-purpose yards.