The 3-4 Stockholm Mean Machines and 2-5 Uppsala 86ers square off Friday night at Osterangen’s IP field in Uppsala in the final regular season game of the year for both teams to decide the third and fourth places in the Swedish Superserien.
The winner will face the Orebro Black Knights in the Swedish semifinals while the loser will travel to Karlstad to play the unbeaten Carlstad Crusaders.
The first time these two teams met two months ago, Stockholm came away with an easy 37-17 win. In that game, Stockholm quarterback Anders Hermodsson threw for 33 yards and three touchdowns with Matt Retzlaff having a breakout game catching 15 passes for 246 yards and all three of those touchdown passes.
Since then, Uppsala has added Canadian running back Dylan Minshull and in three games he has rushed for 209 yards, giving quarterback John Rock some breathing room. In fact since arriving Minshull has been doing more than just running the ball. Starting at defensive end as well he has led the team in tackles in two straight games, recording 10 against the Carlstad Crusaders and seven in the last game against the Goteborg Marvels.
Minshull, who only arrived in Sweden six weeks ago from Canada, is enjoying it:
“This has been great and the football is very good. The team has welcomed me. I have been able to help with the running game and I love playing defense too. I had not started on defense since 2014 so I am having a blast. This is a big game for us tonight and I am looking forward to it.”
Rock is the third leading passer in the league with his 1,255 yards and 13 touchdowns. His key receivers are Isac Vikman and Mattias Gauthier. The 86ers offensive line will have to step up to step up with the offense averaging only 14.9 yards a game although there has been some improvement in the last two games. Defensively, Uppsala is allowing 29.3 points a game, second best in Sweden behind the Carlstad.
Stockholm quarterback Anders Hermodsson is a factor unto himself. The second leading passer in the league with 1,484 yards and 15 touchdowns, can also run the ball. At 6’5″, 250 lb, Hermodsson is tough to bring down and has scored 10 rushing touchdowns while rushing for 205 yards. Running back Emil Knutsson has led the Swedish Superserien in rushing the entire year and has 689 yards in seven games to go along with five touchdowns. Retzlaff is now the league leader in receiving yardage with 44 receptions for 764 yards.
No doubt the Uppsala secondary is still smarting from the display Retzlaff put on in their last encounter and will not allow that to happen again. Martin Cham, Jamal Hussein, Nils-Fredrik Lindberg, Fabian Söderberg and Stefan Galewski will likely be better prepared for him in this game.
The Mean Machines defense has had a tough year and are league-worst in points allowed (33.1/game) and yards allowed (391.9).
Still, with the leading rusher and receiver in the league and the second leading passer, Stockholm have to be considered the favorites in this one.
This will be like a playoff game for both teams.
Kickoff is 7:00 pm (1p EST) 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.