The Polish Football League, PLA, opens its 2022 season with a battle between last year’s semifinalists as the Tychy Falcons pay a visit to the Silesia Rebels.
The remaining four teams from the six-team league – the Krakow Kings, Warsaw Eagles, Warsaw Mets, and Bialystok Lowlanders – will play the rest of the first round next weekend.
Both teams reached the PLA semifinals in 2021 with Silesia being eliminated by the eventual league champions, the Bydgoszcz Archers, while the Falcons succumbed to the Bialystok Lowlanders.
The last time these two teams faced each other, Tychy came away with a 27-12 on May 16 last year.
The Rebels enter the game with a new quarterback, David James from Western Connecticut State University (NCAA Div. III). The 29-year-old was originally supposed to play for the Swarco Raiders in 2020 before the Austrian Football League season was cancelled due to COVID. He spent the 2021 season under center for the New Milford Fire in Connecticut. Silesia’s other American import is linebacker and Florida native Shamori St. Kitts. The Rebels backfield will feature Great Britain’s Jacob Smillie and Ville Ollonqvist from Finland, who comes straight from the Pori Bears.
Tychy has also signed a new quarterback in veteran Christopher Jeffrey who has an extensive background playing in Europe, most recently with the Gyor Sharks in the Hungarian Football League. Since 2017, the well travelled Jeffrey has played for seven different teams. He spent the 2018 season with the Warsaw Eagles in the now defunct Polish League of American Football, PLFA, leading them to the title that year. Veteran defensive back Darius Lewis anchors the secondary for the Falcons and could definitely have an impact.
These are two evenly matched teams and this early in the season, it would be impossible to predict the outcome.
Tychy Falcons @ Silesia Rebels, April 3, 15:00 CET (3 pm, 09:00 am EDT)
