The Calanda Broncos will host the Winterthur Warriors Sunday, September 20 as the Swiss “post COVID-19 lockdown friendly” season rolls into its fifth round.
This game was originally supposed to be played on August 30 but was rained out. The two teams will meet each other again next weekend in Winterthur.
The Warriors and Broncos have both played and beaten the St. Gallen Bears. The Warriors blanked St. Gallen 48-0 and then beat them 31-15. Meanwhile Calanda opened the season by defeating the Bears 47-7 and then downed them 28-6. These two teams faced each other twice in 2019 with Calanda winning both games, 36-14 and 23-20.
This will be the fifth weekend of play after the the Swiss American Football Federation, SAFV, teams voted for a fall playing schedule for the seven teams who chose to participate.
The teams are divided into two regional groups, East and West, basically to cut down on travel costs. Each team in the West group will play a total of six games while in the East with only three teams, each will play four games. The season ends on September 20.
The Broncos and Bears play in the East group along with the Winterthur Warriors. Initially the Argovia Pirates were included in this group but have since dropped out. One of the critical “gentlemen’s rules” for the season to be able to be played was that all the games would be played without import players. The only non-Swiss players allowed will be European players already on the roster and non-Swiss residents who have lived in the country for five continuous years.
Winterthur enters the game with veteran Richard Wartmann at quarterback while Leon Simioni will start at running back. In beating the Bears in the first game, Wartmann threw touchdown passes to Yannick Bünzli (2) while running back Cédric Peter scored three rushing touchdowns with Simioni adding one and Jeff Wissekerke another. Lars von Känel had a pick six to round out the scoring for the Warriors who led 41-0 at the half.
Calanda head coach Geoff Buffum, who again is starting at quarterback:
“We’ve played two games vs. St. Gallen so far–today we expect a pretty tough test. We scored 59 points in 2 games vs. Winti in 2019 (below our average). They have a pretty aggressive 3-4 style of defense, lots of twists/stunts. Should be a good one.”
The 44 year old Buffum put on a solid showing in both wins over St. Gallen. In the first one, he completed 9 of 15 passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns while his backup Severin Murk threw for 33 yards on 4 of 5 passing. Murk also caught four of Buffum’s passes for 57 yards and two touchdowns while Lukas Lütscher caught the other touchdown pass. In that initial game, the Broncos ground game led the way with Steffen Haenelt rushing for 122 yards and a touchdown as the leading rusher. Erik Rageth rushed for 99 yards and a score while Tino Muggwyler had 10 carries for 93 yards and another touchdown. Murk also scored a rushing touchdown to go with his two receiving touchdowns.
This could be an intriguing game between two teams with solid ground games as well as excellent aerial attacks.
Watch the game live here. Winterthur Warriors @ Calanda Broncos, Sept. 20, 17:00 CET (11:00 ET)
