The Friday Night Football series winds up its Swedish television season Friday night as two of the top teams clash as the reigning and six-time champion Carlstad Crusaders play host to the Uppsala 86ers at Tingvalla Stadium in Karlstad, Sweden.
Carlstad enters this game undefeated with a 8-0 record while the 86ers are 5-3. The Crusaders had no problems defeating Uppsala three weeks ago handing them a 59-20 defeat in Uppsala. However, since then the 86ers have played improved football. They whipped the Tyresö Royal Crowns and now sit in third place in the standings and have qualified for the playoffs.
Both offenses have been potent with Carlstad averaging 51.5 points a game and the 86ers at 31. But Uppsala started off slowly but picked up the pace and in the past six games have averaged 37 points a game.
Carlstad quarterback Philip Juhlin has found a rhythm and leads the Swedish SuperSerien in passing yardage with 2,523 in eight games while throwing for 31 touchdowns against only five interceptions. His counterpart for Uppsala, Australian national team quarterback Jared Stegman is right behind him as he has his offense humming. Stegman has thrown for 1,680 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2016.
The ground game is a key to the Carlstad offense and running back Brett Koepp leads the league with 808 yards rushing on 110 carries and 18 touchdowns. Juhlin has rushed for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Uppsala’s leading rusher is Stegman with 258 yards on the ground. 86ers running back Jonathan Wikstrom has 200 yards rushing.
Carlstad QB Philip Juhlin and Uppsala QB Jared Stegman Photos: Yamamoto Shinji, Hans Cullberg
Carlstad has two of the league’s top three receivers in Jacob Dahre (48 catches for 751 yards) and André Holgård (36 catches for 660 yards). However, Uppsala’s Chiam James and Ricardo Miller are both among the top five. James sits lurking in fourth spot on the receiving list with 34 receptions for 637 yards and 11 touchdowns with Miller right behind with 49 catches for 619 yards and eight touchdowns.
Carlstad’s offensive line has received much-needed reinforcements with the return of veterans Kristoffer Helborg and Daniel Holmgren who will add experience and depth as the regular season winds down and the playoffs loom.
Defensively, Carlstad has a slight edge. As a team the Crusaders have allowed just over 16 points a game while the 86ers have given up 23. Crusaders linebacker Christian Kuylenstjerna leads the league in tackles with 60 total while Uppsala’s Fabian Söderberg has amassed 44 from his safety spot.
This is the perfect final matchup for the highly successful Friday Night Football series in Sweden.
Watch Friday Night Football
Kickoff is 6:30 PM (12:30 EDT) and the game is being broadcast live on TV4 in Sweden (PPV). TV4 gives the first 30 days for free.
Instructions in English on how to access the TV4 broadcast.