Maple Bowl XLI head-to-head offensive comparison revealing

The Kuopio Steelers and Helsinki Wolverines square off Saturday, September 12 in the 2020 Finnish championship game, Maple Bowl XLI.

For the Steelers, this will be the third straight trip to the title game while Helsinki is appearing in the game for the first time since 2013.

Let’s take a look at an offensive head to head comparison.

Watch the Maple Bowl live on AFI.tv, Saturday, September 12, 17:00 EEST (16:00 CET, 10:00 ET)

Quarterbacks

This is the third consecutive year that Kuopio Steelers quarterback Seth Peters has guided his team to the Maple Bowl and this may perhaps be his best chance at winning it after losing in 2018 and 2019. He has the best offense having scored 223 points in five games, an average of 44.6 points a game. He has thrown for an average of almost 243 yards a game and tossed a league best 20 TD passes. However, he does not run the ball with -19 yards rushing on the season. He has used his weapons wisely though and with his experience he has made the best use of his arsenal. His counterpart, Chris Forcier, while not as prolific a passer still gets the job done throwing for 1,023 yards and did suffer through an ankle injury which hobbled him for two and a half games. Despite that, he managed to rush for 403 yards and 12 TDs in six games, proving just how dangerous he is.

Edge: Even

Running backs

Steelers RB Lamar Carswell took the Maple League by storm rushing for 360 yards and 7 TDs in his first two games finishing the regular season with 539 yards and 10 TDs. In the playoff game he exploded for 178 yards and 3 TDs giving him 717 in six games. He was simply impossible for the Seinajoki Crocodiles defense to corral. Wolverines wide receiver turned running back Micky Kyei truly came into his own in the last game of the regular season and the semifinal rushing for a total of 275 yards in the two games. He gives the Wolverines a dimension they did not have before, especially not in the first game between these two, a blowout 70-6 win for Kuopio. Still, Carswell is the difference maker here and Kyei will be facing perhaps the toughest linebacking corps in the league.

Edge: Steelers

Receivers

Steelers WR Tino Ndongo ripped Helsinki for 180 yards and 5 TDs in the first game between these two and constantly got in behind the secondary. He will have a tough time getting that open in this game but he has proven just how dangerous he is countless times during the Maple League season. Sebastien Sagne came into the season with a stellar background having played and excelled in the German Football League. Still, he came out of the gate slowly this season and only started to come into his own in the last half. He had 125 yards receiving and 2 TDs in the playoff win over the Wasa Royals. His size, speed and savvy make him a constant threat.

Edge: Wolverines

Graphics: Igor Lazarevic