Matchups in Spain as season hits midpoint
The Spanish League of American Football, LNFA, heads into the midpoint of the season this weekend with four games on tap and a surprise leader in the overall standings.
The Las Rozas Black Demons (3-0) top the standings and are trailed by the Mallorca Voltors (3-1), the defending champion Badalona Dracs (2-1), Madrid’s Osos Rivas (2-1) and the surprising Zaragoza Hurricanes (2-2). The Fuengirola Potros are 1-2 while both the Gijon Mariners and Murcia Cobras are winless at 0-3.
Check out all the scores and standings on the Spanish federation website.
All four games will be streamed live on AFI.tv.
Saturday, February 27
Gijon Mariners (0-3) @ Osos Rivas (2-1) Game time is 16:00 (4 pm) CET (10:00 Eastern Time).
The weekend kicks off as the Gijon Mariners (0-3) head to Madrid to face Osos Rivas (2-1). The Mariners lost their third in a row two weeks ago to the Zaragoza Hurricanes 13-7 while Osos Rivas came close to toppling the Las Rozas Black Demons, finally losing 35-28 on a fourth quarter fumble return touchdown.
This is the second meeting of the year between the two teams. Osos won the first encounter 27-14 but the Mariners did not make it easy. The Madrid squad jumped out to a 21-0 first half lead only to watch as Gijon battled back scoring a touchdown late in the second quarter and then late in the game with Osos Rivas adding a third period score.
Since then though, Osos Rivas have added running backs Mike Gentili and Adrian Jimenez as well as quarterback Garrett DelleChiaie. Although Mariners running backs s Javier Castanon and Miguel Quince are tough to stop at times, and quarterback Marcos Martínez has been playing well, they will be in tough against the Madrid team.
Fuengirola Potros (1-2) @ Las Rozas Black Demons (3-0) Game time is scheduled for 5 pm (17:00) CET (11:00 Eastern Time).
The Las Rozas Black Demons (3-0) remain unbeaten in the LNFA after an exciting 35-28 win over the Osos Rivas in the only game played last weekend. Meanwhile, the Potros gave the Mallorca Voltors a hard time two weeks ago but eventually succumbed 42-34 on a late-game touchdown by the Voltors.
These two teams faced each other in the first game of the year and the Black Demons handled it easily, beating Fuengirola 41-8.
Las Rozas has added Canadian quarterback Chris Merchant since then and he proved his worth in his first outing, a huge upset win over the Badalona Dracs. He threw for 193 yards and scored two touchdowns himself. Fuengirola Potros quarterback Henri Väänänen threw three touchdown passes himself in the loss to Mallorca. He has definitely taken charge of this team and could be a factor along with the Chaves brothers, Carlos and David. However, Las Rozas has a lot of weapons including running back Marcos De La Mata and receiver Jesus Garcia-Valcarcel. The status of receiver Mavin Saunders who was hurt in the win over Osos Rivas, is unknown. The Black Demons defense, anchored by Darius Robinson is the secondary, is formidable. Robinson is also a difference maker on special teams as evidenced by his 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown last week.
This should be a comfortable win for Las Rozas but the Potros proved against Mallorca that they are an improving team.
Sunday, February 28
Zaragoza Hurricanes (2-2) @ Badalona Dracs (2-1) Game time is 11 am (11:00 CET) or 05:00 Eastern.
The 2-2 Zaragoza Hurricanes will travel to Barcelona to take on a 2-1 Badalona Dracs team bent on proving that their loss to the Black Demons two weeks ago, their first on Spanish soil in four years, was a fluke.
When the two teams played each other in mid December, Badalona won easily, 51-6. Since then, the Hurricanes have added quarterback Dustin Hawke Willingham and the seasoned veteran has proven his worth engineering two straight wins for the Hurricanes. He has a formidable weapon in the backfield in running back and returner Denzel Duchenne. The Dracs have also added to their roster with quarterback Cory Benedetto, who played in the German Football League for the Ingolstadt Dukes in 2019. However, Benedetto had a rough introduction to the Spanish league as his team lost to the Black Demons two weeks ago in his first game. Still with the weapons at his disposal including All Europe receiver/returner Niko Lester and Austrian standout receiver Dario Dobrolevski, Badalona should win comfortably.
Murcia Cobras (0-3) @ Mallorca Voltors (3-1) Game time is 12 noon CET (06:00 Eastern Time)
The fourth and final game of the weekend will pit the winless Murcia Cobras (0-3) against the 3-1 Mallorca Voltors in Mallorca.
Mallorca won the first game between the two teams in mid December, 33-7. The Voltors are coming off a 42-34 victory over the Fuengirola Potros while Murcia were beaten 52-33 by Osos Rivas.
The Voltors quarterback/receiver combo of Tanner Young and Jaylon Hibbs has proven to be difficult to stop. The duo has accounted the bulk of Mallorca’s scoring with Hibbs scoring 11 touchdowns on the season so far. In fact, he had five alone in the win over the Potros two weeks ago. Murcia quarterback Robert Cuda will be looking for his Spanish weapons, Antoni Monton and Andy Vera in this game while British defensive lineman Deon Mutsvanemoto continues to improve and could be a factor.
Graphics: Igor Lazarevic
