New stats leaders as Austria heads into season’s second half

AFI | American Football | 05/07/2019

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

At the midway point of the Austrian Football League’s 2019 season there have been lots of shifts in three of the four stats categories with new leaders in two.

And in one there are no changes at all.

We have new passing and receiving yards leaders and not a single change in tackling, other than the number of tackles.

The SonicWall Mödling Rangers and Projekt Spielberg Graz Giants each have four players among the Top 5 in the four categories. Next up are the Dacia Vienna Vikings and Prague Black Panthers with three apiece while the Danube Dragons and ASKÖ Traun Steelsharks have two representatives each. The Amstetten Thunder and league-leading Swarco Raiders each have one player.

Passing

Graz Giants QB Jake Kennedy took over first place in passing yardage after throwing for 224 yards and 4 TDs in a tough 34-27 loss to the Swarco Raiders. He now has 1,205 yards and a league best 16 TDs. John Uribe of the Traun Steelsharks has dropped to 2nd with 1,124 yards while Austin Herink of the Dacie Vienna Vikings is 3rd. He has thrown for 1,017 yards and 12 TDs. Swarco Raiders QB Sean Shelton has jumped back upon the list in 4th with 988 yards while Danube Dragons QB Chad Jeffries is the 5th leading passer with 9184.

Receiving

SonicWall Mödling Rangers WR Roman Namdar has risen to the lead in receiving yardage after catching 7 passes for 179 yards in the Rangers 35-14 win over the Amstetten Thunder giving him 516 yards and 5 TDs. Traun Steelsharks WR Mario Winter has slid down into 2nd with 507 yards while another Rangers WR, Eugen Sumic is now 3rd with 493 yards after he caught 5 passes for 156 yards in the victory over the Thunder. Giants WR Phillip Sommer has moved into 4th with 384 yards while Bernhard Seikovits of the Vienna Vikings is now 5th with 366 yards.

Rushing

Prague Black Panthers RB Herbert Gamboa continues to lead all rushers with 625 yards and a league-best 7 TDs. Florian Wegan of the Rangers comes in at 2nd place with 547 yards while Danube Dragons QB Chad Jeffries is 3rd with 421 yards after a 103 yard rushing day in a 10-3 loss to the Vikings. Another QB, Black Panthers Dylan Potts has now entered the list in 4th with 341 yards in 4 games while Graz Giants RB Alexander Sanz is now 5th with 336 yards.

Tackles

Mödling Rangers LB Markus Bernas remains at the top of the list of tacklers in the Austrian Football League and now has 37.5 tackles after 5 games, averaging 7.8 a game. Graz Giants LB Thomas Schnurrer is 2nd with 36 tackles while Prague Black Panthers LB Karel Augusta is 3rd with his 28 tackles. Vikings LB Lucky Ogbevoen is the 4th leading tackler in the AFL now with 28 as well while Martin Dorner of the Amstetten Thunder is 5th with 24.