Paris Musketeers take on Rhein Fire as European League of Football winds up 3rd weekend of play

| American Football | 06/18/2023

Sunday sees the 2-0 Rhein Fire host the 1-1 Paris Musketeers in week three of European League of Football action. 

The undefeated Fire are coming off a big win over the winless Hamburg Sea Devils in a game that featured a record-breaking attendance of 32,500 in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion.

Rhein took an early lead with Jadrian Clark finding Patrick Poetsch at the goal line, and they didn’t look back. The Rhein Fire offensive unit continued to put up points throughout the first three quarters (despite Clark turning the ball over twice), with their lead rising to as many as 18 points at one point. It wasn’t just the offense putting scores on the board for the Fire; Omari Williams got himself an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown – his second pick-six in the first two games of the season.

Hamburg’s Preston Haire put the ball in the endzone twice in the final quarter, keeping Hamburg in the game, but a failed onside kick allowed Rhein to run the clock out and move on to week three undefeated.

The Paris Musketeers faced the Stuttgart Surge in week two, giving the Surge their first game of 2023 and their first win since July 2021. 

The matchup was an intense one to say the least; Paris entered the third quarter with a lead but were simply outmatched by the Reilly Hennessey led Stuttgart offense for the remainder of the game. Zach Edwards continued to find himself in difficult situations, being forced to attempt fourth-down conversions on multiple occasions in the second half. Despite one of these resulting in a perfectly placed ball to TE Adria Botella Moreno in the endzone, it was too little too late as the Musketeers secondary continued to be torn to shreds by an electric Reilly Hennessey-Louis Geyer connection.

With Stuttgart up 27-20 late in the fourth, Paris’ offensive line proved again to be one of their biggest weaknesses, allowing Edwards to go down in the endzone for a safety. The following drive saw the game truly come to a close, as Edwards was picked off by Fettig in Surge territory.

With the recent signing of Keanu Ebanks looking to improve Zach Edwards’ protection, Paris will be aiming to upset current unanimously top ranked Rhein Fire and back up the huge hype train they had leading into the season, which they have yet to live up to.

A current student at Bournemouth University as well as a quarterback with eight years of playing experience. Brad's goal is to be a part of the growth of the game around the world through journalism and media.