Playoff matchups in Poland looming

The Polish  Liga Futbolu Amerykańskiego, LFA, heads into the semifinal round this weekend with the Bialystok Lowlanders hosting the Tychy Falcons and the Bydgoszcz Archers visiting the Wroclaw Panthers.

The winners will meet in the Polish Championship Game on November 11.

Saturday, October 31, Tychy Falcons (3-2) @ Bialystok Lowlanders (4-1)

The Tychy Falcons who finished third in the LFA standings following a resounding 30-0 thrashing of the Bydgoszcz Archers in the final game of the year will still be in tough against the Lowlanders. With Glen Toonga, the leading scorer in Poland this season with 11 and , quarterback Brandon Gwinner had 5 rushing and threw for 6. Two Lowlanders receivers were among the top 5 in TDs. Rafal Krolewski had 4 while teammate Konrad Marianski caught 2 receiving touchdowns.

Tychy Falcons German quarterback Niklas Gorny tossed 9 scoring passes, 2nd best in the league while Dominik Niedziela caught two of those.

Bialystok downed the Falcons 44-32 during the regular season in a game that saw Tychy score late in the first half to tie the score at 22-22 heading into the third quarter and then take a 32-31 fourth quarter lead. But Toonga rushed for 173 yards, 115 in the second half while scoring four touchdowns.

If the Falcons defense can find a way to corral him and reduce turnovers to a minimum (they had three fumbles late in the game), they still could surprise.

Saturday, October 31, Bydgoszcz Archers (2-3) @ Wroclaw Panthers (5-0)

The Panthers roll into the playoffs as the heavy favorites to win the title and with the Archers suffering from injuries to running back Meril Zero and also Kadel King, both of whom are questionable, this would seem to be almost a foregone conclusion. Bydgoszcz is also in the midst of a quarterback controversy with Dustin Hawke Willingham being sent home. It looks like Jakub Kubacki will step in. Kubacki played the second half in the game against the Falcons and acquitted himself well.

Meanwhile, Wroclaw running back Ryan Tuiasoa was the second leading touchdown scorer in Poland despite usually only playing half of each game. Quarterback Bartosz Dziedzic led the league in touchdown passes during the regular season with 16 with one of his receivers, naturally, Wictor Zieba tops with 8. The defensive front seven is anchored by Winnipeg Blue Bombers DE, Thiadric Hansen who topped all defenders with two defensive touchdowns.

Wroclaw blew the Archers out 58-0 in the only game between these two in the regular season and this game will likely not be much different.