Poland: Bialystok Lowlanders upset Gdynia Seahawks; stay in playoff race

The Bialystok Lowlanders (2-2) finally looked like the defending champions that they are this past weekend when they disposed of the previously unbeaten Gdynia Seahawks (3-1) 22-8 in  Poland’s Liga Futbolu Amerykańskiego.

A loss would have seriously hurt the Lowlanders playoff hopes after losses to the Wroclaw Panthers and Tychy Falcons.

Bialystok quarterback Rex Dausin threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns while running back Krzysztof Czaplejewicz scored the third.

The Lowlanders scored first as Czaplejewicz capped the opening drive with a 15 yard touchdown giving Bialystok a 6-0 lead. Then defenses took over as neither team was able to gain any momentum.

Late in the second quarter though, Dausin found Królewski in behind the Seahawks secondary and hit him with a 40 yard touchdown pass.  Wojciech Pacewicz added the two-point conversion and the Lowlanders took a 14-0 lead into halftime.

The Seahawks struck back late in the third quarter as Juhlin hit Piotr Rudnicki from five yards out and with the two-point conversion, Gdynia closed to gap to 14-8.

With the Bialystok defense controlling the line of scrimmage, Dausin went back to work in the fourth quarter, finishing off a drive early in the period tossing a 15 yard roll out pass to Eryk Makowski to increase the lead to 20-8. Tomasz Zubrycki added the two-point conversion and the defensive did their job the rest of the way.

With the win, the Lowlanders are back in contention in the LFA North conference. The Seahawks lead with a 3-1 record with the Warsaw Mets second with a record fo 2-2, and Bialystok third, also at 2-2.