Poland: Krakow Kings stay unbeaten after edging the Warsaw Mets in a thriller

The Krakow Kings (2-0) built up a 19-6 lead at the end of the third quarter in their Polish Football League clash with the Warsaw Mets (1-1) only to watch as Warsaw stormed back, scoring three fourth quarter touchdowns. But the Kings added a touchdown of their own and the Mets special teams muffed a last second extra point giving the Kings a narrow 26-25 win.

It was the Mets who opened the scoring though as quarterback Torrin Campbell connected with wide receiver Jan Omelańczuk from 12 yards out to give Warsaw a 6-0 lead. Krakow responded as Marcin Masłoń kicked a 23 yard field goal to narrow the lead to 6-3.

Early in the second quarter, the Kings marched down to the Warsaw five yard line and then running back Bartosz Gnoza scored on a sweep to give his team a 10-6 lead after Maslon made the PAT. Then, late in the half, a bad punt snap by the Mets went through the end zone producing a two-point safety, extending the Kings lead to 12-6 going into the break.

Midway through the third quarter, Krakow again marched deep into Mets territory and then Jan Szwej sped around right end and got his hand and the ball over the goalline for the Kings second touchdown to increase the lead to 19-6 going into the fourth.

On their first possession of the final stanza, Warsaw continued a drive that started in the third and Campbell hit Krzysztof Andrukonis with an eight yard scoring pass to reduce the lead to 19-12. The Kings responded though behind the running of Szwej. He capped the drive by weaving his way through the entire Warsaw defense scoring an 18 yard touchdown to boost the lead back up to 26-12.

Campbell wasn’t done yet, as he marched the Mets down to the five yard line and then took the ball in himself to creep closer, 26-19.

Then, late in the game, a bad punt snap gave the Mets the ball on the Krakow side of the 50 and Campbell went back to work, moving his team down to the 18 yard line. With almost no time left on the clock, he found receiver Jedrzej Kubica wide open deep in the corner of the end zone to make the score 26-25. However, otherwise reliable kicker Dominik Szymanski booted the extra point attempt wide left and the game ended with a narrow win by the Kings.

With the win, Krakow remains unbeaten and occupies first in the Southern Conference while the Mets drop to 1-1 and are second in the North.

In other action, the Bialystok Lowlanders blanked the Tychy Falcons 38-0 while the Silesia Rebels dumped the Olsztyn Lakers 30-20 and the Warsaw Eagles beat the Katy Wroclawskie Jaguars 19-7.