Białystok Lowlanders, Wrocław Panthers batter winless opponents

In a weekend of lopsided wins, the Wroclaw Panthers and Białystok Lowlanders proved there is a huge gap in football in Poland.

The Panthers pummeled the Husaria Szczecin while the Lowlanders blanked the Wroclaw Outlaws. So with the Panthers already moving on to the playoffs, four teams remain to battle for the last three playoff spots.

Wrocław Panthers 56, Husaria Szczecin 3

Wrocław, Poland – Husaria Szczecin scored their first points since April 1 on Sunday afternoon, but those points were nowhere near enough as the home Wrocław Panthers overwhelmed them 56-3 to complete their march to regular-season perfection. The Panthers will now move on to the postseason, in which they are assured of hosting a Topliga semifinal game, while Husaria will play the Wrocław Outlaws in a battle of 0-5 teams next weekend with a secure spot in the 2018 edition of the Topliga on the line.

The Panthers brought the running clock on before halftime with six first-half touchdowns. Three of those scores came courtesy of the arm of Timothy Morovick, with Jakub Kłoskowski, Grzegorz Mazur and Bartosz Dziedzic hauling in touchdown strikes from the American. Konrad Starczewski, Morovick and Dziedzic each had a rushing touchdown in the first half, while only Maciej Adamiak’s 36-yard field goal in the second quarter kept Husaria from suffering a fourth consecutive shutout.

Dziedzic replace Morovick at quarterback in the third quarter and promptly threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Patryk Matkowski. Rickey Stevens then became the fourth Panthers rusher to score, notching a 13-yard touchdown run in the final quarter. The Panthers have now won 14 consecutive Topliga games, outscoring their opponents by an average of 37 points in that span.

UP NEXT:

Panthers (6-0): regular season complete, will host seeding game on May 27
Husaria (0-5): at Wrocław Outlaws (0-5), May 20

Białystok Lowlanders 47, Wrocław Outlaws 0

Wrocław, Poland – The Białystok Lowlanders defense kept the Wrocław Outlaws out of the red zone for the entire game on Saturday, while the offense racked up 33 points in the first half to guide the visitors to a 47-0 victory in the penultimate game of the regular season for both teams. The Lowlanders can nab a second-place Topliga finish with a win next weekend over the Warsaw Eagles, while the winless Outlaws will need to defeat Husaria Szczecin to stay out of the Topliga-PLFA I ‘barrage’ game.

Aaron Knight threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score, while five different Lowlanders found the end zone before the intermission. Białystok led 19-0 after a quarter on Knight’s touchdown run and scoring receptions by Tomasz Zubrycki and Bartłomiej Trubaj, and they extended the lead to 33-0 in the second quarter with a 30-yard Łukasz Czaczkowski touchdown catch and a short rushing touchdown by Mikołaj Pawlaczyk.

The hapless Outlaws offense never came close to scoring, and Zubrycki became the only player to get his name on the scoresheet twice with a 25-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. Adam Zarzecki closed the scoring with a short fumble return for a touchdown in the last quarter. The Lowlanders are tied with three other teams for second place in the Topliga heading into the final weekend of regular season play.

UP NEXT:

Outlaws (0-5): vs. Husaria Szczecin (0-5), May 20
Lowlanders (3-2): vs. Warsaw Eagles (3-2), May 21

TOPLIGA WEEK 8 SCHEDULE:

Saturday, May 20, Time TBA: Wrocław Outlaws (0-5) vs. Husaria Szczecin (0-5)
Saturday, May 20, 12:00 PM: Gdynia Seahawks (3-2) vs. Tychy Falcons (3-2)