Porto Mutts roll over Lisboa Navigators; still unbeaten in Portugal

| American Football | 02/05/2019

In a battle between the only two undefeated teams in Portugal, the Porto Mutts (3-) flexed their offensive muscles and bulldozered the Lisboa Navigators (2-1), whipping them 33-8 at Campo do Viso, in Porto.

With the win, the Mutts, 2018 Portuguese finalists, sit alone atop the league standings with a 3-0 record while the Navigators have fallen to 2-1.

Porto jumped out to a 33-0 halftime lead and then cruised in the second half for the victory.

Mutts wide receiver Miguel Vasconcelos scored three touchdowns, two on passes from quarterback  Francisco Pereira and one from backup João Amaral. Running back Carlos Matos added a touchdown while Amaral scored on a quarterback sneak.

Navigators quarterback André Monteiro connected with wide receiver Bruce Furtado for Lisbon’s lone touchdown while the defense forced a safety early in the second half.

Porto set the tone early as Matos found a gap late in the first quarter and rumbled 20 yards to open the scoring. Two possessions later, Pereira marched his team down to the Navigators seven yard line and then found Vasconcelos for his first touchdown of the day and Porto extended the lead to 12-0.

The Pereira-Vasconcelos combination struck again in the second quarter, as Pereira hit Vasconcelos on a 25 yard crossing route. Daniel Moraes added the extra point to give Porto a 19-0 lead.

The Mutts offense was operating in high gear in the second quarter and struck again, this time led by Amaral who first connected with wide receiver Tiago Gil to move the ball down to Lisbon’s one yard line and then carried the ball in himself for a 26-0 Porto lead.

Then, seconds before the break Amaral took advantage of a “free play” on an offsides call, and hit Vasconcelos for his third touchdown reception of the game.

Lisbon, trailing 33-0 coming out of the break, first forced a safety on a bad punt attempt by the Mutts, and then Monteiro hit Furtado for a 54 yard touchdown strike for the only scoring in the second half.

The Mutts will now face the Cascais Crusaders in two weeks while Lisboa takes on arch rivals, the Lisboa Devils (2-1) in a derby matchup at  José Ramos stadium in Lisbon.

Source: Futebol Americano Brasil

Roger Kelly is an editor and a writer for AFI. A former PR Director the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League for 7 years, he now lives in Sweden writing about and scouting American Football throughout the world.