It took Stockholm Mean Machines quarterback Tim Morovick less than a half of football to get acclimatized as he led the Mean Machines to a convincing 41-0 victory over the Uppsala 86ers in Swedish Superserien second round action.
In his first full game in two years, Morovick looked solid throwing for 227 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 92 and one score.
“I felt pretty good going into the game, more eager than nervous but it took about a half to shake the rust off.”
And shake off the rust he did, and in less than a half it seemed, marching the Mean Machines down to the Uppsala 36 yard line on the game’s opening drive and then finding Pär Lindelöf for the game’s first touchdown. Lindelöf caught three passes for 95 yards and that touchdown while Edvin Taborda had four receptions for 75 yards and another touchdown. Robin Gavelin-Miranda caught a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jan Weinreich. Running back Timmy Göransson had 39 yards rushing and Stockholm’s second rushing touchdown. Thomas Anesiadis also scored on an interception return.
Thomas Anesiadis en route to a 79 yard interception return Photo: Stefan Akander
It was a tough night for Uppsala’s quarterbacks with starter Olle Hesselgren still out with an injury. Running back Oscar Neverman was converted to quarterback for part of the game but he shared duties with Gustav Bowall and also Team Sweden U19 quarterback Victor Ekberg. Ekberg completed 3 of 6 passes for 22 yards. Running back Josh Akena had 14 carries for 65 yards while Nermann ran for a total of 25 yards. In fact, the 86ers mustered just 127 yards of offense on the day.
After the early touchdown, the Uppsala defense kept the Mean Machines at bay for most of the rest of the first half until the fateful last minute of play. First, Göransson bulled his way into the end zone with 50 seconds to go in the half to up the score to 14-0.
Then came the backbreaking play for the 86ers. On the final play of the half, Ekberg heaved the ball downfield from the 50 yard line and Mean Machines defender Anesiadis simply went up and caught the ball and then raced untouched down the sideline 79 yards for a touchdown with no time on the clock, boosting the score to 21-0.
In the space of less than a minute, the 86ers went from being behind 7-0 to suddenly trailing by three touchdowns.
The second half opened just as ominously for Uppsala with Ekberg getting sacked on a fourth down at his down 36.
It took Morovick and the Stockholm offense just three plays to find the end zone with Morovick carrying the ball in himself and suddenly the score was 28-0.
Stockholm RB Timmy Göransson Photo: Stefan Akander
Three touchdowns in the span of four minutes.
It was too much for the beleaguered 86ers to rebound from. Uppsala managed just three first downs in the last two quarters of play, one of them on a penalty.
Meanwhile, Stockholm added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter with Taborda and Gavelin-Miranda both scoring on passes from Morovick
With the win, Stockholm moves into sole possession of first place and will be on the road again this week when they take on the Örebro Black Knights in Örebro on September 5. Uppsala will host the Carlstad Crusaders on September 4.