Rhein Fire make statement with big win over Paris Muskeeters

The Rhein Fire asserted their dominance of the European League of Football’s Western Conference on Sunday with a dominant 38-6 win over the Paris Musketeers at home.

The Fire got the ball first and put together an impressive drive, capping it off with a 19 yard passing touchdown from Jadrian Clark to Harlan Kwofie on third and 12. Paris then got possession, but disaster quickly struck as Zach Edwards was intercepted by Jannik Seibel. With good field position, the Fire scored again on another touchdown connection between Clark and Kwofie. The teams traded punts before Paris missed a field goal.

The Musketeers later had the ball in Fire territory with a chance to add more points, but a Cheikhou Sow fumble squandered that chance. Clark soon got his third touchdown of the first half with a pass to Tim Sauerland from three yards out. Paris once again took the ball into Fire territory just before halftime, but they turned the ball over on downs and did not get any points.

In the third quarter, the Musketeers punted before Clark found Kelvin McKnight for a 60 yard touchdown strike, putting the game all but out of reach. Paris put together another decent drive, but failed to get points as they were stopped on fourth down. The Fire added another touchdown in the fourth quarter with a Glen Toonga rushing score, which sealed the victory. Paris finally got on the scoreboard with a touchdown pass from Edwards to Sow, but that was all they could manage on the day.

Though the margin of victory was huge, the yardage differential was not so much. The Fire outgained Paris by a margin of 393-338, and the Musketeers had slightly more time of possession. However, a common theme of the game was Paris putting together decent drives before sputtering out with a turnover or a failure on fourth down.

With the victory, the Fire have put themselves in excellent position to win the Western Conference and earn a home playoff game. They have a bye week next week before they face the Hamburg Sea Devils. Paris still is likely to make the playoffs, but they might want to burn the tape on this game. They travel to Berlin next week for a matchup with the Thunder.