Rhein Fire overwhelm Madrid Bravos to advance to European League of Football semifinals

The Rhein Fire jumped out to a 20-3 first quarter lead over the visiting Madrid Bravos in the European League of Football Wild Card matchup this past weekend and then cruised to a comfortable 40-10 victory.

This was the third meeting between the two teams this season and the Fire took their second win after losing the regular season opener 22-10.

The Fire set the tone early with running back Glen Toonga taking a hand off from quarterback Jadrian Clark and rumbling 46 yards for the game’s first score. Two minutes later, Clark found Harlan Kowfie for a 32 yard touchdown and Rhein grabbed a 14-0 lead with only five minutes gone in the first quarter.

The Bravos finally got on the scoreboard a couple of minutes later as Alvaro Guitián booted a 42 yard field goal to narrow the gap to 14-3.

However, it took the Fire just two minutes more before they reached the end zone again as Toonga found a seam on the left side and scampered 52 yards to boost the lead to 20-3.

The Bravos finally found the end zone later in the second as running back D’wayne Obi popped outside and raced 14 yards to reduce the lead to 20-10. Rhein made them pay though as Clark, with plenty of time in the pocket, found Kwofie deep down the field behind the Madrid secondary and the speedy wideout scored a 58 yard touchdowns to up the lead again, to 27-10.

The Fire weren’t done yet as with just under two minutes left, the Clark-Kwofie connection struck again this time on a 19 yard pass to take the lead up to 34-10 going into the break.

After a quiet third quarter, Clark marched the Fire down to the Madrid six yard line and then connected with Kowfie with six minutes left in the period for the receiver’s fourth touchdown of the game to  increase the lead to 40-10.

Kwofie finished with 10 catches for 200 yards and four touchdowns to earn Player of the Game honors but Toonga wasn’t far behind with 11 carries for 143 yards and two scores.

Neither team was able to gain much momentum in the final stanza and the defending champion Fire found themselves moving on to the semifinals for the second straight year. For the Bravos, they wound up a very successful inaugural season in the ELF finishing with an 8-4 regular season record and a playoff appearance.