Road To The IFAF Europe Champions League Final Four
This Friday, the third edition of the IFAF Europe Final Four kicks off in Wroclaw, Poland with the two semifinal games.
The Milano Seamen will face the surprising Koç Rams from Turkey in an early afternoon game (1 PM) while the host Wroclaw Panthers will play the Danube Dragons from Austria at 7 PM.
Watch for a complete preview later this week.
Let’s take a look at how each of the final four teams arrived in Wroclaw.
Road to the Final Four
Milano Seamen – Conference Central
The Milano Seamen playing in Conference Central, first shocked two-time finalists SBB Vukovi Belgrade from Serbia 50-34 in a game in which quarterback Garrett Safron tossed five touchdown passes. Then Milano closed the tournament with a 43-6 drubbing of the Budapest Wolves from Hungary. Safron threw two touchdown passes in the pouring rain to Filippo Fiammenghi and Lorenzo Vezzoli. Vezzoli added a 55 yard touchdown run and kicked four PATs, running back David Guthrie scored two touchdowns and Danilo Bonaparte added a 20 yard touchdown in the win.
Koç Rams – Conference East
The Rams hosted Russia’s St. Petersburg Griffins and with quarterback Palmer Wilsie throwing six touchdown passes shocked the Griffins 47-17. Then the Rams headed into the hostile confines of Tingvalla Park in Sweden to face the defending Champions League and Swedish champions the Carlstad Crusaders. The Rams brought the high-flying Crusaders down to earth in a brilliant defensive display while running back Steven Strother scored the game’s lone touchdown on a 65 yard screen play to beat Carlstad 6-0.
Wroclaw Panthers – Conference North
In front of an excited home crowd, Wroclaw took a 7-0 lead against the Triangle Razorbacks from Denmark and exploded for 21 third quarter points en route to an easy 31-10 win over the Danish champions. Then the Panthers headed to Prague in the Czech Republic and overwhelmed the Prague Lions 48-7 after taking a 41-0 halftime lead. Quarterback EJ White threw six touchdown passes for the win.
Danube Dragons – Conference South
The Dragons, winners of the four-team Conference South, opened the tournament eking out a 14-6 overtime win over Serbia’s Novi Sad Dukes in Serbia. Then, in a balanced display of scoring, the Dragons downed a pesky Lisbon Devils squad from Portugal 60-36. In that contest, Danube scored 14 points in the first and third quarters, 13 in the second and 19 in the fourth. It was quarterback Alex Good’s first game back with the Dragons and he threw for two touchdowns and ran two in.
