Semifinal stats from Finland’s Maple League tell interesting story

Finland’s Maple League semifinals this past weekend featured some amazing team and individual performances as both the Kuopio Steelers and Helsinki Wolverines advanced to the Maple Bowl in games that offered incredible surprises.

On Saturday, September 5, the Steelers avenged a tight 14-7 loss to the Seinäjoki Crocodiles three weeks ago by unexpectedly dominating them from start to finish in winning 35-13. Then, on Sunday, the Wolverines and Wasa Royals staged s shootout for the ages with Helsinki edging the Royals 42-41 on a last minute field goal.

Passing

Wasa Royals QB Brandon Gwinner 338 yards and 3 TDs in the narrow loss to Helsinki to lead all passers. His game counterpart Chris Forcier was 2nd completing 17 of 31 passes for 259 yards while Kuopio Steelers QB Seth Peters threw for 242 on 24 completions good for third. Crocodiles QB Spencer Cutlan finished as the 4th leading passer with 160.

Rushing

Lamar Carswell of the Steelers and Helsinki’s Micky Kyei both had playoff games to remember with Carswell rushing for 178 yards on 20 carries to finish as the leading rusher of the playoffs. Kyei finished behind him but had a higher average with 11 carries for 157 yards, averaging 14.3 yards a carry. Wasa Royals RB Nico Barrow finished 3rd with his 93 yards while Wolverines QB Chris Forcier was the fourth leading rusher of the semifinals with his 11 carries for 75 yards.

Receiving

Wasa Royals WR Alpha Jalloh added to his playoff performance legacy with another amazing game, with 191 yards receiving and 2 TDs on only eight catches to lead all receivers. Wolverines WR Sebastien Sagne was also on top of his game with 9 catches for 125 yards and 2 TDs. The third leading receiver of the semifinal round was Steelers WR Max Zimmermann who led all receivers in his game with 12 receptions for 92 yards. Behind him in fourth was teammate Tino Ndongo with 85 yards receiving  and 1 TD on 8 receptions.

All graphics: Igor Lazarevic