The Stockholm Mean Machines shocked their hosts, the Örebro Black Knights Saturday on the opening kickoff and then went on to hand Örebro a 43-7 shellacking in Swedish Superserien action.
Mean Machines returner Edvin Almeida Taborda gathered in the opening kickoff at his own 15 yard line, found a seam and raced all the way down the sideline to the Örebro five yard line. On the next play he scored on a pass from quarterback Tim Morovick giving Stockholm a 7-0 lead mere seconds into the game.
It was a portent of things to come. And turnovers and miscues played a huge part.
Although the home team scored the equalizer midway through the second quarter after an interception with running back Kasper Wedberg pounding the ball in from the two yard line, the Mean Machines went back out in front for good when an Örebro punt was deflected and gave Stockholm the ball on the Black Knights 26 yard line. Four plays later Morovick carried the ball in himself from the 14 yard line giving his team a 14-7 lead.
Stockholm WR Ben von Jagow looking upfield for running room Photo: Stefan Akander
Again Örebro handed the Mean Machines the ball in incredible field position as Denny John picked off a Jake Sisson pass at the 23 yard line. Morovick found Ben von Jagow on the next play and the score was suddenly 21-7 with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Stockholm added a 38 yard field goal from the foot of kicker Robin Gavelin-Miranda taking a 24-7 lead into the break.
Another costly turnover by Örebro , this time a fumble by usually sure-handed Wedberg on the very first play from scrimmage in the second half gave the Mean Machines the ball on their own 38 yard line. A Morovick-to-Gronqvist pass and catch gobbled up another 30 yards and Stockholm was within striking distance. Four plays later, Morovick scored on a seven yard run and the Mean Machines lead ballooned out to 30-7.
The Black Knights committed their next big turnover of the game later in the third quarter on a strange play. An Örebro player tried to recover a partially deflected Mean Machines punt but failed giving Stockholm the ball on the Black Knights 19 yard line. Morovick hit Almeida Taborda for a nine yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter making the score 36-7.
Black Knights RB Kasper Wedberg finds the going tough Photo: Jonas Domfors
A demoralized Black Knights squad then gave up the ball on a failed fourth down attempt from their own 23.
This time Morovick took his time, eating up almost four minutes, and then connecting with Almeida Taborda who scored his third touchdown, upping the score to 43-7.
Örebro replaced Sisson at quarterback with Dammy Agbabiaka but the drive got them no further than the Stockholm 47 yard line as time ran out.
Morovick had another solid game throwing for 177 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 60 and two more scores. Almeida Taborda only had three catches for 24 yards but all three were touchdowns. Canadian Ben von Jagow hauled in four passes for 41 yards and a touchdown while Felix Grönqvist led all receivers with nine receptions for 86 yards.
For the Black Knights it was a tough day with Sisson throwing for only 50 yards and Agbabiaka 16. Wedberg rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown.
With the win, Stockholm remains unbeaten and in fact has not lost to a Swedish team since June 8, 2018, a streak of 16 straight games. That loss was ironically to Örebro. These two teams face each other again this Saturday, September 12 in Stockholm.