The 7-0 Carlstad Crusaders, Europe #6, exploded for four second quarter touchdowns and then cruised to a 52-20 victory over the Uppsala 86ers in their second last game of the Swedish Superserien regular season.
Carlstad quarterback Philip Juhlin competed 15 of 23 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns in another efficient performance while also rushing for three touchdowns. Wide receiver Robin Juhlin (no relation) caught eight of those passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns as the 86ers secondary could not contain him. Running back Victor Toresson hauled in a 47 yard pass for a touchdown and Christian Forsman caught three for 20 yards and a touchdown adding a second on the ground.
86ers quarterback John Rock threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns with Isac Vikman and Mattias Gauthier catching one each. Gauthier also scored a rushing touchdown.
The Uppsala defense managed to hold their own in the first quarter keeping Carlstad to one touchdown and stopping them on the three yard line once.
Carlstad QB Philip Juhlin handing off to RB Hugo Jalberg Photo: Moses Sh
Carlstad’s deadly second quarter was the key. The Crusaders have scored 21 second quarter touchdowns in seven games this year and this game was no exception. For the fourth time in 2018, they scored four touchdowns in the second quarter.
Juhlin rushed for two, Forsman for one and Toresson hauled in a 47 yard touchdown pass with almost no time left in the half to give Carlstad a 33-7 lead. The 86ers had scored on Rock to Vikman 19 yard pass late in the quarter.
Juhlin connected with Juhlin to open the second half to increase the lead to 39-7.
Rock got the Uppsala offense moving again, leading them on a 13 play, 80 yard drive which ate up seven minutes to reduce the lead to 39-13. But a botched kickoff by Uppsala handed Carlstad the ball on the 86ers 20 yard line and Juhlin made no mistake finding the “other” Juhlin to add to the lead, 45-13.
Rock engineered a 72 yard drive first finding Jamal Hussein for a 53 yard gain and then throwing a 10 yard touchdown pass to Gauthier to narrow the gap to 45-20.
Juhlin wasn’t done yet though, marching Carlstad on a nine-play, 73 yard, four minute drive finishing it with a 13 yard touchdown pass to Forsman to finalize the score, 52-20.
With the win, Carlstad remains unbeaten in 2018 having won all seven games in the Swedish Superserien and both international NEFL games. The loss drops Uppsala to 1-5 with two games left. To make the playoffs, they need to beat the Göteborg Marvels this week by more than one point and then either defeat the Stockholm Mean Machines in the last game or hope that Carlstad defeats the Marvels in their final regular season game.