Sweden: Passing, rushing leaders reflect league standings

The six team Swedish Superserien has reached the midseason mark and there are a couple of familiar names topping the lists. With the Örebro Black Knights and Carlstad Crusaders marching towards a possible Swedish championship game showdown, it is no wonder those two teams are prominently represented. However, the Stockholm Mean Machines offense has begun to click as seen in the passing and receiving leaders.

Passing

Carlstad Crusaders QB Philip Juhlin leads the league in Sweden with 1,156 yards passing and 14 TDs. He finished as the passing leader in 2016 and 2015 as well. However, not far behind him is Stockholm Mean Machines Anders Hermodsson with his 978 yards in five games. Hermodsson, who led Carlstad to four titles and who played in Italy in 2016, has truly given the Mean Machines an offensive boost and has led his team into third place midway through the season. The Orebro Black Knights boast the leading offense behind the play calling of Corbin Lawler who has 764 yards passing and 11 TDS. Despite missing two games to injury Kiernan McDonagh of the Uppsala 86ers is fourth with 606 yards. Rounding out the top 5 is the Limhamn Griffins’ Danish QB Crhristian Lisby with 567 yards.

Receiving

Michael Sander has been a key to the resurgence of the Stockholm Mean Machines and leads all receivers with 439 yards while averaging 18.3 yards a catch. Carlstad Crusaders leading receiver Marcus Johnson is not far behind with 423 yards while Austrialian Blake Marklew from the Uppsala 86ers sits third with his 380 yards. Jacob Dahre uses his size to advantage for the Carlstad Crusaders and has 344 yards receiving while another member of the Stockholm Mean Machines receiving corps, Omar Fall, rounds out the top 5 with 252 yards.

Rushing

The Orebro Black Knights offense leads the Swedish Superserien in overall points with 264 in five games and part of the reason is running back Kasper Wedberg who has rushed for 372 yards and eight TDs. But his teammate Marcus Hudritsch is further proof that the Black Knights offensive line is having an outstanding year as he is almost even with Wedberg with 352 yards. Uppsala’s Victor St Pierre Laviolette has been the sole bright light for the 86ers offense and sits in third with 296 yards rushing. The two Carlstad running backs, Victor Toresson and Christian Forsman have 253 and 211 yards respectively but have picked up the pace with every game.

Tackles

The Uppsala 86ers defense has three representatives among the top 5 tacklers in the league. There is no question that the 86ers defense relies on linebacker Joshua Akena who leads the league in tackles with 30 to go along with two sacks. But Edvin Hernriksson and Jalani Philips of the Limhamn Griffins are right behind. Henriksson has 24 tackles to his credit while Philips has 22. Two more Uppsala defensive players round out the list as Robin Prevolnik (21.5) and Fredrik Zetterlund (21) are working hard to keep Uppsala in games.