The Carlstad Crusaders earned their first victory in the Northern European Football League’s inaugural weekend on the road, downing the Copenhagen Towers, 2016 Danish finalists, 25-8 in Copenhagen.
The white-clad Crusaders took command early, building a 25-0 lead before letting the reserves onto the field. Copenhagen’s backups managed to score a late touchdown on Carlstad’s backups.
Crusaders quarterback Philip Juhlin threw three touchdown passes and ran one in himself as the Carlstad offense shook the rust off in the very first game of the year. Simon Sandberg, Marcus Johnsson and André Holgård caught touchdown passes and the defense found its legs early.
The offense still managed to insert a trick play as Juhlin and Johnsson executed a double reverse to perfection for a touchdown.
Running back Brett Koepp, who helped Carlstad win four Swedish championships but decided not to play the entire season this year and opted to play the NEFL games for the Crusaders, was dominant as usual although he did not find the end zone on a day when the Swedish champions were in full command of the proceedings.
As Carlstad head coach Tracey Gere told Jacob Lingefjärd of NWT.se:
“We had moments when we got things to click but we still have a lot of work to do. Now we will head home and analyze the game.”
This was the Crusader’s third win over Copenhagen in three games stretching back to 2014. Next up for Carlstad in the Northern European Football League are the London Warriors at home in Carlstad May 6.