Switzerland: Calanda Broncos earn convincing win over Geneva Seahawks

The defending champion Calanda Broncos (3-1) delighted a capacity home crowd in Chur, Switzerland Easter Monday,by beating the 2-1 Geneva Seahawks 30-20 and avenging an earlier loss to their 2018 Swiss final opponents.

Running back Tino Muggwyler scored two rushing touchdowns and wide receiver Lukas Lütscher added two in the air for the host Broncos.  Erik Rageth kicked a field goal and three extra points for Calanda.

Geneva quarterback Kyle Graves threw three touchdown passes, one each to wide receivers Mateo Horber, Antoine Brandt and Christopher Dalzell.

Rageth opened the scoring for Calanda kicking a field goal early in the first quarter.

Graves responded for Geneva though on the next possession, marching his team down to the six yard line and then connected with Horber to give the Seahawks a 7-3 first quarter lead.

Muggwyler replied, finding a gap and roaring through, racing 52 yards for a touchdown, restoring the lead for the Broncos, 10-7.

Broncos defensive back Marco Mahrer picked off a Graves pass and Calanda capitalized as Muggwyler barged into the end zone from the three yard line to extend the lead to 17-7 at the break.

Early in the third quarter, with Geneva struggling, the Broncos struck again, this time as Manning hit Lütscher who had gotten in behind the secondary, on a long pass which he took all the way to move ahead 23-7.

Geneva’s offense finally came alive with Graves capping a nice drive with a touchdown pass to Brandt. The two point conversion failed and the Seahawks trailed 23-13 entering the fourth quarter.

However, with the Calanda ground game now eating up the clock, Manning again found Lütscher who grabbed his second touchdown pass of the afternoon early in the fourth to boost the lead to 30-13 for the Broncos.

Graves came back though, throwing a final touchdown pass to Dalzell with just under four minutes remaining to narrow the lead to 10 points. But the Broncos continued playing excellent ball control football, not giving the Seahawks another good scoring chance, to come away with a solid 30-20 victory.

With the win, the Broncos move into sole possession of first place in the Swiss National League with Geneva dropping into second.