ELF: Vienna Vikings road to the title game
The Vienna Vikings are set to play in the European League of Football championship game for the second time in three years.
After turning back a tough Paris Musketeers squad this past weekend, beating them 47-31, the Vikings, who won the title in 2022, now face the defending champion Rhein Fire, a team they have never faced before in their three seasons in the ELF.
Vienna finished the regular season with a 12-0 record winning all but two of those games by more than a touchdown. The closest threat to their unbeaten record came from unlikely sources. The Wroclaw Panthers pushed them early in the season but they finally prevailed 16-13. The Berlin Thunder also did not make it easy, finally succumbing though 25-20. Vienna’s Austrian rivals, the Raiders Tirol as usual were tough but they too finally lost, 27-19. Strangely, Switzerland’s Helvetic Mercenaries put a scare into Vikings fans when they scored 22 fourth quarter points against the stingiest defense in the league, to narrow the Vikings lead to nine points. Still the Vikings came through with a 49-40 victory. The second matchup between the two resulted in a 40-3 win for Vienna.
Quarterback Ben Holmes, who threw for 385 yards and five touchdowns in the semifinal win over Paris, averaged 260.3 yards a game over the 10 games he played in during the regular season while tossing 34 touchdown passes against just five picks. Reece Horn was his favorite target with 75 receptions for 1,164 yards and 13 touchdowns while rookie Noah Touré caught 50 passes for 836 yards and eight scores.
The Vikings ground game relies on Finnish running back Karri Pajarinen who is in his third season with Vienna. He finished as the second leading rusher in the ELF rushing for 1,123 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Vienna finished second overall defensively in yards allowed giving up a total of 3,235 yards (1,266 yards rushing + 1,966 passing). They allowed just under 15 points a game, placing them tied for second in that category with the Stuttgart Surge. They surrendered just six rushing touchdowns during the 12 game regular season. Linebacker Nikolaus Terlitza led Vienna with 77 tackles including 12.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.
This is a well coached Vienna Vikings team who have plenty of experience playing in big games. Head coach Chris Calaycay is no stranger to pressure situations. After leading his team to the championship in 2022, their first year in the league, he guided them to the semifinals last year, losing to Stuttgart. Prior to arriving in the ELF, Calaycay took the Vikings to the Austrian final multiple times winning the Austrian Football League title most recently in 2020.
In other words, the Vikings look poised to capture their second ELF title.
