Photo: Jean-Francois Nicollet This was the Week 2 of the Serbian Superleague, and, the most anticipated game was definitely Belgrade Vu...
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| Photo: Jean-Francois Nicollet |
This was the Week 2 of the Serbian Superleague, and, the most anticipated game was definitely Belgrade Vukovi vs Kragujevac Wild Boars, which was named the Jeep Bowl.SBB Vukovi Belgrade – Kragujevac Wild Boars 17:16 (0:3, 7:0, 10:7, 0:6)
The game itself was intense, mistakes on both ends and lots of penalties. However, looking at the last season where Wild Boars were losing from Vukovi by a 30 pt difference, this time WB defense was on a whole new level. And, we may add - Jeep Bowl wasn't the happiest day for kickers on both teams.
There was a noticeable absence of QB Lance Kriesien who spent 2 seasons playing for the Vukovi, as well as, HC Sean Embree. Despite that, HC Kirk Mastromatteo did a good job preparing the team, and the new QB - Shaun Rutherford played as expected. We did notice that Rutherford didn't have as much time to get rid of the football as Kriesien did last season.
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| Photo: Jean-Francois Nicollet |
Wild Boars did a good job scouting for imports, where Ken Hale (1st time playing in Europe) had an excellent performance playing on both sides. HC Richard Bonds managed to raise the level of his team, and this game shows it, as they were playing a team that doesn't really know what losing means.
How did the Wild Boars lose? There's a lot of noise that WB Kicker lost them the game. However, one player doesn't make the whole team. When it comes to small pt differences - it's really easy to blame it on the kicker, although there's a whole offense and defense out there as well. One PAT was unsuccessful - if it was - it would lead to OT. Or, 4 seconds before the end of the game, WB had a 20 yd FG attempt which got blocked!
Vukovi kicker will surely remember this game as well! Last season Novi Sad Dukes kicker transferred to Vukovi camp, and in Week 2, he broke his arm. This season, Week 2 (if we count the CEFL for Vukovi - then Week 3) - kicker breaks his arm, again. Unfortunately, this is the end of his football career.
"We played a decent game although the score doesn't really show it. Unfortunately for us, we did have a number of fumbles which can not happen, especially at games such as this one. It was a good game though, and we're looking forward to the next one!" says Vojin Milic, Vukovi.
Although Vukovi won, this was the closest Wild Boars got in the past couple years looking at the point difference. Teams will meet again in 3 weeks.
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