Yesterday saw the Cineplexx Blue Devils clinch a spot in the playoffs for the top league in Switzerland, a nice accomplishment with still two games left to play in the regular season. We are currently out of the running to finish in first place, as the Calanda Broncos (ranked #5 in Europe) have secured the top spot by beating us twice this season by a total of 3 points. However, with yesterday's win we kept hold of second place and control our own destiny to host a first round playoff game at home. Due to heavy rains the day before, we were forced to change venues for our game yesterday, and play on a field with very little room for spectators, causing what I would consider a poor environment for a football game. However, our team did a good job of adjusting and came out ready to play and came out with a good win.
We faced the Zurich Renegades yesterday, a team with some great import players and solid domestic guys as well. Their RB played at UCLA and can be found high in the record books in several categories there. The same can be said about their QB who played at Syracuse University and also had a nice career there. Our offense came out firing, and scored TD's on 5 of our first 6 possessions on route to a 33-20 halftime lead. Our defense then buckled down in the second half and held the opposition to no points and very little yardage. Complete defensive statistics have not been released, but our D had roughly 8 sacks yesterday en route to giving the opposing QB what will undoubtedly be a sore body today (I can ALMOST say that I feel bad for him, as a fellow quarterback, but I was very happy with how our defense played).
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Rolling out to the left. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I remember this pass
falling short of the target and incomplete. |
We now finish the season with a home game against the Bern Grizzlies (whom we defeated 20-14 earlier in the season), followed by a road trip right back to Zurich in two weeks. These next few games will determine whether or not we get to host the first round playoff game, which would be a big boost for the team.
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| A group of us at the reception |
My apologies for again missing a week of posting. Last week Mike and I traveled back home to the States for one of our best friend's wedding. Ricky Padilla and Jessica Agner got married last Saturday in Jacksonville, IL, and we were so happy that we could be there to celebrate with everyone. The wedding took place in the chapel of our college campus at Illinois College, and as I stood there on stage with Mike, standing next to Ricky, I told him "It's pretty cool to see two of your best friends marry each other on our old college campus, huh?" It most definitely was, we were honored that Ricky asked us to stand up with him, and even though we had to travel a total of just under 10,000 total miles in 5 days to be there, we wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Check back in next week for a report on our game against the Bern Grizzlies.
Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp
