About 7 months removed from their first ever Gold Medal as the Swedish champions the Carlstad Crusaders arrived in Germany for one of the biggest contests that any Scandinavian club had ever faced. A bus ride, an overnight ferry across the Baltic and a 5 hour wait was what the Crusaders nervously endured prior to their premier match of the 2011 season. The trip to Germany was a reward for the Championship run in 2010, a group stage game in the biggest American Football tournament this side of the Atlantic.
Due to regionally decided matchups we were facing the highest ranking club in the group stage, Germany’s reigning champion, the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes.
The same Kiel team had beaten the Berlin Adler their adversary in the GFL North Division 48-41 in the German season opener, offering their fans what turned out to be a false sense of security heading into a game against a team from Sweden. A German club had never lost to a Swedish club since at least 1994, so the reigning champs who had put half a hundred on Berlin in the opener won’t
have any problem… At least that’s what the local German media implied with this quote translated to English by google, “Anything but a victory (for Kiel) with two touchdowns difference would be a great surprise to the Swedes and could almost be counted as a small victory.” One thing we can learn from this episode of absurdity is to not place high value on non-credible German websites. The thing that the Kiel team, fanbase, and the aforementioned local media did not account for was that this Swedish club was comprised of some of the gutsiest and most electrifying farmers that Sweden has ever seen. The Carlstad Crusaders practice an average of 2 times less per week, meet together an average of 2 times less per week, and had 6 less coaches in khakis and polos on the sideline (3 of the 4 Crusader coaches suited up for the affair). But when push comes to shove, as was evidenced April 23rd, 2011, passionate willpower and determination combined with brute strength and cunning athleticism can trump any amount of filmroom preparation and on the field walkthrough-talkthroughs.
The game started out in dismay for the home side losing 20 or so yards by going backwards in each of their first 3 plays. The teams traded punts throughout the first quarter, as well as constant crushing battles between the players in the box. Both sides had oversized defensive players that defied the laws by being able to both deliver big impact and subsequently run after the football. One player in particular who impressed was a young Swede from Ostersund in the northern country who I had met only days prior to suiting up with him, because his hometown was 8 hours drive from our practice facility in
Karlstad limiting his time to workout with the team. Olof Flemstrom provided the physical nature to time and time again toss German offensive lineman to their knees and dismantle their inside running game shedding blocks and making tackles. As if that was not enough, when his defensive duties were over he traded sides to the offense to play no other position than wide receiver. In my 13 years of football I have never seen a player display so much versatility to play interior defensive line and wide receiver with such ease as Olof did against Kiel on Saturday. Returning to the game, the first quarter ended with some big plays overshadowed by a plethora of penalties from both sides and the score 0-0.
The second quarter was much of the same, both teams moving the ball gaining first downs, but penalties and a couple of interceptions, 1 per team, disallowed either team to get on the board. Until late in the quarter on a long passing play did the stalemate break. The Canes quarterback Jeff Welsh (Western Michigan) laid a flawless pass right between our corner and myself that the German receiver hauled in for a 58 yard score. Our offense replied with efficiency, starting with the ball at our own 20 yard line with less than 2 minutes on the clock. QB Eli Cranor generated maximum efficiency spreading the ball to multiple receivers between Ted Olanders, Fredrik Isaksson, and Sweden’s 2010 receiver of the year Fredrik Eklund as we traversed the strong Kiel defense battling what seemed to be a ringing in one’s ears due to the decibel level produced by the home fans. With about 30 seconds left, Eli called a WR screen pass to Eklund who utilized his blockers perfectly giving our left tackle Thomas Falkelind the opportunity to destroy a German corner allowing Eklund a free pass to a walk in TD. The extra point screamed wide left which was fine by us heading to the dugout down 1 at the half. A good kick return to the 50 and a 15 yard penalty breathed opportunity into the Deustch offense that had been utterly bogged down the entire first half despite that long TD score. Their very athletic import receiver, Aaron Love (U of Delaware, FCS) who retrieved 4 TD passes from Welsh in the Berlin game 2 weeks prior, had successfully been nullified and would continue to be covered well by our athletic secondary made up of myself, our head coach Tracey Gere, Swedish national team caliber corners Olof Eriksson, and Victor Jansson, and Norwegian talent Anders Hjerpseth. Only Germans would score on this day, which was a focus point for our coverage team during the week of preparation. Another penalty… yes two penalties in the last 30 seconds gave the Kiel team the ball within our 15 yard line. Welsh delivered another winning throw to the same receiver giving Kiel an 8 point separation at the break, 14-6.
During the halftime the thought had crossed my mind that since multiple players on our squad were playing in all three facets of the game; offense, defense, and special teams, that keeping pace with the German champs would be difficult. This idea proved to be incorrect when time and time again our fast paced no huddle offense combined with our efficiency of converting 4th down plays (an unofficial 6/8 times) had the Green and Orange huffing and puffing and trading players on and off and on again. During the 3rd quarter we nearly had a backbreaking turn of events when on 4th down from our own 10 yard line our daredevil tactics had finally caught up with us. An incomplete pass gave Kiel the ball with just 10 yards to score. On third down, as the 3rd quarter clock expired and the teams switched sides the Kiel quarterback was flushed from the pocket by our rush giving him only one chance to desperately sling the ball to the back of the end zone, which is where I was waiting. With quickness, I undercut the receiver and stole the ball back for our team in the form of an interception, my second of the game.
The final quarter saw the very strong Kiel defense continue to offer us minimal yards in the running game and covering our passing scheme quite well as we struggled to move the ball down the field.
We found ourselves nearing their end zone, but were held to a 4th down play and during a timeout Eli and I conversed about how to approach the situation. We decided on a go route by myself to the wide side of the field where we would have maximum room for error. I got behind the corner who was covering, and Eli launched what I like to describe as a “money ball” over the corner and under the safety that I lifted and snagged just inside the goal line. As was described by a couple of our guys over ice cream in downtown Kiel on Sunday, the Kiel faithful went from a screaming, rampaging mess to an abrubt silence after that catch. Needing a two point conversion Eli and Chris Vicory, our OL and co-coordinator dialed up a play that Chris had drawn earlier in the week that baffled the unprepared Kiel defense and left one of our receivers uncovered. 14-14 would be the end of full time score.
I jokingly offered to the officiating crew at the overtime coin toss that we were having too much fun and we’ve decided to continue playing if that’s alright with them. The white hat responded, that we’ve come a long way and we may as well get our travel’s worth. We lost the coin toss after I went to the “heads” well one too many times (winning it at the start of the game, but not in OT) so we would start on the offensive. A slow start ensued when their stud defensive end Derrick Ford (Arizona State) sacked Eli for their one and only quarterback sack of the game backing us up for a 2nd down. I must digress here to describe how large, no pun intended, our offensive line stood during the day. Our gentle giants matched themselves against a pair of American defensive ends and a middle line backer from Finland, Efe Evwaraye, who were absolute animals.
Speed and power combined between this triangle of import stars from Kiel, yet Eli was offered time to throw on a large percentage of his drop back passes pointing to one obvious conclusion; our O-Line is a man wreaking crew. I tip my cap to these guys for being the oil in our engine and offering me and the other skill guys a chance to find the creases in the Kiel defense. On 2nd down Eli dialed up a corner route for myself that was again placed with archer-like precision only feet from outstretched defender’s hands, dropping effortlessly into mine. This gave us the ball on their 2 yard line and after denied tries to run inside the tackles by their stout front we called a fade play on both sides at 3rd down. Eli looked my way just as I had beat the corner. I raced to the corner of the endzone and caught the pass prior to doing the tap dance in the corner uncontested. Our side erupted, but the excitement was not yet over. Head coach Tracey Gere signaled in another gutsy call to go for two in the form of Chris Vicory addressing our offense saying, “We’re on the road, we’re gonna beat em right here, Tracey wants to go for 2.” Without hesitation our play was decided upon and executed when Eli found Carl Carlsson in the back of the endzone, who is described as… “If Sweden had to choose one man to defend it’s country, they would choose Carl.” –Chris Vicory.
And I do not disagree. Kiel had their chance to even the score. After a great run by their British import running back gaining a first down they were stifled. On 3rd down a penalty was flagged by our pass coverage that allowed them the ball at our 1 yard line. A false start backed them to the 6, but they were able to convert the score on a short passing play after 2 tries to bring the score to 22-20, at which point the cliché defensive stronghold, on the goal line, in overtime, during the two point conversion, to win the game ensued. Welsh dropped, looked left, back right, tried Love at the goal line and a split second break on the ball by Anders led to a perfectly timed shove in the back, a dropped ball, and a whole bunch of guys and gals in red and black storming onto the field to the shock of the home team.
As stated in an earlier blog, the guys on this team not only perform on the field, but they also continue to hold a humble position that the German team was an immense opponent and that despite our mistakes we overcame the adversity presented to us. The win allows us the chance to travel to Graz, Austria to face the Graz Giants in 2 weeks in the quarterfinal of the EFL tournament. Stay tuned to a fun summer from southern Sweden.
Pictures of the event can be found by clicking this link. Video is soon to follow.
The Super Series in Sweden lights up this weekend. In a rematch of last year's championship battle the Tyreso Royal Crowns travel from the greater Stockholm area here to Karlstad to face Europe's #6 ranked team. The Crusaders jumped 5 spots from 11 to 6 after last weeks win in Germany against the reigning German champions. The Crusaders are also the second highest ranking team outside of Austria at this point in the late spring. Kickoff is set for 5pm local time which translates to 8am Saturday on the west coast.
if you decide to witness this incredible contest. You should not use internet explorer because it won't work. Download some other internet browser. Also, close other programs that are being used simultaneously due to the large amount of power that this broadcast will require.
