Nobody in front of them

18. Mai 2008

116

The weather went from unusually hot in the first half to slightly rainy in the second, but it was always the same on the field, as the Vukovi sent another team home with a tough loss.

Though the Cowboys got on the board first – after only seconds in the game on Zsolt Vereb’s kickoff return for a touchdown — the home team quickly not only fired back, but got the lead for good, in the end winning 49:7. The game followed a similar pattern to all the other games of the Vukovi this season, and like prior teams, the Cowboys were no match for the reigning champs. Even if the problem was the quality of the opposition, the Vukovi are making a statement, making every game not very interesting.

Any other ending would’ve been unrealistic given that the Cowboys gained more first downs on the opponent’s penalties than on rushing or passing attempts, in yet another penalty filled game for the Vukovi defense. The home team’s defensive unit was still very effective, despite not scoring this time, forcing five turnovers and shutting down the opposing offense.

On offense for Belgrade, Nemanja Petković got his second start of the season, once again being very efficient and throwing for three touchdowns, although he also recorded his first interception of the season. Istvan Varga intercepted him in the third quarter, but the Cowboys didn’t take advantage, missing the field goal in the end.

William Blocker played more offense, like he did in Ljubljana a week ago, getting the first touchdown, as the Vukovi calmly went down the field to tie the game at 7. Lazar Nikolić soon found the end zone as well and Petković connected with Mario Lugonja for a 26 yard score to increase the lead to 14 before the end of the first quarter.

After safety Ivan Ristić recored his second interception, Petković passed to Jordan Green for a score and Željko Kostić took advantage of the Cowboys‘ poor handling of the kickoff return and scored on his fourth straight run. When the score got to 42:7 in the second half, in agreement with both teams‘ coaches, the clock went unstopped for the remainder of the game, so in the end Belgrade scored just one more time.

If the problem really is the opposition, then we can only hope that the remaining teams will more seriously challenge the Vukovi and their winning streak that has now reached 12 games, going back to last year. The first next game for them is the rematch of last year’s final, against the Wolves in Budapest, two weeks from now.