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MONDAY, MAY 26
11:20 A.M. EST
Carlstad Crusaders 28
Stockholm Mean Machines 30
We gave one away this weekend. We played in Stockholm against the Stockholm Mean
Machines, a team who has been at the top of the Swedish Super Series league for
a long time and a big rival of the Crusaders. I felt good going into the game
coming off of our bye week and knowing how big this game was going to be. There
were three undefeated teams heading into the weekend, and we were two of them
looking to establish ourselves atop the Super Series League with Arlanda, the
other undefeated team who has started hot to begin the year. Stockholm would
provide us with the first real test against a team who could compete on our
level. In Sweden, the commitment level in football is not the same as it is back
home, so some of the organizations over here are better than others and put more
into it. Carlstad and Stockholm are top notch organizations and compete for the
Super Series Championship year in and year out. Both have the support system and
players in place to be successful. It's a numbers game over here, and Stockholm
has a large team -- their roster alone is bigger than the two teams we've already
beat combined.
We started the game pretty well offensively scoring
TDs on 3 of our first 4 possessions. Stockholm scored on their opening
possession and added a 2-pt conversion to make the game 8-0, and we quickly
answered with an 8-play 52-yd scoring drive of our own, adding the 2-pt
conversion to tie the game at 8-8. Our defense played well in the first half and
quickly got us the ball back. We scored on our second play when our RB took an
option pitch 70 yards for his second TD of the game. Once again the
defense got us the ball back, but we were pinned deep in our zone starting on
our own 12 yard line. After a run to get us some breathing room, I
connected on two long passes; the first to get us to midfield on a seam route up
the hash. After a miscue by our OL put us in 2nd and long, I bought some time
and found one of the best WRs in Sweden, Kalle Flogman, on a backside
post in the end zone for a 55-yd TD.
The extra point put us up 21-8 and that is how we went into halftime.
Coming out for the 2nd half, we felt pretty good
offensively. Our Right Tackle went down in the first half, and we had to replace
him with a young guy who wasn't quite ready to play. Stockholm took the opening
drive down and scored to make it 21-16 before we got the ball back. We once
again answered with a 6-play 62-yd drive which ended on a 37-yd TD pass on a
double move to Kalle. We tried our best to give this drive away with penalties.
At this point, it was 28-16 Crusaders.
Our defense got us the ball
back at the end of the 3rd quarter, and we were going in for
the score which, in my mind, would have put the game out of
reach. On 1st and 10 from the 18, we had a bad snap. After a
scrum, Stockholm came away from the pile with 1st and 10 on
the 45 yard line. Stockholm scored 3 plays later to make the
game 28-24 midway through the 4th quarter. We moved the ball
back to Stockholm's 35 yard line where their defense
tightened. We had some protection issues up front and our
drive ended on a sack on 4th down near midfield. Stockholm
would score with a little under 3 minutes to go to make the
game 30-28.
With 2
timeouts and plenty of time on the clock, we felt good about
getting the ball back. We picked up two quick first downs. On 1st and
10 from the 45, we tried another double move to Kalle and
came up about 6 inches short of a 55-yd game-winning score.
After another first down, we moved the ball to the 30 yard
line with about a minute and some change remaining. On 3rd
down, we just missed a completion at the 15 yard line,
setting up a 4th and 10 from the 30. My pass was knocked
out of our WR's hands on our last play of the game
offensively -- a solid play from the Stockholm DB.
Tough way
to lose in Stockholm... After a post-game
meal, we boarded the Mercedes Benz bus and had a 4 hour
ride back to Carlstad... we will bounce back next
weekend at home against a STU team who is 0-3....
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