AFL Round 3
VIKINGS vs. Thunder
On Sunday April 7, the Dacia Vienna Vikings celebrated a 61:0 victory over the newcomer to the league, the Wienerwald Amstetten Thunder. 2.600 fans attending the game at stadium Hohe Warte saw nine touchdowns by the Vikings offense led by Quarterback Austin Herink, while the defense of the men in purple was dominating and kept their end zone clean.
The Vikings justified their position as favorites. After a secure 27:0 lead at halftime, the Vikings had a heavy rotation in the third and fourth quarter, giving everyone on the team play time. After the tough loss against the Swarco Raiders in week 2, the Vikings needed to bounce back and to find their rhythm on both sides of the ball.
Dacia Vikings game stats leaders
On the defensive side of the ball Vikings DL #1 Leon Balogh stood out with 5 sacks, 4 tackles (3.5/20 TFL/YDS) and 1 forced fumble. Both team captains, LB #45 Ugo Uwakwe and S #32 Luis Horvath, added 5 tackles each. DB #9 Christoph Gombkötö scored with a pick six. And 19-year-old LB #19 Ante Drazetic finished his break-through game with 1 Sack and 6 tackles (3.0/13 TFL/YDS).
On the offensive side of the ball RB #20 Islaam Amadu had 16 carries with a total of 145 yards and two touchdowns. WR #14 Yannick Mayr scored three times (2 rushing TDs and 1 Passing TD). WR #4 Bernhard Seikovits led the game in receiving yards (92 yds, 2 catches, 1 touchdown) and is also currently the league’s leading receiver (17 catches, 276 yards, 4 TDs). And WR #17 Philipp Drubravec finished the game with 4 catches and two touchdowns.
Vikings QB #8 Austin Herink threw for 190 yards and 4 touchdowns and finished the game with an NFL Quarterback ranking of 123.0.
Post-Game statements
Dacia Vikings Head Coach Chris Calaycay: „Regardless of who we played this round, we knew we needed to get better in certain phases of the game: And we did some really good things today, although there is always something to clean up. There was too many dropped balls, too many penalties. So, there are always little things you can find that need to be addressed. But I am happy that we executed our offensive game plan well which was running the ball often. And that is something we got better at. Our defense managed to get a shutout, so obviously you can’t be disappointed with that. Now, our focus is on the Triangle Razorbacks. We face them in our first ECTC game next Sunday at home.”
Wienerwald Amstetten Thunder Head Coach Gerry Woodruff: “It’s never as bad as you think and it’s never as good as you think, they say. I think we started well, we moved the ball a little bit, but we shoot ourselves in the foot. We had a good drive but did not manage to put the ball in the end zone. I saw some positive things on the offense. Defensively, I am a little bit concerned because we need to be a lot more physical. I was expecting the Vikings to run the ball often which they did, we weren’t good in tackling or setting the right blocks. Now, after three very physical games against the Raiders, the Black Panthers and the Vikings, injuries are becoming an issue since we do not have a tremendous amount of depth. We have to find a way to heal up. But our season motto is ‘Compete’ regardless what the score is. We want to take the small successes and get better at that. Patience is what it takes when you are new to the league.”
Text: Kiki Klepsch
Photos: David Bitzan, Peter Kramberger