Sunday April 21, at 12:00 (CET), the Osos de Rivas will host the L'Hospitalet Pioners in the second semi-final of the LNFA Serie A playoffs at the El Cantizal stadium, regular venue for the also team from Madrid, Las Rozas Black Demons, but this time is going to serve also as the house of the Osos.
It is a match with a lot of excitement around it because these two teams battled it out earlier this season in the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup (competition that opens the Spanish season every year where imports are not allowed) in November of 2023. To the surprise of the entire country, Pioners achieved the upset and won at the home of the Osos with a score of 10-12 in a great planned and executed game from the team of L ́Hospitalet. Now, in the playoffs, the Osos are going to be hungry and seek revenge if they want to get to the top of the Spanish American football picture replicating what they did a couple of seasons ago.
Both teams have a record of 3-3 in the last 6 games they have faced each other so it is going to be a pretty interesting match with everything at stake.
Osos going with the best defense in the league
It has been an amazing season from the Osos de Rivas, who are coming in hot as one of the favorites to take it all this year. The whole team has balled out week in and week out, with some new key signings that have contributed to the achievement of being the least scored defense in Spain and putting up 281 points on offense after 8 games.
Where they have stood out the most this season is on defense where they are statistically the #1 in the league. They have a really special group of players on that side of the field and are probably the currently best defensive squad of the nation. There are so many names that should be highlighted, but their biggest contributors are their American Linebacker and leader of the defense Davante Gabriel, a secondary composed of great talent with players like Andy Vera, Carlos Rodríguez and Daniel Franco, and the well known in Spain, Defensive Coordinator of the Female Spanish National Team (recently crowned as the best in Europe in the European IFAF tournament), and two way lineman for the Osos, José Antonio Escobar “Chiapas”.
After the departure of their National Team Quarterback in Sergio Barbero, there was doubt about how the Osos offense was gonna do in 2024. But once the regular season has ended, there is no longer a doubt. They even have one of the best rosters in Spain in terms of depth. With players like young Spanish Quarterback Adirán Meléndez who was able to defeat the powerhouse of Las Rozas Black Demons after the injury of the new leader and star Quarterback 1 in Russell Tabor. It has been around a month since Tabor went down, so maybe he is ready to return to the field at the most important time of the year. Along with that Quarterback room, there are huge names on that side of the ball that are going to resonate for sure against the Pioners. Names such as Running Back Ronald Tomasello and one of the top receiving corps in the nation with names such as Gary Tayler, Edu Pérez, David Girón, Iván Iordanov, and Pablo Olivares amongst them.
Pioners with a scary offense
The L'Hospitalet Pioners have had a season with a lot of ups and downs and even a lot of controversy with their case with the Zaragoza Hurricanes in Week 1. But they have also had a pretty strong campaign this year, and have put a pretty high level of football on the field against big names such as the Badalona Dracs, with whom they played arguably the best game in the league this season in Week 5 (score of 28-34 for Badalona).
All of these great performances have come in big part after what has turned out as the best mid-season signing anyone has done in the LNFA Serie A in 2024. And that is the signing of the Mexican brothers Alex (Quarterback) and Luis Enrique García (Wide Receiver). Both of them have absolutely balled out since they landed. Alex with 11 passing Touchdowns (and 15 total) and Luis Enrique with 3 receiving Touchdowns and being key for the Pioners multiple times. Along with them, some other big time contributors on the L´Hospitalet offense are Wide Receivers Jacobo Senise, Daniel Belso, Pablo Elena and the youngster Pablo Gómez, or Running Backs Oriol Adriá and Silver Salazar.
On the other side of the field, players that will be key are defensive backs Iker González, Brayan Carbonell and the American Thomas Davies to stop Osos´ offense.
Game´s outcome
The Osos are coming in as the favorites for this game, but we gotta keep in mind that L'Hospitalet indeed was able to upset Rivas at their home 5 months ago. Now there are going to be imports on the field, so we will have to wait and see how different the outcome is going to be in comparison to that previous match. Will the Osos pass over the Pioners in their way to the final, or will the Pioners be able beat the odds and upset Spain once again? Time will tell.
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