In a match between two teams with very different records, the squad from Madrid blowed up the former two time finalist of the ELF Hamburg Sea Devils in a show out on the three stages of the game.
On August 3rd the Madrid Bravos hosted the Hamburg Sea Devils for the Week 11 of the European League of Football (ELF) in the Vallehermoso Stadium at 19:00 (CET) in a game with two entirely different stories for each squad.
The Madrid Bravos came to the game to continue what has been their amazing first season in the league with 6 wins and 2 losses at the time and making a huge push for the playoffs and a hypothetical home advantage in the Wildcard Weekend. On the other hand there is the Hamburg Sea Devils, a former two time finalist of the ELF in the two first years of the league, but this has been a down season for them with a record of 2 wins and 6 losses at the time, already mathematically out of playoff contention, so this game, and the rest they have yet to play are for pride and set a good rhythm for next season.
The Madrid domination came out early
In the first half, at least in the first drive for Hamburg, things looked pretty good on the ground with a lot of inside runs that made an effect on the Bravos' defense, something they would try throughout the game. Despite that very first drive with a 38 field goal made, plus a very late drive in the second quarter with a beautiful 37 yd TD from American WR Torin Justice on a fade, the Hamburg game plan didn't work out and Madrid took control of the game very early with a score from RB Eduard Molina. This was after an amazing play on a 50+ yd connection from Madrid American QB Steven Duncan to WR Jean-Claude Madin Cerezo, something the fans would see a lot that evening.
After that, and a great performance that left Madrid without having to punt a single time, the score at halftime was 31-9 for the Spanish squad. The story of the half was the offensive dominance and defensive force from Madrid. Which left Hamburg’s American QB D’Angelo Fulford with 3 picks and a fumble. The picks were made by Pablo Araya, Marquise Manning and Phillip Holm Boye, these last two have been with the team for less than 3 weeks, highlighting the performance of Boye that already had a pick last week in his first game as a Bravo.
There was also something that everyone loves to see, and that is a big man TD, in this case it came from DT Víctor Dos Santos who made a scoop and score in the first quarter after Fulford fumbled the ball on their own 10 yd line in a must pass 3rd down. The rest of the scores on offense for Madrid came from WR Willie Patterson and Madin Cerezo, who was the MVP for the team and had one of the best games of his career with 200+ yds and 3 TDs, being a constant deep threat with multiple catches on fades and posts. There was even a connection between Patterson and Cerezo for a 40+ yd gain on a fade with Willie P as the passer on a trick play where Patterson faked the well known jet sweep in which he is so dangerous at.
Turnover party to seal the deal
The story was pretty similar in the second half. Absolute dominance of Madrid who at least had to punt a couple of times. We have to highlight also the performance of some key national players for the Bravos such as RB Edu Molina who scored again and had an amazing game with the absence of the star RB Dwayne Obi who needed to rest this week. Also good Game from WR Mario Flores who had a catch and broke 3 tackles to gain 20+ yds, and S Pablo Araya who ended his best game of the season so far with 9 tackles, 2 picks, 1 FF and a TFL and has been nominated for MVP of week 11 of the ELF.
Before even the end of the third quarter occurred one of the best plays of the season so far when QB Steven Duncan, who had a great performance with 300+ passing yards and 4 TDs, escaped the pressure of the D line, rolled to the left and threw an absolute bomb of 70+ yards in the air to find WR Jean-Claude Madin Cerezo on a broken play over the middle for his second of three scores in the evening. Prior to this play there was the second interception from Pablo Araya, again anticipating the post in the middle of the field, something he did all day long, and something Fulford tried to hit a couple of times.
To finish the game in the fourth quarter, the Bravos recovered a fumble in the Sea Devils backfield after a misconnection between Hamburg's QB and RB on a handoff, again trying an inside run, sometimes to which they commited all day long. That left the stat sheet of the game with a whooping 6 turnovers from the German squad (4 picks and 2 fumbles) in a forgettable performance from Fulford, to 1 single pick from Madrid’s Steven Duncan who tried to sneak in a deep ball in double coverage. After the final whistle, the score was 52-9 for the Madrid Bravos in an overwhelming victory over the Hamburg Sea Devils. The Madrid team made the greatest birthday gift for their HC Rip Scherer who turned 72 that day.
Keys of the game and future matches
The keys of the game are the 6 turnovers of the Bravos defense who played absolutely lights out all game, scored once, and only allowed one TD. On offense we gotta highlight WR Jean-Claude Madin Cerezos’ performance of 212 receiving and 3 TDs in an all time great match for him against what was his old team for 3 seasons.
In Week 12, the Madrid Bravos (7-2) are going to face the Frankfurt Galaxy (3-6) at their home, which is always a hostile environment to play in and it's going to be a challenge regardless of what the record says. Especially after the signing of their new American QB Matthew Mckay, who has stepped up the Galaxy’s offensive game. If Madrid wins all their remaining games, then they will have home advantage for the playoffs, what they have not clinched at the moment.
Then, the Hamburg Sea Devils (3-7) are going to face the powerhouse of Rhein Fire (9-1) at home for Week 12, in which there will probably be between 8 and 10 thousand spectators as usual in Duisburg. This comes in Fire’s path in which they are trying to win the ELF Championship in back to back years. They have only lost to the Madrid Bravos so far this season.
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