the Fehérvár Enthroners would regain the league title from Budapes
At the 16th Hungarian Bowl, the fate of the Hungarian championship will be decided between the Fehérvár Enthroners and the Budapest Wolves. The final will be held on Saturday, July 16, 2022, and the surroundings will be pure America: food trucks await the visitors in front of the stadium, and during the break, in addition to the cheerleader show, two members of the 2021 class of the Hungarian Hall of Fame, Péter Cseperkáló, will be inducted and Krisztián Piros – announced the Hungarian American Football Association. The most important, however, are the teams, after last year they will clash again in the final this year.
Fehérvár Enthroners would win back the league title from Budapest Wolves (Photo: Szilvia Szankovszky) |
Budapest Wolves
The Budapest Wolves want to collect their eighth victory in the Új Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium – although we should add that the final has been held there several times, the Hungarian record champion has never appeared at the venue (last year’s final was played at the First Field in Székesfehérvár). So far, he has made it to the Hungarian Bowl ten times, lifting the trophy seven times, which is also a great statistic. In these meetings, he scored 324 points and conceded only 186. He didn’t start the 2022 season very well, as he first lost to the Budapest Cowbells in the Budapest stadium, and in the same Győr Sharks and Miskolc Steelers he was beaten the most, suffering a 33-13 defeat at home to the “crowners”. In the playoff, they met again with their rival from the capital, but the playoff was a 21-14 victory and progressed.
If we want to single out a few players who should be watched in the finals, then we have to start with the receiver Márton Czirók, who scored the same number of touchdowns in six games, making him the most successful in the entire field, but the indefatigable runner Dávid Danku also produces yards and six points. . The leader of the defense is the American defensive back Darius Lewis, who is returning after three years, but the youngsters are also bravely deployed at the Wolves, Máté Hegedűs’ interceptions have already decided two games. The most obvious question of the missing number could be a huge blow to the “wolves”, whether they can cope with the absence of the first manager of the Hungarian national team, Márk Bencsics.
Fehérvár Enthroners
The second regional champion of the Hungarian Football League (HFL) era – after the Miskolc Steelers – is the team from Székesfehérvár, which, thanks to systematic construction, was able to ascend to the top division throne in 2019, when it managed to win the championship against the Ukrainian Kyiv Capitals. The “decisive players” can still be counted on one hand, and their balance is only fifty percent, but this year will be their third final in a row (in 2020, the HFL matches were not organized due to the coronavirus epidemic). In addition, in the last two seasons, they had only one defeat, although it was against the current opponent, precisely in the 15th Hungarian Bowl. They had four wins in four games in the regular season, followed by a scorching semi-final against the Steelers – a 26-13 victory. In the Enthroners, you can fight for the gold medal in the Austrian second division as well as in the CEFL.
His seemingly unstoppable offensive line plays an important role in this. The arrival of the new quarterback, Christopher Merchant, greatly improved the performance of the offense, as it closed with 1,300 yards and found its teammates in the endzone 17 times. Rashad Still, Willem Vancompernolle, Rendessy Bálint, Nándor Tóth – to name only the best catchers – and the running triumvirate, the trio of Erik Madaras, Dávid Novakov, and Levente Tóth, which destroys the opponents’ defense on the ground. Jebrai Regan is feared by every opposing offensive line in the defense, which rarely falters. In addition to the American linebacker, Kranjec Martin also grew up this year. János Zilai has already been discovered by NFL scouts, but head coach Jamie Hill still has a number of selected players available. Everything is there for the rematch, but anything can happen in a final…
A limited number of tickets for the 16th Hungarian Bowl are still available, but those who cannot come to the venue will not miss the final. You can watch the match live on the Hungarian American Football Association’s own YouTube channel, HFL Tv.