Football: Raiders after a brilliant race to catch up despite defeat in the race
Despite the 33:36 defeat against Frankfurt Galaxy, the Raiders Tirol kept their chance of the European League semi-finals due to the direct duel after a brilliant comeback. After a perfect start, the Tyrolean layers are now 23 points behind. An exciting race to catch up started in the last quarter.
INNSBRUCK/FRANKFURT. The Raiders took a 7-0 lead after a touchdown in the first quarter, which Frankfurt shortened to 7-6 before the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Frankfurt defense was able to stop the Raiders’ attack on their own 28-yard line and, in return, took the lead for the first time with a touchdown by Kevin Mwamba, dying 26 seconds before the end of the first half due to a long field goal was built. In return, Raiders kicker Arno Schwarz failed to put the field goal attempt from 51 yards between the posts three seconds before the end of the half. Therefore, we are 7:16 behind at half time.
Frankfurt dominates
Frankfurt Galaxy started the second half furiously and after just a minute Kevin Mwamba was able to catch a 6-yard pass for his second touchdown. After the successful extra point attempt it is 7:23 from the Raiders’ point of view. Afterwards, the Tyroleans were lucky on several occasions. A penalty against Frankfurt initially prevented the Raiders from losing the ball, and two more personal fouls brought the Tyroleans deep into the opposing half. Sean Shelton carried the ball 20 yards into the opposing end zone. The Tyroleans risked a running game with the extra point, but were stopped in the process. New score 13:23.
Frankfurt shows little humor immediately afterwards. Hendrik Schwarz converted the first play after a 71-yard pass to 13:29. In return, the Raiders No. 27 CJ Okpalobi carried the return over 70 yards to the opposing 25. Again the Tyroleans took a lot of risks and played the 4th attempt just before the end zone. Centimeters are missing and Frankfurt got the ball on their own 4-yard line. Since Frankfurt was able to overcome the 96 yards and complete the drive with a touchdown, it went into the last quarter at 13:36.
Raiders catch-up
In this Bonatti was able to catch a pass to 19:36 in the end zone. The extra point run attempt failed again. After Frankfurt’s drive was stopped, CJOkpalobi was able to complete the Raiders’ next ball possession with a touchdown 8:48 minutes before the end after a pass from Sean Shelton. Since Arno Schwarz shot the extra point attempt between the bars, the gap was reduced to 10 points. The next time Frankfurter possessed the ball, this watch tried to control it, a field goal by Frankfurter didn’t go between the bars and so the Raiders regained possession of the ball 4 minutes before the end of the game. With two minutes left on the clock, the Tyroleans had to make a fourth attempt – which was successful. The Raiders No. 4 Marco Schneider caught the ball in the end zone in the following move and after a successful attempt to get an extra point, the Tyroleans were suddenly ahead in a direct duel again, despite being 3 points behind in the game. Thirty seconds before the end, Arno Schwarz was able to intercept a pass from the Frankfurt offensive. It was decided not to take any more risks and end the game with a 33:36 defeat. So there will be the decider against Berlin Thunder next week.
Raiders happy about defeat
In the television interview after the game, coach Kevin Herron says that you didn’t find your way into the game in the first half and that things didn’t go well even then: “We wanted to prevent the big plays in the second half, I said to the lads, ‘ let’s not give up the ball anymore’. But we couldn’t find our rhythm in the second half either. Somehow the guys didn’t lose faith. I’m incredibly proud and I’ve never been so happy about a defeat. When the defense worked, we gained momentum. Anything is possible in football, you saw that today. Now it’s about becoming the best seconder and beating Berlin,” said Herron.
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