Austria: Swarco Raiders overwhelm Dacia Vienna Vikings in showdown in Innsbruck

The Swarco Raiders were cruel hosts to arch rivals the Dacia Vienna Vikings Sunday in Innsbruck as they handed the previously undefeated Vikings a crushing 55-13 defeat in front of a delighted crowd of 3,595 at Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck, Austria.

With Vienna playing without starting quarterback Gattett Safron and wide receiver Reece Horn, Swarco dictated the game from beginning to end.

The Raiders rolled up 616 yards of offense, compared to Vienna’s 256. Sean Shelton threw for 367 yards and five touchdowns with wide receive Patrick Donahue his favorite target. Donahue had five catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Tobias Bonatti scored three touchdowns, two on passes and another on the ground. Wide receiver Adrian Platzgummer hauled in a touchdown pass from Shelton while Sandro Platzgummer gained 142 yards rushing and scored a touchdown and Filip Vlajic added another rushing touchdown.

Without, Safron, the league’s top passer and second leading rusher, the Vikings offense was anemic. Backup quarterback Yannick Mayr completed seven of 17 passes for 29 yards. He did rush for 163 yards and a touchdown and that was basically the entire offense for the Vikings.

Donahue broke the game wide open late in the first quarter with two huge touchdown catches. With the Raiders holding a 6-3 lead Shelton found Donahue for an 64 yard touchdown. After a Vikings drive which stalled at Swarco’s 15 yard line, Shelton went back to Donahue, this time for an 82 yard bomb giving the Raiders a 20-3 lead early in the second quarter.

As Vienna’s offense continued to struggle, Shelton connected with Bonatti to extend the lead to 27-3 midway through the second quarter. Mayr finally responded, marching the Vikings on an 11 play, 77 yard drive which ate up five minutes and ended with Mayr carrying the ball in from 21 yards out to close the gap to 27-10 at the half.

A botched Vikings punt early in the third quarter gave Shelton and the Raider the ball on Vienna’s 27 yard line. On the very next play, Shelton connected with Adrian Platzgummer for a touchdown, widening the gap to 34-10.

With Rudi-Lee Frey stepping in at quarterback for Vienna, the Vikings drove to the Swarco two yard line but only came away with a Christopher Kappel field goal.

Trailing 34-13, Vienna’s offense could not advance past their own 46 yard line for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the Raiders offense took advantage of a tiring Vikings defense. Sandro Platzgummer found a seam and raced 75 yards to up the score to 41-13, still in the third quarter.

Swarco scored twice more in the fourth quarter on touchdowns by Bonatti and Vlajic while the Vikings never crossed their own 31 yard line.

With the win, the Raiders gained revenge on an early season loss to Vienna but still remain in second with one fewer game played.

Watch the game highlights.

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