In the first of two meetings between these arch rivals, and a rematch of the 2018 Austrian Bowl, the Swarco Raiders drew first blood handily defeating the Dacia Vienna Vikings 48-28 in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck.
The game was tantalizing close for the Vikings until halftime. Then Swarco kicked into another gear.
Holding a 31-21 lead, the Raiders exploded for two touchdowns and a field goal to go up 48-21 while keeping Vienna from scoring until the last few minutes of the game.
Raiders quarterback Sean Shelton threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 84 and another with Patrick Donahue catching seven for 79 yards and a touchdowns with other touchdowns coming from Daniel Saurer and Alexander Nitzlnader. Sandro Platzgummer rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
A major key to Swarco’s win was 198 yards rushing compared to 44 for Vienna, with Platzgummer and Shelton doing most of the damage.
For Dacia Vienna, quarterback Austin Herink completed 31 of 44 passes for 336 yards and four touchdowns. with Bernhard Seikovits, Philipp Dubravec, Yannick Mayr and Sebastian Raber catching one each. Maurice Wappl led all receivers with 12 receptions for 110 yards.
After Swarco took a 21-7 lead on touchdowns from Shelton, Donahue and Saurer with Herink finding Seikovits for the Vikings touchdown, Vienna seemed to respond..
Herink connected with Mayr for an 18 yard touchdown. Then Platzgummer answered for Swarco, getting outside and racing 29 yards to restore the two touchdown lead, 28-14.
Not done yet, Herink came back with with an 86 yard bomb to Dubravec, reducing the leading to 28-21 with 30 seconds to go in the first half.
Then, in a defining moment, Shelton drove the Raiders down to the Vienna 12 yard line in under 30 seconds and Arno Schwarz kicked a 29 yard field goal. It increased the lead to 31-21, but, more importantly, set the tone for the second half.
In the third quarter, Vienna could only get out of their own end once in three tries, and that was to the Raiders 40. Meanwhile, Shelton engineered two scoring drives connecting with Nitzlnader for a three yard major, and handing the ball off to Platzgummer who scampered 50 yards for another.
With his team leading 45-21, Schwarz added another field goal early in the fourth.
Vienna finally cut into the Raiders 48-21 lead when Herink got the offense moving marching his team on a 10 play, 69 yard drive, capping it with a one yard touchdown pass to Raber.
With the win, the Raiders (2-0) occupy first place in the Austrian Football League standings, followed by the 2-0 Mödling Rangers and 2-0 Danube Dragons with Dacia Vienna dropping to fourth.