Badalona Dracs repeat as Spanish champions

The Badalona Dracs definitely took care of business Saturday, in handing the Reus Imperials a 56-14 pounding to capture the Spanish crown for the second straight year and the eighth time in their history.

Running back Edu Morlans was unstoppable for Badalona scoring four touchdowns and earning game MVP honors.  Quarterback Segio Gonzalo threw two touchdown passes to Joey Herrick while defensive backs Marcos Carmona and Ian Escoda both scored on pick sixes.

For Reus, quarterback Brady Huber threw a touchdown pass to Henri Laine and then running back Chris Smallwood added a rushing touchdown.

Both teams were playing without their leading scorers as Reus was missing Spain’s top scorer, Nate Stephens and the Dracs were without Hunter Lee, the second leading scorer in the Spanish league in 2017.

The game was tight in the first quarter before Carmona picked off Huber for the first touchdown.

The Imperials responded though as Huber connected with Laine after Smallwood had put them in scoring position with a 40 yard run. But the floodgates then opened up for Badalona as Herrick scored his first of the game an then Morlans scored the first touchdown of his career to give the Dracs a 21-7 lead, still in the second quarter.

Then with eight seconds left in the half, Herrick caught a touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone to give Badalona a 28-7 halftime lead.

That late score seemed to take the wind out of the sails for the Imperials as Morlans scored again on the opening drive of the second half and the Dracs were now ahead 35-7. Escoda picked of Huber to pad the lead before Smallwood reignited hope for Reus by scoring on another spectacular run narrowing the lead to 42-7.

Morlans was not done though as he rounded out the scoring with two more touchdowns.

Head coach Oscar Calatayud has now won three championship titles in his 11 years leading Badalona.

 

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