Badalona Dracs, Valencia Firebats Pulling Away in Spain
The Badalona Dracs and Valencia Firebats have separated themselves from the rest of the league in Spain. Opponents in the last two Spanish finals, the Dracs and Firebats look like they will be making it three in a row in 2016.
The Dracs were merciless in embarrassing the Reus Imperials while the Valencia Firebats pounded their crosstown rivals the Valencia Giants.
Badalona Dracs 67 (5-0) – Reus Imperials 6 (1-4)
The Badalona Dracs started slow but once in gear, they were relentless. Quarterback Mike Box threw four touchdown passes and ran one in himself while receiver Drew Clausen scored four touchdowns, two on kickoff returns to devastate the Imperials with their new Mexican quarterback Norman Contla.
The Imperials had entered the game with cautious optimism after winning their first game of the season the week before over the lowly Valencia Firebats. They were in for a rude awakening.
The Dracs waited until later in the first quarter as Box hit Clausen for their first touchdown of the game. But an excellent drive by the Imperials was snuffed out by Badalona defensive back Ian Escoda who picked off Contla in the end zone and raced all the way back for a touchdown making the score 14-0. The rout was on.
Box threw touchdowns passes to Clausen and Xavi Gonzalo before Reus finally responded as Contla and Kyle Bowpitt combined for a first half touchdown. However, Clausen took the ensuing kickoff all the way back to give Badalona a 35-6 halftime lead.
Clausen returned the second-half kickoff for another touchdown while Box, Ferran Llinás (fourth touchdown pass from Box) and Javi Fernandez all added majors in the second half.
Badalona has now scored 276 points in five games while allowing only 45.
Valencia Firebats (4-1) 40 – Valencia Giants (0-5) 12
Firebats quarterback Thomas Murphy threw three TD passes and running back Hector Pertegaz rushed for two more as the Giants were overwhelmed and remained winless at the bottom of the Spanish standings.
The Firebats opened the scoring as Murphy found receiver Javier Martinez for a 7-0 lead. Then Pertegaz went to work scoring two more before Giants quarterback Cody Enman found Piqueras Jonathan to close the gap to 21-6 at the half.
After the break, Murphy connected with Alejandro Silvestre (27-6) and an excellent Giants kickoff return went for naught as Enman was intercepted for the second time in the game.
In the fourth quarter, Joshua Helmkamp returned a Giants punt for a touchdown extending the lead to 34-6. There was still time for two more touchdowns, one per team. Cody Enman threw his second touchdown pass to Alvaro Cosin (34-12), but Murphy tossed his fourth of the day finding Diego Borreguero to round out the scoring 40-12.
