The Calanda Broncos played extremely effective football this past weekend in shutting out the Geneva Seahawks 31-0 to win Swiss Bowl XXXIV, claiming their third straight title and 10th overall.
With a smothering defense that snagged two interceptions, forced a fumble and made three key fourth down stops, the Broncos stunned the visitors and the rest of the Swiss football community.
It wasn’t the win but the way they won that surprised everyone.
Geneva had beaten the defending champs once during the regular season and had looked solid all year. Experts were expecting an exciting, close-fought final.
On this day though, Calanda simply took it up a notch.
Calanda QB Conner Manning Photo: Sergio Brunetti
Calanda quarterback Conner Manning threw two touchdown passes and ran another one in himself. Adrian Sünderhauf caught one of the scoring passes while Marco Mahrer caught the other and also added a one yard scoring run. Erik Rageth kicked a field goal and all four extra points.
Calanda set the tone from the outset taking a 10-0 first quarter lead on Manning’s touchdown. After Broncos defender Nico Ritter recovered a Geneva fumble, Rageth added a 24 yard field goal.
The Seahawks offense could not get into sync. Graves was on the run constantly as the Broncos front seven dominated the line of scrimmage.
With the Broncos defense playing extremely well, forcing two stops on fourth down attempts, Manning connected with Sünderhauf to increase the lead to 17-0 at the half.
Game MVP Calanda WR Lukas Lütscher Photo: Marcel Kaul
Geneva came out in the third quarter with a vengeance, driving into Broncos territory, but an errant Kyle Graves pass was picked off by Rageth to snuff out the drive.
Neither offense could gain any momentum after that until early in the fourth when Manning drove the Broncos down to the one yard line and Mahrer barged in to extend the lead to 24-0.
The Broncos secondary struck again as Flavio Gisler intercepted another Graves pass returning it 40 yards to the Geneva 32 yard line. Manning and the offense capitalized as Manning hit Mahrer with a four yard touchdown pass for a 31-0 final score.
Broncos WR Lukas Lütscher Photo: Sergio Brunetti
Game MVP was Broncos WR Lukas Lütscher who had over 100 yards receiving and caught a number of key passes from Manning.
Watch highlights from the game from GR Heute.
