Finland: Helinski Wolverines double up on Helsinki Roosters to win crosstown derby

In this years’ crosstown rivalry matchup in the Maple League, the Helinski Wolverines scored two late-game touchdowns to pull away and defeat the Helsinki Roosters 26-13.

The crux of the Wolverines’ offensive firepower came from quarterback Jabari Harris, who hurt the Roosters as much with his legs as with his arm. He rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 7.6 yards a carry and threw for 203 yards and another score on 14 of 25 passing.

Roosters quarterback Bryce Stancombe struggled completing only 10 of his 23 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown (to Willem Kajander) while rushing for a two-yard score. On the day, he rushed for minus five yards. In fact, as a team the Roosters rushed for -25 yards while the Wolverines racked up 204 yards on the ground. 

However, it was not as if the Roosters trailed most of the game; they were in lock step with their rivals from start to finish and were only behind 14-13 with a little over three minutes to go. At the 3:15 mark, Harris tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to RJ Long to get them up by 7 and then roughly two minutes later, the veteran signal caller burst out on a 43 yard run into the end zone to put the game away.

The Wolverines front seven did most of the damage to the Roosters run game. They were completely ruthless on the day thanks to the work of linemen Jonis Heikkinen, Joseph Kordus and Max Poikonen who were all aggressive and swarmed to the ball. 

With the win, the Wolverines remain in second place at 3-1 just in time for their bye week, while the Roosters dropped to fifth place in the standings at 2-3.