Italian Football League Week 4: Legnano Frogs get past Milano Rhinos in a thriller
In a battle for Lombard, the Legnano Frogs (2-1) won the clash for regional supremacy after they edged the Milano Rhinos (2-3) 28-27 as the Italian Football League wound up its fourth full weekend of play.
The teams met in Vigorelli and Rhinos quarterback Hamish McClure, struck first capping a 10 play, 53 yard drive with a three yard touchdown to give his team a 7-0 lead. Legnano quarterback Eystin Salum responded, finding a seam and taking the ball in from 17 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter.
The second quarter saw more action as the Rhinos managed to regain the lead, this time on seven yard run by Dustin Huseinovich capping a 95 yard drive. Salum again answered, this time by marching his team 93 yards and ending it with a one yard scoring pass to Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi to tie the game at 14-14 going into the break.
The third quarter opened with a huge 88-yard connection from Salum to Sheehy-Guiseppi resulting in a touchdown but the Frogs couldn’t convert the extra point leaving the score 20-14 in their favor. Two possessions later, a bad punt from the Frogs gave Milano the ball on the Legnano 15 yard line and Huseinovich made no mistake, scoring his second touchdown of the game to give his team a 21-20 lead with five minutes left in the third.
In this see saw battle, Legnano came back as Salum orchestrated a 46 yard, seven play touchdown drive, scoring himself on a nine yard rush and then added the two point conversion to put the Frogs out in front 28-21 going into the final period.
The Rhinos wasted no time though as McClure took his team from his own 32 yard line down to the Legnano 26 and then connected with Bruno Escobar to narrow the lead to 28-27. However they missed the extra point and it cost them dearly.
Defenses dominated the rest of the way and the Frogs came away with a key win.
For Milano, the loss keeps them mired in the lower half of the standings with half of their season already over.
In other action, the Parma Panthers (2-1) blanked Bologna (0-4) 52-0 while the Varese Skorpions (3-0) kept their undefeated record intact with a 34-0 victory over the Torino Giaguari (2-2).
