LIVESTREAM Austria: Salzburg Ducks @ Znojmo Knights, May 15, 16:00 CET (4 pm, 10:00 am ET)

AFI | American Football | 05/15/2022

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Austrian Football League winds up the fifth round of play Sunday, May 15 with an intriguing matchup as the Znojmo Knights (1-3), fresh off their first win of the season, welcome the winless Salzburg Ducks (0-4) to Mestsky Stadion Znojmo in the Czech Republic.

The Knights surprised the Graz Giants 28-26 last weekend in Graz to notch their first victory of 2022 after losing the opening three games. Znojmo had lost to the Vienna Vikings 42-14, Danube 35-28 and the Telfs Patriots 12-9.

The Ducks were beaten by the Danube Dragons 31-21 to open the season and the Prague Black Panthers, 17-7. They then lost a heartbreaker to the Vienna Vikings 14-13 before dropping a 28-26 decision to the Mödling Rangers a week ago.

Knights head coach Martin Kocian relies on quarterback Christopher Howard who has thrown for 716 yards and six touchdowns. In the win over Graz, Howard threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns. His leading receiver, Corry Jones, has caught 22 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Dominik Dvorsky leads the Znojmo ground attack with 271 yards rushing on 46 carries. In the win over the Giants, he was a workhorse gaining 40 yards on the ground while catching three passes for 100 yards and a score.

Behind center for the Ducks is American quarterback Kris Denton who has thrown for only 722 yards and six touchdowns in four games after a four passing touchdown performance in the loss to Mödling. His leading receiver, Maximilian Reuter, has caught 16 passes for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Salzburg is the second leading rushing team in the AFL averaging 143.8 yards a game with Denton being the team’s top rusher with 40 carries for 260 yards. They will be facing the league’s third best defense against the run as the Knights give up 78 yards a game,

The Ducks have one of the league’s stingiest defenses against the pass giving up 137.3 yards a game, good for second. This may well be the key to the game as Znojmo only averages 179 yards passing.

The game is important. Salzburg needs to snap their losing streak while the Knights from the Czech Republic need to prove they belong in the AFL.