The 6-4 Danube Dragons who finished fourth in the Austrian Football League, will play host to the 5-5 fifth place Mödling Rangers in the Wild Card playoff round July 1 at Sportplatz SR Donaufeld in Vienna, Austria.
In the only meeting between the two teams in 2018, Danube came away 41-31 winners.
Danube enters the game with momentum. The Dragons won four of their last five games of the regular season including a surprise win over the first place Swarco Raiders. The victory over Swarco is a little misleading as they rested some starters including starting quarterback Sean Shelton, but it gave Danube some confidence.
The Rangers on the other hand struggled down the stretch losing four of their last five, winning their final game against the lowly Bratislava Monarchs. This included the loss to Danube.
Overall there is not much separating the two with Modling having the higher scoring offense averaging 32 points a game as compared to the Dragons 29. But the Rangers give up an average of 34 points a game as opposed to 28 by Danube.
Danube QB Chad Jeffries was the 2nd leading passer during the Austrian Football League regular season finishing with 2,679 yards. Rangers QB Dylan Potts was 5th with 2,246 yards and 17 TDs. However, Potts finished in top spot in the rushing yardage list in the Austrian Football League with 1,117 yards and a league-best 17 TDs.
Despite missing a couple of games, Rangers WR Roman Namdar was 2nd in receiving yardage with 951 yards while Philipp Haun of the Dragons ended up in 5th spot with 735 yards and 9 TDs.
However, the kicker could be Potts. He led the league in rushing virtually the entire season with 1,117 yards and a league-best 17 TDs. Jeffries led the Dragons in rushing with 517 yards.
In other words, stop Dylan Potts and you stop the Rangers. A year ago, Potts was the quarterback for the Dragons and led them to the AFL semifinals. Can he do the same thing for his new team?
Will momentum play a role? In that case, Danube has the edge. Or will Mödling regain their early season form when they won four of their first five games?
This game is a toss up.
