LIVESTREAM EFA: Munich Ravens @ Nordic Storm, Aug. 8, 12:00 CET (12 noon, 6 am ET)

The European Football Alliance may have saved its best matchup for last.

The undefeated Munich Ravens travel to Copenhagen Saturday to face the Nordic Storm in a regular-season finale featuring the two teams that have separated themselves from the rest of the EFA field. Munich enters at a perfect 9-0, while the Nordic Storm sits at 8-1 — with its only defeat coming at the hands of the Ravens. Both have already qualified for the inaugural BIG4 Playoff Weekend in Frankfurt, but first place, momentum and a considerable amount of pride remain on the line.

For Munich, the assignment is simple: win and complete a perfect 10-0 regular season. A Nordic victory would leave both clubs at 9-1 and bring the EFA tiebreaking procedure into play. Either way, the league’s two championship favorites get one final opportunity to measure themselves against each other before the postseason.

And if their first meeting is any indication, it could be one of the games of the year.

Ravens survived first shootout

When the teams met in Munich on June 28, the Nordic Storm looked for long stretches like the better team.

Jadrian Clark threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, Brendan Beaulieu exploded for 10 catches, 221 yards and two scores, and the Storm outgained Munich 481-392. Nordic led 14-0 in the first quarter, 21-14 at halftime and stretched the advantage to 28-14 early in the fourth.

Then the Ravens demonstrated exactly why they remain unbeaten.

Russell Tabor engineered a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback despite throwing three interceptions in the game. Munich scored 23 points in the final period, with Tabor rushing for one touchdown, finding Justus Seelig for another and finally driving the Ravens 84 yards in just 2:32. Tabor’s one-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds remaining put Munich ahead 37-34. Nordic still managed to get into position for a potential tying field goal, but Alvin Gustafsson’s 38-yard attempt with three seconds remaining missed.

Perhaps the most ominous part for the Storm is that it forced Tabor into easily his most turnover-prone performance of the season and still could not finish the Ravens off. Tabor has thrown only five interceptions in nine games — three of them came against Nordic.

Clark and Storm offense are rolling

Nordic has responded to that defeat about as emphatically as possible.

The Storm has won three straight by scores of 40-14 over the Raiders Tirol, 41-3 over Paris and 47-9 over Frankfurt. Those victories have produced a combined score of 128-26.

Last week’s demolition of Frankfurt may have been the most impressive of the lot. Clark completed 32 of 47 passes for 440 yards and five touchdowns. Beaulieu caught 11 passes for 149 yards and two scores, while Glen Toonga contributed 108 yards rushing and 74 receiving. On the other side of the ball, the Storm recorded seven sacks and held the Galaxy to only 198 yards of offense.

Clark’s season numbers are staggering: 3,289 passing yards and 40 touchdowns through nine games while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes. Beaulieu has been his primary destroyer, piling up 82 receptions for 1,394 yards and 17 touchdowns, while Toonga enters the finale just 23 yards shy of a 1,000-yard rushing season with 977 yards and 10 touchdowns.

As a team, Nordic is producing a whopping 490.4 yards of offense per game while allowing just 254.2. The Storm has scored 356 points and surrendered only 134, giving it the best point differential in the league entering Week 13.

Munich’s balance may be its biggest weapon

The Ravens do not generate quite the same eye-popping yardage as Nordic, but they have something the Storm does not: nine wins from nine games.

Tabor has been exceptionally efficient, completing 71.8 percent of his passes for 2,316 yards, 27 touchdowns and only five interceptions. And unlike the Storm, where Toonga carries the overwhelming majority of the rushing load, Munich can attack with a committee. Benedikt Pohler has rushed for 446 yards, Seelig for 396 and Justin Rodney for 353 despite appearing in only five games.

The same depth exists outside. Louis Geyer leads the Ravens with 605 receiving yards and six touchdowns, Malik Stanley has 511 yards and six scores, and Seelig has added another 435 yards out of the backfield.

Munich was particularly sharp in last week’s 45-22 victory over Paris. Tabor completed an extraordinary 26 of 30 passes for 351 yards and five touchdowns, with Geyer catching five balls for 102 yards and two scores. The Ravens defense added four sacks as Munich moved to 9-0.

The Ravens have now won nine consecutive games overall and nine straight on the road dating back to last season. Nordic, however, brings an imposing streak of its own: the Storm has won its last 10 home games. Something has to give.

A possible championship preview?

The first game demonstrated how little separates these teams.

Nordic possesses perhaps the EFA’s most explosive quarterback-receiver combination in Clark and Beaulieu, an elite running back in Toonga and a defense capable of overwhelming an opponent’s offensive line. Munich counters with Tabor’s efficiency, considerably more offensive balance and a team that has repeatedly proven capable of making the decisive plays when games tighten in the fourth quarter.

For the Storm, there is also the revenge factor. They had the Ravens in trouble in Munich and let a two-touchdown fourth-quarter lead disappear. Now Clark and company get another opportunity, this time in front of their own crowd at Gladsaxe Stadium.

For Munich, Saturday represents the chance to do something nobody else has accomplished in the inaugural EFA season: reach the postseason undefeated.

Two teams already headed for Frankfurt. Two MVP-caliber quarterbacks. The league’s two best records. And a three-point game the first time around.

The EFA regular season could hardly have produced a better final act.

Game information

Nordic Storm (8-1) vs. Munich Ravens (9-0)
Saturday, August 8
Gladsaxe Stadium, Søborg, Denmark