The fourth week of American Football in Portugal is in the books and featured three great games.
The first game of the weekend put the Lisbon Devils up against the Algarve Sharks. Both teams faced each other last April for the title and the score at that time was 28-26 with the Devils pulling out a thrilling win and claiming the title for Lisbon.
This weekend both teams again proved that they know how to give a great show and the Devils ended up winning the game again and again by only two points.
Lisbon Devils 20 – Algarve Sharks 18
Devils quarterback Joey Bradley threw three passing touchdowns, one to Collin Franklin and the other two to Bernardo Solipa. On the Sharks side the new reinforcements showed that they are here to put in the work and James Place scored on a kickoff return and on a passing touchdown from John Holloway. Holloway also rushed for one touchdown near the end of the game and the two point try was what ended up being important with the Devils defense holding the win for their team. The final result was 20-18 for the Devils.
Braga Warriors 37 – Algarve Pirates 6
Also in Algarve on the same day the Braga Warriors travelled over than 600 kms to play the Algarve Pirates. The Warriors ended up being a tough opponent and the travel distance didn’t matter in a game that they controlled and won fairly. The Pirates are struggling to stop opponents and even more to put points on the board. However the home team scored the first touchdown of the season on a run by running back Stanislav Gushekov. The final result was 37-6.
Cacais Crusaders 31 – Paredes Lumberjacks 25
On Sunday the Paredes Lumberjacks and Cascais Crusaders faced off for the “Donuts Bowl” (Both teams share the same sponsor).
The home team was dominated for most of the three quarters by the Paredes Lumberjacks that scored on three occasions with Cody Davis and AJ Benson connecting twice and with Vítor Carvalho scoring on a run play. However in the last quarter the Crusaders staged a fantastic comeback and ended up winning the game 31-25. The touchdowns for the Crusaders were scored by Juzz Tiny (4) and Duarte Cruz grabbed a touchdown by Manuel Farano the youngest quarterback in the league with only 16 years.
Three games are on schedule for this weekend and two of them are “battles for invincibility”.
Saturday, 3 December – Maia Renegades will visit the Lisboa Devils (both teams are 2-0)
Saturday, 3 December – Porto Mutts will visit the Cascais Crusaders (both teams are 2-0)
Saturday, 3 December – Black Knights will visit the Lisboa Navigators
The 8th season of the Portuguese League of American Football is proving to be a very unexpected one with great matches and very close games.