The Kragujevac Wild Boars will look to defend their title Serbian title today when they take on the GAT Novi Sad Dukes in Serbian Bowl XIII at Cika Daca Stadium in Kragujevac, Serbia.
This will be the Wild Boars 12th trip to the title game and they will be looking to win championship #7. Novi Sad won their first Serbian title in 2015 when they beat Vukovi.
To reach the final, Kragujevac, who finished first overall in the Serbian standings, defeated a surprising Meridian Indija Indians team 50-3. The Indians had shocked the Belgrade Blue Dragons in the wild card playoffs to get to the semis.
Novi Sad had a tougher road, as they first they had to beat the Sirmium Legionaries in the wild card playoff and then they had to play and beat eight-time champion Vukovi Belgrade, which they did 33-7.
Novi Sad running back Jermichael Selders is a key to their offense. In the semifinal he scored three touchdowns to pace the Dukes while Cornelius Botha added another rushing touchdown and Nemanja Vučković returned an interception for a touchdown. Quarterback Chris Jeffrey runs an offense that was second only to Kragujevac in 2017, averaging 33.5 points a game.
For the Wild Boars, new quarterback Dalton Oliver has performed extremely well since taking over. He threw four touchdown passes in the semifinal against Indija. His receiving corps includes Strahinja Stepovic, Aleksi Stevanovic, Andrej Puškaš and Stefan Djuric. But Kragujevac’s ground game is a crucial part of the offense with the running of Laurent Tshimanga.
Defensively, Kragujevac relies on team captain Darko Cvetković in the secondary along with linebacker Predrag Šćekićand and defensive linemen Milorad Novaković and Vladimir Radenović.
The Novi Sad front seven is tough to run against and features arguably the best defensive tackle in Serbia, Nebojša Mirković who creates havoc for opposing quarterbacks and running backs. Linebacker Luka Vujnović and safety Goran Zec are also key.
In the only game between the two teams in 2017, the Wild Boars prevailed 20-12.
Interesting note: For the first time in the history of the Serbian American Football league, the championship will be played without SBB Vukovi.
Watch live by clicking here. Kickoff: Saturday, July 8 5 pm CEST (11 am EDT)