Spain won the battle of the tournament’s top-scoring teams and denied Israel a third straight IFAF European Youth Flag Football Championships title with a 34-14 victory at the Sportanlage Wiesengasse in Innsbruck.
Spain’s defense dominated the first half after Israel had taken an early 7-0 lead through a diving Amitai Dvir Wimpfheimer touchdown catch and the Spanish offense had turned the ball over. Marco Ortiz Jurado leveled the game for Spain before Hector Gomez claimed a safety and a 9-7 lead.
A second Spanish interception led to Pablo Gaitán Lleó’s touchdown catch then Santiago Nuñes produced a pick six to extend Spain’s lead to 22-7. Israel might have cut the deficit by halftime, but Nuñes came up with a superb pass defense to preserve the 15-point lead.
Antonio Valverde extended Spain’s lead with a touchdown and while Israel back to within two scores with an end zone grab, Gaitán Lleó opened a 20-point lead with his second touchdown of the contest at the two-minute warning.
“The last game was awesome but the whole competition was incredible,” said Spain head coach Christian García Delgado. “I’m so proud of our team because they gave everything that they had.”
Israel head coach Gideon Reiz said:
“We just had a tough game and Spain really played their hearts out and they surprised us with a few things and took advantage of it. We weren’t able to do what we needed to do to get a victory but we had a great time at this tournament and still went home with a silver medal.”
In the semifinals, Israel had edged Czechia 47-46, while Spain beat Finland 50-18.
Replays of all games are available on IFAF.TV.