The Milano Seamen win their third game of the 2024 ELF season by defeating the Fehervar Enthroners 19 to 14. With this victory, the Seamen achieve two firsts: three wins in the season, compared to two last season, and a tied record excluding the start of the season of course.
Saturday’s match at Vigorelli was not a good one, the attack struggled too much against the Hungarians, while the defense proved, once again, to be of a high level, conceding little to the opponents.
The game seemed to start well for the attack which, after a run by Bronkhorst and a reception by Pulsinelli, relied on Felli’s foot which did not betray from 36 yards. Throughout the first half the offense will play six drives (seven with the last one practically running out of time) and in four of these they score or become dangerous, but in a competitive context like the ELF you cannot afford to waste opportunities like the QB’s fumble inside the opponent’s 20 and the now usual field goal blocked on the line. In the other two drives comes the FG mentioned at the beginning, a beautiful long pass to Flores Calderon and a second pass to the former rookie of the year for the touchdown to make it 9 to 7 (missed snap on the field goal).
The third quarter starts well with Bronkhorst’s runs that bring the Milano Seamen’s attack to the 11 opponents where Crawford scores with a lateral run, 19 to 7 and game in control. In the rest of the match comes a beautiful reception by Pulsinelli, a 47-yard field goal by Felli and a bloody interception at the Enthroners’ 8.
Summing up we can say that the running game worked, 34 x 186 yards, thanks to both Bronkhorst and Crawford who finished with 104 yards in 19 carries at an average of more than 5. A few more problems in the aerial game with a 12 of 29 for 142 yards and a rating of just 54. Bronkhorst really struggled to find his teammates, partly due to reasons of escape from opponents, partly due to imprecision, the good thing is the 5 receivers involved, the wider the blanket the more difficult it is to choose who to cover.
Let’s move on to the defense, which may have conceded something on the air game, 226 yards, but forcing the opposing QB to throw 42 times. This is because the running game was stopped by allowing very little: 4.8 on average become 2.85 taking away a 44-yard run. Zach Blair always on the shields with 10 tackles of which 1.5 for loss of yards, Simone Perego is the author of the only sack of the day. Where instead the defensive department struggled a lot was in the lateral screens of the opponents, exploiting the difference in weight between receivers and cornerbacks they always managed to get at least to the second level with a decent gain of yards. Westfall is used exclusively as a cornerback on the best opposing receiver and not as a safety like Manning, good result in this game with an interception on the scoresheet and a second spectacular one cancelled out by an offside of the defensive line.
Special teams chapter to be divided in two between the specialists (kickers, punters and returners) and the rest of the world. Felli, if he has a way to kick the ball, is a machine, see the precise and high 47-yard FG in the middle of the posts and the three punts of 45 yards on average and all inside the opponents’ 20. Tavecchio on kickoffs is of millimetric precision with two touchbacks making the ball touch a few meters before the end line forcing the opponents to start from the 20-yard line. Simone Boni returned only one kickoff for 44 yards and we believe he should take more courage on punt returns, even just calling fair catches and avoiding disadvantageous ball bounces.
With rest of the world we mean the line deployed in the field goal / extra point: too many kicks blocked in line and wrong snaps. Until they influence the result you may not notice, perhaps more repetitions in training are needed to improve the “chemistry” between the components of the department.
As against the Dragons we can write that the opponents were inferior to the Seamen, but winning the games to win is already a good sign of mental solidity and on Saturday, as against the Dragons, the team had to overcome the deficit.
And now? Saturday at 6.00 pm second match of the season against the Helvetic Mercenaries (defeated in the first leg 14 to 7), bottom of the group with 5 defeats in 5 games. The Milano Seamen appear as favorites and will have to demonstrate how much good we have seen this season, trying to reduce errors in attack and confirming the excellent performances.
Photo at Sergio Bisi’s booth
