LUCAF Owls at Thun Tigers

Another good looking Sunday in Frutigen for a Thun Tiger doubleheader. The weather would change though.

The 11:00 a.m. U-19 game featured our 5-1 Tigers against the 3-3 Lugano Lakers. The Lakers gave our U-19s a very close game back in Week #1 of the season in Lugano that the Tigers won by a score 20-7.

At 2:00 p.m., our 2-4 Seniors would take on the league leading 6-0 LUCAF Owls. LUCAF won our April 29th game in Lausanne by a tally of 23-7. Those seven points are the only points that the stout Owls' defense has surrendered this season.

It would be Laurie's first game in Switzerland so I gave her the camera and turned her loose.

"What a beautiful day for

an American football game!!!" 

The Jumbotron was ready

The Concessions stand was open

The U-19s were fired up

After last week's strange U-19 forfeit, due to no doctor in attendance at our home game, the U-19 Tigers knew that they had no margin for error if they wanted to make the playoffs. Winning out in their last three games was a must!

The U-19 pre-game dance is getting better

Kicking off under sunny skies

U-19 QB Nico Leibundgut  had a GREAT day

He threw three TD passes in today's contest. 

Laurie got me a cup of
coffee during the 2nd Half 

The young Tigers were not to be denied on this Sunday as we rolled to a 40-0 lead as the Third Quarter came to an end prompting a running clock the rest of the way.

The Tigers scored two more points in the Fourth Quarter on a Lakers' punt snap that sailed out of the End Zone.

The final score was Thun 42 - Lugano 0.

The U-19 Tigers have a BYE next weekend before finishing the season with back-to-back games with the red hot 5-2 Fribourg Cardinals who have won their last five games. The June 17th game will be at home in Frutigen while the June 24th game will be in Fribourg.

Now it was time for the Senior game.

Helping Emanuel Hunziker with his ball

handling techniques before the game 

CB Roman Aebi was ready

"What time is it?"

Captains Out

Owls' powerful back
#33 with the ball

He can flat out play with a lethal combination of speed and power.

Tackle #33 any way you can

Good pressure on a LUCAF

Field Goal attempt

The Owls made good on this 28 yard attempt on the first drive of the game to go up 3-0 but we would block two of their extra point attempts.

LUCAF would add a 1 yard TD run to end the first quarter with a 9-0 lead.

We came out firing

FB Rudy Bohren really
sparked the offense today

TB Roland Andrist was
a workhorse as usual 

As the first quarter ended we were at the 2 yard line thanks to great line blocking and the running of Rudy and Roland.

As we talked walking down the field, our QB Rolf Zybach felt that a play action pass would work.

Why not?

Rolf faked the Power play

TE Sadique Khan was indeed open

SIX!!!

Niklaus Rhyner added the PAT and it was now 9-7 LUCAF.

Then a strange thing happened 

We kicked the ball out of bounds four straight times as LUCAF wisely made us re-kick each time. On the fifth Kickoff we were lined up on our own 10 yard line!

The Owls returned it to the 11 where they hit a slant pass for a TD. We blocked the PAT but the score was now LUCAF 15 - Thun 7.

Trench Warfare

Flag on the play

SWARM!!!

Mario Wyssen Kickoff Return 

Roland Andrist Toss Sweep

Half time talk

We were playing hard, hitting harder and having a lot of fun.

About half way through the intermission, the sound of thunder was all around us and . . .

It started to rain . . .

A LOT!!!

"What a beautiful day for

an American football game!!!" 

The entire Second Half was played in a semi-tropical rain storm. It turned out to be a deluge of Biblical proportions which prompted Laurie to put away the good camera. Also, my note book that I use to keep track of the game was now both wet and worthless.

The third quarter was scoreless as the wet weather made the ball hard to handle for both squads.

In the Fourth Quarter our Offensive Line really did a great job as we started to shred the vaunted LUCAF defense. We drove down to a First and Goal situation at the 8 yard line. On First Down, the line and our fullback blocked perfectly as TB Roland Andrist rumbled in untouched for an 8 yard TD.

We, of course, went for two points to tie it up but we were not able to succesfully execute the QB-Center exchange.

With about five minutes left in the game, we opted for an Onside Kick, but an Owl fielded the ball deftly at our 42 yard line.

The Owls then fed the ball to their RB #33 as they scored and made a two point PAT to take a 23-13 lead with less than two minutes left in the game.

We fumbled another QB-Center exchange on our next offensive play and the Owls would eventually take a knee to end the contest.


FINAL SCORE: LUCAF (7-0) 23 - Thun (2-5) 13

Tigers saluting the fans
for their support 

Rudy Bohren accepting the

"Hammer-of-the-Game" award

It was Rudy's finest game of the season by far. He really stepped up to the level of the opposition today!


Here are the Thun Tiger results and remaining schedule for the 2012 campaign:


April 1, Basel (7-0) 37 - Thun 20
April 15, Thun 6 - Luzern (4-4) 0
April 29, LUCAF (7-0) 23 - Thun 7
May 6, Basel (7-0) 35 - Thun 0
May 13, Thun 20 - Geneva (2-6) 6
May 20, Luzern (4-4) 34 - Thun 0
June 3, LUCAF (7-0) 23 - Thun 13
June 10, at Geneva (2-6)
June 17, vs. Fribourg (0-7)
June 24, at Fribourg (0-7)

NLB Week #11 Results:

LUCAF 23 - Thun 13

Geneva 8 - Fribourg 6

Basel 42 - Luzern 41

NLB Standings:

Basel Meanmachine 7-0

LUCAF Owls 7-0

Luzern Lions 4-4

Thun Tigers 2-5

Geneva Seahawks 2-6

Fribourg Cardinals 0-7

Week #12 Games

Saturday, June 9

Fribourg (0-7) at Basel (7-0)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Thun (2-5) at Geneva (2-6)

LUCAF (7-0) at Luzern (4-4)

In other EuroBall news, the Hässleholm Hurricanes battled the Limhamn Griffins to a 22-22 tie on Saturday in Sweden. Both teams are now have records of 2 wins-2 losses-1 tie. This ties then for third place in Seden's Division I Södra with the Ystad Rockets. The 'Canes are at home next Satuday against the second place 3-2 Göteborg Marvels.


In Italy on Sunday, the Catania Elephants (9-2) wrapped up the regular season with a stunning 41-14 upset loss to the Milan Rhinos (8-3). They ended the season in a three way tie for first place with the Parma Panthers and Bologna Warriors and should still get the #1 playoff seed and a BYE in the first round of the playoffs. I say this while knowing that Italian tie breaking procedures can be obtuse to say the least but after all, the Elephants did beat both the Panthers 20-17 in Week #6 and the Warriors 65-41 in Week #10.

And finally . . .

Michael, Jacob and Vanessa
at Dodger Stadium

This picture was taken before the Newbury Park Panthers' C.I.F. Division I Championship game victory last Friday night.

Nice looking family if you ask me.

Jacob loves his Panthers!!!