U-19 Playoff Game vs. the Zürich Renegades

Today at the beautiful Frutigen Sportplatz, home of your Thun Tigers, our 8-1 U-19 team hosted the 8-2 Zurich Renegades in the semifinals of the Swiss American Football League playoffs.

This was the first time in franchise history that the Tiger U-19s have ever made the playoffs, so there was excitement in the air to say the least.

Here Come The Tigers!

And Here Comes the Weather!

It was not cold but it would alternate between a light drizzle and a heavy rain all game long. In the second half, thunder and lightning would be the order of the day.

Fire Up Tigers!!! 

In a word, the Renegades were

HUGHMONGOUS or

GINORMOUS perhaps

Check out their two captains on the right.

We needed to swarm on defense

Wrap Up

Zürich had a very strong running game and featured a very physical offensive line.

PURSUIT!!! 

Tiger Sweep

Zürich's DE is beefy

Zürich scored first to take a 7-0 lead but the Thun offense answered with a good drive that ended with a 1 yard quarterback sneak for a TD.

The Renegades scored again just before the halftime to lead 14-7 at the intermission.

Did I mention it was wet? 

Renegade Defense Stepping Up

Nico Leibundgut lets one fly

and then another 

Angelo Valentino at QB 

It's Over 

After a very competitive first half. It was all Zürich in the second half. The Renegades played very well over the last 24 minutes scoring 30 unanswered points to win by a final score of 44-7.

Tigers thanked the fans

for their support

So, the Tiger cubs finished the year with an 8-2 mark and built a solid base for the future of the Senior team. Coaches Stephan Pulver, Toni Capozzolo and Arne Denecke did a marvelous job with these young men all season long!

Congratulations to our U-19 squad on an excellent season.

Speaking of the playoffs, the NLB Championship game was played yesterday in Basel between the 10-0 Basel Meanmachine and the 7-3 LUCAF Owls.

These two teams were playing not only for the championship of the division in which Thun's Senior team competes, but also for the right to play in the relegation game for the chance to move up to the NLA in 2013, the top Swiss division.

In a typical EuroBall scheduling quirk, these two teams were playing eachother for the third straight weekend. Basel won the first game in Lausanne 43-13 and hammered the Owls in Basel last week 41-7.

The outcome was the same last night, but the outcome was much different as Basel won our division championship by a final tally of only 13-6.

Up next for the now 11-0 Meanmachine is a July 15 home game against the NLA's last place team, the 1-8 Winterthur Warriors in the relegation game.

A win here would complete the goal for the Basel 11 who have made no secret of their wanting to get back into the NLA, after going 0-1o in the 2011 NLA before losing last season's relegation game to the Bienna Jets.

The Swiss Bowl will be played in Basel next Saturday, July 7th. The NLA Senior championship game will be contested by the powerhouse 8-0 Calanda Broncos and the 7-4 Basel Gladiators. Calanda won the two regular season games between these two clubs by scores of 33-14 and 58-14.

In the Swiss Bowl preliminary game for the U-19 championship, the 9-2 Zürich Renegades will play the 9-1-1 Basel Gladiators. Basel won both of the regular season games between these two NLA powerehouse squads by scores of 46-21 and 30-14.

Also, I see that the Italian Super Bowl will be played this Saturday night between the Parma Panthers and the Catania Elephants just across the Swiss-Italian border in the town of Varese.

Hmmmm . . .