FWL Bowl III

Austria DarkKnights 19 Birmingham Fire 13 ot

Birmingham       0  3  0 10  0 -- 13
Austria          7  0  3  3  6 -- 19


Austria - Cadore 7 pass from LaRocca (Trainor kick) 0-7
Birmingham - Fox 30 FG 3-7
Austria - Trainor 33 FG 3-10
Birmingham - Fox 36 FG 6-10
Austria - Trainor 28 FG 6-13
Birmingham - Macik 12 pass from Jones (Fox kick) 13-13

Austria - Smith 14 pass from LaRocca (no kick) 13-19

Mario Kreiner who has been the GM of Austria since the expansion side entered the FWL back in 1997 finally captured his dream late Sunday night. After so many trades, free agent pickups and battles with other GM's Kreiner watched his team win FWL Bowl III in a very tight affair over the Birmingham Fire.

The DarkKnights were favourites to win the game but a career game by Birmingham QB Eric Jones nearly gave the Fire their second FWL Bowl win in three years.

Both teams started slowly until a good 59 yard 11 play drive in the 1Q resulted in the first points of FWL Bowl III, Josh LaRocca faked the handoff and found WR Mike Cadore over the middle for the touchdown. Both teams punted the ball until later in the second half when Birmingham finally started moving the ball. Damon Fox nailed a 30 yard FG and the halftime score in a tight affair was 7-3 to Austria.

Tragedy struck early in the 3Q when Eric Jones botched the handoff, Austria recovered but could not take advantage. Later in the 3Q the DarkKnights added to their lead with a FG, back came the Fire but Fox misseda FG which could have cut the lead to 4. Luck came though for Birmingham as a few plays later Michael Hicks fumbled and Birmingham this time took advantage with a FG to now trail 10-6.

Austria added a late FG by Kendall Trainor and led by a touchdown with just over 2 minutes left. Birminghams chances now rested on QB Eric Jones, after rushing for nearly 170 yards last week Ricky Blake was held in check by Austrias amazing run defense, Blake finished the game with a paltry -5 yards !!! All year Austria were great against the run, in 14 games they gave up just 545 yards at an average of 1.9 yards a carry and just 4 td's !!!

Despite no help from his rushing attack Jones passed nearly every down and was finding success throwing to Willie Bouyer who had a great game with 11 catches. On 3rd & 6 on the crucial Fire drive Jones dropped back and found Bouyer for a first down, then on a 3rd & 8 Jones found Bouyer again, this time for 23 yards, on 2nd & 10 from the Austria 12 Jones quickly threw to Miles Macik and Macik managed to just make it into the endzone and with the XP the game was tied with less than 40 seconds in the game. FWL Bowl III headed to overtime.

The Fire won the toss and received in overtime, however the Fires inability to run the ball was shown on the third play as on a crucial third down Blake was stopped and the Fire had to punt. Despite having a very quiet game Michael Hicks suddenly turned it up a notch. After running for just 42 yards in four quarters Hicks ran for a 7 yard gain, then a great 29 yard burst, then once again, this time for 21 yards to the Fire 16 yard line. LaRocca was sacked on the next play then threw a slant to Dedric Smith. Now it was 3rd down at the Fire 14, most teams would either try the FG or run a quick dive through the middle, not Austria though, with four receivers back LaRocca looked and found Dedric Smith wide open on another crossing pattern and the former Admiral and now All-FWL WR Dedric Smith spiked the ball with glee as he had scored the winning touchdown in FWL Bowl III. Despite constantly criticised in the press and even some Austria reporters since his trade from Amsterdam, Smith finally put them all to rest with a great performance (11 catches for 136 yards and a td) and of course the winning touchdown.

Austria, a lowly expansion team in Season 1 who finished 6-8 totally revamped their defense and offense and were truly the team of Season 3. With an amazing blitzing, dominating defense Austria won the EFC West title with ease and played some of the toughest opponents ever in the playoffs, Austria destroyed Frankfurt, the old champions from Season 2 and then shocked the Rhein Fire with a last minute interception to seal a win. Then in the final Austria managed to beat the tough Birmingham Fire, who won FWL Bowl I and were AFC Championship runners up in Season 2 and are regarded as one of the best teams ever in the FWL.

The DarkKnights should go from strength to strength, with the top two picks in the FWL draft the DarkKnights avoiding retirements, could get stronger and stronger. There are some problems, the current crop of amazing receivers are unhappy as only two can start and one will go from 70 catches to half that amount, who will it be ? Dedric Smith the All-FWL WR who was named MVP in FWL Bowl III, or Mike Cadore the great receiver from Montreal who catches everything thrown at him, or the amazing and electric Lee Morris who is looking to start next season. Still many teams would love these 'problems' and already Austria are being talked about as the first team to possibly repeat as FWL Bowl champions next season. If Austria can stay away from injury and retirements then maybe DarkKnights fans will be celebrating once again.

Congratulations to Mario Kreiner and the Austria DarkKnights, FWL Champions of Season 3