INJURY BLOW AS STORM AIM TO REMAIN UNBEATEN
The unbeaten Nordic Storm will be taking nothing for granted in their Week 7 rematch with the Helvetic Mercenaries, despite being firm favourites to extend their European League of Football record to 6-0.
The Storm, who only joined the league at the start of the 2025 campaign, have emerged as the last to taste defeat, following the Vienna Vikings loss to Rhein Fire last Saturday, but will going into the latest game at their Gladsaxe Stadium home without defensive back Exavier Edwards and wide receiver Theodor Landström, both of whom have been added to the IR.
American Edwards had recorded 22 tackles and an interception amongst his stats through the first four games of 2025, but suffered a torn Achilles in last weekend’s game with Wroclaw and is done for the season. Landström, meanwhile, won’t be missed in quite the same way, having been prevented from making his Storm debut by injury, having suffered an early end to his 2024 season with Hamburg.
Despite the setbacks, however, the Danish-Swedish franchise will still be the hot favourite to win on Saturday, given that the Mercenaries have yet to record a victory this season, although they have put up spirited performances against stronger opposition. The Storm have already beaten the Mercenaries this season, triumphing 56-12 on the road in their first-ever ELF fixture, and the Swiss team has, if anything, been hit harder by injuries. Quarterback Isaiah Weed has had to be replaced by the athletic, but unpolished, Josiah Norwood, who previously played wide receiver at UCLA. On the defense, Helvetic has lost Danish-Serbian interception machine Marko Ilic, who was a pivotal player in a very challenged unit which has conceded an average of 50 points per game so far the season.
As such, much of what the Mercenaries can achieve rests heavily on their new quarterback and his ability to complement his own ground game by finding last year’s offensive rookie of the year, Milan Spiller, and former NFL star Keelan Cole.
Better teams have struggled to open up the Storm defense this season and, although unable to repeat their previous two games which ended in shutouts, the Nordic unit still played at a high level against Wroclaw, with several sacks and interceptions, characterised by different names making plays and not just those putting up All-Star performances.
Despite an unusually slow start to the game against the Panthers, Nordic showed that they could withstand the pressure of falling behind, and still finished with a very comfortable 47-19 victory. Quarterback Jadrian Clark was again in top form against the Polish side, throwing for six touchdowns, of which tight end Adrià Botella Moreno was on the end of four, putting both players at the top of their respective league rankings, with 22 touchdown passes and nine scoring receptions. Botella Moreno also became the Storm’s first ELF MVP of the Week as he tied the league record for most receiving touchdowns before the season has even reached its halfway point.
With wideout Brendan Beaulieu contributing seven scores to the pair’s combined 16 touchdowns, the Helvetic secondary will be on high alert when the game in Copenhagen kicks off at 1800hrs local time.