THIS GIVEN SUNDAY: STUTTGART SURGING — BUT BLOWOUTS RETURN
The Stuttgart Surge reminded rivals in the European League of Football that they should be taken seriously by posting a statement win over playoff rivals Paris on Sunday, but a lot of the weekend would be turned over to further hand-wringing as scorelines again made the headlines.
After the encouragement provided by the way fixtures fell in Week 9 of the ELF, Week 10’s slate was covered in red flag, and fears were realised with a return to the lopsided results that have caused so much concern throughout the 2025 season.
As sportswriter René Bugner pointed out, in response to league CEO Zelkjo Karajica’s claims of compettitiveness, via a social media post coming out of the weekend, ‘Of the 66 games in the ELF 2025 season so far, more were blowouts with a point difference of over 36 (21 = 31.8% of all games) than one-score games (18 games = 27.3% of all games)’. With losing margins of 64 and 55 points respectively, the Cologne Centurions and Helvetic Mercenaries did little to dispel their reputation as whipping boys, but the Fehérvár Enthroners kept things very close in Prague and the Berlin Thunder, at least for the most part, kept the unbeaten Nordic Storm honest, even if they still shipped 53 points by the end.
After Week 9’s close victory over the Rhein Fire, Nordic’s visit to the German capital was seen by most as a formality on the way to 8-0, but the Thunder rocked their visitors with a couple of early touchdowns and the sides went into the half-time interval locked at 20. Without head coach Jag Bal on the sideline, absent due to ill-health, Berlin — and QB Jakeb Sullivan in particular — tried to match the Storm stride-for-stride but eventually succumbed to mistakes that, behind a record-breaking day for Jadrian Clark — allowed the Scandinavian side to pull away.
The Fire, meanwhile, were having a scrap of their own, aware that succumbing to Hamburg and a Storm win would gift the new boys the North Division crown. Despite losing QB Micah Leon — seen as the key to an upset of the reigning champions — to another injury, the Sea Devils held the upper hand at half-time, only for two Fire touchdowns in the third quarter allowed them to sneak in front on the change of ends, and then salt the game away with another six-point score with five minutes remaining.
In the Czech Republic, anyone outside of the Fehérvár camp may have expected the Enthroners to get run over by the hometown Prague Lions but, in a game of little scoring, the visitors led by two field goals to one early in the final quarter. Whatever their malaise, the Lions finally woke up, but it was with a whimper rather than a roar that they finally breached the Fehérvár endzone, breaking Hungarian hearts before having to play out a tense final 12 minutes as new Enthroners QB Brett Pullman and fellow import, WR Jon Cole, tried to find a way back.
With neither Frankfurt or Madrid likely to have learned much from their demolitions of Cologne and Helvetic respectively, three games stood out as attention-grabbers at the start of the weekend. Vienna’s visit to Poland, however, got out of hand early on and, although the Panthers made the visitors work for their win thereafter, the result seldom appeared in doubt as Vienna lent on the running of Karri Pajarinen to march up and down the field, killing the Wroclaw clock as they did so.
Expected to be the most likely game of the week, the Paris Musketeers’ visit to Stuttgart also suffered from a one-sided start, as the Surge managed to open out an advantage that Paris appeared unable to broach. Although the French team finally managed to avert a shutout with a late touchdown, their hosts — making a rare appearance in their bright yellow kit — showed that they could score on offense after being shutout in the first meeting between the sides, with QB Reilly Hennessey and WR Mike Harley particularly effective. It was the Surge’s suffocating defense that really made the difference, however, stifling the dual threat of QB Jaylon Henderson as they kept the Musketeers off the board until late.
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WEEK 10 SCORES
19.07.2025
Vienna Vikings 38 @ 12 Wroclaw Panthers
Frankfurt Galaxy 74 @ 10 Cologne Centurions
Munich Ravens 31 @ 24 Raiders Tirol
20.07.2025
Madrid Bravos 61 @ 6 Helvetic Mercenaries
Nordic Storm 53 @ 35 Berlin Thunder
Rhein Fire 25 @ 13 Hamburg Sea Devils
Fehérvár Enthroners 6 @ 10 Prague Lions
Paris Musketeers 8 @ 26 Stuttgart Surge
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Game of the Week:
Munich Ravens 31 @ 24 Raiders Tirol
Interrupted by an Alpine thunderstorm that forced players and officials to leave the field, and then proceeded to drench everything not sheltering when the game restarted, the clash between close rivals Munich and Tirol appeared to have everything — including the German side’s now ubiquitous comeback. Rested by the bye week that followed their surprise victory over the Rhein Fire, Tirol vaulted into an early lead on the back of touchdowns from RB Lukas Haslwanter and TE Markus Schaberl that capitalised on a pair or Ravens’ turnovers, only for the visitors to hit back after the first change of ends, with RB Justin Rodney and QB Russell Tabor — on the end of a ‘Philly Special’ from WR Malik Stanley — to bring the sides back within a point. The Raiders, however, went into half-time with an enhanced advantage after QB N’Kosi Perry found Schaberl in the end zone for a second time, and extended the lead further when Jonata Loria successfully converted a 33-yard field goal attempt. Munich, however, don’t have the reputation of comeback kings for nothing and, once Daniel Schweiger had matched Loria’s effort, dominated the scoring from there — albeit with the help of a perfect fake punt completion from Levin Adom to Stanley — with rushing scores from Rodney and Tabor heaping further frustration on a blocked Loria field goal attempt.
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MVP of the Week
Jadrian Clark (Nordic Storm)
Although few expected there to be any need for Clark’s heroics against Berlin, the American proved vital in prolonging the Storm’s unbeaten run to eight games as the hometown Thunder rumbled for three quarters. Forced to go toe-to-toe with compatriot Jakeb Sullivan, both QBs having already passed the 2,000-yard for the season, it was Clark’s record-setting 519 yards — erasing his own mark of 514 from 2022 — and seven touchdowns through the air that made the difference on another afternoon where the Storm looked less potent than forecast. After a two-interception game against Rhein, Clark was also back to his flawless best when it came to protecting the football, an equally key facet to victory as Sullivan succumbed to the pressure of keeping pace, marring his five scores with three turnovers.
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UPS
Justin Rodney (Munich Ravens)
In a game heavily affected by the weather, import RB Rodney proved to be a safe pair of hands for the Ravens, toting the rock for 131 yards on 20 carries, and breaking the game in Munich’s favour with a 49-yard score in the final quarter as the German side staged yet another come-from-behind victory.
Karri Pajarinen (Vienna Vikings)
Just a few weeks back from injury, flying Finn Pajarinen enjoyed a highly-productive day against the Wroclaw Panthers, putting up 147 yards on 16 carries and adding a touchdown for good measure.
Simon Føns & Adria Botella Moreno (Nordic Storm)
The benefit of being on the same team as Jadrian Clark is there will always be plenty of yards and touchdowns to go around. While these have tended to go in the direction of Brendan Beaulieu for much of the season, Berlin’s focus on the American allowed Europeans Føns (104yds / 3 TDs) and Botella Moreno (103yds / 3 TDs) to star in Week 10.
DOWNS
Devon Burrell (Helvetic Mercenaries)
Burrell must be wondering what he’s let himself in for, having left the playoff-contending Panthers for a rebuild project in Switzerland that appears to have no foundations. A series of heavy defeats since he arrived seems anathema to the Mercenaries future in what has been a season of seemingly sharp decline.
Micah Leon (Hamburg Sea Devils)
Having enjoyed a strong performance against the Nordic Storm two weeks ago, Leon — back in harness following the failed experiment with Taulia Tagovailoa — was seen as a potential key to upsetting the Fire in Week 10. Unfortunately, he suffered a second game-ending injury before half-time and could only watch as the champions’ recovered to win.
Fehérvár Enthroners fans
The hardy cohort that travelled from Hungary to cheer on their side against Prague must have thought that their luck was turning when the Enthroners went up 6-3 in the final quarter of a game most expected them to lose, perhaps handily. Even when the home side hit back with the only touchdown of the game, there was still plenty of time on the clock to claim a first win of the year, but the plucky Magyars were unable to make use if it.
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SEEN AND HEARD
- “I think we still have a lot of adjustments to make. There were too many mistakes in the first half — we need to finish our attacks better. We need to keep pushing in practice so we don’t lose control of games like this. In the playoffs, we need to finish our attacks.”
Rhein Fire WR Harlan Kwofie
- “If you’re playing against good opponents and you lose the ball, things get tighter than they need to be. The most important thing is and remains to protect the ball.”
Rhein Fire HC Richard Kent
- “I don’t want to say we expected this, but I’ve experienced it many times. Our fans are amazing and travel with us to away games. It’s fantastic for the players to see that, to feel the energy of the fans—and we all appreciate it very much.”
Rhein Fire HC Richard Kent
- “It’s just football — in the end, I couldn’t make the plays. If you don’t make them, you lose the game, as you can see today. The weather can’t be an excuse; it still has to work. We want to get even better, but we’ve already shown that we can compete with anyone. Next week, we have to go all out.”
Raiders Tirol TE Markus Schaberl - “I’m proud of the players. I would have preferred to win, of course, but we can build on a lot of things. Now we have to lick our wounds and prepare well for the next game.”
Raiders Tirol HC Jim Herrmann - “The game was physical from the very first snap, and the opponents made things really tough for us. They were disciplined and played every down to the whistle. Even though we left everything on the field, including our hearts, we made some mistakes. We’ll work on fixing them before our next match..”
Wroclaw Panthers LB Patryk Guk
- “It’s always a big challenge to play against a well-prepared team. Coach Jack Del Rio prepared his team well, so it was difficult to face the Parisian offense, defense and special teams. But we succeeded. I’m proud of how well we played, physically and tactically, today. Now, we’ll focus on the next game. Hamburg has improved since we last played them. I don’t expect it to be easy against the Sea Devils.”
Stuttgart Surge HC Jordan Neuman
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STATS BLITZ
D.J. Irons (Wroclaw Panthers)
25 completions, 37 attempts, 266 yards, 2 touchdowns
7 carries, 37 yards
Darrell Stewart (Wroclaw Panthers)
10 receptions, 87 yards, 2 touchdowns
A.J. Wentland (Wroclaw Panthers)
17 tackles, 1 tackle for loss
Ben Holmes (Vienna Vikings)
16 completions, 21 attempts, 186 yards, 3 touchdowns
Reece Horn (Vienna Vikings)
5 receptions, 75 yards, 2 touchdowns
Austin Osborne (Cologne Centurions)
7 receptions, 116 yards
Jameson Wang (Frankfurt Galaxy)
15 completions, 30 attempts, 173 yards, 5 touchdowns
4 carries, 51 yards
N’Kosi Perry (Raiders Tirol)
14 completions, 33 attempts, 177 yards, 2 touchdowns
5 carries, 20 yards
Malik Stanley (Munich Ravens)
3 receptions, 78 yards
1 completion, 1 attempt, 3 yards, 1 touchdown
Reid Sinnett (Madrid Bravos)
19 completions, 23 attempts, 276 yards, 4 touchdown
1 carry, 21 yards, 1 touchdown
Aron Cruickshank (Madrid Bravos)
7 receptions, 134 yards, 2 touchdowns
Jakeb Sullivan (Berlin Thunder)
32 completions, 49 attempts, 382 yards, 5 touchdowns
5 carries, 21 yards
Niklas Schumm (Berlin Thunder)
7 receptions, 114 yards, 2 touchdowns
Tyler Foster (Berlin Thunder)
9 receptions, 100 yards
Nicolai Schumann (Berlin Thunder)
4 receptions, 34 yards, 2 touchdowns
Brendan Beaulieu (Nordic Storm)
5 receptions, 134 yards, 1 touchdown
Edwin Almeida (Nordic Storm)
4 receptions, 105 yards
Chad Walrond (Nordic Storm)
10 tackles
Luke Glenna (Nordic Storm)
6 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 pass break-ups
Chad Jeffries (Rhein Fire)
25 completions, 28 attempts, 371 yards, 4 touchdowns
Harlan Kwofie (Rhein Fire)
6 receptions, 153 yards, 1 touchdown
Mark Pope (Rhein Fire)
9 receptions, 103 yards, 1 touchdown
Arthur Kingdom (Prague Lions)
12 tackles, 1 pass break-up
Brett Pullman (Fehérvár Enthroners)
26 completions, 58 attempts, 210 yards
2 carries, 6 yards
Jon Cole (Fehérvár Enthroners)
13 receptions, 119 yards
Aleksandar Borkovic (Fehérvár Enthroners)
13 tackles
Benedek Bodnar (Fehérvár Enthroners)
7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks
Gavin Potter (Fehérvár Enthroners)
7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks
Jaylon Henderson (Paris Musketeers)
18 completions, 34 attempts, 151 yards, 1 touchdown
12 carries, 58 yards
Anthony Mahoungou (Paris Musketeers)
7 receptions, 103 yards, 1 touchdown
Souleymane Karamoko (Paris Musketeers)
11 tackles, 1 tackle for loss
Reilly Hennessey (Stuttgart Surge)
14 completions, 24 attempts, 174 yards
10 carries, 34 yards, 1 touchdown
Louis Geyer (Stuttgart Surge)
9 receptions, 147 yards, 1 touchdown