Team USA won the World Championship of American Football. Photo by Kratky.
The American Football World Championships in Austria has found a worthy champion. Team USA defended their title with a convincing 50-7 victory over Canada in the tournament's final in Vienna, Austria.
Japan won the bronze medal, beating Mexico 17-14 thanks to a blocked field goal on the last play of the game. Germany remains Europe's best team as they defeated France 21-17 in a battle for 5th place. Host Austria finished their tournament on a high note, beating Australia 48-10 to claim 7th place.
RB/WR Nate Kmic was named the World Championship's MVP. And he showed his versatility once again in the final. In front of 20,000 people at Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion Kmic scored the game's first touchdown. Midway through the second quarter the US team took full control, scoring 30 points in the last six minutes of the first half. At halftime the score was 37-7.
After scoring two more touchdowns in the third quarter the Americans just ran out the clock. RB Henry Harris had 15 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown. Kmic gained 49 yards on 8 carries and scored twice. He also caught 5 balls for 42 yards. RB Matt Bassuener had 4 rushes for 51 yards and a touchdown.
QB Cody Hawkins once again played well, too. He completed 13 of 21 passes for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns. DB Jordan Lake picked off two passes and the defense allowed only 229 total yards.
In the bronze medal game Japan's QB Tetsuo Takata was the best player. He scored on a 15-yard run and later threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to WR Naok Maeda. Takata completed 16 of 23 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown.
But Mexico never gave up. After QB Rodrigo Perez found WR Heriberto Salazar with a 10-yard touchdown pass with 3:54 left in the fourth, his team gained momentum. Mexico forced a Japan punt and got the ball back late in the game. They moved inside Japan territory, but K Jose Carlos Maltos last-second 50-yard field goal try was blocked.
DT Mauricio Lopez, who was on the 2008 Oakland Raiders practice squad, had a tackle, but had to leave the game with an injury in the second half.
The German team remains Europe's best after beating France 21-17. All three SWARCO Raiders players on team Germany played in the contest. WR/P Pascal Maier caught 2 balls for 26 yards. He also punted 5 times for 239 yards (47.8 yards per punt) with two punts downed inside the opposing 20. His longest punt was a 65-yarder. DE Robert Zernicke had 0.5 tackles and a pass breakup. K Dennis Wiehberg added three extra points.
After a miserable group stage Austria played much improved against Australia and celebrated a nice ending to their tournament. The SWARCO Raiders players WR Jakob Dieplinger and LB Florian Hueter were named to the tournament's 2nd All-World Championships team.
Dieplinger had one of the many big plays against Australia as he caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from fellow-Tyrolean RB Florian Grein on a trick play. Overall Dieplinger caught 2 balls for 15 yards and that touchdown against Australia. Grein had 4 rushes for 13 yards. WR Andreas Pröller caught 3 passes for 48 yards. OL Michael Habetin and OL Norbert Baumgartner also played.
On defense Hueter couldn't play due to an injury. DB Markus Krause had 3 tackles. LB Christoph Schilcher had 3 tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. LB Michael Süß had 2 tackles – both were tackles for loss. DE Mario Rinner also had 2 tackles with one tackle for loss.
