IFAF: Austria advances to gold medal game between France-Sweden winner

Austria earned a place in the European Junior Championship Gold Medal game by defeating Denmark 21-16 in their second game of the tournament being played in Seville, Spain.
France convincingly beat host Spain 55-6 and will now face 2008 silver medalist Sweden on Thursday, September 1, to battle for the final spot in the championship game.

The European Junior Championship features the top American football players aged 19 and under from six countries – Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden – battling for the right to call themselves European Champions from August 28 to September 3.

Denmark took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter as Simon Korning Mathiesen connected on a 41-yard field goal, but Austria made up for the slow start with a dominating second quarter performance, scoring three unanswered touchdowns to earn a 21-3 lead at halftime.

Quarterback Christoph Gubisch claimed the first touchdown of the game with a three-yard run and on the following drive, Austria’s David Nader produced an interception and the Austrians immediately took advantage as Gubisch found Clemens Erlsbacher for a 21-yard touchdown – his second touchdown of the tournament.

Denmark struggled moving the ball as the Austrian defense showed why they are one of the best in the tournament. Late in the second quarter, Austria executed one of the top plays of the game as quarterback Gubisch threw a lateral pass to Erlsbacher who took the Danish defenders by surprise by finding Laurinho Walch for a 20-yard touchdown.

In the second half, Denmark’s defense really stepped up holding Austria scoreless and in the third quarter Patrick Pedersen intercepted Austria’s Gubisch, returning the ball 22 yards for a touchdown and cutting the deficit to 21-10.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Danes executed a fake punt perfectly giving them a first down inside the red zone. A 10-yard pass from Reinhard to Mathiesen set up an inside run by Johannes Hylby for Denmark’s first offensive touchdown of the game to make it 21-16. Denmark went for the two-point conversion but came up short.

Austria was able to run the clock down with carries by Andreas Hofbauer and Johannes Streihammer, before Denmark launched one more comeback attempt but came up short. Austrian running back Andreas Hofbauer was named game MVP, recording a game-high 141 yards.

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France opened their European Junior Championship campaign with an impressive 55-6 victory against host country Spain. And with one win apiece, the France-Sweden matchup on Thursday, September 1 will now decide who joins Austria in the Gold Medal game.

Six different players found the endzone for France as the team finished with 270 rushing yards and 348 total offensive yards compared to Spain’s 116 yards.

In the first quarter, France established a very effective running game and three rushing touchdowns, the first a 19-yard run by Karl-William Diboule. Just two minutes later Jason Aquemon jetted down the field for a 45-yard touchdown run. Andreas Betza gave France a 21-0 lead to end the first quarter with a four-yard touchdown run.

France switched things up in the second quarter going to the air scoring three more unanswered touchdowns. After a six-yard touchdown run by Armel Ahidazan, quarterback Franck Bozec showcased his arm connecting with two receivers for touchdowns – a 53-yard bomb to Yoah Boireau and a four-yard pass to Florian Rabel to give France a 48-0 lead at the half.

Spain was able to slow France down in the second half only allowing two touchdowns, one coming in the third quarter as quarterback Maxime Durand took over the duties under center, finding Arthur Flahaut for a 13-yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Armel Ahidazan recorded his second touchdown of the game with a four-yard run.

Spain avoided the shutout late in the fourth quarter as quarterback Ruben Beltran connected with Ian Escoda for a 32-yard touchdown pass.

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Complete Game Schedule:
Group Play:
August 28, 2011
Group A 10:30 Germany 7 Austria 14
Group B 18:00 Sweden 28 Spain 10

August 30, 2011
Group A 10:30 Austria 21 Denmark 16
Group B 18:00 Spain 6 France 55

September 1, 2011
Group A 10:30 Denmark vs. Germany
Group B 18:00 France vs. Sweden

September 3, 2011
Fifth place game: 9:30
Bronze Medal: 12:30
Gold Medal: 18:30