A Perfect Regular Season

39-year old phenomenon, Middle linebacker Franz Koloshar displays how many teams are undefeated in Austrian Football. That team is the Kornmesser Rangers.

(Photos by Natascha Wallner)

Last Saturday saw the end of the regular season AND the perfect way end to it. Undefeated. The playoffs loom before us but right now, let's enjoy the 24th win in a row. 3 years worth of undefeated.

The Vienna Knights and the Kornmesser Rangers are intense rivals with no love lost. Although the Knights were out of the playoff hunt, they were intent on stopping our 23 game winning streak and leaving us with a little reminder of the feud between us.

The game started off well but a little "fumble-itis" struck our offense throughout the day. We would eventually find the end zone enough to pull out a 20-12 win. Stephan Postel, the Wide receiver-turned QB scored, Lars Gabler, the cannon ball, scored. Raphael Hackl kicked a couple PATs and caught a long pass from Stephan despite a hurt shoulder. Lucas Mimmler made an acrobatic catch on a long pass to keep a drive alive. The O-line blocked well as usual and Robert Holocher made a run during which he broke at least 3 tackles and stayed in bounds to keep the clock running.

Stephan Postel ran and threw in a successful combination all day.

The "Cannon Ball" Lars Gabler. Explosive and powerful.

Defensively, Fritz Limbeck made the only interception of the day. Other players had their chances and broke up passes but couldn't keep possession to earn an INT. The D-line got two sacks on two consecutive third downs to end drives and on the third one, they caused the QB to intentionally ground the ball before he got sacked a third time. Felix Schildorfer, Oti Kabieatiko, and Phillip Tippow fought constant double teams while Max Boder blitzed from linebacker to help pressure the Knights passer.

Felix Schildorfer in on the tackle. Armin Schneider is close behind.

Ageless Franz Koloshar patrolled the middle of the field from his Middle linebacker spot and Mike Graetz caused many bruises to arise on opposing ball carriers with aggressive play. Clemens Burian, who played both ways in the game immediately before the Team I game, stood in as corner when injuries required his second game of the day. Clemens performed admirably and has shown constant improvement during the year.

Defensive Captain Fritz Limbeck got an INT on this day!

Mike Graetz; the Predator

The playoffs await on May 28. The Steel Sharks of Traun will visit our stadium in Wiener Neustadt. With a victory we will advance to the championship game set for June 11.

Susan is due to give her Teacher of the year speech on May 27 and catch a flight to Vienna, arriving in time to see our game the 28th. I miss meeting her on the field after games, win or lose. Except for the team 2 game Saturday at Amstetten, that tradition has interrupted for the last time.

I have included some pictures (taken by Natascha Wallner) of our players and the new uniforms we wore. We are developing a "bad boy" image and we wore all black this game.

A perfect regular season in just a way of saying that our potential is unlimited. Now we have to realize our potential and win two more when they really count. Stay tuned.

Auf Wiedersehen