Canada 36, Austria 14 at the 2011 IFAF Senior World Championship

As we build up to the 2015 edition of the IFAF's Senior World Championship, let's look back at Canada's second game in the tournament.  The country's first such contest was against France and you can read that recap by clicking on the label at the bottom of the post.

I remember watching this game online and it could be argued that the recap below embellishes slightly on behalf of the host Austrians. Yeah, it was a little surprising that Canada led "only" 14-00 at the half, but there was little cause for concern. Nevertheless, the degree of detail is appreciated.

...Running back Matt Walters claimed two rushing touchdowns and 74 yards on 9 carries and the MVP award for Canada...Canadian quarterback Mike Faulds put in an impressive performance, completing 17 of 24 pass attempts for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns. 

...

Austria punted away their opening possession and then helped Canada to reach advantageous field position with a personal foul on the return. Running back David Stevens looked to have made significant yardage on a rush over left tackle, but fumbled and Christoph Schreiner recovered for the host nation. 

Austria was unable to move the chains and in reply, Canada moved 7-0 ahead. Quarterback Mike Faulds dropped a 52-yard bomb beyond the Austrian secondary and having beaten the coverage with his speed, Scott Valberg reeled the ball in for a touchdown. 

The Austrian offense showed glimpses of being able to move the ball as Armondo Ponce de Leon picked up a first down and a screen pass to Dieplinger and came up just short of moving the chains, forcing the hosts to punt. 

When Austria had the ball again, Grien’s gain was tempered by a sack of Christian Gross for a loss of eight yards by Jake Thomas, and when Ponce de Leon made headway on a crossing route a dead ball personal foul proved costly. 

Canada’s rushing attack was stopped on fourth and inches, but Austria was also unable to move the ball in three downs. 

The Austrian defense looked to be stifling Canada’s passing attack, but could not prevent Faulds from rushing for first down yardage on third down, even as he fumbled and Alexandre Poirier recovered at the 32. 

Running back Matt Walters then rode a tackle by Philip Stojaspal, who failed to wrap him up on a screen pass and weaved his way 32 yards to the end zone, opening a 14-point lead that was rough justice on Austria. 

The hosts should have halved the deficit by halftime. Dieplinger made a significant gain down the left sideline with less than a minute remaining and only Shane Hall’s desperate tackle prevented him from racing to the end zone. 

With the clock ticking, Gross marginally overthrew Maximilian Herdey on a corner route from 12 yards out and the ball then bounced agonizingly off the hands of Andreas Proeller on a similar play. On third down while under pressure, Gross was intercepted by Joel Lipinski in the end zone to end the Austrian challenge.

 

LB Anthony Maggiacomo was a tournament all-star selection 

Sammy Okpro came up with an interception to end Austria’s opening second half drive as Gross and Proeller’s timing was off and although a 15-yard penalty after the play moved ball back to midfield, Canada pounded down to the five –yard mark on a steady drive. David Stevens...breached the end zone for a 21-0 lead. 

After Austria went three and out, holding penalties backed Canada to their own six, but then a late hit on Faulds earned some breathing space and 15 yards. Only a relentless sack of Faulds by Simon Blach after another flurry of yellow flags forced Canada to punt. 

Austria finally and deservedly put points on the board when going for broke on fourth and ten. Gross hit has favorite target Deiplinger on a 27-yard connection to delight the home crowd. But Faulds went 20 yards better to stamp out any faint hopes of a home comeback with a 47-yard pass beyond the secondary to Chambers for his first scoring catch of the night making it 28-7. 

Austria refused to go down without a fight and Nerad of the hometown Graz Giants found his way behind good blocks to score from a yard out and reduce the deficit to 14 points with 4:18 still to play...The resulting onside kick flew out of bounds. 

Still eager to put the game away, Faulds scrambled for a first down and then Walters took advantage of a series of missed tackles to race through the middle to the five-yard mark and then took the ball to within a yard of the end zone. The relentless Austrian defense and a penalty moved Canada backwards but that opened up the field for a misdirection play and Walters jogged in unopposed from six yards out to make it 34-14. A bad snap led to holder Jedd Gardiner running in an unexpected two point conversion for the final score of 36-14.

I don't recall penalties being such a factor, but in this type of tournament it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

Other statistical standouts: Valberg finished the game with six receptions for 108 yards and a score. Defensively, DB Julien Hamel was very active with four solo tackles, three assists and a sack. He led the team in both tackle categories and his sack was one of only two on the day.