Wroclaw beats Rebels 41-6 to set up derby showdown for division title

The Wroclaw Devils won easily on Sunday afternoon in their last home game of the regular season, defeating the AZS Silesia Rebels 41-6 to keep pace with the division-leading Wroclaw Giants ahead of their titanic meeting next weekend. Dawid Tarczynski played his best game of the season for Wroclaw, recording three touchdown receptions.

Wroclaw owned this one from the outset, not allowing the Rebels to pick up a single first down in the first quarter while scoring twice themselves to go ahead 14-0. Sedrick Harris threw his first of four touchdown passes, a 45-yard toss to Piotr Wis, for the game's first points before Xavier Glenn doubled the lead with a 4-yard touchdown run.

Silesia finally got some offense going with their first drive of the second quarter, but they were unable to convert on a fourth-down attempt inside the red zone, giving the ball back to the Devils. Wroclaw made the most of it, marching all the way back down the field to set up Tarczynski's first touchdown, and he would add a second before halftime to make it 28-0.

Tarczynski caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Harris in the third quarter to make it 35-0, before the Rebels finally were able to put a scoring drive together. Marek Bialas scored on the tail end of it, hauling in a 10-yard pass from Michal Kolek to give Silesia their only points of the game. Almost as if in revenge, Harris scored on a 62-yard run later in the quarter to finish the scoring.

The two Wroclaw teams stand tied for first place in the Topliga South Division, meaning the winner of next Saturday's derby may very well earn themselves a division title and a home playoff game. The Giants beat the Devils by 9 points the first time the two teams met this year, a number that could be important if the Devils win next weekend and the two teams eventually end up with the same record.

The Rebels, now 1-7, currently occupy the South cellar, trailing the Zaglebie Steelers Interpromex by a game with two left to play for both teams. The teams will play each other in the first of those two games, to be played on June 9 in Chorzów. Silesia will be looking to get revenge for a heartbreaking defeat in the first Slask derby, which the Steelers won with a memorable goal-line stand at the end.