On October 16, Hungarian and Bulgarian American football teams met for the first time in the city of Seget. Sofia's “Bears“ were met by the “Bats” from Seget.

The beautiful weather, the good pitch and the provided 7 referees were enough prerequisites for a good match, but the two teams surprised us and made it an even more interesting and dynamic match until the very end.

The match started extremely badly for the Bulgarians. In their attempt to score a rushing touchdown, they allowed 2 interceptions, one leading to a touchdown for the Hungarians, and the other almost to the Bears' endzone, which after 2 drives was also converted into a touchdown.

Thus, with a deficit of 12 points already in the first quarter, the Bulgarians were losing in the result despite their apparent superiority. However, in the second quarter, the Hungarians began to regret what they had done.

Christian Chan scores the second touchdown of the game

The Bulgarian defense totally shut down any hopes of the “Bats” to fly over near the den of the “Bears”. For its part, the offense must have been advancing into the opponent's endzone. With excellent passes to receivers Simeon Vassilev and Todor Stamenov (who has the most receiving yards from a pass – 46 yards) and excellent decisions by quarterback Hristiyan Chan, the Bulgarians went nearly 60 yards and reached the end zone of the Hungarians. There, running back and linebacker Alexander Kenanov and excellent line work broke through the Hungarian defense for the Bears' first touchdown of the game. Before the end of the second quarter, the Bulgarians scored another touchdown after some excellent attacks, which ended with a run by the quarterback, who, after overcoming 3 Hungarian defenders, entered the end zone. The extra point gave the Bulgarians the lead before halftime.

The Hungarians seemed to have come for a walk, not suspecting that the first half they saw was only the beginning of what the Bears could show. Although the linemen of the “Bats“ were obviously bigger than those of the “Bears”, during the games themselves, the Bulgarians totally outplayed them. Fullback Petar Bykov was able to break through almost every time and excelled with a clean takedown of the opposing quarterback and a number of tackles on the Hungarians' running back.

Alexander Kenanov scores his second touchdown

The third quarter was again under the leadership of the “Bears” – the offense kept gaining yards despite the Hungarians bringing in all their bigs to stop the runs of running back Kenanov, who he doggedly crushed for his second touchdown of the day – again with a run through center.

Obviously broken and with worse physical preparation, the Hungarians still did not give up and tried to do the impossible – to turn the game around. However, it all ended when the Bulgarian linebacker Kenanov snatched the ball from the hands of the Hungarian running back and ran the entire field to score his 3rd touchdown of the day and become the deserved player of the match.

Thus, with a final score of 27 to 12, the Bulgarians deservedly won their longest trip to date.

The match was extremely sportsmanlike and skilfully managed by the referees.

The bears continue to defend the name of Bulgaria in this new sport for the Balkans, despite the lack of sponsors and a training ground.

The next match is on November 12 in Sofia against the Romanian “Warriors” from Bucharest.