Games played against the Silverhawks in Serbia? No problem for the Novi Sad Dukes. But traveling to Slovenia hasn’t exactly been their favorite thing to do, as they’re one of rare teams in the CEFL these past few years that lost more than it won in Ljubljana.

The showdown can’t be labeled as epic, since both teams lost in the opening week and it’s too early in the season to tell who is good. But although the point margin in the losses was similar for both teams, the games had a different feel. The Silverhawks had the champs pretty scared in an away game, while the Dukes played almost the entire game behind at home.

Things have been different for the Dukes this year, visible early on. Their offense, now led by relatively unknown Branko Radošević at quarterback struggled in the first game, especially with the turnovers, and was shut out completely in two quarters of play. The Silverhawks didn’t do much better, but they’re not really known as an offensive team, so they’re used to that.

Last year the Silverhawks could’ve passed the ball three times more and they still would’ve remained in single digit with their pass attempts, but it was enough then for the Dukes. While their offense doesn’t look as capable this year, it looked capable enough. In the last couple of games, especially in Serbia, they proved they could slug it out with the Dukes. That they didn’t win those games is a different story, but they did prove now that teams can’t come into games expecting to roll over them.

For both teams it’s pretty simple. The Silverhawks will run the ball all day until they score some points and in the end look to their defense to win the game, while the Dukes need their offense back. If they won’t have it, we could find out a lot about their chances this year.

The game starts 3PM at NK Slovan field.