A game between the Wolves and the Vukovi can’t be played without two things being mentioned: that the Wolves never won and that they lost the 2007 championship game in the last 100 seconds. This year was even worse for the Wolves in that regard – they lost two times again and they lost big. But despite all that, they made it back to the final for the first time since that game in 2007, and a big part of that was again their long time leader and running back Péter Cseperkáló, officially the leading CEFL rusher of 2011.

“The players we have are mostly the same compared to last year, except that we have Jordan and two other former players from Ukraine back, they help us a lot at positions where we need experience. Tony Salati, who is coaching the offense and defense lines, is also helping us with his experience, and he has some exceptional skills of motivating others, so these are the main changes from the personnel perspective, but I feel some positive change in the team’s training morale also. And don’t forget to mention that this year our opponents had some very unlucky events that made it harder for them to play on the same level for the entire season, so these also helped us on our way to the final”, says Cseperkáló on how they made it to the final.

That’s fair to say, the Silverhawks were almost seen in the final at one point, but it all changed rather fast. But it’s maybe not a coincidence that the Wolves are making a return to the bowl game in the same year that they got their Ukrainian quarterback back. One clear difference to 2007 though: the game will be played in Budapest.

“We are extra motivated, because the final is in Budapest, because we have never beaten the Vukovi, because we lost that epic final in 2007, because we want to show everyone how we play when we do our best, and mostly: we are extra motivated, because we owe this victory to our head coach, Lee Hlavka, who has been working a lot in the past years to help us getting better. And also, the fans! This stadium at Margaret Island is one of the best atmospheres amongst the stadiums I ever played, hopefully it will be full of fans, we play our biggest rivals, so what else we need for motivation? “

The streak is so long now, that it’s fair to ask what’s more important in this game, the championship or beating Belgrade.

“After spending these years in sport, I know that titles are not as important as great victories, and reaching personal goals. Of course, winning a cup like CEFL is a great thing, but if we look at the history of this rivalry – although we never won, I think we can say that this is a rivalry – it is more important for us to beat the Vukovi Beograd. Actually for me, it always adds a few more reps in the gym if I think about the Vukovi! Fortunately, this time if we beat them, we’ll be CEFL champions, so we don’t have to choose. “

“Play as hard as we can, focus, keep motivated, and work hard for every inch. I know that his applies to every football game, but this time we also have to avoid mental mistakes. These teams know each other very well, we played a lot against each other, we both respect each other, these games are always hard, fair, and mostly close games. Just like always: the hungrier pack of wolves will take the glory! “

Fair enough. It begins Saturday, 5PM in Budapest.