Vienna coach Calaycay: "I'm proud of my team"

The Vienna Vikings, top team of the regular season, could not convert their strong campaign into a title on Sunday, falling 24-17 to Stuttgart Surge in the European League of Football final. Despite a strong start and advantages in several statistical categories, the Vikings could not overcome Stuttgart's relentless pass rush and second-half dominance.

Head coach Chris Calaycay emphasized pride in his players while acknowledging the pain of the result. "I'm always proud of my team. You know these guys - yes, we're professionally - but a lot of them have jobs and families and school and everything else, they dumped their heart into this," he said.

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Vienna had battled the Surge evenly for much of the contest, but the inability to score after halftime proved decisive. "Our guys were really close, same with the Surge and what Jordan has built over there. So it's hard. You're always going to be remembered for your last game and that's a tough thing to deal with. But that's why we do it, because of that feeling that you get when you do accomplish something. It's extremely special."

Vienna's head coach pointed to the numbers when analyzing the loss. "I mean there are key moments in the game," he said. "But if someone told me that we would have won the turnover battle, had better field position with the kickoff returns, made all our kicks, and won the time of possession - those types of things - I would have said, yeah, we can feel good."

Ultimately, it was the Surge's defensive front that made the difference. The Vikings' offensive line struggled to handle the pressure, allowing eight sacks. "Obviously, we didn't handle the D-line very well. Going into halftime and not being able to get on the scoreboard in the second half - that's the key moment," the coach admitted.

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In Calaycay's view, the defeat cannot overshadow either the Vikings' achievements or the ongoing rise of European football. "It doesn't take anything away from how I feel about my guys or our season, our coaching staff, our franchise, and where we are at with European Football. We've taken this thing a long way - I can say I'm proud of all the European League of Football and what we've been doing."

Despite the disappointment, the Vienna Vikings can take positives from their season. Key players stepped up, and the team proved again that it belongs at the top of European football. The challenge now is to learn from Sunday's defeat and build toward next year.

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