The Allgäu Comets withstood a furious late comeback by the Marburg Mercenaries to defeat their German Football League South rivals 22-19 and move closer to a playoff berth with four games to go in the season.
The Comets had taken a 22-7 lead with less than two minutes remaining when Marburg scored two late touchdowns to narrow the gap. But Allgäu’s Danny Wynne pounced on the second onside kick attempt to secure the win.
Marburg came into the game as winners of six of the last seven games with the best passing offense in the league.
Comets running back Lennies McFerren scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion for the Comets while defensive back Malcolm Washington scored on a pick six. Marcel Schade kicked two extra points.
For Marburg, quarterback Jake Sullivan threw three touchdown passes with Luke Wildung, Hendrik Schwarz and Triston McCathern catching one each.
It was the Mercenaries who struck first with Sullivan, the GFL’s top quarterback, marching his team down to the Comets 11 yard line and then hitting Wildung with a touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.
The pattern repeated itself on the next Marburg possession with Sullivan moving his team into the Comets red zone. This time though Washington picked off an errant Sullivan pass, returning the interception all the way to tie the game at 7-7.
With both defense playing excellent football it wasn’t until early in the fourth quarter that either struck again. McFerren scored from 10 yards out and then added the two point conversion to give Allgäu a 15-7 lead on the Comets first series of the final period.
After the Allgäu defense got another stop, McFerren scored again after quarterback Raleigh Yeldell had weaved his way down to the five yard line. Schade added the extra point to make it 22-7 with 1:47 on the clock.
That gave Sullivan enough time. Two plays later, he found Schwarz streaking down the sideline and hit him with a 69 yard touchdown pass, closing the gap to 22-13.
After recovering the onside kick, Marburg marched from the Comets 40 yard line down to the five. McCathern caught a scoring pass and suddenly the game was 22-19.
This time though, Allgäu‘s special teams made no mistake, with Wynne snagging the ball .
The win moved Allgäu, now 4-6, to within striking distance of the 6-5 Stuttgart Scorpions who sit fourth and in the last playoff spot. The Comets have two wins against Stuttgart this season.