Around the Continent: Roger’s Corner – September 4th, 2014
Germany
North:
In the German North division, the playoff race tightened up. As mentioned, the Berlin Adler (Europe #9), with a bend but don’t break defense, turned back the powerful Dresden Monarchs (Europe #3) 28-17. A day earlier the Cologne Falcons (Europe #14) had beaten the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 28-20. With those two upsets, Cologne leads the Adler by a game but Berlin has a game in hand and these two face each other for the final playoff spot this weekend. In the first game between these two this season, the Adler beat Cologne 38-27 behind the arm of quarterback Darius Outlaw who was 23 of 31 for 284 yards and one touchdown. If Cologne wins, not only will they secure a playoff spot but also overtake Kiel advancing to third place. On the other hand, an Adler victory would virtually assure them of a playoff spot and bump Cologne out of the playoffs. In their final game of the season, Berlin faces the winless Dusseldorf Panther. In other action, Braunschweig beat Dusseldorf 58-0.
The top three spots in the North are settled but the order of three and four is still not certain. Should Cologne beat the Adler, they finish third by virtue of the fact that they defeated Kiel both times they met this year. In the South the Munich Cowboys are battling to stay alive but Saarland could overtake them and in the event of a tie the Hurricanes have the edge in the two meetings between the teams.
Braunschweig leads the North still with an 11-0 record. Dresden (Europe #3) is second at 7-4 while Kiel (Europe #6) remains in third at 7-5 and Cologne (Europe #14) in fourth at 6-5. But the Adler, who are in fifth at 5-5, have two games remaining, one against Cologne and the other Dusseldorf.
South: The Saarland Hurricanes beat the Franken Knights 48-26, scoring 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The Munich cowboys beat the Rhein-Neckar Bandits 44-40 in the second leg of a home and home series. This keeps them ahead of Saarland in the race for the fourth and last playoff spot. The sixth place Allgäu Comets still have a mathematical chance to make the playoffs after edging Marburg 36-35.
Stuttgart (Europe #7) still leads the South at 11-1, with the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns (Europe #5) breathing right down their necks in second at 11-2. The Marburg Mercenaries (Europe #16) remain third at 9-4 while Munich is fourth with a 7-6 record. Saarland is fifth at 6-7. Should Munich win their final game at home against Marburg, they will secure fourth. However, if Munich loses and Saarland beats the Comets, they will overtake Munich as in a tie their scoring differential in their two games against Munich this year give them the edge. At the top, changes could take place too. Stuttgart has two games remaining, the first one against Schwabisch Hall. If they win they will finish first and the last game of the year for them will be meaningless against Allgäu. However if they lose to the Unicorns they will finish in second. First place earns that team a first round playoff bye.
The Schwabisch Hall Unicorns boast the highest scoring offense in the league with 604 points total while Braunschweig has the stingiest defense allowing only 116 points against in 11 games. Saarland Hurricane running back Giovannie Dixon is averaging 172 yards per game to lead the entire German league.
GFL TV Highlights
Great Britain
It was not unexpected. The BritBowl this year will feature last year’s finalists as the defending champion London Warriors will take on their cross town rivals the London Blitz . Last weekend, the Warriors had no trouble handling the Tamworth Phoenix who had finished second in the Northern division, beating them 41-14. In the other semi-final the London Blitz (second in the South) had to take the train up to Scotland to face the first place team from the North, the East Kilbride Pirates. The train ride did not seem to affect the Blitz as they dominated the Pirates 44-0.
Last year the Warriors beat the Blitz in a thriller 26-23 for their first championship. This will be the fifth year in a row that these two teams face each other in BritBowl. In fact, since 2005, the Blitz have appeared in every single British American Football championship game, winning five times.
Earlier this year, the Warriors beat the Blitz 33-13 but the game was much closer than the score indicates. Watch for previews and a live stream link next week. BritBowl XXV is Saturday September 24.
