Braunschweig New Yorker Lions capture historic Eurobowl XXXII in game for the ages

The Braunschweig New York Lions, Europe #2, captured Eurobowl XXXII beating the Frankfurt Universe, Europe #5, 20-19, rewriting the Eurobowl history books in winning their fourth straight title and sixth overall. With the win, the Lions surpassed the Vienna Vikings who have won five.

It was a game that lacked nothing including a 100 minute interruption caused by the weather,  and had the spectators on the edges of their seats to the very end. Needless to say, with two of the top teams in Europe on the field, defenses ruled the day.

Lions quarterback Jadrian Clark was excellent when it counted in the second half. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 179 yards and one touchdown but had a pass intercepted for a touchdown. He also ran one in. Niklas Römer caught the lone touchdown pass while Nicolai Schuman was the leading receiver for the Lions with four receptions for 74 yards. Running back David McCants scored the winning touchdown.

New Frankfurt quarterback Andrew Ellfers only threw for 52 yards and a touchdown while Sonny Weishaupt completed three passes for 16 yards. Wide receiver David Giron hauled in an eight yard touchdown pass while running back Justin Rodney scored on a 55 yard run.

Braunschweig opened the scoring after Universe running back Andreas Betza fumbled the ball at midfield. Lions linebacker Roni Salonen recovered and Clark drove his team down to the four and then connected with Römer for a 7-0 lead.

Both defenses tightened up and neither team could gain any momentum until midway through the second quarter when new Frankfurt quarterback Andrew Ellfers entered the game. On the next possession, he handed the ball off to Justin Rodney who found a seam and raced 55 yards for Frankfurt’s first touchdown. The extra point attempt failed and the Lions led 7-6 with less than two minutes in the half.

Then Universe defensive back Kweishi Brown picked off a Clark pass at his own 48 yard line and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown, giving Frankfurt the lead, 12-6.  The two -point conversion attempt failed which would be a crucial factor.

The Lions offense still managed to drive down to the Frankfurt seven yard line as the half ended.

Braunschweig opened the second half in the worst possible way as receiver Patryk Matknowski fumbled on his own 15 yard line. Ellfers capitalized with an eight yard touchdown pass to David Giron. This time the extra point attempt was successful and Frankfurt led 19-7 early in the third quarter.

The Lions offense finally began to click as Clark marched his team on a seven play, 67 yard drive, and McCants capped it with four yard touchdown run to close the gap to 19-14.

The Frankfurt offense stalled on the next series as Ellfers was trying to get into sync with his receivers. Braunschweig took over on their own 46 and Clark then engineered a magnificent, 14 play drive, eating up almost 10 minutes on the clock finishing it with a one yard touchdown plunge giving the Lions back the lead, 20-19.

With under five minutes left in the game, Ellfers and the Universe offense took over on their own 15 yard line following a 64 yard kickoff by Tom van Dujin. Ellfers then mounted his own 13 play drive down to the Braunschweig 26 yard line. The Lions defense stiffened forcing a 43 yard field goal attempt by Max Siemssen with less than a minute left. He missed it wide left.

Clark took two knees and Braunschweig began celebrating.

Photos: Fabian Uebe, Sidelineview.de