Braunschweig New Yorker Lions top Berlin Rebels to clinch first in Germany’s North division

The Braunschweig New Yorker Lions took control of the German North to finish first as the playoffs loom after dominating the Berlin Rebels 35-7 in Braunschweig Saturday in front of 3,700 delighted fans.

With the win, the Lions avenged an earlier 30-24 defeat at the hands of the Rebels. The loss dropped Berlin down to fourth in Germany’s northern division.

Lions quarterback Casey Therriault, in only his second game back after being away for the entire year, threw five touchdown passes completing 22 of 30 passes for 232 yards. Evan Landi caught two while Jan Hilgenfeldt, Niklas Roemer, Christian Bollman and Jabari Johnson caught one each.

Lions running back Chris Smith rushed for 95 yards on 18 carries while Johnson added 72 yards.

Berlin’s vaunted running attack led by Lawrence McCoy was held in check on this night. McCoy could only must 52 yards rushing while the entire team rushed for 94 yards far below their season average.

Rebels quarterback Terell Robinson struggled all game and completed only eight passes on 28 attempts for 163 yards and one touchdown.

Braunschweig opened the scoring with Therriault connecting with Landi for an eight yard score. Berlin responded though as Robinson found Dominik Helmbold on a seam down the middle and hit him  for a 49 yard touchdown. That was the last of the scoring for Berlin.

Therriault seems to have shaken off any rust from a year away. He engineered two more scoring drives in the second quarter throwing touchdown passes to Hilgenfeldt and Roemer while Braunschweig’s defense began asserting themselves. They picked off a Robinson pass which led to Hilgenfeldt’s score and forced an incomplete pass on the goal line at the end of the first half giving them a 21-7 going into the locker room.

The Lions defense continued its strong play in the second half as Berlin had trouble getting out of their own end of the field. Therrialut threw two more touchdown passes for the Lions to Landi and Bollman. Then Braunschweig’s defense did the rest picking off Robinson again and chasing him from the game.

His replacement Darius Outlaw fared no better in the fourth quarter and finished the game sacked for a loss on the Lions 39 yard line.

With the 35-7 win, Braunschweig clinched first in the North and will now play the Allgau Comets who finished fourth in the South, in the first round of the playoffs. The loss dropped the Rebels from second to fourth and they will now have to face the undefeated Schwabisch Hall Unicorns in the quarterfinals in two weeks.