The Berlin Rebels (7-5) and Marburg Mercenaries (8-5) earned key victories this past weekend to clinch playoff berths in the German Football League with two games to go in the regular season.
The Rebels watched as Dresden Monarchs quarterback Glen Guillette overthrew his receiver in the end zone from 20 yards out on the final play of the game and began celebrating a 16-13 victory while Marburg took control of their game against the Allgäu Comets early and came away with a 36-15 win.
With Berlin’s win they can finish no worse than fourth in the GFL North with two games left. They face the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes and finish up the season with a return date against Dresden. Meanwhile,the Mercenaries can also finish no lower than fourth in the GFL South with one game to go in their schedule, a September 7 matchup against the Frankfurt Universe.
Berlin Rebels 16 – Dresden Monarchs 13
In the Rebels win, Berlin grabbed a 16-0 halftime lead, taking advantage of crucial turnovers and mounting a dramatic goalline stand. Berlin took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter as Ben Hermann made good on one of two field goal attempts. Then a Dresden fumble gave the Rebels the ball at midfield midway through the second quarter and Rebels quarterback Kurt Palandech drove the team down to the Dresden 10 finding Jason Harris for a touchdown. On the next series, Berlin defensive back Paul Morant picked off a Zach Greenlee pass giving Berlin the ball at the Monarchs eight. Running back Andreas Betza pounded the ball in and suddenly Berlin led 16-0 going into the half.
Dresden made a change at quarterback replacing Greenleee with Glen Cuillette and he engineered two third quarter scoring drives, taking the ball in himself from the five yard line to narrow the lead to 16-6 and then finding Kevin Mabon for a touchdown at the end of the quarter to make the score 16-13 heading into the fourth quarter.
The final quarter saw Dresden reach inside the Berlin 25 yard line twice but fail to come up with any points either time.
Marburg Mercenaries 36 – Allgäu Comets 15
In Marburg, the Mercenaries avenged a surprising loss to the Comets a couple of weeks ago, taking a 20-3 lead at the half, increasing it to 36-3 early in the fourth quarter before letting up.
Mercenaries quarterback Jake Sullivan completed 24 of 28 passes for 243 yards and four touchdowns in the win while running back Triston McCathern was outstanding, rushing for 97 yards and one touchdown while catching five passes for 110 yards and two more scores.
Marburg left no doubt in this one, taking charge from the opening whistle building a 20-3 halftime lead on touchdowns by Luke Wildung, Bence Takács and McCathern. McCathern added two more touchdowns and Szakacs kicked a field goal before the Comets scored two late touchdowns to make the score more respectable.
In the GFL North, all four playoff teams are set with Berlin joining the Monarchs, Hildesheim Invaders and unbeaten Braunschweig New Yorker Lions. The Rebels still have a chance to finish third but need Dresden to lose against Hildesheim setting up a final deciding game against the Monarchs.
Marburg will finish third in the GFL South behind the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns and Frankfurt Universe. The Stuttgart Scorpions and Allgau Comets are still in a battle for fourth although the Scorpions have the advantage. The Ingolstad Dukes could still grab the fourth and last playoff spot but they will have to win their last two games and in the final game against Stuttgart, win by five points or more.