Germany: Hildesheim Invaders, Dresden Monarchs and Berlin Rebels jockeying for playoff berths

AFI | American Football | 09/05/2019

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

There’s a log jam near the top of the German Football League North division standings following Saturday’s action with the Dresden Monarchs, Hildesheim Invaders and Berlin Rebels all jockeying for position with the playoffs looming.

With one game left in the regular season, Dresden, Hildesheim and Berlin each could end up anywhere from second to fourth.

The Dresden Monarchs (9-4) took care of business Saturday when they downed the 9-4 Hildesheim Invaders 31-14 and leapfrogged the Invaders into second place in the GFL North. Meanwhile, the Berlin Rebels (8-5) also notched an important win on the road against the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes, beating them 21-9. This sets up a crucial meeting between the Rebels and Dresden this weekend.

The slumping Invaders have lost three straight and will play the Potsdam Royals this weekend.

Dresden is in second in the North with Hildesheim in third and Berlin fourth.

The second place team after this weekend will face the third place team in the GFL South, the Marburg Mercenaries while the third place team takes on the Frankfurt Universe, GFL South #2 in the first round of the playoffs. The fourth place team will have the honor of playing Europe’s #1 team, the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns, who have not lost a game in almost three years.

Here’s the scenario:

If Dresden beats Berlin and Hildesheim wins over Potsdam, then the Monarchs finish second, the Invaders third and Berlin fourth. If Dresden wins and Hildesheim loses, again the Monarchs are second, Invaders third and Rebels fourth. Invaders have won the head-to-head with Berlin.

This is where it gets interesting.

If Berlin wins and Hildesheim also wins, the Invaders finish second with a 10-4 record with the Rebels (9-5) third and Dresden (9-5) ending up fourth. (Berlin would have won both games against Dresden).

If Berlin defeats the Monarchs, and the Invaders lose to Potsdam, that creates a three-way tie for second. Berlin, Dresden and Hildesheim would then all have 9-5 records. So the score of the Berlin-Dresden game becomes crucial. The first tie breaker is the head-to-head meetings between the three. Berlin has beaten Dresden 16-13 and lost to Hildesheim twice, 56-41 and 36-30. Dresden has lost to Hildesheim 31-27 and defeated them 31-14. Hildesheim has the two wins over Berlin and one against Dresden. A Berlin win and Hildesheim loss would then lead to the second tie breaker which is the points differential between the three teams. As of right now, Dresden has the edge with a +16. Hildesheim is +8 and Berlin -18.