Germany: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns shut out Frankfurt Universe, stay unbeaten

The number one team in Europe, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns left no doubt this past weekend in rolling to a 31-0 shutout of their 2018 German Bowl opponents and chief rivals, the Frankfurt Universe, to remain undefeated as the German Football League wrapped up its fifth round of play.

Wide receiver Tyer Rutenbeck inflicted much of the damage catching three touchdown passes and keeping the Frankfurt secondary in disarray.

Unicorns quarterback Jadrian Clark completed 18 of 29 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns with Rutenbeck hauling in five passes for 101 yards and three touchdowns. Nathaniel Robitaille caught four passes for 105 yards and the other touchdown while Tim Stadelmyr kicked a field goal and all four extra points.

Steve Cluley had an afternoon to forget for Frankfurt throwing for just 94 yards while being picked off twice. In fact the offense had a horrible day producing 121 yards in total and only 27 on the ground. Ckuley was sacked five times and hurried many more, mainly due to excellent coverage by the Unicorns secondary.

The Unicorns took control early one with Clark threading the needle and hitting Robitaille in stride down the middle for a 60 yard touchdown midway through the first quarter.

Just under two minutes later, Clark marched Schwäbisch Hall 62 yards in 10 plays, finding Rutenbeck from seven yards out to increase the lead to 14-0.

With Cluley unable to get the Universe offense moving, managing just one first down in the opening quarter, Clark mounted another drive early in the second, taking the Unicorns down to the Frankfurt 25 yard line. Stadelmayr kicked a 42 yard field goal to up the lead again, to 17-0.

Frankfurt battled back, as Cluley led his team all the way down to the Unicorns eight yard line. But the drive was snuffed out on the goal line as Tobias Löffler intercepted the next pass and Schwäbisch Hall took over on their own 25 yard line.

The third quarter resembled the first two with the Universe stuck in neutral. Clark mounted another drive on the second possession of the third quarter, taking his team down to the 16 yard line and then connected with Rutenbeck for his second touchdown of the game, boosting the lead to 24-0.

The Unicorns defense played lights out football in the final two quarters with the secondary giving Cluley no targets. Meanwhile, Clark engineered another scoring drive, this one seven plays and 63 yards that carried over into the fourth with Rutenbeck hauling in his third scoring pass from 24 yards out upping the lead to 31-0.

Another Universe possession led to a turnover on downs and the Unicorns took over with almost eight minutes on the clock. The rest of the game was a textbook, clock-eating drive that spanned the entire 7:57 left on the clock and ended with Clark taking a knee on the Frankfurt 24 yard line.

With the win, the Unicorns have decisively beaten every team in the GFL South but one, the winless Allgau Comets.  Next up for Schwäbisch Hall are the Stuttgart Scorpions on June 15.