In front of a home crowd of 3,500 at FC Kilia stadium, the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes defeated the Dresden Monarchs 35-30 in a game that offered the wildly cheering Kiel fans everything they could have asked for.
Quarterback Logan Schrader was outstanding completing 23 of 36 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns as he worked behind an offensive line that gave him time. Newly acquired running back Chris McClendon was a huge factor, carrying the ball 22 times for 106 yards while catching four passes for 31 yards. Receiver Xavier Mitchell continues to excel for the Hurricanes as he caught 11 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.
Dresden’s quarterback Brandonn Connette threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns and Sebastian Sagne caught seven passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns in a losing cause. But the lack of a ground game contributed to the loss for the Monarch’s as they could only muster 31 yards rushing on the day.
Crowd cheers as Chris McClendon sheds tacklers
This was a key win for Kiel. After a shaky start to the season with a stunning loss to the Amsterdam Crusaders in EFL action, and a tough defeat at the hands of the division leading Berlin Rebels, the Hurricanes have rebounded.
After trading touchdowns in the first quarter, Kiel broke open a 14-14 tie with two unanswered scores in the second quarter to take a 28-14 halftime lead.
Dresden closed the gap to 28-24 in the third as quarterback Brian Connette settled his team down engineering two scoring drives.
However, the Kiel special teams stepped up blocking a Dresden punt and Brandon LeBeau carried it in from 34 yards out for the touchdown giving the Hurricanes a 35-24 lead early in the fourth quarter. This is one of the most devastating plays in football and most teams do not recover from it.
Nevertheless, the Monarchs responded as Connette marched his team 80 yards in eight plays finding Sagne for a score with four minutes left.
Kiel held on after that though and came away with a valuable win.