The Allgäu Comets and Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns face each other Sunday in a German South Division showdown with huge playoff implications.
The Comets home crowd at Illerstadion in Kempten, Germany will be loud in trying to help their team in a crucial battle against the undefeated Unicorns.
Allgäu has had a rocky few weeks since early June having dropped four of their last six games including two games to the Frankfurt Universe. In those two contests, the high-flying Comets offense only managed to score a total of seven points.
The Comets find themselves clinging to fourth spot in the tight South Division in Germany and badly need a win in this game to halt the slide to have a chance at improving their playoff position.
On the positive side, one of the losses down that stretch was a narrow 35-34 loss to Schwäbisch Hall. In other words, they played the German finalists close in mid June. However, the Unicorns come into this game undefeated with an offense that is averaging almost 49 points a game.
In that earlier game, both quarterbacks were on target. Allgäu’s Cedric Townsend tossed four touchdown passes while Marco Ehrenfried threw five for Schwäbisch Hall.
In fact, Ehrenfried has thrown for 3,069 yards and 47 touchdowns this season placing him second in Germany in total passing yardage while he tops the league in passing efficiency. Townsend has thrown for 1,773 yards in 2016.
The Unicorns receiving duo of Tyler Rutenbeck and Patrick Donahue have been deadly so far this year. Rutenbeck has 996 yards receiving while catching 16 touchdown passes. Donahue has caught 716 yards in passes scoring 15 touchdowns.
Allgäu’s Matthew Green has been steady all season and has 782 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The Comets‘ rushing combination of Daniel Conroy and Townsend can pose problems for defenses with Conroy having gained 858 yards rushing in 10 games and Townsend 548. Unicorns running backs Bastian Ziegler and Anthony Bilal offset Ehrenfried’s passing game. Ziegler has rushed for 736 yards and nine touchdowns while Bilal has added 501 yards and six touchdowns.
This is almost a must-win game for both teams. Allgäu cannot afford to lose its fifth game in seven starts while the Unicorns need the win to stay ahead of Frankfurt in the race for top seed in the South.
Kickoff Sunday August 14, 3 PM (9 AM EDT)
