LIVE STREAM: Berlin Rebels And Braunschweig New Yorker Lions Clash In Decisive Battle In Germany
In one of the biggest late-season games of the year for the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions in many years, the Lions will play host to the Berlin Rebels Saturday in a game which will decide first place in the North division in Germany.
With one game remaining in the tight German North division, the Lions occupy first (10-2-1) with Berlin (10-1-2) second followed by the Dresden Monarchs in third (9-2-2) and the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in fourth at 9-1-3. A win by the Lions would keep them in first and give them home field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Should the Rebels win they would leapfrog Braunschweig into first.
Braunschweig takes on a Rebels team who have already beaten the Lions this season. However, in that game the Lions started receiver Christian Bollman at quarterback replacing an injured Grant Enders.
Not much separates the two teams offensively with Braunschweig averaging 39.4 points a game, good for fourth. The Rebels are right behind in fifth though scoring an average of 37.5 points per contest. Defensively, the Lions only give up an average of 12.6 points per game while the Rebels surrender 21.5.
The Rebels enter the final game of the regular season in Germany as the league’s leading rushing team – by a wide margin. Rebels running backs have combined for 2,974 yards in 13 games or an average of over 228 yards per game.
Berlin running back Lawrence McCoy has been a one-man wrecking crew accounting for 1,793 of those yards this season (23 touchdowns) followed by quarterback Terell Robinson who has 865 yards so far and nine touchdowns on the ground.
QBs Casey Therriault & Terell Robinson Photo credits: New Yorker Lions, Christian Gosslar
The Lions rushing attack has also been impressive in 2016 with Dutch running back Chris Smith having gained 1,153 yards while scoring 11 touchdowns. Veteran David McCants has rushed for 864 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Championship quarterback Casey Therriault has returned to the Lions for the final two regular season games and the playoffs after starter Grant Enders was sidelined with concussion issues early in August. His spot had been replaced by Evan Landi who engineered three victories during that time span. But Therriault returned for Braunschweig’s tie game last week with the Dresden Monarchs. Although he was rusty, he still threw for 402 yards and a touchdown while rushing for three more touchdowns.
Terell Robinson has thrown for 1,728 yards and 21 touchdowns for the Rebels and has accounted for 30 of the 69 touchdowns scored by Berlin this year.
This game is a toss-up but Therriault can be a difference maker for Braunschweig. He has led them to the past three German Bowl victories.
Berlin Rebels v. Braunschweig New Yorker Lions – Saturday, September 3 6p CET (12p EDT)
