Two of the top teams in Europe go head to head Saturday, June 9 in Eurobowl XXXII at the PSD-Bank Arena in Frankfurt as the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions, Europe #2 face the Frankfurt Universe, Europe #5.
The Lions, led by head coach Troy Tomlin enter the game as defending champions. They beat the Universe a year ago 55-14 and another win would give them their fourth consecutive Eurobowl title and sixth overall, thus surpassing the Vienna Vikings.
To reach the final, Braunschweig first defeated France’s La Courneuve Flash 10-6 and then demolished the Amsterdam Crusaders from Holland, 60-0. Frankfurt under new head coach Brian Caler, had no trouble trouncing the Flash 48-6 and then beating Amsterdam 40-9.
The Universe enter the game without quarterback Steve Cluley who was hurt in the last GFL game. In his place they have signed Andrew Ellfers from Azusa Pacific University (NCAA Div. II). Another injury has sidelined running back Joe Bergeron. Nevertheless, Andreas Betza has rushed for 318 yards and five touchdowns and will carry the load. The receiving corps of Sebastian Sagne, David Giron Jansa and George Robinson is as good as it gets in Europe. Defensively, Frankfurt will rely on defensive backs Kweishi Brown, John Tidwell and Fernando Lowery as well as the brothers Sebastian and Jhonattan Silva Gomez at linebacker.
Frankfurt’s only loss this year has come at the hands of the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns, and that was a tight ball game which the Unicorns won 17-7.
The New Yorker Lions have opened the German Football League season with four straight lopsided wins and have scored an average of 44.2 points a game while having given up just nine in total.
Quarterback Jadrian Clark, running backs David McCants and Lennies McFerren, as well as the wide receivers Christian Bollmann, Patryk Matkowski and recently returned Anthony Dable-Wolf all give the Lions a deadly offense. Clark has thrown for 886 yards and 15 touchdowns while McFerren is fourth in rushing averaging 69.5 yards a game. Bollmann has caught 21 passes for 325 yards and five touchdowns while Matkowski has 10 receptions for 132 yards. Dable-Wolf presents all kinds of headaches for the Frankfurt secondary.
Defensively, Braunschweig is playing better than ever. Linebackers Roni Salonen and Anthony Darkangelo and defensive backs Tim Unger, Tissi Robinson and Darius Robinson along with sack leader Jakob Schridde will make life difficult for the Frankfurt offense.