The Ingolstadt Dukes (3-4) will square off against the Straubing Spiders (2-5) Saturday, July 29 as the German Football League heads into its final stretch of their regular season with most teams only having a handful of games left to play.
This will be the second time these teams have seen each other for the season. Ingolstadt is coming off a tough loss last week against the previously winless Marburg Mercenaries, as the Dukes lost 27-24 on the road in Marburg. Straubing, who have not played since July 8th, are playing Ingolstadt for the second time in a row after dropping the first game 45-28 at home.
Ingolstadt’s first season back in Germany’s top league since 2019 has been somewhat all over the place. But what the Dukes can continue to rely on is the play of quarterback Matthew Weimer.
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Weimer has consistently proven himself statistically as a top-5 quarterback since the beginning of the season. He currently sits at third in both passing yards per game (307.4) and passing touchdowns (23).
While Weimer has been successful, it helps to have two receivers who are averaging over 100 yards per game in Gabriel Boccella (123.6) and Sven Beyrich (106.7). It is obvious that if the Dukes want to make it out of the GFL South as a playoff team, they will need to rely on their passing game.
On the other side, the Straubing Spiders are coming off a three-week rest with a great chance to put themselves back in the win column. While they have to travel to Ingolstadt, they are facing a Dukes team that handed Marburg their first win of the season just last week.
The key to beating Ingolstadt this week is to have a stronger start than they did in their last matchup. The final score was 45-28 but the Spiders found themselves in a 31-7 deficit by the end of the first half.
Led by quarterback Christopher Robison, the Spiders can have a successful offense at times. Running back Kamal Cass continues to carry his workload as he sits in second in the GFL for rushing yards with 569. If Straubing can come out with a better start, there could be a much more competitive game in store this week between the Dukes and Spiders.