The 6-2 Dresden Monarchs, Europe #11, head to Cologne, Germany to face the 5-1-1 Cologne Crocodiles, Europe #14, in a key matchup in the German Football League North conference Sunday, July 1.
Both teams are coming off of losses. Dresden was beaten last week by the Braunschweig NY Lions 44-24 while the Crocodiles were defeated by the Berlin Rebels, 34-13.
In the two meetings between the teams in 2017, Dresden came out on top both times, 49-21 and 35-12.
This year, the games should be closer. These two teams will face each other again on August 25.
The Monarchs have the fourth highest scoring offense in Germany averaging 35.6 points a game while Cologne scores 31 per contest. Defensively, they are almost equal with the Crocodiles allowing 22.9 points as compared to Dresden’s 23.8.
Trenton Norvell of the Dresden Monarchs is the 2nd leading passer in Germany after throwing for 334 yards against the New Yorker Lions He now has 2,365 yards and 25 TDs. His leading receiver is Mitchell Paige who leads all receivers in Germany and has caught 72 passes for 1,133 yards and a league-leading 14 TDs.
AJ Wentland of the Dresden Monarchs is a tackling machine and with 22 (!) tackles last week again tops the GFL with a whopping 117 tackles in 8 games.He has had 3 games of 20+ tackles.
Cologne running back Shayeen Edwards remains the top rusher in the GFL with 752 yards and 8 TDs. In other words, as Edwards goes, so goes the Crocodiles offense. Cologne quarterback Bradley Strauss is averaging 212 yards a game and has thrown 14 touchdown passes in seven games. However, he has only thrown two interceptions so far this year in 181 pass attempts.
Linebacker Tucker Stanley leads the Crocodiles defense with 62 tackles so far.
The key to this game may well be the ground game. Cologne is among the top four rushing teams in the country while Dresden is among the worst against the run.
However, with Norvell and Paige playing as well as they are for Dresden, anything can happen.
