The 2-3-1 Potsdam Royals will play host to the 4-2 Dresden Monarchs Saturday, June 29 as the German Football League hits midseason.
Potsdam lost both games to the Monarchs in 2018, 45-34 and 42-24.
Potsdam is seriously in need of a win to have any chance at all of making the playoffs while Dresden needs to keep pace the both Hildesheim and Braunschweig at the top of the standings.
The Royals are coming off a 28-28 tie with the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes last week which saw them rally to score late in the game to earn the tie. They had suffered back-to-back losses to the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions, 35-14 and 46-7. Potsdam had dropped their opening game to the Hildesheim Invaders, losing 50-28, but rebounded in beating the Berlin Rebels 30-17. They then downed the Dusseldorf Panther 34-17 before losing to Braunschweig.
Potsdam is struggling with quarterback injuries resulting in a true revolving door at that position. Sam Straub started his second game last week throwing for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Straub had first started in the second loss to Braunschweig, replacing Paul Zimmermann who played the week before when regular starter Jacob Tucker was out. Straub threw for 142 yards and a touchdown in that game. Wide receiver Keevan Lucas has had 531 yards receiving in six games and is a dangerous target. Running back Gennadiy Adams has given the Royals a rushing attack and has carried the ball 102 times for 476 yards and 6 TDs and is the second leading rusher in the GFL in average yards per game (79.3). Another key addition has been LB Dustin Illetschko who anchors the front seven. He has already recorded 61 tackles in six games.
Dresden rebounded last week with a 42-7 win over the Cologne Crocodile. They had been on a two-game losing streak. They were beaten by the Hildesheim Invaders31-27 after leading most of the game. They lost their first game of the year four weeks ago, dropping a narrow 34-31 decision to the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions. The Monarchs had won three straight, including 49-13 over the Dusseldorf Panther, 42-14 over the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes and a 17-0 shutout of the Cologne Crocodiles.
Monarchs quarterback Zach Greenlee returned last week against Cologne after missing the game the week before. He threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns. He had been replaced by Glen Cuiellette in the loss to Hildesheim. Greenlee leads the GFL in yards per game, 309, and has thrown for 1,545 yards and 13 touchdowns. The top receiver for the Monarchs is Kevonn Mabon who has 44 receptions for 833 yards and five touchdowns and leads the league in receiving yards per game (138.8 yds/game). British RB Glen Toonga has rushed for 387 yards and three touchdowns in six games.Linebacker AJ Wentland leads a tough Dresden defense and is again the leading tackler in the GFL with 87 tackles, averaging 14.4 tackles (!) per game.
