LIVESTREAM: Germany – Hildesheim Invaders @Kiel Baltic Hurricanes, August 11, 4p (10a ET)

AFI | American Football | 08/11/2018

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (3-7-13-6)) will be looking for revenge against the high-flying Hildesheim Invaders (3-6) Saturday, August 11 at Kilia Stadion in Kiel, Germany in German Football League action.

These two teams met a week ago with Hildesheim squeaking by the Hurricanes 15-14 at home in Hildesheim. With both the faltering Potsdam Royals and Cologne Crocodiles in front of these two in the standings the post season is still a reality. Potsdam and Cologne have both lost three games in row.

In last week’s game, Invaders quarterback Tyler Johnson scored the winning touchdown with less than a minute to play to secure the victory and keep Hildesheim’s hopes alive. In that contest, Johnson only completed 11 of 30 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown, but he rushed for 80 yards and the winning score. Newly-signed running back Jaleel Awini (formerly with the Frankfurt Universe in 2017) scored the other touchdown on a seven yard pass from Johnson.

This was the third win in a row for the Invaders. They won the last two games before the four week GFL break including a stunning 14-0 shut out of the Potsdam Royals on July 7. The addition of Johnson, has clearly been a factor. In his first game with the Invaders, he completed 16 of 26 passes for 119 yards in three quarters of play while rushing for one touchdown. Awini rushed for 51 yards and a touchdown while catching five passes for 51 yards.

The Hurricanes have now dropped three games in a row in the GFL including two before the break and haven’t won since June 9 when they beat the Berlin Rebels. Until then, Kiel had undergone an improvement after the arrival of quarterback Lenorris Footman who had an impact. In fact, in that game he played well throwing for 189 yards and a touchdown and scoring one on the ground. In seven games he has thrown for 1,231 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 390 yards and 10 touchdowns.With a running back duo of Khris Francis (543 yards) and Julian Ampaw (447), Kiel should have a potent running attack but in the loss to Hildesheim, the pair were held to 46 yards rushing between them.