LIVESTREAM: Germany – Marburg Mercenaries @Ingolstadt Dukes, Sept. 8, 6:30p (12:30p ET)

The Marburg Mercenaries (5-) head into Ingolstadt’s ESV Stadion Saturday, September 8, to face an Ingolstadt Dukes team (4-8-1) they desperately need to beat to have a chance at a playoff berth in the German Football League South division.

In the previous meeting between these two teams this year, Marburg came away with a 30-24 win.

The Mercenaries will be keeping a close watch on the Munich Cowboys game today which starts a couple of hours earlier. Should Munich falter and lose to the Stuttgart Scorpions, Marburg would claim the final playoff spot with a win over the Dukes.

Ingolstadt has won two of their last four games but lost a heartbreaker to the Allgau Comets last week, as the Comets scored on the final play of the game for the win. They would no doubt like to atone for that.

They beat Stuttgart the week before 28-21 after defeating the Kirchdorf Wilcats 21-9 in the first game after the four week break. They had lost to the league-leading Schwabisch Hall Unicorns 44-13 a month ago.

Dukes QB Nelson Hughes III is  averaging 204.7 yards a game, good for 8th overall in the GFL. He has thrown 29 touchdown passes in 13 games. His favorite targets are Anthony Mella, who has  caught 48 passes for 835 and 14 touchdowns. Belgian receiver Robin De Ruyter now as 54 receptions for 629 yards and five touchdowns. Jan Hoschild who has 32 catches for 564 yards and three touchdowns. Jakob Wenzel leads the team in rushing with 429 yards.

Linebackers Patrick Engelhardt (72 tackles) and Cory Magwood (74) are the top tacklers for the Dukes and defensive back Sterry Codrington is a key in the secondary and along with 73 tackles has recorded three interceptions. Codrington also handles kickoff and punt return duties for the Dukes

Marburg sits in fifth place in the GFL South  with a 5-8 record while the Munich Cowboys are in fourth, also with a 5-8 record. However, in the event of a tie between Marburg and Munich in the standings, Munich would get the nod and a berth in the playoffs by virtue of a better points differential between the two teams in their head-to-head meetings. Marburg won the first encounter 33-30 while the Cowboys trounced the Mercenaries 45-17 in the second game.

So the Mercenaries need to win this game and hope that Munich loses to the Stuttgart Scorpions today.

Marburg will no doubt play with the quarterback combination of Silas Nacita and Alex Thury. Thury threw for 370 yards and three touchdowns in the loss to the Unicorns last week with Nacita able to step in and present another threat. While former starter (five games) Zac Cunha remains on the roster, he may not see any action.

Nacita leads the Mercenaries in rushing with 692 yards and seven touchdowns, has thrown for 799 yards and 11 touchdowns and has caught 62 passes for 973 yards and nine touchdowns. He has also returned 10 punts for 140 yards and a touchdown and 24 kickoffs for 633 yards.

In the first game between Ingolstadt and Marburg, Nacita rushed for 121 yards and threw for 254 and four touchdowns. In other words, the Dukes need to find a way to keep Nacita in check.

Watch the game live here. Marburg Mercenaries @Ingolstadt Dukes, Sept. 8, 6:30p (12:30p ET)