The Munich Cowboys (4-6) head north to face the Paderborn Dolphins (3-6) in a crucial German Football League game for the Cowboys.
Munich needs a win to hold on to the fourth and final playoff berth in the GFL South. For Paderborn, the playoffs are out of reach so this is a game for pride.
Paderborn opened the season with a loss, dropping a 38-7 decision to the powerful Dresden Monarchs. They then won two in a row surprising the New Yorker Lions 10-7 and then edging the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 21-19. However, they fell to the Hildesheim Invaders 50-31 before losing to the Berlin Adler 44-33. They were dropped 35-7 by the Lions and then lost 21-7 to GFL South rival the Straubing Spiders, 21-7. They then beat the Berlin Rebels 20-17 before losing 34-7 to the Dresden Monarchs last week.
Munich opened the season with a 31-7 victory over the Straubing Spiders, and followed that up with a 21-14 win over the Kirchdorf Wildcats. They then dropped two in a row, 33-17 to the Ravensburg Razorbacks and 42-35 to the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns and then 27-7 to the previously winless Wildcats. They rebounded with a solid 31-27 victor over the Allgäu Comets but then were narrowly beaten by the Berlin Adler, 21-20 before losing to the Unicorns 21-0. Munich rebounded from that loss by beating Straubing 24-21 but were upended by the lowly Saarland Hurricanes 28-13 a week ago.
For Paderborn, Zachary Whitehead has completed 186 of 281passes for 1,921 yards and 10 touchdowns and three of his main targets have been Joshua Breece, Clemens Schuldt and Chris Busse who have 350, 422 and 321 yards receiving respectively in the 10 games. Breece has rushed for 529 yards on 110 carries and scored five touchdowns making him the eighth leading rusher in the league.
Munich quarterback Niklas Yockey has thrown for 2,188 yards and 21 touchdowns in the 10 games and is the fourth leading passer in the league. He definitely has a favorite target in Gabriel Boccella who has 55 catches for 727 yards and 10 touchdowns putting him eighth overall in the GFL. Boccella is followed by Anton Chereminskiy who has caught 26 passes for 369 yards and Nicco Heiss with 21 receptions for 340 yards and a touchdown. Maximilian Mayer is the Cowboys leading rusher with 512 yards rushing on 90 carries.
With the game of such huge importance for the Cowboys, expect an all out effort from the visitors.