With four rounds left in the German Football League season, it’s clinch time for many teams with eight out of the league’s 16 teams earning a berth in the playoffs. Two of these teams are the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (7-0) who locked up a playoff spot last week, and the Munich Cowboys (5-1-0) who are looking to get one this week. The winner of this game will be the GFL South division leader.
The Unicorns are having yet another incredible season, manhandling the teams in their division. In fact, since Jordan Neuman took over as head coach in 2017, they have yet to lose a regular season game. If they end up losing to the Cowboys, it would be their first loss since 2015 and could actually jeopardize their odds of finishing first in the division.
Under new head coach, Nadine Nurasyid, Munich is having a season that no one could have imagined. The Grand Old Team of the South as they call themselves, hasn’t had a team this good since their 2000 and 2001 seasons where they had back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. A win would put them in a strong position in the division.
Quarterback Wyatt Smith has been having a good season, throwing for 1,254 yards, 15 touchdowns, completing 74 % of his passes, second best in the league. Wide receiver Kai Silbermann is Smith’s main target with 32 receptions for 332 yards and six touchdowns. However, it is the team’s pass defense that has stood out, ranked number one in the GFL. Munich has only allowed opposing teams 5.9 yards per pass, 155.7 yards per game, seven touchdowns while picking off a total of seven passes for the season. Linebacker Patrick Kenney leads the way with two picks, 37 tackles including a sack, and four pass breakups.
However, the Unicorns are easily their biggest challenge of the season so far, as their offense has scored 325 total points this season, to top the league. In addition, their starting quarterback, Riley Hennessey returns after missing almost a month due to injury. Hennessey will have his favorite receiver, Tyler Rutenbeck, back in the lineup. Before getting hurt two games ago, Rutenbeck had caught 22 passes for 471 yards and eight touchdowns. Also returning is tight end Moritz Böhringer who has 16 receptions for 253 yards and four scores.
The Unicorns defense is almost as impressive as Munich’s and has allowed the second fewest yards per game, 157.4 but leads the GFL with 11 interceptions.
In the last five years, these two teams have faced each other seven times with Schwäbisch Hall winning every game. Could Saturday’s game change that trend?
