The 6-5 Stuttgart Scorpions travel to Frankfurt to take on the 8-2 Frankfurt Universe, Europe #6, Sunday, August 18 as the German Football League winds up its 12th round of action.
Frankfurt is coming off a 42-34 loss to the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns while the Scorpions suffered back-to-back losses to the Allgäu Comets. The Universe sit firmly in second place in the GFL South while Stuttgart are hanging on to fourth.
Two weeks ago, Frankfurt blanked the Munich Cowboys 46-0 and the week before downed the Kirchdorf Wildcats 38-17 in their first game after the four week break. Just before the break they had whipped the Comets 34-7 and the Ingolstadt 63-13, rebounding from an embarrassing 31-0 defeat at the hands of the Unicorns in mid June. Frankfurt had opened the 2019 season with four wins, beating Ingolstadt 37-13, after getting by the Munich Cowboys the week before 24-17. They had downed the Comets 20-0 in their opening game and then defeated the Marburg Mercenaries 20-14.
For Frankfurt, Steve Cluley has thrown for 2,413 yards and 22 touchdowns with Antony Brooks (777 yds), Sebastian Sagne (457 yds, 9 TDs) and George Robinson (493 yds), as his leading targets. The lastest signing, former Purdue Boilermaker/Philadelphia Eagle Anthony Mahoungou from France, has 13 catches for 211 yards and 3 TDs in three games. Running back Justin Rodney now has 529 yards rushing while Oscar Nevermann from Sweden has a total of 354 yards rushing in the 10 games.
The Universe boast the top defense in the GFL in yards per game giving up 208.9 yards a game and are fourth in points per game with 15.4.
The the sudden departure of Frankfurt head coach Brian Caler for personal reasons did not seem to disrupt the team.
Stuttgart’s second loss last week to the Comets was their fifth in the last seven games after opening the year with three straight wins. They had rebounded from an embarrassing 52-14 loss to the surging Marburg Mercenaries just before the break, beating the Munich Cowboys 31-24 four weeks ago. They had narrowly defeated the Cowboys 21-19 earlier. However, they had lost badly to the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns 63-21 the week before that. The Scorpions had celebrated their fourth win of the year in early June, defeating the Kirchdorf Wildcats 31-29. The season had opened with promise with the Scorpions getting a 30-21 win over the Marburg Mercenaries, followed by a 34-7 victory over Kirchdorf and then a 37-30 win over Ingolstadt.
Stuttgart QB Michael Eubank has thrown for 2,706 yards in 11 games with an average of 246 yards a game, good for sixth in the league. Last week against the Comets, he threw for 199 yards and one touchdown. However the ground game was again Stuttgart’s weak spot in the loss. Allgau outrushed the Scorpions 234 yards to 13.
Running back Giacomo De Pauli has rushed for 637 yards and also caught 46 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns. Explosive wide receive Tyler Cooperwood had only one catch last week for 16 yards against Allgäu upping his totals to 49 receptions for 840 yards and 13 touchdowns. He will be needed in this game. Frankfurt has the second best pass defense in the league.
