The Marburg Mercenaries (5-6) face the Stuttgart Scorpions (1-10) August 26 in late-season German Football League action at George Gassmann Stadion in Marburg in a game with major playoff implications.
This is the second meeting between the two teams. Marburg won the first one, barely getting by the Scorpions 30-27 in Stuttgart.
Marburg is in fourth place in the GFL South with a 5-6 record. A win today would give them a leg up on the other three teams vying for the third and fourth playoff berths, the Allgau Comets (6-5), Munich Cowboys (5-7) and the Ingolstadt Dukes (4-7-1).
Marburg has their third quarterback since playing the Scorpions following an injury to original starter, Alexander Thury. His replacement, Robert Webber, left after only one game and Silas Nacita took over for a total of four games winning two. Zac Cunha from Minot State. Cunha made his debut three weeks ago in a loss to the Allgau Comets,. Last week in a 45-17 loss to the Munich Cowboys, head coach Dale Heffron actually used all three quarterbacks but to no avail.
The week before, in a losing effort against the Frankfurt Universe, Cunha threw for only 115 yards. He had replaced Mr. All-Everything for the Mercenaries, Silas Nacita who had stepped in after Webber left suddenly after one game. Nacita engineered a win over the Comets putting on an offensive display playing at quarterback Nacita then led Marburg to a win over the Ingolstadt Dukes and was also behind center in the final game before the break, a loss to the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns. Nacita was also the primary receiver last week against Allgau with six receptions for 71 yards.
Nacita leads the Mercenaries in rushing with 661 yards and seven touchdowns, has thrown for 751 yards and 10 touchdowns and has caught 49 passes for 716 yards and six touchdowns. He has also returned nine punts for 133 yards and a touchdown and 18 kickoffs for 495 yards.
The Scorpions offense is also operating with the third quarterback of the season as Michael Eubank, has been behind center for the past seven games. Despite the loss last week against Ingolstadt in which he completed 19 of 26 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns, he has looked steady. Three weeks ago to Munich, he threw for 159 yards and a touchdown. In the win against the Wildcats, Eubank threw for 191 yards and five touchdowns.
Stuttgart had started the year with Frank Brock and after his departure Rick Webster stepped in. Eubank took over seven games ago and has thrown for 1,336 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 191 yards passing a game. In a close 30-27 loss to Marburg, in June, he completed 17 of 24 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. His leading receiver is Richard Samuel while running back Giacomo De Pauli, who is also a German national team running back, has rushed for 720 yards, or 63 yards a game.
Although Stuttgart has nothing to play for other than pride, they could be dangerous for a Mercenaries team that needs to win this game to stay in playoff contention.
