LIVE STREAM & PREVIEW: European Champions Meet in Germany; London Warriors v. Frankfurt Galaxy

The Frankfurt Galaxy will be facing the British champion London Warriors in an exhibition game this Sunday at Volksbank Stadion in Frankfurt to wrap up their undefeated season in Germany in preparation for the advance to the top league in Germany, the GFL.

The team had intended to finish their 2015 season with a relegation game against the Franken Knights but the Knights begged off. So head coach Markus Grahn turned to a key NFL Europe connection, Tony Allen, head coach of the Warriors and the game was on.

The Galaxy have enjoyed a season to remember in their ascent to the GFL. They won every game they played in 2015 and they did it with fireworks football, lighting up opponents through the air  and entertaining crowds both at home and on the road. They easily had the best average home attendance, not only in the GFL2 but in all of Germany period as 5,500 fans turned out for every game. But they were also the highest attended opponent as crowds averaging 3,500 came to their away games.

Statistically, Frankfurt led the league, or was near the top of the league, in virtually every category except rushing offense. A few key categories are interesting to note though. The Galaxy created far and away the most turnovers in the league averaging almost three a game. And while Frankfurt did not lead the league in passing yardage per game, they were by far the most efficient and accurate as they threw 52 touchdown passes but only five three interceptions in 14 games.

The secret behind this phenomenal statistic is Coach Grahn’s deadliest weapon, quarterback Emanuel Lewis. As Lewis goes so go the Galaxy and Lewis played outstanding in 2015. Of those 52 touchdowns thrown he accounted for 44 of them with only three picks. Although Frankfurt rushed for 152 yards per game they did not have one rusher in the top 10 in average yards per game. Evan Harrington gained 825 yards during the season averaging 58 yards per match. And yet the team rushed for a total of 2,132 yards. That is called ball distribution. The same goes for receiving. Frankfurt did not have a single receiver in the top 10 in average yards per game and yet the team averaged 214 yards receiving per game with Austrian Laurhino Walch leading the team with 65 yards per game.

Defensive end Brandon Collier will be hard for the Warriors to deal with. This veteran of the Canadian Football League and former Swarcoi Raiders player can be a force. Linebacker Sebastian Silva Gomez is the top tackler on the team with 114 on the year to go along with six sacks and an interception. Aleks Milosevski is among the league leaders in interceptions as he picked off five.

London is arriving in Germany with a roster of 50 including bruising running back Dwayne Watson. Although head coach Tony Allen will not be on the sideline but as has happened throughout most of the 2015 season Aden Durde will guide the team. Durde spent the 2014 preseason coaching with the Dallas Cowboys.

The Warriors repeated as British champions after winning a nail-biter over their chief rivals the London Blitz 20-19 in the 2015 BritBowl. It was their third consecutive victory in the British championship.

Quarterback Bradley Thompson will be under center. He threw for 23 touchdowns this year and he was the signal caller the last time the Warriors played an international game against Austria’s Swarco Raiders.

Thompson’s “go to” receiver is Luc Benjamin who has been a playmaker at all season making plays all over the field. And according to Thompson the Warriors offensive line has been outstanding.

This will be a game difficult to predict. The Galaxy come into the contest with some momentum having wrapped up the GFL2 title in mid September while the Warriors won the British crown a month ago. The Galaxy has a number of imports on their team both North American and European while London plays with strictly a British roster. The Galaxy have not played an international contest in recent memory. Frankfurt is expecting a capacity crowd for their final game of the year. This will be interesting to watch.

Kickoff: Sunday October 4, 3 PM (9 AM EDT).

Watch the game live here. (Instructions in German)