The Dresden Monarchs head to Kiel to face the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in the game of the week in Germany Saturday in a battle of perennial playoff contenders.
The Monarchs (1-0-1) opened the season in Germany with a tie against a tough Berlin Rebels squad but followed up with a whitewashing of the Berlin Adler 71-20.
This will only be the second German league game of the season for Kiel who also battled the Rebels losing a heartbreaker 19-17.
Since 2011, these two teams have battled 10 times and the series is dead even a 5 wins apiece. In 2015, they split the series as Kiel took the first game 21-17, but Dresden got revenge pummeling the Hurricanes 52-20 later in the season.
After two regular season games this year, Dresden quarterback Brandon Connette is second in the league in passing yardage per game averaging 329.5 yards. He has completed 41 of 68 passes for 659 yards and nine touchdowns. One of his favorite targets so far in this young season has been Sebastian Sagne who has caught 11 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. Teammate Micky Kyei, who joined Dresden from Finland’s Porvoo Butchers is also dangerous. He has 17 receptions so far for 175 yards and three touchdowns.
Logan Schrader & Brandon Connette
Dresden’s leading rusher has been Connette but against the Adler, Joseph Bergeron ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
Kiel’s signal caller Logan Schrader is right behind Connette in league statistics as he had 283 yards passing in the game against the Rebels and two touchdowns. Receiver Xavier Mitchell, is beginning to find a rhythm and against Berlin he had nine receptions for 122 yards.
Kiel has played two games in European Football League play losing to the Amsterdam Crusaders in overtime 31-24 while overwhelming the Hamburg Huskies 61-33. In those two games, Schrader threw seven touchdown passes with Mitchell on the receiving end of four of them.
