Braunschweig New Yorker Lions stay undefeated, down Kiel Baltic Hurricanes

The Braunschweig New Yorker Lions withstood a furious fourth quarter comeback attempt and defeated the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 33-22 in front of a crowd of 3,273 spectators in Kilia Stadium in Kiel, Germany Saturday.

With the win, the Lions remain in sole possession of first place in the German Football League North with a 9-0 record and five games left in the regular season schedule. Kiel drops to 8-2 but stays in second place.

New Yorker running back David McCants scored two touchdowns , Casey Therriault threw for two and Tobias Göbel kicked two field goals and three extra points. Receivers Jan Hilgenfeldt and Justus Holtz caught touchdown passes from Therriault.

For the Hurricanes, running back Chris McClendon scored two touchdowns while Jared Stegman threw a touchdown pass to Xavier Mitchell. Tim Albrecht kicked a pair of extra points while Philipp Schulz scored on a two-point conversion.

The Lions opened the scoring midway through the first quarter as McCants, running behind arguably the best offensive line in Europe, scored on a six yard scamper. Two series later, early in the second quarter McClendon answered with a six yard scoring run of his own and Kiel pulled even 7-7.

But Braunschweig began imposing their will and with the defense keeping the high scoring Hurricanes in check, Therriault and the offense scored twice more in the first half . First McCants restored the lead with a seven yard touchdown run, and then Hilgenfeldt took advantage of a break down in coverage and caught an 11 yard touchdown pass giving the Lions a 20-7 lead heading into halftime.

Although Kiel’s defense stiffened in the third quarter, Göbel still managed to kick two field goals from 26 and 21 yards out extending the Lions lead to 26-7.

Jared Stegman finally got the Hurricanes offense untracked in the fourth quarter as Mitchell pulled in a 36 yard touchdown pass from Stegman to narrow the gap to 26-14. But, Therriault threw a dagger into the hearts of the Hurricanes faithful, connecting with Holtz on a 59 yard touchdown strike after the defense had stopped Kiel in the red zone, giving Braunschweig a 33-14 lead late in the fourth.

The Hurricanes were not done as Stegman marched them down the field with McClendon finishing the drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge to narrow the lead to 33-22.

But that was as close as it got.

The Lions now face only one +500 opponent in the final five games – the Cologne Crocodiles, twice – while Kiel has to play the Berlin Rebels twice and the Dresden Monarchs once.