After leading most of the German Football League contest against the Marburg Mercenaries, the Ravensburg Razorbacks found themselves suddenly trailing in the fourth quarter, but staged a late-game rally to surge past the Mercenaries, beating them 28-20.
The victory was Razorbacks‘ second of the season and improved their record to 2-1 while also giving them a share of second place in the GFL South standings. With the loss, Marburg dropped to 1-2.
The tale of the game was the Ravensburg defense’s ability to contain Marburg’s powerhouse of a running back, Marcus Cox while also getting their own offense going with the help of tight end Ryan Smith and running back Lennies Mcferren.
Ravensburg were first up and shot out the gate in full stride as quarterback Ryan Deal (#10) quickly led the offense into the Mercenaries’ redzone, but it wouldn’t be long before Marburg DB Marvin Hart (#31) made his presence felt picking the ball off on an out-route inside the 10.
Ravensburg QB Ryan Deal Photo: Stefan Tschersich
Although it had been Marburg’s Marcus Cox (#3) who had exploded onto the scene in his first game last week against the Stuttgart Scorpions, it would instead be the German arm of QB Sonny Weishaupt (#11) who led the offense down the field to set up the first score of the game in the way of a field-goal.
The Razorbacks offense showed no difficulty in moving the ball against Marburg, which in large part was due to TE Ryan Smith (#82) who was one of the main culprits for savagely tearing through the Marburg defense drive after drive. But it would be the German receiving corps who set up the first score before Mcferren (#11) ran it in from the 22-yard line. Smith set up the second TD for the Razorbacks and scored it too on a 25-yard stop and go to bring the score to 14 – 3 with three minutes to go in the half.
Marburg RB Marcus Cox Photo: Stefan Tschersich
Ravensburg LB Jeremy Conley (#52) allowed Cox no yardage in the contest as he seemed to seek him out every play, regardless of him having the ball. This did however take away their best defensive player from the secondary and allow Weishaupt to often find his receivers running free down the middle of the field. Weishaupt connected with wide-out Philip Eichhorn (#80) for the score on a 45-yard seam route before a field-goal on the next drive to bring the Mercenaries to within one going in at the half.
Just as Hart had made his presence felt on the first drive in the first half, he again imprinted himself on the first drive in the second. This time it would come via a 85-yard kick-off return for a touchdown that would make it 17 unanswered points for the Mercenaries and a lead change.
The Marburg offense seemed to cool off considerably after this and failed to get anything else going for the remainder of the contest. It was open for the taking for Ravensburg, and take it they did. Mcferren came to life in the second half ripping off chunks of yardage on screens and flairs out of the backfield after a suspiciously quiet first half; this combined with the physical play from the big TE Smith would prove too much to handle for the Marburg defense. The pair put together two impressive consecutive drives resulting in touchdowns giving them a 28 – 20 lead.
Ravensburg WR Michael Mayer Photo: Stefan Tschersich
The game ended with a great defensive effort from the Razorbacks and a heavy dose of Mcferren who was able to run seven and a half minutes off the clock in one drive.
After a punishing defeat from the Unicorns in week one the Razorbacks are now starting to find their groove and have claimed two tough wins in two weeks. The Mercenaries, on the other hand, need to find a way to get Marcus Cox going if they have postseason hopes.