The German Football League quarterfinals kick off this weekend with the top eight teams in the GFL squaring off as the Road to German Bowl XLI begins.
The GFL North#2 ranked Dresden Monarchs will face the GFL South #3 Marburg Mercenaries in one matchup, on Sunday, September 22
Dresden moved into second place in the North on the final day of the regular season after beating the Berlin Rebels 20-14 to finish with a 10-4 record. The Mercenaries had sewn up third in the South early on by winning nine of their last 11 games including three straight to finish the year.
The Monarchs will likely start Glen Cuiellete at quarterback instead of Zack Greenlee. Cuiellette relieved Greenlee in the second half of the late-season loss to Berlin on August 25 and engineered two touchdowns. He then led Dresden to two straight wins to end the year. Although his numbers are not gaudy, and his completion percentage in the five games he has played is below 60%, he has proven he can lead the team. He threw for 951 yards but 535 of those were in the final two wins against Hildesheim and Berlin along with seven touchdown passes of his 12 total. Sullivan, on the other hand, led the GFL in passing yardage with 4,539 and yardage per game (324.2). He also rushed for 428 yards and 14 touchdowns. In other words, as Sullivan goes, so go the Mercenaries.
Still, Sullivan’s QB rating of 157.9 is not that far ahead of Cuiellette’s 145.6.
Sullivan has a number of receivers to rely on with two in the top 10, Hendrik Schwarz (1,065 yds) and Marvin Rutsch (992 yds) while Cuiellette and Greenlee have looked to Kevonn Mabon who led the league with 1,680 yards.
Interestingly, Dresden had the number one pass defense in Germany this year while the Mercenaries were far and away the best passing team.
Advantage: Jake Sullivan