Stuttgart Surge make a statement in emphatic win over Munich Ravens
The Stuttgart Surge made an emphatic statement with a convincing 38-22 road victory over the Munich Ravens this past weekend as the European League of Football wound up its fifth weekend of play.
This was the second game in a two-game series between the two. The Surge took the first game beating Munich 27-5 on opening day.
Needless to say, Surge head coach Jordan Neuman was pleased:
“It was a rivalry rematch and we knew we needed to play our best football so I was proud to see our guys come out ready to go from the first snap! I felt all three phases made major contributions throughout the game and we had many players step up and make plays. But most importantly we played Team Football which was the key to success!”
Stuttgart silenced the crowd of over 10,000 cheering fans in Munich early on as quarterback Reilly Hennessey marched his team from his own nine yard line down to the Ravens four and then hit Louis Meyer for the score to give the visitors a 7-0 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Stuttgart safety Chad Waldrond picked off Ravens quarterback Chad Jeffries over the middle at the Surge 20 yard line on the very next possession returning it all the way to the Ravens 43 yard line. Hennessey wasted no time connecting with a streaking Damon Hazelton Jr on the very next play for a touchdown to up the lead to 14-0 with a minute left in the opening stanza.
The Ravens battled back early in the second with Jeffries hitting the newest addition to the receiving corps, Malik Stanley, who caught a little dump pass and took it 48 yards breaking tackles along the way. However, Munich could only manage a field goal which reduced the lead to 14-3.
The Surge responded on the very next drive with a field goal of their own to restore the 14 point lead, 17-3.
Neither team was able to find the end zone the rest of the way and the half ended with Stuttgart ahead 17-3.
Hennessey opened the second half by marching his team on a 76 yard drive which ate up seven minutes capping it with a four yard touchdown pass to Paul Steigerwald to make the score 24-3.
The Ravens responded though as Jeffries orchestrated a 70 yard, six minute scoring drive, calling his own number to narrow the lead to 24-10 with the successful PAT late in the third quarter. Early in the final quarter, Stuttgart forced a Ravens fumble at the Munich 38 yard line. Hennessey then took his team on a nine play drive finishing it with an eight yard scoring pass to Steigerwald again to up the score to 31-10 with 11 minutes remaining.
Then, with less than six minutes remaining on the clock, Jeffries retaliated, connecting with Tomiwa Oyewo for a 39 yard touchdown pass to reduce the lead to 31-16.
Hennessey and the Surge offense came right back on the next possession moving the ball to the Munich 43. Running back Nicolas Khandar found a seam on a toss, broke a tackle and raced all the way to the end zone to boost the lead to 38-16 with just over two minutes left.
With the clock ticking down, Jeffries moved the Ravens down to the one yard line and then punched the ball in himself to make the final score 38-22.
With the win, Stuttgart sit atop the Central Conference standings with a 4-0 record. Munich falls to 2-3 and occupy third.
