The Koç Rams used a dominant second half performance to win their third straight Turkish American Football League title this past weekend by downing the Bogazici Sultans 52-21.
The Rams broke open a tight ball game, scoring 24 unanswered points in the second half.
Quarterback David Whipple completed eight of 11 passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another 124 and another two touchdowns in a superb performance. Running back Javonte Hence rushed for 164 yards and three touchdowns while wide receivers Kaan Ozer and Alihan Agackesen caught a touchdown pass each. Mehmet Sarikatipoglu also kicked a 20 yard field goal.
For the Sultans, quarterback Serhat Erdem threw three touchdown passes to Martize Barr, Afak Yigitoglu and Vasincan Parlak.
Rams QB David Whipple racing to the end zone Photo: Sport Cards
The Rams jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdowns by Hence and Whipple. But Bogazici finally responded late in the quarter as Barr took a screen pass and raced 50 yards to close the gap to 14-7.
Whipple connected with Ozer to extend the lead to 21-7 but early in the second quarter Erdem hit Yigitoglu for a beautiful touchdown pass to narrow the lead to 21-14.
Again Whipple responded, this time on a 55 yard touchdown run to give the Rams a 28-14 lead, just before the half.
The Sultans were not phased as Erdem found Parlak in the corner of the end zone late in the first half, closing the gap to 28-21.
Then the wheels fell off for the Sultans.
The Rams scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter with Hence and Agackesen scoring. Despite reaching the Koc five yard line the Sultans were unable to crack the end zone.
The fourth quarter saw the Rams extend their 42-21 lead with another long touchdown run by Hence, this time for 60 yards. Then, with the score 49-21, Sarikatipoglu kicked a 20 yard field goal late in the game and the Rams kept Bogazici out of the end zone the rest of the way.