LIVESTREAM: Germany – Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns @Marburg Mercenaries, Sept. 2, 4p (10a ET)

AFI | American Football | 09/02/2018

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Marburg Mercenaries (5-7) have a chance to take control of their playoff destiny when they face the undefeated Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (12-0) at home at George Gassmann Stadion in Marburg in the second last weekend of play in the 2018 German Football League season.

Marburg sits in fourth place in the GFL South with a 5-7 record while the Munich Cowboys, who lost to the Allgau Comets yesterday, now find themselves in fifth with a 5-8 record. However, in the event of a tie between Marburg and Munich in the standings, Munich would get the nod and a berth in the playoffs by virtue of a better points differential between the two teams in their head-to-head meetings. Marburg won the first encounter 33-30 while the Cowboys trounced the Mercenaries 45-17 in the second game.

So the Mercenaries need to win both their remaining two games or win one and hope that Munich loses to the Stuttgart Scorpions on the final weekend of the regular season.

However, the Unicorns will definitely not make things easier. In the first game between these two in early July, Schwäbisch Hall used two second half touchdowns to pull away from the Mercenaries and win 38-19. That loss triggered a five-game losing skid which included the loss to Munich and also a loss last week to the lowly Stuttgart Scorpions.

In the last four losses, their latest quarterback, Zac Cunha, started in three while Silas Nacita started in the loss to Munich. Cunha is actually the fourth quarterback for Marburg this season. After an injury to original starter, Alexander Thury. Robert Webber, stepped in for a game but left suddenly and then Silas Nacita took over for a total of four games winning two. Cunha, who is from Minot State, made his debut last month in a loss to the Allgau Comets,.

Cunha has thrown for 664 yards and three touchdowns in his three starts. In a losing effort against the Frankfurt Universe, Cunha threw for only 115 yards. He had replaced Mr. All-Everything for the Mercenaries, Silas Nacita who had stepped in after Webber left. Nacita engineered a win over the Comets putting on an offensive display playing at quarterback Nacita then led Marburg to a win over the Ingolstadt Dukes and was also behind center in the final game before the break, a loss to the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns. Nacita was also the primary receiver last week against Allgau with six receptions for 71 yards.

Nacita leads the Mercenaries in rushing with 677 yards and seven touchdowns, has thrown for 761 yards and 11 touchdowns and has caught 54 passes for 780 yards and six touchdowns. He has also returned nine punts for 133 yards and a touchdown and 21 kickoffs for 561 yards.

Schwäbisch Hall on the other hand, has been a machine. They overpowered the Allgau Comets 65-23 a couple of weeks ago and the week before also displayed their firepower in handing the Ingolstadt Dukes a 44-13 thrashing. The week before that they notched a gritty 12-9 come-from-behind win over the Frankfurt Universe.

Schwäbisch Hall quarterback Marco Ehrenfried is the 5th leading passer in the GFL averaging 221.4 yards a game. . He has a corps of excellent receivers including Christian Hafels with 541 yards receiving and Nathaniel Robitaille who has 47 catches for 582 yards and nine touchdowns. Running back Maurice Schüle leads the Unicorns with 474 yards rushing.

The Unicorns are the epitome of steady and all round. They have not lost a game since October 8, 2016 (2016 German Bowl). They certainly do not intend to lose this game even though they have sewn up the first overall seed in Germany already.