Rainy Battle at Heinz Field; Dresden v. Berlin
The Dresden Monarchs hand the Berlin Adler their first loss of the GFL season.
-Dresden, Germany
The game between last year’s GFL vice champions from Dresden and the undefeated GFL North leader from Berlin was full of excitement. Dark clouds at the horizon were no good omen for the guest team from the German capital.
Deed, ever and always Trevar Deed. Four Touchdowns from Dresden’s running back led the way to a 26 – 21 Monarchs win. At Heinz Field 1,800 spectators got to see trick plays from both sides, big plays and flash flood rain fall during most of the game.
In their opening drive the Monarchs put points on the scoreboard. After marching 70 yards over the field, Dresden QB Jeff Welsh threw a screen to WR Jan Hilgenfeldt, who himself threw a forward-pass to Trevar Deed in the endzone. Three more rushing touchdowns from Deed, two for more than 30 yards each, should follow.
The Adler offense had a hard time finding a rhythm. After trailing 13:0 they caught fire in the second quarter. After a bad Dresden punt the Adler received the ball 15 yards away from the endzone. Quarterback Darius Outlaw threw a quick Touchdown pass to WR Daniel Vöhringer. Despite the hard rain Berlin established their excellent passing game. Several big plays of Berlin’s #4 Conrad Meadows brought the guests in front 13 – 14 at halftime.
Deja-vu in the second half: The Adler Offense didn’t click and made unnecessary mistakes. A key play in the third quarter: LB Mario Nowak is blitzing over the right side, missing Monarchs QB Jeff Welsh, handoff to Deed, and Dresden’s ballcarrier ran untouched 38 yards into the end zone to go ahead 20 – 14.
With 4 minutes to play Berlin came back with a Björn Dreier touchdown run to close the gap to 26 – 21. Anything seemed possible for the Adler. With seven consecutive running plays, the Monarchs started to run out the game clock. Nevertheless, the Adler defense stopped the Monarchs and with 40 seconds left to play, and QB Darius Outlaw got the ball in his hands. Starting from their own 8 yard line, the Alder tried a trick play: lateral pass to Conrad Meadows, the wide receiver catches the ball, runs a few yards and throws… flag. Illegal forward pass was the call, Meadows had crossed the line of scrimmage. The final two pass attempts were incomplete and wet Hauptstadt footballers were left standing in the rain behind as time ran out.
Photos: Birgit Krauch https://fotoblog.hechtviertelportal.de
Quotes of the game:
Kim Kuci (Adler Head Coach):
“We played a good game and never gave up. We had our chances to score. We can compete with the Best, don’t forget that Dresden is the vice champion.”
Darius Outlaw (Adler QB):
“In the second quarter we were on fire! But often times our Offense had to watch from the sideline. Hats off to the Dresden coaches for keeping us from the field and controlling the clock. Today the football gods weren’t on our side.
Without the rain, this would have been a complete different game.”
John Leijten (Monarchs Head Coach):
“This was an important game, I mean the Adler came here undefeated. We needed that win for our preparation for the BIG6-game in Vienna. Berlin is definitely a candidate for the German Bowl. Darius Outlaw was phenomenal in the second quarter! Our man coverage was tight and nonetheless his passing game was very good.”
Trevar Deed (Monarchs RB):
“I love to do what I had to do. My whole O-Line put on a hell of a game today. I had no concerns where we stand. I knew it was early in the season and we’re all fighters. Now we have the confidence to do what we want to do.”
Scoreboard
1st Quarter
06:00 15yd TD-Pass Hilgenfeldt auf Deed, PAT no good
2nd Quarter
13:00 2yd TD-Lauf Deed, PAT Hilgenfeldt
13:07 15yd TD-Pass Outlaw auf Vöhringer, PAT Andersen
13:14 14yd TD-Pass Outlaw auf Meadows, PAT Andersen
3rd Quarter
20:14 38yd TD-Lauf Deed, PAT Hilgenfeldt
4th Quarter
26:14 31yd TD-Lauf Deed, 2PtConv no good
26:21 3yd TD-Lauf Dreier, PAT Andersen
Photos: Birgit Krauch https://fotoblog.hechtviertelportal.de
