Photo: Marie Sommer
The Frankfurt Galaxy staged one of the biggest upsets of the European Football League weekend when they defeated the visiting Madrid Bravos 37-20 in front of a roaring home crowd in Frankfurt.
The game was meaningless for the Galaxy who had long been eliminated from playoff contention but that did not deter head coach Thomas Kösling’s squad.
Frankfurt jumped out to a 7-0 lead on their first possession as quarterback Matthew Mckay connected with Paul Kavadia-Lenhardt for a 33 yard touchdown reception to cap a six-play, 69 yard drive.
With the defense holding off the Bravos, McKay went back to work on Frankfurt’s next possession, marching his team from his own 13 down to the Bravos’ 10. Ryan Rimmler then booted a 28 yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0.
The Galaxy defense held Madrid to a three and out and McKay took over again. Three plays later he found a streaking Kavadia-Lenhardt for a 62 yard score and Frankfurt went into the second quarter leading 17-0.
Bravos quarterback Steven Duncan finally got his team moving, orchestrating a 10 play, 57 yard drive with running back Eduard Molina punching the ball in from four yards out to narrow the lead to 17-6 early in the second quarter.
Late in the quarter, McKay moved the Galaxy out to their own 40 yard line and then found a seam and scampered 42 yards down to the Madrid 18 yard line. On the next play, Kösling pulled out his trick playbook as wide receiver Markell Castle took a short toss in the backfield and then threw to McKay in the end zone to increase the lead to 24-6.
The Galaxy were able to boost the lead to 27-6 when Ryan Rimmler booted a 52 yard field goal as time expired in the first half.
The Bravos offensive woes continued to open the second half as Duncan was picked off on the very first possession. Frankfurt did not score but added another field goal, this time a 52 yarder.
Madrid finally managed to put together a drive marching from their own 21 down to the Frankfurt one yard line, mainly behind the running of Molina. However, the Galaxy staged a goal line stand, keeping the visitors out of the end zone and taking over on the one.
With running back Sandro Platzgummer leading the way, McKay moved his team down the field reaching the Bravos 35 yard line. Rimmler then kicked another long field goal, this one a 53 yarder early in the fourth quarter to give the Galaxy a 30-6 lead.
Duncan opened the Bravos next drive by connecting with Jean-Claude Madin Cerezo for a 50 yard gain taking the ball down to the Frankfurt 27 yard line. He found Julio Aguado for a 27 yard touchdown to reduce the lead to 30-12 with plenty of time on the clock.
However, McKay responded on the very next possession, tossing a 33 yard yard scoring pass to Kevin Kaya.
Trailing 37-12 with eight minutes left, Duncan guided his team from his own 21 down to the Galaxy seven yard line in eight plays and hit Raul Cernuda to close the gap to 37-18. They scored the two-point conversion to make it 37-20.
Madrid orchestrated a successful onside kick but were unable to reach beyond the Galaxy 45 yard line. With just over a minute and a half left, Frankfurt took over and ran the clock out.
McKay threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns for Frankfurt and was also the game’s top rusher with 11 carries for 97 yards. Kavadia-Lenhardt caught three passes for 109 yards while Kaya had six for 85 and a score. Platzgummer carried the ball 14 times for 87 yards.
For Madrid, Duncan completed 21 of 41 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns with Madin Cerezo catching three for 99 yards and Molina seven for 40. Molina was his team’s leading rusher carrying the ball 16 times for 80 yards and a score.
With the win, the Galaxy improve to 4-6. For the Bravos, they still have a shot at the playoffs with a 7-3 record but travel to Paris next week to face a surging Musketeers squad.
in other ELF West action, the Musketeers overwhelmed the Cologne Centurions 57-7 while the Rhein Fire bulldozed the Hamburg Sea Devils 51-2
