PIKES UPEND DIAMONDS

In their season opener the Kaiserslautern Pikes beat the Darmstadt Diamonds on their home field 26-23 (6-0).  A shocked to many across the league as the Diamonds were considered as a title contender in the Germany Football Leagues 2^nd Division, while the Pikes were the new comers to the 2^nd League after winning last season’s Regional Center Championship(3^rd Division).

Pikes Head Coach Jason Nowlin had every reason to be happy as he said: “We were very disciplined and always believed in ourselves, even after we fell behind.” It was the middle of the third Quarter, when the Pikes trailed 6:14. Kaiserslautern had to recover from two quick Darmstadt Touchdowns.  In the first half, when the defenses dominated the action in front 900 spectators, only the Pikes brought points on the board. After missing a Field Goal in the previous drive, Quarterback Greg Cross, who joined the team from the University of Pittsburgh, threw a great pass and found Wide Receiver Timo Grieser in the end zone to take a 6-0 lead, however the Pikes missed the point after.

On the other hand, the Diamonds controlled the running game of the Pikes. But the Darmstadt offense had a hard time in the first half gaining yards against a aggressive Pikes D. Pikes Defensive Coordinator Marco Dilg liked what he saw from his team: “We have allowed very little ", he noted. In addition, it took Darmstadt Quarterback Shane Sabine until the middle of the second quarter before he found into the game. “He is now with us for three weeks and he has did a real good job in the second half”, commented Diamonds-Head Coach Derek Gurley.

In the second half the Pikes Defense seemed to control the game again. Linebacker Brian Watkins, who was all over the field with Linebacker Kamil Mazur, had stopped a punt on the opponents 1-yard line. The pressure on the Darmstadt Offense was big since the Pikes were aggressively going for a Safety. But Darmstadt Running Back Andreas Baumann bravely ran through the middle. He found a gap and went 99 yards a touchdown to give a 7-6 lead for the Diamonds. “That should not have happened," said Marco Dilg.

Things seemed to run as everybody expected before the game, since the Pikes came in as the underdog. Darmstadt went straight down the field in its next offensive series. After a pass from Shane Sabine to Torsten Hartmann they took a 14-6 lead. But as fast as the tide had turned for Darmstadt, the Pikes came back. Eric Walton took a hand off and raced 35 yards for the second Pikes Touchdown 12-14. A successful 2-Point conversion evened the score at 14.

Now it was on the Diamonds to respond. But Pikes cornerback Roman Knap stopped the home team with an interception to give the Pikes great field position.  On 4^th down and 5 to go, Greg Cross kept the ball and ran 15 yards for a touchdown for a 20-14 lead for the Pikes. A poor PAT attempt fell short and Darmstadt returned it for two points. The crowd went wild, but with four minutes left in the game Greg Cross destroyed all hopes of Darmstadt by taking the ball downfield for his second Touchdown run. With one minute left, Diamonds Quarterback Shane Sabine again found WR Hartmann in the end zone for the final 23-26 score. But Joachim Jäger secured the following Onside Kick and the Pikes took a knee to end the game.

“We had to many penalties”, Derek Gurley analyzed the play of his diamonds. Shortly after the disappointing defeat he looked forward to the next game as he said:  “We now are going to work on our mistakes and drive to our first away game Nürnberg," he said with a confident tone.

Pikes HC Jason Nowlin was more than satisfied with the performance of Greg Cross his first match for the club, “Greg did a good job of controlling our offense and making plays when he had to” said Nowlin.   TSgt Eric Walton finished with 148 yards on 19 carries. On the defensive side of the ball he pointed out the efforts of the two Linebackers Msgt Brian Watkins(5 Tackles 1 Sack) and Kamil Mazur(7 Tackles, 2 Sacks), who were involved in almost every tackle.  “It was a great way to start our season, but if we want to continue to win games we will have to make improvements in a lot of areas” said Coach Nowlin.

Moritz Kircher