Krefeld Ravens celebrate a sovereign opening victory

American Football
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Ravens celebrate a sovereign opening victory

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The Krefeld Ravens (right) were difficult to stop at the championship opener.
Photo: Samla Fotoagentur / samla.de

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Krefeld After two years without a competitive game, the football team prevailed in the first home game of the new Association League season against the Mühlheim Shamrocks with 35:13 and confirmed their role as top favorites.

With a clear 35:13 against the presumed biggest competitor for promotion, the Mühlheim Shamrocks, the Krefeld Ravens started the new season very well. But it was a huge piece of work for the team of the new coach Jörg Hintzen. “After about two years without a competitive game, it was a difficult task, especially mentally. I’ve never seen such an excited team zone as in the first half. Everyone wanted to share what they couldn’t do for two years, ”says the coach about the first round.

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In this, the Krefeld team had gained a lot of space with two great passes by quarterback Andreas Trebski – once on receiver Marvin Zander, once on fullback Tobias Jansen. Both times the team stood around five meters from the end zone and running back Glenn Holloway, as well as Jansen himself carried the egg to a seemingly reassuring 14-0 lead (an extra point was awarded, but Jansen himself carried the egg over the line to another two points ) into the end zone.

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But then the guests, who were particularly strong in the run, came back deservedly. “We had a hard time stopping their run, especially in the first half. It was a very tough game, especially mentally. We couldn’t scout anything and therefore didn’t know how to act, ”says Hannes Sell, who as a linebacker is an important defender, especially against the run.

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The guest came up to 7:14 through a nice pass to receiver Marcel Gutstein. When another long pass from Trebski to Niki Tenwinkel, which he carried heavily into the end zone, was withdrawn by the referees (a player is said to have moved too far forward), the game began to turn over.

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A little later the second bitter flag against the Ravens: When Torben Höffler intercepted a pass, the ball went back to the Shamrocks because there had been an inadmissible attack on quarterback Marvin Neese. A little later he carried the ball himself to connect to the end zone. Luck for the Ravens: The extra point failed because the ball was not caught properly and the defense was on the spot.

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“At halftime we said the guys should just come down and concentrate on doing their job,” reports Hintzen. As a result, the hosts acted much more concentrated in front of the strong visit from around 700 fans. The defensive got the run of the guests under control and also the own run now managed to put itself in the limelight. The decisive scene, however, resulted from an actually unsuccessful attack attempt by the Ravens. They punted the ball and this served sell perfectly right in front of the end zone of the shamrocks, who were thus under a lot of pressure at their own five-yard line. Three unsuccessful attempts later, they also had to punt out of their own end zone.

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The snap failed and so Alex Dobiosch had time to fly up, put the punter under pressure and was maybe light on the ball and so it only came to the eleven-yard line. Trebski gave the play equipment to Holloway and he carried it to the home side’s third end zone visit. When Krefeld’s quarterback then scored the 28:13 himself in the last quarter with a quarterback sneak from close range (both additional points were surely converted by substitute quarterback Justin Wiedelbach), the game was decided.

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But the highlight was still to come. Mühlheim stayed on and was just before the end of the end zone. With a touchdown, the Shamrocks had the chance to make it exciting again. But Falk Füllgraebe, who had been beaten at the first Mühlheim touchdown, was spot on this time. In his own end zone he prevailed against Mühlheim’s receiver in an air duel and caught the ball. Instead of choosing the safe variant and getting on his knee, he carried the play equipment out of the end zone and took off. “Then I have a perfect block from Hannes [Sell] and so I could carry the thing all the way to the back. That was of course a great feeling, ”said the Krefeld cornerback, describing his 105-yard touchdown.

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The situation makes Hintzen laugh. “We all screamed ‘get on your knees’ because that way we would have started at 20 and had security. Nobody could count on him taking it to Pick-Six, ”says the coach with a laugh. It was the crowning glory of an afternoon that was a clear success, but at the same time gave the coaches a lot of material to remind them of. Because in the coming week we will face the Shamrocks again. Then the Ravens could take another big step towards the ascension they long for.

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Scores: 6:0 Holloway, 12:0 Jansen, 14:0 Jansen (2 PT-Conv.), 14:6 Gutstein, 14:7 Hodzic (PAT), 14:13 Neese, 20:13 Holloway, 21:13 Wiedelbach (PAT), 27:13 Trebski, 28:13 Wiedelbach (PAT), 34:13 Füllgraebe, 35:13 Wiedelbach (PAT).

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