The Assindia Cardinals celebrated their first win of the season in the 2022 second division season (GFL2). Like last year, the Hamburg Huskies succeeded: In the Hammerpark stadium, the Men in Blue clearly won 35:0 (6:0, 8:0, 7:0, 14:0) in stormy weather conditions on Saturday afternoon their table balance (1-1) equalized for the time being.
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After the 14:31 defeat against the Paderborn Dolphins, the guests tried to get something countable on the scoreboard quickly. Running back Darnell Walker Jr. gave the MiB an early lead with a two-yard run, but the extra point attempt was unsuccessful – giving the Cardinals a 6-0 lead. The home side could have turned the game around with the next touchdown. They stopped an Essen drive just short of the end zone in the second quarter, but the Cardinals still scored. The high pressure from the Men in Blue and the damp outside conditions forced the Huskies to fumble in the end zone, defensive back Dominic Bergmeister reacted the quickest and increased the recovery to 12:0. To make up for the missed extra point after the first touchdown, the AC started a two-point conversion – running back Brett Sylve converted it to a 14-0 half-time score.
However, it was a bit flattering for the guests from the Ruhr area, who had to cope with two fumbles in their own half and an opposing interception in the first half. But the Essen defense confidently defended the Hamburg offensive efforts away, even a field goal attempt by the Huskies was not crowned with success. And so the Men in Blue shouldn’t let the away win be stolen in the second half. Sylve ran from a short distance to the next Essen touchdown, kicker Tim Rechter converted the PAT to 21:0. At the latest by the next seven Cardinals points in the final quarter – again by Sylve, who this time had to run 20 yards to reach the Hamburg end zone, right with the additional point – it was clear that the guests would not let the long-awaited away win be stolen. Quarterback Alexander Jodlauk increased the points account to 34 with a 50-yard run, and kicker Tim Rechter put the cherry on the cake with his converted extra point – 35:0 and an all-round successful afternoon from Essen’s point of view.
What the coaches say:
Bernd Janzen, Head Coach:
„WWe played well as a team and kept a clean sheet on defense. What’s even nicer is that we also got a defensive touchdown, that we worked well as a team and that we got even closer together. In this way we were able to keep the Hamburgers in check, so that they had the chance to score but never to win the game – not over the entire distance.”
Florian „Tic Tac“ Hartmann, Offense Coordinator:
„Our game plan worked out perfectly. Alexander Jodlauk delivered a top performance for the second time in a row and rewarded himself with a few scores. Due to the wet weather we stayed true to the run. I think we only had two pass attempts in the whole game. We have shown a huge improvement compared to last week and of course we are all super happy that we have finally rewarded ourselves for the months of training. We showed what our system can do and what the players can do and just played it down with concentration.”
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