U19 Rhein-Neckar Löwen create historic comeback victory to reach JBLH final

With a furious team performance in the roaring Östringen cauldron, the U19s of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen defeated THW Kiel 35:25 (18:12) in front of more than 700 spectators and thus pulverized the 25:29 defeat of the previous week.

The U19s of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen create something historic: For the first time since the youth Bundesliga Handball (JBLH) was founded, a team managed to turn around a lost semi-final first leg and make it into the final. With a furious team performance in the roaring Östringen cauldron, the young lions defeated THW Kiel 35:25 (18:12) in front of more than 700 spectators and thus pulverized the 25:29 defeat of the previous week.

A week ago, when the young zebras, drunk from victory, started singing the “HUMBA” in the sports hall of TSV Altenholz, an enraged young lion captain, Magnus Gruppe, called his battered teammates together in a team circle while they were still on the table. To lift them up and swear them in for the second leg. “The score will be settled at the end” was the motto, because the young lions still had 60 minutes to turn the tide in front of their home crowd. The door to the final was still ajar. And it was precisely this gap that the young lions opened up in the second leg – with power – and marched through. In the style of a top team. Into the final!

Leos full of faith, mentality and charisma

Undeterred by the injury-related absence of their leader “Mauni” Grupe, the Cubs dictated the action, cheered on by their frenetic crowd, which again turned out to be the eighth man. “The team showed an unbelievable mentality and believed in it from the first minute,” said coach Daniel Haase, who was “very, very proud” of his boys. The yellow shirts were never behind, had redeemed the four-goal mortgage of the first leg for the first time at 9:5 (12th) and after a perfectly timed Haase time-out (14th) followed an important 3:0 run (12:6, 19th). The THW was clearly cracked and had long felt that they were faced with completely different lions than before – lions full of faith, mentality and charisma, who fought self-sacrificing and laid the foundation for their success in defense.

The Junglöwen’s match plan worked out perfectly: Everyone worked for everyone in defense and keeper Luca Berghoffer played himself into a real frenzy behind the bulwark. He defused balls in rows and ended up having a phenomenal 20 (!) saves on the credit side. That gave the young lions security, which was designed with great breadth, but also with the necessary depth and worth seeing circle cooperations. Compared to the first leg, the young lions presented themselves as if they had been changed and that against an opponent who by no means disappointed.

Zebras draw hope after restart

“I would like to pay my team a big compliment,” said THW coach André Lohrbach at the press conference, “because although things didn’t go well on our side today, they never gave up fighting. It was a worthy semi-final in terms of the whole attitude, the backdrop and all the trappings.” At the same time, Lohrbach, who presented himself as a fair loser, recognized the superiority of the home side: “We thought we were well prepared. However, it has to be said that we never had a realistic chance of winning the game today. We weren’t on the same level today, so the Rhein-Neckar Löwen deservedly made it to the final.”

In the meantime, the young zebras had seriously gained hope, because immediately after the restart they reduced the deficit to 18:14 (32nd) with a double strike from Battermann and, if they had possession of the ball, would have even had the chance to mathematically put themselves ahead again by adding the two games bring. But the Löwen defense was once again clever and was able to win the ball back with an important steal from the attentive Theo Straub. This was the start of a fabulous three and a half minutes, which was enough for the young lions to finally set their course for victory.

Felix Göttler scored four worth seeing goals in a row with his individual class, which Lennart Karrenbauer followed up with another goal for a spotless 5:0 run: 23:14 (35th), the hall was upside down and the young lions were on their way unstoppable in the final. Emir Kurtagic, U18/19 national coach, must have been impressed because he said in an interview before the game that he wanted to observe how the boys present themselves on the field, what body language they have and how they deal with setbacks. These duels all ended in favor of the young lions that evening.

Journey with goosebump moments

The home side were on top, played their game calmly and were not disturbed by the injury-related absence of their prudent director Lennart Karrenbauer (41st). Lennart’s younger brother Laurin, who had previously played in the B-Youth, seamlessly slipped into the role and, together with the strong Löwen collective, withstood the pressure from the THW. The young zebras couldn’t come closer than seven goals (28:21, 44th) and with the last goal of the evening, the strong Valentin Willner at the circle with the 35:25 final score was “plus 10” for the first time – the highest lead of the game and at the same time the final point under a bombastic performance by the young lions.

The reigning champions are still in the title race and will already meet Füchse Berlin or SC Magdeburg next Saturday (7:00 p.m.). Then the Östringer Stadthalle becomes a handball temple again when hundreds of lion fans give the boys in yellow wings. The goal proclaimed internally by the players at the beginning of the season was “semi-finals plus x”. The boys have already given themselves the first plus by reaching the final. Now they want more – the title defense operation is alive. Two more games. What a fantastic, unbelievable journey full of goose bumps!

Played for the young lions: Luca Berghoffer, Dave Hörnig (both in goal), Philipp Alt, Felix Göttler (8), Laurin Karrenbauer, Lennart Karrenbauer (4), Robin Kull, Alexander Momber, David Moré (8/3), Fabian Schwarzer , Theo Sommer (4), Theo Straub (3), Valentin Willner (8). Trainer: Daniel Haase.

U17 lions too tame, zebras present

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The U17s of the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen meanwhile lost in the first leg of the quarter-finals for the German B-Youth Championship against THW Kiel by 21:26 (10:12). The starting position for the second leg in Kiel on Ascension Day (Thursday, 4 p.m.) is anything but good. But the Young Lions will throw everything in in the second leg.

After the game, the young zebras celebrated a deserved away win in the Erich-Bamberger Stadthalle in Östringen, which was well attended by around 500 handball fans. It was a used day for the U17s – and once again this season the exploitation of chances was the big shortcoming of the young lions.

“We regularly put the THW boys into time play in defense and “only” conceded 26 goals, but we only threw 21 goals in our own hall. Our top performers repeatedly made too simple technical mistakes and missed shots in decisive moments . But it is also true that the young zebras were more calm and therefore deserved the away win. Not least because Ben Levermann with his nine goals and Mads Riecken (in goal) were key factors and contributed important impulses to the success.” , summed up a disappointed Cub trainer Tobi Scholtes.

Great support from the Löwen fans

Special thanks go to the numerous Löwen fans who turned up in large numbers and supported their team loudly until the final whistle. Thank you for this great support.

But as we all know, hope dies last. “We’re going to Kiel with a mortgage of five goals, but we’ll do everything we can to win there with the aim of making it into the semi-finals,” Tobias Scholtes is combative. “We can expect 50 exciting knockout minutes in Kiel. Anything is possible in handball!”

There isn’t much time to catch one’s breath. For the top eight teams from Germany (Berlin, Coburg, Gummersbach, Hamburg, Kiel, Leipzig, Magdeburg and the young lions from Kronau/Östringen) the quarter-final second legs of the German B-Youth Championship are on the program next Thursday.

Throw everything into the balance in the second leg

Tobi Scholtes’ team is already on its way north on Wednesday. On Ascension Day, the all-important “do-or-die” game for the U17s of the young lions takes place. And the U19s want to take this as an example with their impressive revenge against THW Kiel and the associated entry into the final – show character and mentality and throw everything on the scales to achieve the turnaround in distant Kiel and thus reach the semi-finals .

The kick-off is on Thursday (May 18) at 4 p.m. in the Edgar-Meschkat-Halle (Danziger Straße 24, 24161 Altenholz).

Playing for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen: Jonas Pleimes, Luca Zapp (both goals) – Jakob Baumgärtner (1), Elias Ciudad-Benitez, Tarik Graf, Tyler-Ramon Franck, Mark Hartmann (1), David Huljak, Adam Jozsa, Laurin Karrenbauer (7/3), Jan Knaus (6), Darian Mollov (1), Marc Riffelmacher (2), Artur Usatiuc (3).