Ravensburg footballers win in Munich

The play-off scenario before the last match day of the German Football League (GFL) was complicated. The only thing that was certain was that the ifm Razorbacks Ravensburg had to win against the Munich Cowboys on Saturday to secure the important home advantage in the play-offs starting on September 22nd. In a wild final phase, they did themselves and their fans a favor and won after two overtimes with 33:27 (7:3/3:7/14:7/0:7/3:3/6:0).

A field goal would have been enough

Before that, there had been a wild up and down of emotions on both sides of the field. The Upper Swabians were leading 24:17 in the middle of the final quarter. Munich desperately needed points and therefore played the fourth attempt. The running attempt was stopped and the Ravensburg team regained possession of the ball. Everything went according to plan for head coach John Gilligan’s team, which now ran down the clock with many short plays and wanted to score a field goal, which would probably have been enough for the win.

But then came what football expert Andreas Renner (DAZN), who commented on the game for Sportdeutschland.TV, called “a lesson in self-destruction”. On the first attempt and ten at the opponent’s 38-yard line, quickly within field goal range, the otherwise reliable running back Lennies McFerren lost the ball during his attempt (fumble). One of his teammates secured it. On the second attempt and 14, however, McFerren fumbled the ball again – and again a Ravensburg player was the first to throw himself on the ball, so at least possession of the ball was secured. Then another blunder: Quarterback Broghean McGovern made an illegal forward pass, and the field goal opportunity became a punt at the halfway line.

Cowboys use their second chance

The Cowboys were back in the game and of course wanted to ride the gift horse. Passes from quarterback Nick Yockey to his best offensive players Maximilian Mayer and Gabriel Boccella quickly brought the Munich team to the visitors’ 8-yard line. And there it was tight end Manuel Hutter who equalized for the hosts.

There were still 90 seconds to play, a field goal would be enough for Ravensburg to win and they started in a good position. On the fourth and ninth attempt, quarterback McGovern found his French wide receiver Pierre Moudourou for a first down and thus kept the drive alive. Everything now came down to kicker Linus Diez, 14 seconds before the end of regular time, who had previously scored from 36 yards to make it 10:10. This time, however, he missed from the same distance. There are no ties in the GFL – and so overtime is now on the cards.

Diez keeps Ravensburg in the game

In this – as the statutes dictate – each team gets the ball once at the opponent’s 25-yard line and tries to score more points than the opponent in their attempt. Munich started, but only managed a field goal for three points. Ravensburg made it exciting and fumbled the ball again, but was able to keep it in their own ranks the third time. So this time it was Linus Diez who kept his team in the game. He scored safely to equalize at 27:27 – and the game went into the second overtime.

Here Ravensburg had possession of the ball. McGovern’s first two passes missed. The first was almost intercepted by the Munich team, but three Cowboys got in each other’s way. The American managed to get the third one to the man over 25 yards. Lennies McFerren scored the fifth touchdown to give the visitors a 33:27 lead. The following 2-point conversion (there are no extra points in overtime) failed.

Mohamed Mansour does his team a disservice

Now it was Munich’s turn again – but Bayern’s nerves failed. Offensive lineman Mohamed Mansour did his team a disservice. First he made a holding for a loss of ten yards and after the next play he hit an opponent, received a personal penalty and was sent off the field. The resulting penalties set the Cowboys back so far that they could not score another touchdown. Ravensburg had won 33:27 and secured home advantage in the play-offs.

The mood afterwards – on the bus on the way back, where the “Schwäbische Zeitung” reached the team – was of course “bombastic” given the circumstances. “The boys made history today and gave themselves and our fans a play-off home game,” said Defensive Coordinator Juan Macias happily, and Offensive Line Coach Jake Suggett added: “It certainly wasn’t our best game, but in the end we won.” I am very proud of the boys who gave it their all today.

Away curse defeated

In addition, with their victory in Munich, the ifm Razorbacks have now put the away curse of this season behind them – not unimportant in the play-offs. But now there is a home game, either against the Hildesheim Invaders or the New Yorker Lions Braunschweig – and the ifm Razorbacks Ravensburg have worked really hard for that.