American Football: Badgers finish third after 14-0 win in Osnabrück

Very few people really believed that the Ritterhude Badgers could do that. When Simon Gelhaus spoke a few weeks ago about wanting to reach third place in the Northern Football League (South Division), it seemed more like a half-baked motivational aid for the actually meaningless final games of the season. But with the hardly thought possible 14:0 (14:0) away win at the Osnabrück Tigers – the third win in a row – the Dachachse actually climbed to third place. And with this coup against the previous leader, they also decided the title race.

“I’m really very happy with how the whole thing turned out,” said Simon Gelhaus, summing up his mood after the last league game of the 2024 season. The Ritterhude head coach had already announced after the 9:16 defeat against the Bremerhaven Seahawks that he wanted to win the last three games – and in the end he was actually right. In Osnabrück, his team also played excellently in the game.

“We were able to convert the good field position after the first interception into points straight away,” said Gelhaus about the first touchdown of the party, which was scored by Linus Pieper. The subsequent point after touchdown (PAT) by Justin Krieb also found its target, giving the Badgers an early 7-0 lead. And the guests kept the pressure on.

The Ritterhude defense, once again extremely strong, forced a punt, and the Badgers were able to outmaneuver the ball with a so-called big play. Hannes Gaschke caught a long pass and carried the ball into the Tigers’ end zone for the second touchdown. Justin Krieb added another PAT, and the score was 14:0 not only in the second quarter, but also at halftime.

“Apart from a few turnovers, not much happened on either side because the defensive lines were set up very well,” Simon Gelhaus reported of a second half with relatively few offensive highlights. So at the end of the party the Badgers were at zero – and the Ritterhude head coach was happy about the perfect end to an all in all pretty successful season. “If someone had told me before the season that we would end the series with four wins and four losses and come third, I would have bought it straight away.”

To the homepage