Oldenburg Knights only know the way up – it goes down at Cottbus Crayfish

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Oldenburg – When the Oldenburg Knights set off eastwards in the dark at around 4 a.m. this Saturday, their tired heads were probably still thinking about what was at stake in the GFL2 duel against the Cottbus Crayfish starting at 4 p.m. It’s about preventing what is probably the darkest moment in the club’s history. The path has so far only led upwards, never downwards. A win in Brandenburg is necessary so that after the second season in the second highest American football league, the first relegation does not have to be recorded in the history books.

In the initial phase

“Our aim was always to grow on our own,” said Florian Rückeshäuser, who founded the Knights in 2010 with Christoph Hoppe, in an interview with our editorial team two years ago, when the Knights had just achieved promotion to the GFL2. 14 years ago, the Oldenburg team first entered the Oberliga in a joint team under the direction of the Cloppenburg Titans. In their first season at the fifth highest level, the Knights became runners-up in 2011. This was followed by their first Oberliga year in 2012, when they successfully managed to stay in the league, before winning the division championship in 2013 and, despite losing the playoff duel with Flensburg, being promoted to the Regionalliga because of a vacant place.

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In the regional league

After a difficult 2014 season, in which they remained bottom of the table because no team from above or below made it into the Regionalliga Nord, the Oldenburg team managed to stay in the league on their own in 2015. In the following seasons at the third American football level in Germany, the structures were further refined – milestones were a first home game in the Marschwegstadion in 2016, a complete move from Bad Zwischenahn to the Arena in 2017 and a positive season balance in 2018.

On the road to success

In 2019, the Knights quickly played a perfect season (22:2 points) under head coach Marcus Meckes, but as northern champions they missed out on a place in the GFL2 promotion play-offs. After the 2020 season was canceled due to the corona pandemic, the Oldenburgers dominated again in 2021, but failed in the promotion final against the Hildesheim Invaders. In 2022, Meckes drove the team to a “perfect season” (18:0), but in the promotion play-offs the Knights had to tremble after a win against the Münster Blackhawks and a loss against the Spandau Bulldogs. Thanks to a win by the Blackhawks in the last game of the three-way round, the Knights managed to get promoted together with Münster twelve years after their founding.

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In the hand

“We have to really step on the gas on all fronts,” said Rückeshäuser after the jump to the GFL2, calling for increased professionalization – also with a view to a possible step back to the Regionalliga: “So that the same thing doesn’t happen to us as to other teams, where a lot of things then collapse.” However, the current team of head coach Sebastian Blase has it in their hands in the catch-up game against the Crayfish, who are already relegated, to avert the first relegation in the Knights’ history, as in 2023 (there was also final help from Münster), and to drive home through the darkness without dark thoughts.