28th July 2005 – Germany 34-0 Great Britain, Malmo, European Championship Pool A Semi-Final

A hat-trick of running TD’s in the second half of this matchup between the great European rivals was the difference in this one sided semi-final. On the opening drive of the match, after holding the Germans and forcing them to punt a holding penalty led the Germany continuing their drive and scoring on a 12 yard pass from Joachim Ullrich to Markus Schöpf. Biedenkapp’s PAT was good and Germany led 7-0. Starting on their own 27 yard line, Lions came out with 4 WR’s, but after just 3 yards were forced to punt. Accurate passing from Ullrich enabled Germany to move the ball to the Lions 17. A good stand by the Lions team forced Germany into a 34 yard field goal which was missed wide and left.

2005GBGermanya.jpg (49117 bytes)  2005GBGermanyb.jpg (47466 bytes)  2005GBGermanyc.jpg (46660 bytes)  2005GBGermanyd.jpg (44342 bytes)  2005GBGermanye.jpg (48071 bytes)
Photos courtesy of Andreas Gebek
http://www.sidelineview.de/

On the Lions next drive, Drane completed 2 passes for 4 yards each to Palumbo, and the Lions faced 4th and 2 from their own 28. Coach Ayub went for it, but Cohen made no gain giving the Germans the ball in excellent field position. 6 plays later and Ulrich hit Schöpf for their second TD, and with the PAT Germany led 14-0.

QB Drane led an excellent drive next up. From their own 35, a 15 yard pass to Bryne for a first down, and then 28 yards to Cohen took the ball to the Germans 22. Two more passes to Cohen for 14 and 13 yards moved the ball to Germany’s 5 yard line, but 3 incomplete passes led to 4th and goal from the 10 after a penalty. Coach Ayub went for it again, but Drane threw another incomplete pass and the Germans were off the hook. As the clock wound down to the end of the first half, Germany tried to add some more points to the board, but Biedenhapp’s 47 yard field was short. 14-0 to Germany at half time.

The Lions started the 2nd half in confident fashion with Campbell moving the ball to Germany’s 37, but two penalties later and the Lions were forced to punt. Germany then moved the ball 86 yards on just 6 plays ending with Poschmann’s 14 yard run to put the Germans 21-0 up. The Lions couldn’t get things going, and after a sack on Drane, the Lions went for it on 4th down again from Germany’s 43, but Drane’s pass to Cohen was incomplete. Germany took over but were forced to punt after some good pass defense from Brazier, Pennington and Roach.

The Lions had a 9 play drive next, but were forced to punt. Cohen’s 37 punt was returned 38 yards by Duft and just 3 plays later Poschmann ran in from 26 yards to put Germany 28-0 up. After 3 more incompletions, Cohen punted again, and with Germany running out the clock, Poschmann ran in for his third TD from 21 yards.

Germany gained 447 yards of offense against GB’s 143. Kofi Campbell led the way for the Lions with 62 yards from 10 carries. Drane completed 9 of 27 for 107 yards. Cohen 5 catches for 71 yards. Long led the D with 5 tackles. For Germany, Joachim Ullrich was 18 of 21 for 160 yards and 2 TDs, and Poschmann gained 122 yards on just 14 carries and carried off the MVP award. The loss moved GB into a bronze medal playoff with Finland (who lost to Sweden in the other semi-final).

GB Squad

QB David Drane (London Olympians), Neil Canning (Birmingham Bulls)
RB Kofi Campbell (Birmingham Bulls), Stewart Muir (Kent Exiles), Steve Coles (Coventry Jets), Marc Saunders (PA Knights), Chris Taylor (Bristol Aztecs)
WR Mark Squire (West Coast Trojans), Marc Cohen (Coventry Jets), Jeremy Simms, Clive Palumbo, Tam Bryne (all London Olympians), Joe Black (Birmingham Bulls), Duncan Aldous (London Blitz), Rodney Egerton (PA Knights)
TE Adam Newman (Oxford Saints), Philip Scales (Cologne Falcons)
OL David Carpenter, Mark Lockwood, Kevin Keohane (all PA Knights), Peter Jones, Rob Hardy, Steve Hopkins, Charlie Wilson (both Bristol Aztecs), Matthew.Meyer (London Olympians/Hertfordshire Hurricanes), Rab Beveridge (Clyde Valley Hawks)
DL Bernie Hackshaw, Saul Freer (Coventry Jets), Brian Long (Doncaster Mustangs), Peter Fields, Gavin Collins (PA Knights), Sean Hopkins (Bristol Aztecs), ,
LB Paul Newey (Coventry Jets), Brendan Cunnane (Birmingham Bulls), Craig Pennington, Craig McDowell (both ASAP Yorkshire Rams), Dale Powell (Southern Sundevils), Ryan Hunter (Glasgow Tigers), Tom Proctor (Bristol Aztecs)
DB James Brazier (Berlin Adler), Wes Roach, Scott Rowe (both London Olympians), Ahmed Hashim (Birmingham Bulls), Simon Kockelbergh (PA Knights), Dale Smart (Sussex Thunder)
K Duncan Aldous (London Blitz)
P Marc Cohen (Coventry Jets)