German Football League 2008

German Football League 2008
master	Braunschweig Lions (7th title)
final	German Bowl XXX
Relegated	Cologne Falcons , Darmstadt Diamonds
Teams	12
Games	72 + 7 play-off games
spectator	127,543  (ø 1,771 per game)
← GFL 2007 GFL 2009 →
GFL2 - 2008 ↓

The German Football League 2008 was the 30th season of the top German division in American football . The champions were the Braunschweig Lions who became the sole record holder with their seventh title.

League division

Kiel Baltic Hurricanes Hamburg Blue Devils Berlin eagle Braunschweig Lions Cologne Falcons Marburg Mercenaries Dresden monarchs Darmstadt Diamonds Weinheim Longhorns Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns Stuttgart Scorpions Munich cowboys

Teams 2008    : GFL North    : GFL South

Overview of the participating teams and their all-time Bundesliga and GFL balance sheets.

	team	Years	S.	U	N	home			Selection			TD ratio
GFL North	Berlin eagle	25th	178	6th	103	92	2	48	86	4th	55	8318: 5967
	Braunschweig Lions (TV)	14th	118	1	38	63	0	15th	55	1	23	5372: 2900
	Hamburg Blue Devils	13	99	4th	45	56	0	19th	43	4th	26th	4038: 2537
	Kiel Baltic Hurricanes	8th	33	2	54	22nd	1	22nd	11	1	32	1857: 1478
	Dresden monarchs	5	26th	2	32	16	1	13	10	1	19th	1262: 1598
	Cologne Falcons	3	13	1	22nd	7th	1	10	6th	0	12	636: 1034
GFL South	Munich Cowboys (N)	26th	161	8th	122	91	2	53	70	6th	69	6957: 5708
	Stuttgart Scorpions	16	80	6th	93	42	5	42	38	1	51	4661: 4861
	Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns	10	49	7th	56	27	0	29	22nd	7th	27	2772: 2769
	Darmstadt Diamonds	5	23	1	40	18th	0	14th	5	1	26th	891: 1433
	Marburg Mercenaries	5	34	3	19th	17th	2	9	17th	1	10	1693: 1213
	Weinheim Longhorns	1	4th	0	8th	2	0	4th	2	0	4th	196: 311

• (N) - Newcomers
• (TV) - defending champion

Season course

Regular season

The season opener contested on April 14, 2008 the Weinheim Longhorns against the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. The Longhorns were able to win the match, somewhat surprisingly, 35: 6, which should prove to be important at the end of the season. The Darmstadt Diamonds achieved a point win in their first game at the Cologne Falcons, but it was to be the only point win in the entire season. And the Falcons quickly lost touch with the other teams and no longer played a role in the distribution of play-off places. Nevertheless, the league was very exciting, all other teams had the chance to reach the play-offs until the last matchday. It also seemed like any team could beat any other. The Dresden Monarchs managed to win against the later play-off participants Weinheim, Braunschweig, Berlin and Kiel in the event of a defeat. They proceeded in the same way against the Falcons and the Blue Devils and thus against all opponents they faced.

Two races developed in the north . The first three places went to the Eagles, Lions and Hurricanes. It was only in the last game of the season in their own stadium that the Kielers were able to beat the Braunschweiger and oust the Lions from the top thanks to the direct comparison they had won. The Kielers also made life difficult for themselves, as they had previously gambled away the championship lead through a defeat against Dresden and a draw against the Adler. The Berlin Eagles built a Berlin Wall during the season and only allowed more than two opposing touchdowns in a game. Unfortunately, the Adler offense didn't score as many as the competition and you had to be content with third place in the northern group. The other race for the remaining fourth play-off place took place between Hamburg and Dresden. After the Blue Devils won their home game 12: 7, Dresden had to win the second leg by at least six points in order to overtake Hamburg. And it got close, about four minutes before the end of the game the Hamburgers managed to shorten it to 12:17 with a field goal . But Dresden was able to strike back one more time, their kicker Holger Hempel scored the field goal from about 40 yards to make the final score 20:12. The Monarchs were the fourth play-off participant in the north.

In the south, the race for the crown was not quite as exciting, Marburg earned a point cushion that could not be used up even after defeats in the last two games. In return, the fight for fourth place was very exciting and close. Thanks to the direct comparison made against the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, Weinheim was able to feel relatively safe with a few game days before the end. But after a surprising win against Marburg, the Unicorns still had it in their own hands to intercept the Longhorns in their last game. This did not succeed, however, the Unicorns had to bow to the Stuttgart Scorpions and reach the Weinheim Longhorn, along with Marburg, Stuttgart and the Munich Cowboys, the play-offs. Munich had a bad start into the season with only one win from the first five games, but with a final spurt of six wins and only one defeat, the Cowboys safely reached third place in the table.

Interconference Games

The northern group largely determined the direct comparisons between the two groups. Only the Munich Cowboys, against Dresden, and the Marburgers, against Berlin, achieved victories. The Darmstadt Diamonds achieved a draw with the Falcons, the other nine games were victorious by the respective northern team.

Relegation

In the relegation of the GFL Nord, the Assindia Cardinals challenged the Cologne Falcons. In the south, the Darmstadt Diamonds met the Plattling Black Hawks .

Surprisingly, the Cardinals from Essen were able to defeat the favored Falcons in the first leg in Cologne with 24:17. That was not to be expected, as the Cardinals had only been promoted from the regional league to GFL 2 the year before . In addition, the Cologne Falcons didn't look too bad when they played in the GFL and were able to make many games tight even if they were lost. And also in the south, the second division was able to prevail in the first game. The Black Hawks from Plattling won the offense exchange with 43:33.

The second leg took place on September 20 . In the south, Plattling prevailed again in a highscoring game. With 44:36 the Darmstadt Diamonds had to admit defeat and start again on the way to the second division. For the Plattling Black Hawks, on the other hand, the rise to the top class is the greatest success in the more than twenty-year history of the club. And the underdog also prevailed in the north. With 28:23 the Cardinals were able to win their home game and are promoted to the GFL. However, the license requirements could still thwart the Essenes' bill.

Play-offs

According to the results of the interconference games, at least in the games between Kiel and Weinheim and Braunschweig against Munich, the favorites were quite easy to identify. And the two northern teams achieved certain home wins. It was more exciting in the other two games. The Marburg team gained a relatively comfortable 26: 7 lead against Dresden until the end of the third quarter. Then the monarchs increased the number of strokes again and came up to 21:29. But with less than a minute remaining, it was the mercenaries' kicker Stephan Bauer who crowned his brilliant performance with his fourth field goal to make it 32:21. The defensive battle between the Stuttgart Scorpions and the Berlin Eagles was also exciting until the end. The Scorpions were able to take a 6-0 lead in the first quarter with two field goals. So it went into the break. In the third quarter the Adler struck back, initially shortening them to 3: 6 before WR Sebastian Judis became the match winner and was able to catch an 87 yard touchdown pass to make the Adler 9: 6. Stuttgart came within field goal range at the end of the game, but the playing time was running out.

The Braunschweig Lions had to travel to Marburg for the semi-finals. There they won, in front of more than 1,600 spectators, certainly with 49:21. Until the intermediate score of 28:21, the Marburg team was always able to reconnect, but the defense of the mercenaries simply couldn't find a means against the explosive running attack of the Lions. Their running backs were able to gain almost 250 meters of space. The semi-final in Kiel, on the other hand, was very exciting, which was to be expected from the two strong defensive teams. The regular season game in Berlin ended 7: 7, in Kiel the Eagles even won 9: 7. In front of almost 3500 spectators in the Holstein Stadium in Kiel, however, the Kielers took over the scepter and were able to play a reassuring 17-0 lead by half time. But the second half, as in the quarter-finals in Stuttgart, then belonged to the Eagles, they came up to 17:12 and had the chance to win the game until the end of the game, but couldn't make it anymore.

German Bowl

The German Bowl XXX took place on September 27th in Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena . Qualified were the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes and the Braunschweig Lions, who thus completed the full dozen finals. Since 1997, the German Bowl XIX, the Braunschweig Lions have always participated in the final. And the Lions were able to prevail in a German final for the seventh time in front of 16,177 spectators. The Lions have thus replaced the Düsseldorf Panthers as record champions, who have so far won six German Bowl.

Scoreboard

German Bowl XXX
team		Points	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Kiel Baltic Hurricanes		14th	0	7th	0	7th
Braunschweig Lions		20th	7th	0	7th	6th
Kiel	Braunschweig	player	Move
0	7th	J. Johnson	55-yard run (PAT Steffen Dölger)
7th	7th	Brandon Langston	33-yard pass from Adrian Rainbow (PAT Matthias Eck)
7th	14th	Michael Andrew	29-yard run (PAT Steffen Dölger)
14th	14th	Adrian Rainbow	1-yard run (PAT Matthias Eck)
14th	20th	Michael Andrew	3-yard run (PAT awarded)

statistics

Closing tables

GFL North

	society	Sp	S.	U	N	Points	TD	Diff.
1.	Kiel Baltic Hurricanes	12	8th	1	3	17: 7	294: 160	+134
2.	Braunschweig Lions	12	8th	1	3	17: 7	328: 214	+114
3.	Berlin eagle	12	7th	2	3	16: 8	141: 108	+33
4th	Dresden monarchs	12	6th	0	6th	12:12	192: 272	−80
5.	Hamburg Blue Devils	12	6th	0	6th	12:12	201: 185	+16
6th	Cologne Falcons	12	2	1	9	5:19	206: 286	−80

• Tie breaker
  • Kiel before Braunschweig because of the direct comparison won (14:16 and 33:14)
  • Dresden before Hamburg because of the direct comparison gained (7:12 and 20:12)

Source:
Explanations: = qualification for the play-offs; = Relegation

GFL South

	society	Sp	S.	U	N	Points	TD	Diff.
1.	Marburg Mercenaries	12	9	0	3	18: 6	356: 206	+150
2.	Stuttgart Scorpions	12	8th	0	4th	16: 8	302: 195	+107
3.	Munich cowboys	12	7th	0	5	14:10	224: 164	+60
4th	Weinheim Longhorns	12	4th	0	8th	8:16	248: 256	−8
5.	Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns	12	4th	0	8th	8:16	207: 331	−124
6th	Darmstadt Diamonds	12	0	1	11	1:23	121: 443	−332

• Tie breaker
  • Weinheim before Schwäbisch Hall because of the direct comparison won (35: 6 and 44:30)

Source:
Explanations: = qualification for the play-offs; = Relegation

Relegation

league	Home club	Visiting club	Result	After quarters
North	Cologne Falcons	Assindia Cardinals	17:24	0:14; 7: 0; 7: 7; 3: 3
North	Assindia Cardinals	Cologne Falcons	28:23	7: 3; 0: 7; 7: 0; 14:13
south	Darmstadt Diamonds	Plattling Black Hawks	33:43	7:20; 12: 7; 14: 7; 0: 9
south	Plattling Black Hawks	Darmstadt Diamonds	44:36	13: 7; 10: 7; 7: 8; 14:14

The Assindia Cardinals have been promoted in the north, the Cologne Falcons have to relegate. And the second division is also rising in the south, the Plattling Black Hawks are looking forward to their first GFL season, the Darmstadt Diamonds have to make their way to the second division again.

Playoffs

Quarter finals

Semifinals

German Bowl - Frankfurt

1N

Kiel Baltic Hurricanes

47

4S

Weinheim Longhorns

21st

1N

Kiel Baltic Hurricanes

17th

3N

Berlin eagle

12

2S

Stuttgart Scorpions

6th

3N

Berlin eagle

9

1N

Kiel Baltic Hurricanes

14th

2N

Braunschweig Lions

20th

1S

Marburg Mercenaries

32

4N

Dresden monarchs

21st

1S

Marburg Mercenaries

21st

2N

Braunschweig Lions

49

2N

Braunschweig Lions

32

3S

Munich cowboys

10

Individual statistics

A selection of the most important offense statistics:

Quarterbacks

	player	society	Sp	Att	Cmp	%	Yards	TDs	Int.	Rating
1.	Joachim Ullrich	Marburg	14th	349	223	63.9	3015	28	11	156.6
2.	Adrian Rainbow	Kiel	15th	418	259	62.0	3507	31	7th	153.6
3.	Dennis Zimmermann	Braunschweig	14th	260	149	57.3	2137	23	11	147.1

Wide receiver

	player	society	Sp.	Catches	Yards	TDs	Long	Avg / C	Yds / G
1.	Brandon Langston	Kiel	15th	81	1497	15th	68	18.5	99.8
2.	Estrus Crayton	Kiel	15th	77	1037	9	75	13.5	69.1
3.	Marcel fragrance	Marburg	12	63	979	14th	64	15.5	81.6

Running backs

	player	society	Sp.	Runs	Yards	Avg	TDs	Long	Yds / G
1.	Sean Cooper	Marburg	14th	233	1983	8.5	18th	83	141.6
2.	Tony Hollings	Dresden	13	239	1480	6.2	13	75	113.8
3.	Patrick Geiger	Stuttgart	10	198	1111	5.6	12	35	111.1

Audience figures main round 2008

society	Cut / game	Home game 1	Home game 2	Home game 3	Home game 4	Home game 5	Home game 6
Braunschweig Lions	5,560	5,500	5,337	5,300	5,070	6,521	5,633
Kiel Baltic Hurricanes	4.133	4,400	6,500	3,500	3,700	4,300	2,400
Hamburg Blue Devils	2,514	3,150	2,358	2,960	1,782	2.117	2,718
Cologne Falcons	1,843	3,512	1,204	1,144	1,098	1,784	2,314
Dresden monarchs	1,550	2,000	1,000	1,500	1,000	1,500	2,300
Berlin eagle	1,219	1,350	2.011	704	1,748	834	668
Stuttgart Scorpions	946	1,200	980	780	980	875	860
Munich cowboys	926	885	1,079	640	893	1,124	937
Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns	800	500	900	1,200	800	700	700
Marburg Mercenaries	767	850	900	850	750	600	650
Weinheim Longhorns	609	700	720	540	570	540	583
Darmstadt Diamonds	390	700	400	400	370	270	200
cut	1,771

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Source: Huddle-Magazin 13 / 08-18 / 08
2. ^ Match report Kiel Baltic Hurricanes - Braunschweig Lions
3. ^ Match report Dresden Monarchs - Hamburg Blue Devils
4. ^ Match report Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns - Marburg Mercenaries
5. ↑ Assindia causes sensation in Cologne
6. ↑ Plattling pushes the gate to the GFL wide open
7. ↑ Essen beats Cologne! Will Essen be promoted to GFL I?
8. ^ Match report Kiel - Weinheim
9. ^ Match report Braunschweig - Munich
10. ↑ Match report Marburg - Dresden  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
11. ^ Match report Marburg - Dresden
12. ↑ Source Huddle-Magazin 37/2008
13. ↑ Match report source Huddle Magazine No. 38/2008
14. ↑ Homepage GermanBowl ( Memento from September 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ ^{a b} Standings / Schedules on stats.gfl.info. GFL, accessed August 8, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Statistics on stats.gfl.info. GFL, accessed August 8, 2019 . 

Web links

• Official GFL homepage