EIt happened again: Frankfurt Galaxy lost the first game of the season in the European League of Football (ELF), for the third time after 2021 and 2022. 9:33 (6:19 at halftime) it was against Rhein Fire at the end, but harder The loss could be weighed by the re-injury of quarterback Jakeb Sullivan, who was injured twelve months earlier in the season opener.
It was the second Frankfurt attack that brought disaster on Sunday afternoon. Rhein Fires defensive back Omari Williams intercepted a pass from Sullivan 15 yards from his own end zone and ran to the opposite side of the field with the ball. The second touchdown for Rhein Fire also hurt Sullivan physically. Frankfurt’s quarterback rushed after Williams to make up for his bad pass. But just as Sullivan bent down to grab Williams, his pass receiver and friend Lorenz Regulator slammed into him head-on.
“Feel my knee with every step”
Sullivan lay in a daze while medical staff attended to his left knee. Memories awoke. Sullivan was eliminated from the first game against Rhein Fire last season with a rib injury and then missed a game. He was able to keep playing this time, and the quarterback didn’t rest on either. Time and time again, Sullivan took hold of the ball and legs to keep his team’s attacks going. During the breaks, however, he hobbled suspiciously. His coach Thomas Kösling said the day after the game, “Jakeb felt his knee with every step.”
It is not yet possible to say whether the damage is serious, a medical diagnosis is still pending. In any case, the injury fits into a performance that had so many parallels to the defeat against Rhein Fire a year ago that whole paragraphs of text that had been published about the game at the time could be written here.
Frozen in awe
The team that Galaxy lost to this time doesn’t have much to do with the one from a year ago. No franchise in the ELF has upgraded its squad like Rhein Fire, who are title contenders. Galaxy coach Thomas Kösling was nevertheless in good spirits before the game. “I see us in a similar category,” he said. “We won’t be in awe.” But his team seemed very stiff in front of 12,665 spectators in Duisburg when the game started and the action swept over them.
After Frankfurt’s first attack was quickly over, Rhein Fire brought the first possession straight to the goal. And even several times. A throw from quarterback Jadrian Clark sailed into the hands of his new receiver, Anthony Mahoungou, who caught it, stumbled, got up and trotted the ball into Frankfurt’s end zone. Galaxy’s new defensive back Jamalcolm Liggins was assigned as Mahoungou’s guard but lost sight of him immediately.
Old Frankfurt acquaintances
Still, Liggins was back in time to touch the prone Mahoungou, ending the play. The touchdown didn’t count. Moments later, however, the next one counted when Rhein Fire ran the ball into the end zone from a short distance with a lot of physical strength. The even more unfortunate second Frankfurt attack followed, which inhibited Sullivan for the rest of the day. Rhein Fires quarterback Clark, on the other hand, calmly distributed pass after pass, shielded by the bodyguards on his offensive line, center Joachim Christensen in the lead.
Mahoungou, Williams, Christensen. These are outstanding players on the Rhein Fires side, who were part of the Galaxy team that won the ELF two years ago. But Galaxy didn’t lose that game that significantly because she lacks the class to keep up with her opponent. During the break, coach Kösling said on the television broadcast that the simple things didn’t work at all for his team that day. “We can’t kick field goals, we can’t just let receivers run into the end zone all by themselves.” Kösling, the former defensive player, was upset.
Things didn’t go much better in the last two quarters, with the game flattening out and Rhein Fire not being able to make any sensible attacks for a long time. Sullivan suffered another pick six (Rhein Fire defensive touchdown) and was again hit hard, this time by a pressing Fire defender. Kösling reacted and took his most important man off the field for the meaningless final moves of the game to prevent worse things from happening.
“It was a really bad start,” said Kösling. “We are surprised that we were so clearly inferior.” But that didn’t cause any unrest. The coach is convinced that this appearance is not typical for his team. However, it is very typical of their appearance on the first match days. An undoubtedly easier task awaits next Saturday. Defeating the league newcomer Fehérvár Enthroners in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, is a “must”, says Kösling. With Sullivan – or without him.
