Pikes steamroll Sacristans 49-19

The Kaiserslautern Pikes opened their home campaign with a convincing 49-19 win over the Freiburg Sacristans. The Pikes jumped out to a 7-0 lead on their first possession as Denis Rohleder dove in the end zone from 1 yard out.

Two series later, Rohleder found a wide open Pascal Koch for a 48 yard touchdown to make it 14-0, while running back Eric Walton scored from 4 yards out to push the lead to 21-0 the next series. Kaiserslautern found themselves up 21-7 at the break.

The Pikes wouldn’t let up during the second half as they outscored the guests 28-12. Walton and Rohleder tacked on two more scores from the ground, as Rohleder got his second touchdown pass of the game to Timo Grieser.  Hazim Thomas finished the scoring with a 2 yard touchdown run.

The Pikes outgained Freiburg 502 to 148, while outrushing the opponent 352 to -7. Walton led the way with 227 yards, while Thomas finished with 83 yards. Head Coach Jason Nowlin said he was pleased with the way his team played.

“Our defense was outstanding today. Freiburg is one of the better teams in our league and we didn’t allow them to get on track at all,” he said. “Holding a team to -7 rushing yards is impressive no matter what level of football you’re playing.”  
Nowlin was also happy, not only with the offensive output, but how they got their yards, he said.

“We were more balanced today and that’s a good thing,” Nowlin said. “The last two games we have relied heavily on the run and we were more of a big play team. Today we had two drives over 90 yards, and it wasn’t done by all big plays.”

This win moves Kaiserslautern to 3-0, and they continue to sit on top of the Regionalliga-Center League.

The Pikes will hit the field again Saturday at home versus the Albershausen Crusaders. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at Pikes Stadion, Schulzentrum Süd Im Stadtwald, Kaiserslautern.  All military cardholders get in free.

The Pikes defeated the Ravensburg Razorbacks on April 30, 32-21 in Ravensburg. The Pikes came back from a 21-7 deficit and were led by Walton who had 327 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns.

(Courtesy of coach Jason Nowlin)