Football fans in Europe should get acquainted, if they’re not already, with the Web site www.hsfootballeurope.net. Updated constantly, the site features results, standings, notable performances, historical data and much more.
Here’s the kind of stuff you can expect at hsfootball.net:
Last week’s leaders
Rushing — Alex Moya (Ansbach) 229 yards and 1 touchdown; Devin Pryor (Alconbury) 225 yards and 2 touchdowns; Gino Culotta (International School of Brussels) 143 yards and 1 touchdown; Chris Jackson (Menwith Hill) 144 yards rushing, 2 TDs; Carter Gunn (Ansbach) 139 yards and 2 touchdowns ; Daniel Gettridge (AFNORTH) 11 carries 123 yards; Dallin Bridges (Kaiserslautern) 121yards; Trevin Hampton (Mannheim) 116 yards
Longest field goal — Brandon Massie (Bitburg) 42 yards
Passing—Bret Gilbert (Sigonella) 257 yards and 3 touchdowns; Ben Hausdorff (ISB) 3 touchdowns
Receiving—Tyron Anderson (Sigonella) 150 yards; Jeff Black (Alconbury) 103 yards
Most touchdowns—Kyle Kaus (Vicenza) 5; Carter Gunn (Ansbach) 4; Josh Fry (Kaiserslautern) 4
The football Web site also plans a season-long preview of upcoming games, compiled in informal discussions among members of the European coaching fraternity, as well as standings and results for the previous weekend. Here’s a sample of this week’s analyses:
Division I
Ramstein at Wiesbaden: Wiesbaden’s Steve Jewell knows that a game versus the (by far) largest school in DODDS-Europe is a measuring stick. Ramstein and Carlos Amponin are rebuilding after some key OL graduations and PCS moves, so this was not supposed to be their year. Shutting down Heidelberg last weekend removes any doubt about the quality of its program and depth of talent. Ramstein is a traditionally strong program that it marches on and just reloads. Wiesbaden returns some solid core players from last year’s Division II runner-up team and had several move-in starters from other DODDS-Europe schools (Baumholder and AFNORTH) so they should be fairly sound, even with their lack of enrollment numbers and the loss of the outstanding backfield tandem from last year. At the Division I level, about 16-17 solid football players can form a resilient core to take you to a championship, so Wiesbaden can do well, if the right 16-17 are on their roster.
Division II
AfNORTH at Baumholder: AFNORTH, despite multiple injuries on the OL, showed great toughness … against a talented Mannheim team. Baumholder struggled at Vicenza, but the season is young. Carter Hollenbeck’s Baumholder Bucs are traditionally tough, but big-time move-outs have forced them to go back to the drawing board and try to speed up the development of new and young players. Can Baumholder improve enough this week to compete against Greg Blankenship’s defending D3 champs, who also lost many significant players?
Division III
Menwith Hill at Alconbury: It is early, but Menwith Hill started the season with a dominating win over defending champion, Rota. Alconbury and its new coach, Jeff Black, played Sigonella tough in a loss. Based on the scores last week, Pete Resnick’s Menwith Hill Mustangs have the edge in this game, but Alconbury has been tenacious and tends to get better as the season progresses. How good is Rota? How good is Sigonella? Time will tell, and this game will clear up some top Division III questions.
The football Web site also has extensive historical sections — All-Europe teams, past champions, longest streaks, etc. Fans are encouraged to make their way there and let us know what they think.
Cross Country season too!
Thank you, Stars and Stripes -- and Rusty, for reminding readers that fall is also cross country season! It was great to see the story about the Ramstein boys, who have won 9 straight European championships, and could win their 10th this year.
It was also good to see a Ramstein runner, Elizabeth Doe, as an Athlete of the Week on Thursday, after posting a terrific time on her home course.
While Ramstein does have the advantage of numbers, numbers alone do not win meets or championships. Well-trained and determined runners have place well at the finish line week after week. The kids who come and go at Ramstein deserve a lot of credit for keeping this Division I powerhouse going, but surely the lion's share -- or the Royal's share -- of the credit belongs to the Ramstein Cross Country coaches, both past and present. Obviously, they are doing a lot of things right!
It's also a pleasure to watch a cross country race, as we did this weekend here at Patch, if for no other reason than to see the sportsmanship displayed by runners from each school. This extends to the parents and other spectators, who cheer for every runner regardless of jersey color or race time, down to the last boy and girl across the finish line.
Thanks again, Stripes, for putting the spotlight on a great sport!
Now, when will the European Cross Country Champions get their pictures in the paper alongside football, volleyball and basketball "All Europe" picks?
Not rhetorical
No, really ... I'd like to know when this will happen, or why it won't (see question above.)
Cross Country Facts
Sorry to break the news, but Cross Country is all about numbers. As a long time coach, the schools with the larger numbers are usually always the better teams. It has shown that the larger the number to pull from the more likely the teams success. Sorry this is fact!!
I will give credit though; the coaches do need to know what they are doing to cultivate the athletes to succeed, so the coaches at Ramstein you deserve the credit.
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