adh-Open Football in Karlsruhe

At the tournament in Karlsruhe, the Engineers defended their trophy against the Paderborn Unicorns and the HSU Snipers from Hamburg, extending their winning streak that began in 2013. With four wins from four games and a points ratio of 102:0, Head Coach Falco Böllhoff's team also achieved a first at the UniBowl: never before had a team managed to keep a clean sheet in defense throughout the entire tournament.

In the first game of the tournament, the Engineers faced their guests from Paderborn on Saturday morning. The Unicorns made the trip to the fan-shaped city with just 13 fit players. Despite the visitors' valiant fight, the game turned out to be very one-sided, so that some adjustments were made at half-time. Five Engineers players unselfishly donned Unicorns jerseys and played the remainder of the game for Paderborn.

Nevertheless, the game ended with a clear 41-0 victory for the Engineers, with tight end Jonathan Gürtler, wide receiver Thomas Thorn and running back Niclas Dotzauer scoring touchdowns on offense. On defense, defensive end Christoph Hofer also provided a safety, while defensive back Fabian Pünder managed to become the game's top scorer with two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Pünder collected five interceptions over the two days and thus played a major role in the outstanding performance of the Engineers defense.

In the second game of the day, the HSU Snipers from the Bundeswehr University in Hamburg beat the Paderborn Unicorns 12:2. Philipp Pünder, brother of Engineers safety Fabian Pünder and actually a guest player for the Engineers, scored the only points for Paderborn with a blocked extra point that was carried back into the end zone.

The last game of the first day of the tournament was played between the HSU Snipers and the Engineers. Once again, the home team's defense in particular delivered an almost flawless performance. Time and again, the defensive line was able to win the ball back in more than advantageous positions for their offense. In the end, the Engineers recorded a 26:0 victory. In offense, wide receiver Thomas Thorn after a pass from Jonas Lohmann and tight end Niklas Gauly after a pass from Manuel Kuberczyk scored touchdowns. In defense, cornerback Ian Fitzgerald was also able to pick up a high snap from Hamburg in their end zone and score a touchdown.

Well rested, all teams started the second and final day of the tournament on Sunday. In the first game, the HSU Snipers clearly won 42:0 against the Paderborn Unicorns, who were still heavily decimated. This meant that the Unicorns were already confirmed as the third-placed team in the tournament early on.

In the second game, the Engineers and the Unicorns faced each other again. The hosts had a much harder time than the day before and were hardly able to assert themselves offensively against the valiantly fighting Paderborn defense. It wasn't until the second half that things really got going when running back Jan Krämer scored a touchdown to make it 7:0. Shortly afterwards, wide receiver Michael Zimprich increased the score to 14:0 after a pass from Manuel Kuberczyk, which was also the final score.

The starting position for the final game of the tournament was therefore clear: in order to take the trophy home to Hamburg, the Snipers had to win by at least 27 points against the Engineers. However, this Herculean task proved to be far too difficult, as the Engineers defense left no doubt about their dominance on the second day of the tournament. On offense, running back Jan Krämer and wide receiver Simon Saurbier scored the Engineers' touchdowns after a pass from Manuel Kuberczyk. Kicker Jonas Lohmann also made two field goals and defensive end Christoph Hofer scored another safety for his defense.

The game ended with a 21-0 victory for the Engineers, allowing the team to keep the adh-Open trophy in their trophy case for another year.

Many thanks to the HSU Snipers and the Paderborn Unicorns for the long journey, the great games and all the fun off the pitch. We very much hope that we can maintain this great tradition in the coming years and are already looking forward to next year's tournament!