[RavennaAl]

Mennonites 34 - Third Reich 28

“Do you believe in Miracles?” could be the motto for the Amish team, as Luthar Lamp scored on the game’s final play to keep the Mennonites in fist place in the Un-North division. The Mennonites sacked Wilhelm Klink once, and intercepted him twice in what was one of the most physical games played this year.

Lamp scored on a 56 yard burst on the games opening drive to put the men in black up, 7-0. Richard Meier then fumbled the ball on a vicious hit by Billy Yoder, as you could hear the plastic cracking up in the press box. Lamp scored his 2nd TD moments later and it was 14-0 going into the second quarter.

Brian Brenneman made his first interception of the year on a poorly thrown Klink pass, and 2 plays later Speedy Ezekiel caught a 52 yard bomb from Weisser to make it 21-0 Mennonites. Yoder’s interception gave the Amish excellent field position at Munich’s 38. The Mennonites were poised to increase the lead until Weisser threw his first interception of the year when Wolfgang Hahn stepped in front of a fallen receiver to end the half. The crowd was yelling for a pass interference penalty, but the refs made it clear that they were going to let the two teams duke it out.

The Germans came out in the second half fired up, and Meiers 41 yard TD run put them on the board, 21-7. Lamp decided that he was going to carry the Amish on his back, and scored his 3rd TD of the day to push the lead back up to 28-7. Willie Wolf’s clutch 3rd and 15 catch kept the Reich’s next drive alive, and Fritz Mueller scored from 18 yards out to make it 28-14. Munich then recovered an on-sides kick, and Mueller’s second TD run of the day closed the score to 28-21. A three and out gave the ball back to Munich, and Klink guided the Germans down the field. Peter Becker’s catch at the one yard line gave the Reich a first and goal, and 2 plays later Klink ran it in to tie the game with just seconds remaining. The ensuing kick was a touchback, and it looked like the Third Reich was going to get their first non-loss game of the year. Time for one last play, the “Bible Thumper”threw an innocent looking screen pass to Lamp. Surrounded by Germans, Lamp made a juke move that literally spun the Third Reich defenders around and ran down the sidelines for an 80 yard TD to snatch victory out of thin air.

Weisser finished the day 5-9-1 for 180 yards and 2 TD’s and Lamp ran for 127 yards. Klink was 9-17-2 and 158 yards. Derrick Danker had 4 tackles for Munich while the Amish were led by Deoder Yoder’s 4 tackles and Samuel Smucker’s sack.


Luthar Lamp scores on the last play of the game, hugging the right sideline