Defensive coordinator Carter Hollenbeck addresses Ramstein players during a preseason practice sessioni at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Hollenbeck crafted a defense that shut out Wiesbaden 17-0 in the 2014 DODDS-Europe Division I title game. (Gregory Broome/Stars and Stripes)
DODDS-Europe’s recent realignment forced Division I sports such as volleyball, basketball and soccer into a new era filled with upstart contenders, unfamiliar matchups and fresh rivalries.
Division I football, meanwhile, has settled into a persistent status quo.
That’s the reality that hovers over the 2015 DODDS-Europe Division I football season, which begins this weekend with one game Friday night and two more Saturday.
In a new scheduling quirk, this weekend’s three games won’t count towards divisional standings. Instead, the opening weekend merely kicks off and fills out a tight six-week schedule excised of byes and local-national games. Starting the weekend of Sept. 25, the division’s six teams will run a five-game gauntlet, with the top four finishers advancing to the semifinals the weekend of Oct. 30. The championship game follows Nov. 7 at Kaiserslautern High School.
That straightforward setup begs the question: will this season hold anything unpredictable?
Exempt from the realignment that threw the other sports into flux, the six large-school football programs of the Kaiserslautern Raiders, Lakenheath Lancers, Ramstein Royals, Stuttgart (formerly Patch) Panthers, Vilseck Falcons and Wiesbaden Warriors have instead filed in an orderly fashion into three tiers.
There are the elites, Ramstein and Wiesbaden.
The Royals and Warriors have played each other in the last two European championship games, winning one apiece. They’ve accounted for seven of the last 10 Division I titles, with the other three going to since-shuttered Heidelberg.
Both Ramstein and Wiesbaden have proven largely immune to DODDS-Europe’s incessant roster turnover, plugging in junior-varsity callups and incoming prospects into available spots with little obvious decline in quality.
Judging from preseason camps, each team is in line to play to its well-established strengths in 2015. Ramstein will lean on its dominant defense and a rugged running game behind behemoth linemen. Wiesbaden will deploy its spread offense, which collapsed in last year’s stunning title-game shutout loss to the Royals but remains structurally sound.
Checking in below DODDS-Europe dynamic duo are the fringe contenders of Kaiserslautern and Stuttgart.
Kaiserslautern has impressively recovered from an embarrassing multiyear string of futility to establish itself as an annual playoff participant. But the crucial next step to title contention has eluded the Raiders, who have yet to grasp the home-field advantage presented by their home field playing host to the annual Final Four set of European championship games. Low preseason turnout and some significant skill-position losses damper hopes of a breakthrough this fall.
Stuttgart came closest to shattering the division’s glass ceiling with a surprise title-game appearance in 2012. But it’s been one-and-out since, as the Panthers suffered lopsided semifinal losses to Ramstein in each of the last two seasons.
Still, it’s the rebranded squad from Stuttgart that has caught the attention of divisional foes this preseason, bringing a strong contingent to the annual late-summer skills camp at Ansbach and fielding what might end up as DODDS-Europe’s most productive backfield.
Finally, there is the bottom tier, comprised of Vilseck and Lakenheath.
The proud Falcons have settled into a role as a pain-inflicting team that no opponent wants to play; but when those opponents do play the Falcons, that opponent usually gets the win. Vilseck’s gritty, physical defense is often trumped by its punchless offense; the Falcons never scored more than 17 points in a game last season and have won just three games over the last two years.
Lakenheath, meanwhile, is staring at an even bigger mountain to climb: the Lancers are 0-10 over the last two seasons. The schedule puts Lakenheath in a position to succeed, however, with a three-game homestand from Oct. 3-17.
In just six weeks, two teams will play for the DODDS-Europe Division I championship. History has declared its favorites. Does this season hold other plans?
Twitter: @broomestripes
