Lakenheath's Marcus Smith attempts to hold off a Kaiserslautern player during a home football game on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. Lakenheath won the game 28-13. (Adam L. Mathis/Stars and Stripes)
Lakenheath's Marcus Smith attempts to hold off a Kaiserslautern player during a home football game on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. Lakenheath won the game 28-13. (Adam L. Mathis/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern's Jamarkus Myles rushes while Lakenheath's Riley Palmer clings to him during a game at RAF Lakenheath, England, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. Myles scored one touchdown during the game. (Adam L. Mathis/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern's David Zaryczny rushes while Lakenheath's Casey Stangl holds on during a football game at RAF Lakenheath, England, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. Stangl had eight tackles during the game. (Adam L. Mathis/Stars and Stripes)
Lakenheath's Asher Cedillo, after making an interception, and rushed to eventually make a touch down during a home game against Kaiserslautern on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. (Adam L. Mathis/Stars and Stripes)
RAF LAKENHEATH, England – Lakenheath broke a nearly three-year losing streak on Saturday with a victory over a Division I rival.
The Lancers defeated Kaiserslautern 28-13 to score their first victory since Sept. 29, 2012 when they beat the Raiders 41-14.
Despite the long losing streak, Josh Kueter, Lakenheath’s head coach, was not surprised by the victory because of the enthusiasm his team has shown in practice this season.
“We have some physical boys and they’re going to be able to push some people around,” Kueter said. “I think no game is going to be easy for us, but I think every game is going to be a game.”
The Lancers’ victory was spearheaded by Marcus Smith, a sophomore, who rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
He was backed up on the defensive side by Casey Stangl with eight tackles and Colten Menges and Joseph Krussic with four tackles each.
“We just tried to make the (Raider) offense keep guessing basically what we were doing,” Kueter said about his defense.
Kaiserslautern spent most of the game with only one touchdown on the scoreboard and only slipped a second in near the last two minutes of the game.
Aaron Scalise, the Raiders’ head coach, cited four turnovers, which “killed us,” and poor execution as reasons for the loss.
“The defense picked up the pace later in the game, started to get it a little bit better,” Scalise said about his team trying a new scheme.
Lakenheath faces Wiesbaden next, who Kueter described as “always going to be tough.” The Warriors fell 18-9 to Stuttgart on Friday night. Kaiserslautern hosts defending champion Ramstein on Friday.
Twitter: @AMathisStripes
