Europe
Raiders break through for first victory on final attempt
Stars and Stripes
October 24, 2015
Lakenheath's Christopher Cruz is pursued by Kaiserslautern's Aaron Hairstone on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015 at Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Gregory Broome/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- The moment finally arrived, albeit a bit too late.
The Kaiserslautern Raiders earned their first and only win of a trying 2015 regular season on Saturday with a 27-14 defeat of the visiting Lakenheath Lancers.
The outcome wasn't enough to extend Kaiserslautern's season, as the Raiders were eliminated from playoff contention after an 0-4 start.
It also wasn't enough to knock Lakenheath out of the postseason. The Lancers finish the regular season in a three-way tie with Stuttgart and Vilseck at 2-3. Vilseck lost to both Lakenheath and Stuttgart, so it's the odd team out of the playoffs; Lakenheath takes the third seed ahead of Stuttgart thanks to the Lancers' 12-0 defeat of the Panthers on Oct. 17.
No. 3 Lakenheath will travel to No. 2 Wiesbaden and No. 4 Stuttgart will visit No. 1 Ramstein in next weekend's semifinals.
The winners of those games will play Nov. 7 at Kaiserslautern for the Division I championship.
Kaiserslautern pulled ahead in the second quarter Saturday and pulled away after halftime. JaMarkus Myles ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns; David Zaryczny added 124 rushing yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Kicker Ryan Rimmler nailed field goals from 40 and 47 yards out.