ANSBACH, Germany — The Ansbach Cougars stepped up a notch and won their 18th straight game with a 49-8 mercy-rule victory over Division II Mannheim on Saturday.

Running back James Esters scored on runs of 13, 35 and 23 yards, while tight end Russell Bailey scored twice on passes from Brandon Bachtel for Ansbach.

The Cougars rushed the ball 30 times for 395 yards and completed five of seven passes for 90 yards in the game, which lasted only three quarters.

Sixty of Ansbach’s yards came on a swing pass to Bailey for the Cougars’ fourth TD.

Esters carried eight times for 121 yards, and Dameon Outley added 104 yards on seven rushes.

John Willis also threw a TD pass for Ansbach, a toss to Tyler Sherman, and David Malone broke a 47-yard TD run that ended the game.

Mannheim, which got 106 rushing yards on 11 carries from freshman Jamal Womble, got on the board in the second period on Womble’s 50-yard run around left end. Edward Williams’ two-point pass to Matt Hall made it 35-7 at halftime.

Other Division III games Saturday:

Hohenfels 25, Giessen 0: At Giessen, Germany, Brandon Merriweather ran for a pair of touchdowns, and Sung Kyun Bryon and Taylor Arnett led a stifling defense as the Tigers blanked the Griffins in a nonconference game.

Merriweather’s runs of 50 and 18 yards came during the fourth quarter as the Tigers (2-0 overall) finished their tuneup for Friday night’s Division III-C showdown at home against unbeaten Ansbach.

Stephen Washington and Carlos Jones also scored for Hohenfels.

Bryon was credited with nine solo tackles and two assists.

Giessen fell to 0-2 overall.

AFNORTH 24, Rota 14: At Brunssum, Netherlands, Bryent Blankenship completed a pair of touchdown passes, and Kyle Winn and Jared Waters each rushed for more than 100 yards as the Lions won their first game in more than two years.

Blankenship threw TD passes of 34 yards to Sasha Miller and 13 yards to Winn in a game which was tied 7-7 at halftime.

Winn had 176 yards on 21 carries, while Waters rushed 19 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. AFNORTH’s last win was a season-opening 42-14 victory over Vilseck on Sept. 7, 2002. The Lions are 1-1.

Rota (1-1 overall) got 145 rushing yards and a touchdown from Joseph Casey.

Baumholder 45, Bamberg 25: At Baumholder, Germany, freshman quarterback Chris Bray ran for two touchdowns and passed for two Saturday as Baumholder downed Bamberg.

Bray, who plunged in for a pair of TDs in the early going, found Ron James with second-half scoring passes of 47 and 11 yards. Bray was 7-for-15 for 179-yards on the day.

James, who caught five passes for 143 yards, also set up a third TD with an interception return of 26 yards to the Bamberg two-yard line.

The Bucs improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in III-D.

Bamberg (0-2, 0-1) had an early 12-0 lead on Christian Peel’s 42-yard punt return TD and a 30-yard pass from Marvin Gholston to Peel.

Tim Battle carried 10 times for 109 yards for Bamberg.

Menwith Hill 50, Alconbury 8: At RAF Alconbury, England, junior Mike Bailey ran for 160 yards and scored five touchdowns, and freshman QB Matt Bailey added a TD pass and a TD run as the Mustangs rolled over the Dragons in a III-A game.

Mike Bailey scored on a 60-yard punt return, a 20-yard interception return, a six-yard pass from his younger brother. He also had runs of 35 and three yards.

Le’Shawn Adams added a running TD, and Ryan Gimmy booted a 28-yard field goal for Menwith Hill (2-0 overall and 1-0 in III-A).

Alconbury got its points on Vincent Evalo’s 15-yard interception return.

The Dragons are 0-2.

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