Naples senior running back Robert Oliver rushed for more than 200 yards Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, but it wasn't enough to avoid the Wildcats sustaining a 20-14 loss to Aviano. The two teams meet again Saturday in Naples for the DODEA-Europe Division II title. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Aviano upset Naples in the teams’ regular-season finale and came up seven points short of earning the right to host the DODEA-Europe Division II championship game with a 20-14 win on Saturday afternoon.

The Saints (5-1) and Wildcats (5-1) will meet on Oct. 21 in Naples for the title.

Aviano led by 13 points early in the fourth quarter and was on its way to be the home team next week. Naples’ Robert Oliver put an end to that dream with a short score, his second touchdown of the game.

The senior running back had 229 yards on 22 rushes.

The Saints tried to push the lead back out to 13 with more than 2 minutes left when they went for it on a fourth-and-2 at midfield. The Wildcats took over when quarterback Andrew Walker missed an open receiver downfield, allowing the Wildcats to take over with a chance to win the game.

Naples drove the ball to the Aviano 16-yard line. The Saints’ Colin North intercepted Camden Kasparek’s desperation heave in the end zone on a fourth-and-15 play with 20 seconds remaining to end the game.

For the Saints, Josh Barthold scored on a long run after a fumble recovery, Deon Walker had a short rushing touchdown and Juju LaSalles caught a touchdown pass from Andrew Walker.

Division I

Vilseck 22, Kaiserslautern 14: The Falcons took care of business with a first-round playoff victory against the Raiders on Saturday afternoon.

Vilseck (3-3) jumped out to a 14-point lead at the 9:15 mark in the second quarter. Gabriel Mallard rushed for a touchdown run in the first frame, while quarterback Aron Atakuzi scampered 6 yards for a score in the second.

Kaiserslautern’s Rueben Todman found receiver Kemory Wilson for a 17-yard touchdown with 3:43 remaining before halftime to cut the deficit to 14-6.

Midway through the third quarter, Mallard hit paydirt for the second time with a 3-yard run and added a run on the two-point conversion to make it a 15-point advantage. Mallard finished with 187 yards on 37 attempts.

That lead held until 2:29 left in the game. Todman and Wilson connected for a second score, this time for 50 yards to make it a one-possession game.

The Falcons held off the Raiders (2-4) to seal the win.

Garrett Hyten spelled Mallard from time to time and chipped in with 44 yards on nine carries. Defensively, Hyten made 13 tackles and sacked Todman twice.

Damon Saxton and Jahtez St. Ann added a sack each, while St. Ann recorded five tackles. Jayden Freeman also managed five tackles for Vilseck.

Ivan Ruffin intercepted a pass and Junior DeJesus recovered a fumble in the winning effort.

Vilseck advanced to a Division I semifinal matchup at top-seed Lakenheath on Oct. 21.

Stuttgart 41, Wiesbaden 0: The Panthers advanced to the semifinals against Ramstein with a victory over the Warriors. No more information was available.

Division II

Vicenza 54, Rota 14: The Cougars (2-4) defeated the Admirals (0-6) at home to finish the season.

No other information was available.

Division III

Spandahlem 54, Alconbury 0: The Sentinels clinched a home championship game with a home win over the Dragons on Friday evening.

The quarterback-receiver combination of Casey Supinger and Robert Leggett led the way. Supinger put on a 12-of-25 performance with 317 yards and three scores. Two of those scores went to Leggett, who amassed 173 yards on four grabs.

Michael Landers’ two-way effort also made a big impact. He had four receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown, and he had eight tackles, five of which were for a loss.

Spangdahlem ends its regular-season slate by welcoming Baumholder on Oct. 13. Alconbury, meanwhile, ends its season with a home game against Hohenfels.

AFNORTH 47, Sigonella 46 (OT): The Lions grabbed the driver’s seat for the second spot in the D-III playoffs by outlasting the Jaguars in a thriller in Sicily.

Connor Luminarius scored both a 2-yard touchdown and an extra point in the extra period to make the difference for AFNORTH, which stopped Sigonella from scoring a conversion after a 3-yard score from Jaydon Reed.

It was the fifth touchdown of the day for Luminarius, who also had runs of 60 yards, 63 yards, 22 yards and 45 yards – one in each quarter. Reed actually outscored him with receptions of 48 yards and 40 yards and runs of 14, 6 and 20 yards.

Nathan Goldsmith added 18- and 5-yard runs for TDs for the Lions, while John Berry had a 10-yard scoring run for the Jaguars.

The victory sets up a clash Saturday in Brunssum, with the Lions (5-1) needing a victory over Ansbach (4-2) for the right to travel to unbeaten Spangdahlem for the title. A Cougars’ win would set up a three-way tie with Sigonella (4-2) assuming the Jaguars beat Brussels, which had to forfeit its game Friday with Ansbach due to not having enough healthy players.