Bamberg's Andray Gibson, right, pulls in a pass despite the defense of Rota's Brooks Furleigh. Bamberg defeated Rota 22-12 at home Saturday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
BAMBERG, Germany - Andray Gibson ran for one touchdown, recovered a teammate’s fumble in visiting Rota’s end zone for a second TD and hauled in a 1-yard touchdown pass Saturday to lift the Bamberg Barons to a 22-12 victory over the defending European Division III champion Admirals.Leontae Lockett tossed the TD pass that helped the Barons avoid a trip to southern Spain for this week’s European D-III semifinals. With the victory, Bamberg (4-1) earned the No. 2 seed in D-III and a home game in Saturday’s semifinals. The Barons once again will be hosting Rota (3-2), which finished third in the D-III race and will make the flight to Germany for a second straight week.Saturday, the Admirals scored their lone touchdown when Cody Holland blocked a Bamberg punt and K.C. Mason fell on it in the end zone in the first half. Rota’s other points came from two second-half safeties, according to Bamberg coach Ethan Engel, one of them from another bad snap into the end zone and the second from an intentional downing of the ball in the end zone for field-position purposes as the clock would down.Leading the way in stunting the Rota attack, Engel reported, were Jon Bechinina with 10 tackles and Jonathan Miller with nine.