Baumholder quarterback Ben McDaniels, right, tries to keep Sigonella's Antonio Garcia at arm's length as he rushes for yardage in a Division III game at Baumholder on Saturday. Baumholder won 29-13. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
BAUMHOLDER, Germany – Ben Holliday ran for two touchdowns Saturday to pace the Baumholder Bucs to a 29-13 Division III victory over the Sigonella Jaguars.
Holliday’s four-yard, third-quarter TD plunge capped a 29-0 game-opening run by the Bucs, playing nine-man ball for the first time this season. The unanswered points propelled Baumholder to a 2-0 mark in the small-schools division of DODDS-Europe.
Anthony Hendrix, who finished the day with 162 yards on nine rushes, opened the scoring by bursting for an 80-yard touchdown run that gave the Bucs a 7-0 lead after one period. Holliday, who ran for 56 yards on 12 carries, followed with a one-yard plunge in the second quarter, and Baumholder made it 22-0 at intermission on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Ben McDaniels to Isaak Giefer.
McDaniels, an All-Europe wide receiver who moved to quarterback this season, finished the day six-of-12 passing for 77 yards and added 80 rushing yards to Baumholder’s 300 total yards on the ground, according to Baumholder assistant coach Erik Majorwitz. McDaniels, who kicked three extra points, was intercepted once.
Sigonella (0-2) found the going rough against a Baumholder defense led by 10 tackles each from Nobleman Soule and Dasante’ Brown, who also sacked Sigonella quarterback John Gasporra twice.
Under heavy pressure all day, Gasporra completed seven-of-11 passes that netted 44 yards.
D'Ontrell Harrington, who ran 13 times for 128 yards, got the Jaguars into the end zone with fourth-quarter TD runs which covered three and 30 yards.
Baumholder, which next is scheduled to host winless Brussels on Friday night, prevailed in spite of drawing 100 yards in penalties, Majorwitz reported.
"Penalities didn't hurt us today," Majorwitz quoted first-year Baumholder coach B.J. Walker as saying, “but we have to be ever-mindful that mental mistakes could prove costly down the road."
Next up for Sigonella, which got 42 yards on 14 carries by Collin Gantt, is a Saturday home game against Bamberg.