Subscribe
Bitburg's Austin Schmidt, left, makes a flying tackle on Mannheim's Calvin Baisden, as Bitburg defeated Mannheim, 21-6, in Mannheim Friday night.

Bitburg's Austin Schmidt, left, makes a flying tackle on Mannheim's Calvin Baisden, as Bitburg defeated Mannheim, 21-6, in Mannheim Friday night. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Bitburg's Austin Schmidt, left, makes a flying tackle on Mannheim's Calvin Baisden, as Bitburg defeated Mannheim, 21-6, in Mannheim Friday night.

Bitburg's Austin Schmidt, left, makes a flying tackle on Mannheim's Calvin Baisden, as Bitburg defeated Mannheim, 21-6, in Mannheim Friday night. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Mannheim's Aaron Garrision keeps Bitburg's Kyle Edgar at arm's length in Mannheim's 21-6 loss to the Barons Friday night. Garrison later scored the lone Bison touchdown.

Mannheim's Aaron Garrision keeps Bitburg's Kyle Edgar at arm's length in Mannheim's 21-6 loss to the Barons Friday night. Garrison later scored the lone Bison touchdown. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Tre Simmons and Krystal Hartke pose for photographers after they were crowned Mannheim High School's final Homecoming king and queen during the halftime intermission of the homecoming game against Bitburg on Friday night. The school is scheduled to close at the end of the school year.

Tre Simmons and Krystal Hartke pose for photographers after they were crowned Mannheim High School's final Homecoming king and queen during the halftime intermission of the homecoming game against Bitburg on Friday night. The school is scheduled to close at the end of the school year. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

A hard hit by Mannheim's LaJuarren Burks and Kurtis Beeson knocks the ball out of the hands of Bitburg's Kyle Edgar in a Division II game in Mannheim Friday night. Edgar recovered his fumble and his Barons went on to defeat the Bison 21-6.

A hard hit by Mannheim's LaJuarren Burks and Kurtis Beeson knocks the ball out of the hands of Bitburg's Kyle Edgar in a Division II game in Mannheim Friday night. Edgar recovered his fumble and his Barons went on to defeat the Bison 21-6. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Bitburg's Erick Matos Jr. , left, tries to avoid being tackled by Mannheim's Chance Bullard in a Division II game at Mannheim on Friday night. The visiting Barons defeated the Bison 21-6, to stay undefeated.

Bitburg's Erick Matos Jr. , left, tries to avoid being tackled by Mannheim's Chance Bullard in a Division II game at Mannheim on Friday night. The visiting Barons defeated the Bison 21-6, to stay undefeated. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Mannheim's Calvin Baisden, left, closes in on Bitburg's Aaron Mayfield after Mayfield rushed for a big gain in the Barons' 21-6 win over over Mannheim Friday night.

Mannheim's Calvin Baisden, left, closes in on Bitburg's Aaron Mayfield after Mayfield rushed for a big gain in the Barons' 21-6 win over over Mannheim Friday night. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

MANNHEIM, Germany – Just under one-and-a-half quarters of Bitburg power football Friday night proved to be enough to fashion a 21-6 victory over the Mannheim Bison that clinched the Division II-North crown for the unbeaten Barons (4-0).

“We’ve got to learn to play the whole game,” said Bitburg coach Mike Laue, who watched his team dominate a talented Mannheim squad over the first 12 and final eight minutes of the game. In between, the Barons went scoreless and allowed Mannheim (2-2) to cut the gap to 14-6.

“But you can’t take anything away from Mannheim,” Laue said. “They played well. (Mannheim coach) Frank (Macias) did a great job with them. They were fighting all the way.”

It would have been easy for the Bison to throw in the towel after Friday’s first 12 minutes. Bitburg unleashed its power-running game, which draws most of its juice from a massive offensive line led by 6-foot-3, 310-pound senior Adam Smith and 6-0, 275-pound All-European junior Darian Billups.

Bitburg drove 55 yards in 10 plays and 64 in 11 plays on their first two possessions to go up 14-0.

“Bitburg's line is everything it was advertised to be,” Mannheim coach Frank Macias e-mailed after the game.

“We were blowing them up,” junior defensive lineman Shaquille Williams said about the first quarter. “We do a lot of hitting drills. It’s all about those sled drills.”

The lessons of the sled took the next two periods off. Mannheim forced the Barons to punt on their only two possessions in the second quarter, and then came up with turnovers that ended Bitburg’s two third-quarter possessions.

Both turnovers nearly proved costly. Mannheim’s Calvin Baisden intercepted off an Evan Less pass and set the Bison up at the Barons’ 45-yard line, but the Bitburg defense forced the Bison to turn the ball over on downs six plays later.

Bitburg fumbled on first down, however, and Mannheim was driving when Bitburg safety Matt Flood picked off Mannheim quarterback Adam Cornelius at the Bitburg 15 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Flood made a diving grab of a ball which deflected off Mannheim senior wideout Brandon Wiley. Cornelius completed seven of 14 passes for 152 yards, but was intercepted twice by Flood.

“We were ready for it (Mannheim’s passing game),” said Flood, who later had an apparent third interception wiped out by a roughing-the-passer flag. “We watched a lot of film. Our coaches did a great job of preparing us.”

Bitburg wasn’t out of the woods yet.

A low snap on a Bitburg punt attempt turned the ball over to Mannheim on the Bitburg 20. Three plays later, Aaron Garrison burst through for Mannheim’s lone TD of the game with 8:35 to go.

It was time for Bitburg to turn the power on again.

“We knew we that we had to get that touchdown,” said hard-running sophomore Kyle Edgar, the man who would cap Bitburg’s ensuing 14-play, 88-yard drive with a 1-yard dagger of a TD run. “The O-line did a great job of opening holes.”

Macias agreed with Edgar.

“I felt like the tide was turning midway in the fourth,” he wrote, “but to Bitburg's credit, they took control with a long drive that resulted in their third touchdown.”

For Smith and his line mates, the game-salting drive made the game fun again.

“It’s just the best,” he said about Bitburg’s aggressive run blocking. “It’s great to go out there and just push them around.”

For Bitburg, the attitude turnaround from the previous 30 minutes came just in time.

“We were making mistakes,” said Edgar, who finished with 137 yards on 25 carries, as he applied ice to a helmet-crown-sized contusion on his lower back. “We were trying to hold on instead of playing our game.”

Mannheim lost for the first time this season on the field. And the Bison, who had to forfeit an opening-day victory at SHAPE because of an ineligible player, still can earn a playoff berth next Friday when they take on International School of Brussels here for the final regular-season game in school history. Mannheim is ticketed for closure in June.

Laue thinks Mannheim has plenty of playoff potential.

“They’re a good team,” he said. “We could hear more from them this season.”

bryanr@estripes.osd.mil

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now