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WIESBADEN, Germany – Friday was opening night for Wiesbaden’s new lighted artificial-turf field, but visiting Vilseck garnered the rave reviews in a 26-0 blanking of the defending European Division I champions.Vilseck’s lethal backfield combo of Shawn Peebles and Carlton Campbell combined to amass 308 yards and two touchdowns each, and the Vilseck defense performed to championship level to spoil the home team’s big night.“The defense did a fantastic job,” Vilseck coach Jim Hall enthused after his team rebounded from last Saturday’s 28-14 home loss to Ramstein. “(Wiesbaden coach) Steve (Jewell) threw in a lot of counters and reverses, and our players did a great job checking down and making the play.”And coming up with the turnover.Vilseck intercepted two passes and recovered four Wiesbaden fumbles, two of which set up short scoring drives, in the rebound game each team was seeking after losses the previous Saturday.Jeff Davis and Elijah Hines stopped Wiesbaden drives by picking off Wiesbaden quarterback Carlos Grinter, and Hines and Julian Smith each recovered first-half fumbles. Johnny Bohnemann fell on two in the second half.“We communicated better this week, especially on defense,” said All-Europe middle linebacker Peebles, who forced two fumbles and put on a tackling clinic for good measure. The best of his stops came on Wiesbaden’s fourth possession of the game, when he stepped into the hole to level Jason Closs on a fourth-and-two play at the Vilseck 32-yard line that Peebles limited to one yard. “He was all over the field,” Hall summarized.On both sides of the ball. “I’m an offensive player,” Peebles insisted in the face of his defensive excellence, and Friday’s figures bear him out. As a tailback, Peebles carried 20 times for 165 yards to just outgain his backfield mate Campbell, who nevertheless took the award for coming up with the spectacular.Campbell broke touchdown runs of 53 yards on a sweep of left end and 40 yards on what appeared to be a trap over left guard the first two times quarterback Brittian Blackman handed him the ball. Campbell carried the ball just six times after that.Wiesbaden, which fell at Patch 38-6 the previous Saturday, again struggled to score. The Warriors managed just 100 yards of offense in the first half and got no closer to the Vilseck end zone than the 16-yard line all night.Next up for the Warriors, 1-2 overall in Division I, is another Friday-Night-Lights affair this coming week against visiting Ramstein. Vilseck (2-1, 2-1) moves on a home encounter with Bristol Academy, formerly known as Filton, hoping to continue the progress the Falcons showed on Friday.bryanr@estripes.osd.mil

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