What: Menwith Hill at Alconbury football.Where: Alconbury field.When: 1 p.m. Saturday.
What’s at stake: Berth in European D-IV title game.
Although conference championships are on the line at two other venues — Ramstein at Kaiserslautern in I-North, Baumholder at AFNORTH in D-III — this game outranks them because the winner earns a berth against Rota in the European D-IV championship game on Nov. 1.
Both teams are 3-2, with Alconbury prevailing 60-28 in the previous meeting between the two on Sept. 27. But since then, the Mustangs have held two opponents to 14 points each, no mean feat in the wide-open nine-man game played in Division IV. Moreover, the second of those Mustang defensive gems came in a 16-14 victory over conference champion Rota, the Admirals’ only loss of the season.
"Christopher Jackson, Scottie Setzer, Andrew Breeding and Jeremey Smith have stepped up, which has encouraged everyone to improve," Menwith Hill coach Pete Resnick wrote, explaining the defensive surge in a Tuesday e-mail.
Still, Resnick wrote, he doesn’t expect another low-scoring game.
"It does feel like a playoff game," he wrote about the showdown, "so I know both teams will be throwing everything they have at each other. Throw is the key word here, because we have had trouble against the pass, specifically Alconbury’s aerial attack."
Directing that attack is Dragons QB Jimmy Luong, who has passed for some 800 yards, Alconbury coach Duke Eidt wrote in an e-mail.
"Six different receivers have caught passes from Jimmy this year," Eidt wrote, "which tells me he has had great improvement in reading his progressions."
One of the six is Devin Pryor, the speed back who has rushed for 900 yards, according to Eidt.
"… but the most impressive thing with Devin," Eidt continued, "is that he’s scored 16 touchdowns so far this year."
Eidt, however, is banking heavily on his defense, led by defensive end Yul McGrath and linebacker Jaime Samudio, against the team his squad led just 22-12 at halftime of that 60-28 game.