MANNHEIM, Germany — Jerome Gamboa ran 25 yards for a touchdown and took a kickoff back 90 yards for a score Saturday night as the SHAPE Spartans eliminated the Mannheim Bison from playoff contention with a 21-14 victory.
According to Mannheim coach Frank Macias, the Division II-North game was a battle for 48 minutes.
"The game was extremely physical," Macias wrote in an e-mail, "and both teams showed their physical and mental toughness."
The teams were tied 7-7 at halftime after Mannheim answered Gamboa’s first-quarter TD dash with Marcus Camps’ 1-yard, second-period plunge into the end zone on fourth down.
Gamboa, who rushed 11 times for 80 yards, restored SHAPE’s lead with his 90-yard return of the second-half kickoff, but Mannheim’s Trevin Hampton, who ran the ball 10 times for 142 yards, went in from 5 yards out later in the quarter to tie the score again.
SHAPE’s Christian Walker scored the decider on a 9-yard jaunt in the final quarter. Walker had the opportunity to make the difference partially because of the 14 tackles he made to help thwart Mannheim’s attack.
Teammate Jimmy Drago contributed two stops for losses among his eight tackles, Macias wrote.
Jonathan Lankford carried the ball 13 times for 86 yards for the Bison (2-3 overall, 0-3 in II-North), whose defense was led, Macias reported, by Camps and Chris Ellis.
On Saturday, the Bison will play host to Bitburg, which has clinched the II-North runner-up slot behind unbeaten Wiesbaden along with the league’s final playoff berth. SHAPE (2-3, 2-1) closes its season Saturday against visiting International School of Brussels. A Bitburg loss would leave the Barons and the SHAPE-ISB winner with 2-2 league records, but Bitburg holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over both teams.
Bitburg will travel to Ansbach, the unbeaten II-South champion, on Oct. 25 for one European D-II semifinal. Wiesbaden will play host to the winner of Saturday’s Aviano-at-Naples game in the other semifinal the same day.