BRISTOL, England – Ryan Reagin tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Trawick midway through the fourth quarter Saturday to defuse a Filton Pride comeback attempt and move the Wiesbaden Warriors into Saturday’s European Division I title games with a 29-21 semifinal victory.

“It was a big play,” Wiesbaden coach Steve Jewell said by telephone on Saturday of the strike that put the Warriors up 29-14. “They were storming back.”

What the Pride was storming back from was a 22-0 first-half lead Wiesbaden built on two touchdown runs by All-European Daniel Harris, who ended the game with 195 rushing yards, and a 28-yard TD pass from Reagin to Kenyatta Hill.

Filton began the comeback on a TD run by Jordan Eaton, who finished the game with 158 rushing yards and three TDs. With the two-point conversion, Filton, playing its first season in DODDS-Europe, cut its halftime deficit to 22-8.

Eaton made it 22-14 in the second half, but Wiesbaden recovered an onside-kick attempt and pushed across the insurance-TD pass.

Eric Stouter led Wiesbaden with 12 tackles; Dannie Weber added 10 and Khari Bennett picked off a Filton pass.

Filton ended its first season 5-2, with both losses coming in it last two games.

“We have had a blast,” Filton coach Benjamin Herod wrote in a Saturday E-mail. “Just sorry it’s all over now.”

Herod sees promise to the Pride’s future.

“We were just not healthy enough to compete with them for four quarters physically with just 21 guys in (uniform),” Herod wrote. “We get a large proportion of our guys back next year, though, so I am hoping we can maybe challenge with the bigger teams a little better.”

Wiesbaden (5-2), the Division I-South runner-up, will take on I-South champ Heidelberg in Saturday’s Division I title game at Baumholder.

The Warriors and Lions have played each other twice this season, with Heidelberg winning both times on the field but forfeiting the second game – a decision the school is appealing.

Migrated