Vidovic rushes for 607 as Hohenfels outscores Ansbach
HOHENFELS, Germany - The Hohenfels Tigers and the visiting Ansbach Cougars burned out every light on the scoreboard, overheated the stat-keeper’s calculator to the point of meltdown and filled up every inch of space in the scorebook Friday night in a 70-66 Hohenfels victory in a Division II-South game.
While they were at it, the two teams also re-defined what it takes to earn the title “feature back.” Hohenfels sophomore David Vidovic ran 42 times for 607 yards and seven touchdowns, and his opposite number, Ansbach senior DeMar Flake, who also scored seven TDs, rushed for 400 yards on just 15 attempts on a night both defenses apparently stayed at home studying.
According to Hohenfels coach Ed Lynch, Vidovic scored on runs that covered 21, 26, 51, 20, 49, 20 and 83 yards, the last of which capped the Tigers’ comeback from a 66-48 deficit with 11 minutes 50 seconds to go in the contest.
Flake, who earlier had scored on an 80-yard kickoff return and runs of 55, 20, 45, 50, and 40 yards, went over from 34 yards out to put Ansbach (3-2 overall, 2-1 in II-South) in the apparent driver’s seat.
But Hohenfels (2-3, 1-2) answered with a 20-yard TD jaunt by Vidovic, a 3-yard score by Chris Terrell, who finished the game with 119 rushing yards on 25 carries, and Vidovic’s 83-yard dagger. Vidovic ran for vital two-point conversions after the final two Hohenfels TDs to run his Friday total in that department to three.
Aaron Wright of Hohenfels ran 5 yards for a second-quarter TD in a game which Ansbach, the 2011 European runners-up in D-II, led 40-20 at halftime. Damien Quichocho added two first-half TD runs for Ansbach.
Next up for Ansbach is a suddenly must-win game at II-South leader Naples on Saturday. Should Naples win its final two games and Hohenfels prevail over visiting Aviano next Saturday, the Cougars, in a major anomaly, could miss the playoffs. Ansbach holds the European record for most consecutive title-game appearances, eight from 2002-2009. Over that span, Ansbach won six European championships.
