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Ramstein beat Kaiserslautern 33-14 to close out an undefeated 2018 regular season but the two schools will play again this weekend in the DODEA football playoff semifinals. Kaiserslautern will make its first postseason appearance since 2014 while Ramstein is looking to win again for a ticket back to the title game where it’s season ended last year.
Saturday’s game at KHS stadium on Vogelweh featured a heavy dose of Royals runners Dominque Arizpe, J.J. Little, and Bailey Holland, who combined for 357 ground yards and four touchdowns. Ramstein established a 17-0 halftime lead and saw much of its success throughout the game come from third down conversions to extend drives. The same held true in the season opener, when Ramstein also beat Kaiserslautern.
“That’s been big for us all season and to do it you have to be focused and maintain your composure, so it’s good to see your players do that,” said third-year Royals coach Carter Hollenbeck.
Kaiserslautern tried to ignite its own vaunted running game but had less success against what statistically ranks as the top defensive unit in DODEA Division I. The Royals turned the ball over near their own goal line twice to KHS in the first half but both times the Ramstein defense stiffened and held on fourth down.
“We don’t have a lot of players and the depth we do have is a lot of ninth graders, mostly,” said first-year Kaiserslautern coach Duke Allen. “I am proud of the way our team responded to a big-game situation against Ramstein and know we are continuing to improve. Our team is playing hard and you can see it.”
Arizpe had 233 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown for Ramstein while Holland ran 13 times for 63 yards, with two scores. Little scored once with 11 carries for 61 yards. Arizpe had three runs of over 20 yards including a 49-yard scamper early in the game that set up a short Holland score.
“Dom had a great game and I was happy overall with our running attack,” said Hollenbeck. “Another key part of the game was Austin Grimes and his kicking. He made both of his field goal tries and both extra-point kicks, but his kickoffs really got better and better as the game went on. Special teams is something you have to be able to be able to depend on.”
Corey Coombs ran 22 times for 82 yards and a touchdown, on a left-side sweep late in the second half. Raider quarterback Esteban Saldana threw to Nick Henry for a fourth quarter touchdown then threw to Dorian Cotton on the conversion to set the final score. There were numerous positive takeaways for a KHS program that has shown more improvement this season than in the previous five combined.
Most notably, Coombs was the season rushing leader for Division I with 186 carries for 1,204 yards. Coombs scored eight touchdowns on the year and will need more high production this week for the Raiders to keep pace with Ramstein. His running mate, Cedric Ellis, will also look to get loose offensively while also continuing to make stops in the defensive secondary.
Xavier Chambers had a fumble recovery and an interception for Kaiserslautern and Kaylon Williams had nine stops in the secondary. Andrew Wells added 11 tackles and defensive end Gabe West had three sacks and seven total tackles. Now comes the playoff matchup between the KMC rivals, this time on the RHS campus Saturday.
Another chance at the Royals is something most Raider players highly anticipate, even if both coaches said they would rather be playing someone else. “We look forward to playing them again … we need to stop the outside run game better so we’ll work on that this week,” said Williams, one of several freshmen seeing time for KHS, including Davyn Hill and others, this year.
Chambers agreed, while also pointing out how tough of an assignment it will be. “They are an excellent team and to have made it as far as they did last year you know they have a strong program. But we came out and did some good things so we feel good about how we played, too.”
Ramstein’s answer to third-and-long was throws by quarterback Carl Norman to Jason Jones Jr. and Naser Eaves. The tall duo accounted for seven catches and nearly 100 yards with a screen pass touchdown catch for Jones.
“I thought Carl played excellent in his first start and when teams double on those receivers we’ve been able to throw to Drew Hodges in the slot,” Hollenbeck said. “We had Bryce Thomas in the slot, too, before he was injured and it’s an option we’ve had success with.”
Miquel Smith and Cameron Chester each made key end zone deflections to keep Kaiserslautern off the scoreboard early and the Raiders were unable to make key plays in between the 20-yard lines that could extend their possessions. Chester had four tackles and an interception to go with other Ramstein top tacklers Kyle Lloyd with 10, David Faust with nine, Holland with eight, and Jalon Lewis with nine.
“Chester is underestimated at five-foot-eight and he draws bigger assignments where he really holds his own,” Hollenbeck said. “He is fast and feisty … we’d been trying to get him a pickoff and he finally got it.”
Ramstein hosts Kaiserslautern in one of Saturday’s DODEA semifinals while Lakenheath hosts defending champ Stuttgart in the other pairing. The Division III, II, and I title games take place successively the following week here at the stadium on Vogelweh.
VOLLEYBALL
Ramstein tops SHAPE, Kaiserslautern
Sophomore Sydney Gabriel had five aces and her senior sister Morgan had three more, plus nine digs to lead Ramstein to a three-game sweep of SHAPE last weekend.
Senior striker Masaya Archbold had seven kills as Ramstein (8-0) also swept three straight from Kaiserslautern, winning by scores of 25-13, 25-15, and 25-8. Lydia Coddington had eight digs in the win over the Raiders and Isabella Coddington had 10 aces plus 15 assists. Freshman Ahmarie Young played big, too, with six kills and seven aces.
Ramstein and Black Forest will be hosted by Kaiserslautern for a round-robin event this weekend to end the regular season, then Europeans begin November 1 in Wiesbaden.
Baumholder falls twice
The Lady Buccaneers were looking for their first win but couldn’t find it in losses to Spangdahlem and Brussels. Against Spangdahlem, they fell 25-10, 25-12, and 25-15. The match with Brussels saw BHS make it’s biggest push in the second game before losing by a 25-20 score. Baumholder will host Spangdahlem again this weekend.
TENNIS
Ramstein bests Lakenheath, Alconbury
Ramstein had a positive end to its regular season, sweeping 34 of 36 matches in wins over Lakenheath and Alconbury. The Ramstein girls had Kate Sankey in the top spot, winning 6-0, 6-0 against her Alconbury foe and 6-0, 2-6, 10-1 against competition from Lakenheath. Ashlyn O’Connor, Alexis Pinkham, Isabella Guzaldo, Maddi Svan, and Mercedez Shelton all recorded 8-0 pro set wins against Lakenheath foes.
In girls’ doubles vs. Alconbury, wins came from Pinkham/Shelton, O’Connor/Guzaldo, and Sankey/Svan. The same pairings were successful against Lakenheath in this tune-up for Euros, which happen this week at Wiesbaden.
Ramstein’s boys got singles wins against Alconbury from No. 1 Jordan Liebig, Connor Markus, Collin Kent, Connor Sankey, and Danny O’Brien. All of those players won as well versus Lakenheath, along with Collin Ritter. Markus and Kent teamed to win in doubles play along with two wins on the day from the tandems of Sankey/Ritter and Liebig/Pinkham.
Kaiserslautern topped by Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden’s boys won a match with a 6-3 score over Kaiserslautern and the Warriors also won 5-4 against Kaiserslautern’s girls, handing the KHS girls their first loss of the season. The Europeans championships are taking place this week after beginning in Wiesbaden on Wednesday.
CROSS COUNTRY
Ramstein boys, girls best at Wiesbaden
Ramstein dominated
the boys’ competition at a meet in Wiesbaden last weekend. The Royals’ low point total of 15 was far ahead of second place Brussels with 75. SHAPE, Baumholder, Spangdahlem, and AFNORTH also competed at the meet.
The Ramstein girls came away with top prize, too, after edging SHAPE 24-31. The cross country European championships will be staged Saturday on the Rolling Hills course at Baumholder.
