World Bowl XIII, officially known as Yello Strom World Bowl XIII, was

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

's 2005 championship game. It was played at the

LTU arena Merkur Spielarena (stylized as MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA), previously known as the Esprit Arena (until 2 August 2018), the LTU Arena (until June 2009), and as the Düsseldorf Arena (during the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest), is a multi-functional footbal ...

in Düsseldorf, Germany on June 11, 2005. In this match-up, the 6–4

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to ...

got back to the

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

after losing in World Bowl III and spending nearly a decade being on the outside. Now, they had a chance to dig deep and win big. Their opponent for the match-up was the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games ...

, who were coming off their best year (9–1 and a victory in World Bowl XII) and made it back to the World Bowl with a 7–3 record, hoping to defend their title. 35,134 fans were in attendance for the fight. After many years of suffering, the Admirals won their first World Bowl title by stripping the defending champion Thunder of their title, by a final score of 27–21. Taking home

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

honors was Admirals QB

Kurt Kittner Kurt Kittner (born January 23, 1980) is a former American football player for the Atlanta Falcons. He was a quarterback for the University of Illinois during their 2001 Big Ten Championship. Biography High school career Kittner was quarterbac ...

, who went 15 of 28 for 239 yards with 2

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and no

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

Background

The Admirals won the first meeting 31–27 in Amsterdam, while the Thunder took the second meeting 27–16 in Berlin.

Game summary

The Admirals drew first blood on their opening possession as Admirals QB

lead his team on a 9-play, 68-yard drive and capped it off with a 22-yard TD pass to WR Ruvell Martin. It would turn out to be the only score of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Admirals would quickly add to their lead. They used their first full possession of the period on just one play, but it would be swift and painful, as Amsterdam took advantage of a fumble recovery to take control at Berlin's 12-yard line. Afterward, Kittner threw a 12-yard TD pass to TE Mike Gomez. On their next possession, the Admirals continued to pour it on, as his Admirals stopped a 4th down conversion from the Thunder and took over with good field position (Berlin's 27-yard line). Despite the good position, the Thunder defense finally stiffened and the Admirals had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by kicker Chris Snyder. The Berlin Thunder would finally be able to get on the board near the end of the half, as Thunder QB

Dave Ragone David Patrick Ragone (born October 3, 1979) is an American football coach and former player who is the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Chi ...

led his team on a 4-play, 51-yard drive and capped it off with a 10-yard pass to WR

Aaron Boone Aaron John Boone (born March 9, 1973) is an American baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 13 seasons from 1997 through 2009. As a player, ...

. Despite the impressive resurgence, the first half belonged to Amsterdam as they lead 17–7 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Admirals continued to show how much they want Berlin's crown by striking on their opening drive. Kittner led his team on a 4-play, 80-yard drive that ended with RB Jonathan Smith running 18 well-earned yards for a TD. Trailing 24–7 going into the fourth quarter, the Thunder needed a lot of points in a hurry, if they wanted to defend their title. Continuing a drive that began in the final seconds of the third quarter, Ragone led his team on a 5-play, 80-yard drive that concluded with a 10-yard TD pass to RB Little John Flowers. However, the Admirals continued to put the game further out of reach, as they responded with a 28-yard field goal by Snyder. Ragone and his Thunder would respond with a 10-play, 78-yard drive and get a TD with Ragone himself running in on a 10-yard QB sneak. With another long drive, the

set themselves up near the

redzone Redzone was a multi-genre band from London, England. Founded by Ami Wilson (vocals, guitar, electric violin, synth, drums, effects, programming, production) and Justin Gagen (guitar, slide guitar, bass guitar, drums, effects, engineering, prod ...

again, where the Admirals forced the

to 4th down with 5 seconds to spare. That final play ended with Norman LeJeune writing history for the

when he batted away a Dave Ragone pass intended for WR Redd. The Admirals pulled off an upset by taking down the defending champions and win their first World Bowl title.

Scoring summary

*Amsterdam – TD Martin 22 yd pass from Kittner 4:52 1st *Amsterdam – TD Gomez 12 yd pass from Kittner 3:03 2nd *Amsterdam – FG Snyder 32 yd 8:00 2nd *Berlin – TD Boone 10 yd pass from Ragone 14:27 2nd *Amsterdam – TD Smith 18 yd run 5:14 3rd *Berlin – TD Flowers 10 yd pass from Ragone 1:19 4th *Amsterdam – FG Snyder 28 yd 5:51 4th *Berlin – TD Redd 10 yd pass from Ragone 10:05 4th

References

External links

NYTimes article
{{NFL on Fox World Bowl 2005 NFL Europe season 2005 in American football 2005 in German sport June 2005 sports events in Europe