College Pigskin Blog

KAWASAKI, Japan — The United States scored two early touchdowns Thursday to defeat Germany 33-7 and advance to the final of the American football World Cup.

Runningback Cody Childs put the U.S. up 6-0 just over two minutes in when he ran the ball in from the 6-yard line. Wendell Johnson scored from the 3-yard four minutes later and the U.S. added a safety to take a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. Cornerback Rob Rodriguez had two blocked kicks for the U.S. team.

“Our special teams were outstanding,” said U.S. coach John Mackovic. “They bailed us out when we weren’t moving the ball and our defense hung tough.”

The U.S. team, making its debut in the six-nation tournament, is comprised of players from Division I, II and III colleges.

Germany scored its only points of the game when U.S. quarterback Jeff Ballard threw an interception that defensive back Matthias Weil ran back for a 94-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Adam Austin was the starting quarterback for the U.S. and completed five of eight passes for 106 yards.

The U.S., which defeated South Korea 77-0 in its opening game, improved to 2-0 in Group B and will face either Japan or Sweden in Sunday’s final. Craig Coffin kicked a 21-yard field goal late in the third quarter to give the U.S. a 19-7 lead.

Doug Blakowski scored from the 1-yard line with 7:40 left in the game and Diezeas Calbert completed the scoring when he intercepted a Joachim Ullrich pass and ran it back for a 58-yard touchdown with just over six minutes left.

The tournament is being played for the third time. Japan won in 1999 and 2003.