European Football Camp
Already in June, K-town held a Spring Camp with a few college coaches in attendance. More than 90 student-athletes attended. Four hundred twenty three (423) players attended the football camp at Ansbach. Fifty five (55) Coaches attended and forty eight (48) were on the camp staff. The first European Football Camp was held in Fulda in 1987. One hundred twenty six (126) players and eighteen (18) coaches attended.
2008 Divisional Breakdown
Division IV
This division was continued when school enrollment numbers revealed 2 schools with less than one hundred (100) students and not enough players for eleven (11) man football. Alconbury, Brussels, Menwith Hill and Rota agreed to play nine (9) man football in 2008. Having a range of only (85-129) makes this an ideal opportunity for these small schools to have a competitive season. These schools had continuity and saw few coaching changes. Joe Fiedler returned to football at Brussels and was the only change from the prior season. In the SUPER 8, Rota won a nail biter, 22-21 over Alconbury in the last few seconds.
Division III
Division III was a small league this year, with only 5 teams, AFNORTH, Baumholder, Vicenza, Sigonella and Hohenfels. Division III was one of the most stable of all the divisions with no coaching changes. Undefeated AFNORTH, under Greg Blankenship, won their first crown since 1994, with a 60-14 win over Carter Hollenbeck's Baumholder squad, who was trying to repeat as champions.
Division II
Division II (9 teams) changed a bit this year, as Vilseck and Patch moved up to Division I. Wiesbaden was a late addition to Division II, as their enrollment did not meet expectations. Bamberg moved up to Division II, as they absorbed some of the students that once attended Wurzburg. Naples and ISB saw changes in head coaches. Dan Dittmeier took over the Naples football program from long-time head coach, Jim Hall and Will Vreugdenhil took over for Gil Grant at ISB. Defending Division II champion, Ansbach, continued it's championship run with a 50-13 win over Wiesbaden in the SUPER 8. This was a championship 3-peat for the Cougars, their 6th championship in the last 7 years and their 24th win in a row. They join Fulda, Ramstein, Wurzburg and the 2002-2005 Ansbach team as the only schools in the history of DoDDS football that have won a 3-peat.
Division I
Division I (6 teams) grew this year with the addition of Vilseck and Patch. Coaching changes saw Brad Shahan returning to the sidelines at Heidelberg, Jim Hall taking over the reins at Vilseck after Bill Ratcliff left to Seoul in the Pacific and Rudy Oliviera stepping up at Ramstein. In the SUPER 8, Heidelberg prevailed over Ramstein 9-6, in a classic defensive struggle. The Heidelberg victory thwarted the Ramstein 3-peat attempt.
"Super 8"
Four (4) teams were crowned as Champions at the SUPER 8. In Division IV: Rota, Division III: AFNORTH, Division II: Ansbach, and for Division I: Heidelberg. The SUPER finals format was held at Baumholder for the 6th consecutive year. Attendance was very good and the weather was better than expected. There was great concern for the condition of the field for 4 games, but the field held up well, despite several days of rain preceding the event. The high temperature for the day was 51 degrees (some dampness) and fell to 38 for the final game at 8:30 PM.
It was a great day for football and a wonderful time for the fans… 4 great games and 8 great teams…. The SUPER 8!.