FRANKFURT,
Germany – Casey Bramlet threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns Saturday, leading the Hamburg Sea Devils past the Frankfurt
Galaxy 37-28 in the highest-scoring World Bowl.
Bramlet, allocated by the Washington Redskins, was honored as the MVP
in sending Hamburg to its first NFL Europa championship.
"This is an awesome feeling," Sea Devils coach Vince
Martino said. "It felt like a heavyweight title fight at times. We had to keep on fighting and the Galaxy kept coming
back at us."
Bramlet set a record with scoring strikes to wide receivers Justin Jenkins, Marcus Maxwell (twice)
and Josh Davis. Maxwell, of the San Francisco 49ers, caught five passes for 127 yards.
"We made some big plays,
and once we got going we felt like we couldn't be stopped," Bramlet said.
J.T. O'Sullivan of the Chicago Bears
threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns for the Galaxy before a crowd of 48,125 at Commerzbank Arena.
"We didn't
do a good job defensively," Galaxy coach Mike Jones said. "We couldn't get off the field and Hamburg executed well
and made a lot of plays. We weren't able to stop them."
Hamburg jumped ahead 13-0 in the first quarter, with Bramlet
connecting with Jenkins from 3 yards out and with Maxwell on a 35-yard flea-flicker.
The Galaxy's first points came
with 12:28 remaining in the half. O'Sullivan hit wide receiver Robert Ortiz in the end zone on a 24-yard scoring play.
Bramlet
moved the Sea Devils back downfield with three completions for 26 yards, before British running back Jermaine Allen scored
on a tackle-breaking 33-yard run.
Frankfurt's response was immediate. O'Sullivan completed a 36-yard pass to running
back Sha-ron Edwards before scrambling for 14 yards to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by DeCori Birmingham, allocated by the
New York Giants, with 4:28 remaining in the half.
The Sea Devils led 23-14 at halftime when Shane Andrus of the Indianapolis
Colts converted a 24-yard field goal with three seconds to go.
Frankfurt pulled within 2 points on the opening drive
of the second half as O'Sullivan lofted a 24-yard touchdown pass to Ortiz.
Hamburg built its lead as Bramlet faked
a reverse to Jenkins before firing a 51-yard touchdown pass to Davis for 30-21. The Galaxy responded with a 2-yard scoring
run by Edwards on the final play of the third quarter. Birmingham set up Frankfurt with a 40-yard kickoff return.
Bramlet
threw his fourth touchdown pass with 10:59 left, a 10-yarder to Maxwell. Frankfurt had a chance to draw within one score with
a little more than six minutes remaining but British kicker Rhys Lloyd's 45-yard field-goal attempt sailed right.
