LUCAS — Pending OHSAA approval, the Lucas football program will receive a welcome and significant boost next fall.

Graduation has left the Cubs in somewhat of a rebuilding year from last fall’s playoff squad. Yet through a stroke of luck, coach Scott Spitler’s team might have found a pair of silver bullets in Alrik and Ansel Brauer to reload their roster.

Son of Olympic shot put bronze medalist Hans Brauer, the two brothers currently compete for the Heildelburg Prepatory School Hellboys, an independent club football team in Germany. 

The Brauer family is moving to the region to pursue the patriarch’s online marketing and business interests. Papa Brauer is hoping to launch his vast and varied products into North American markets, but preferred a small-town, rural setting to raise his family, much like their home in Germany.

The Brauer boys were reared in the little-known world of amateur football, which exists largely among progressive prep schools in Germany’s southwestern cities. 

At one point, many investors believed that nation’s central role in the ultimately unsuccessful NFL Europe could be built slowly through prep school. The Brauer brothers are the stars of that movement.

The 6-foot-4, rocket-armed Alrik scorched defenses for an astonishing 3,278 yards and 25 touchdowns while completing 73 percent of his passes.

With fleet feet and a quick release, American scouts project him as a potential 4-star recruit. Heidelberg Prep receivers frequently complained of light bruising on their hands and stomachs catching Alrik’s aerials.

On the other end of those passes is often the lighter-framed Ansel, who is hardly a shadow of his older sibling from a size perspective. Yet the super sophomore has elite speed combined with soft hands from years as a first chair percussionist for the Berlin Youth Orchestra. 

Juxtaposed with his love of the finer things is a raw brutality that earned Ansel the nickname “Blitz Brauer” for his assault on both sides of the ball. The reciever/safety was removed from a game after multiple collisions concussed Dusseldorf Akademie’s top receiver last season.

Under the tutelage of former NFL Europe coach Ron Lantz the duo have thrived for Heidelberg.

Both youngsters will no doubt encounter a sudden culture shock upon moving to the U.S. However, their zest for the gridiron figures to ease their family’s transition into the Lucas community.

Both Brauer boys speak fluent English but picking up on the intricacies of Spitler’s offense may be their biggest chore in adapting to the American game.

If you’ve made it this far in the story, we at Richland Source would like to wish you a happy first day of April and with it a big “April Fools!”

This is an old April Fools story. And one of our most read. Since then, many people asked why I picked Lucas. The answer is pretty simple. I had to pick someone. So I picked the team with the most success. In 2015 that team was Lucas. This is also my tribute to the incredible Sports Illustrated story of Sid Finch which you learn about here.