DUESSELDORF, Germany — Kurt Kittner threw for two touchdowns and set up a third with a 54-yard pass Saturday to lead the Amsterdam Admirals to their first World Bowl title with a 27-21 win over the Berlin Thunder in NFL Europe.
Kittner, who is on the roster of the Chicago Bears, went 15-of-28 for 239 yards in NFL Europe's 13th championship game. The Admirals lost their only other final appearance in 1995 to the Frankfurt Galaxy.
The Thunder, led by Dave Ragone's three touchdown passes, rallied from deficits of 17-0 and 24-7 but came up short on a final chance to win a fourth title in five years and repeat as World Bowl champions.
Berlin got the ball back on its own 6 with 1:45 to play, and Ragone — the league's offensive MVP — drove the Thunder to the Admirals 22 with 30 seconds left.
But the Thunder ran out of time and downs, coming close to pulling out the win when Ragone threw to Terrence Stubs, and the ball slipped through the diving wide receiver's hands.
Ragone was 30-of-48 for 328 yards after a dismal start by Berlin. The quarterback got sacked four times, and his receivers dropped the same number of passes, and the Thunder didn't earn a first down until 5:50 remained in the first half.
The Thunder finally got on the scoreboard with 33 seconds left in the first half.
But the Admirals regained the momentum early in the third quarter on that 54-yard toss from Kittner to wide receiver John Booth, and running back Jonathan Smith broke through the left side for a 22-yard score on the next play to give the Admirals a 24-7 lead.
Kittner, who didn't replace injured starter Gibran Hamdan until the fourth game of the season, tossed first-half touchdowns of 12 yards to Michael Gomez and 22 to Ruvell Martin as the Admirals jumped ahead 17-0.
Locals in World Bowl
Former BYU offensive tackle Ben Archibald was part of the Amsterdam Admirals' World Bowl win on Saturday.
Archibald, who was allocated to the Admirals by the New Orleans Saints, was the starting right tackle.
Aaron Boone, of Millard High School, had eight catches for 83 yards and a touchdown for Berlin in a losing cause.
Former BYU quarterback Bret Engemann was the backup quarterback for Berlin.