By Ryan Deal 

605 Sports

DUSSELDORF, Germany -- Rapid City native Jakeb Sullivan and the Frankfurt Galaxy won the first-ever European League of Football Championship Game on Sunday in front of 23,000 fans.

Sullivan, who was named the Championship Game MVP, and Frankfurt rallied from a 30-20 deficit in the fourth quarter for a 32-30 victory over the Hamburg Sun Devils.

Sullivan finished with 324 passing yards and four passing touchdowns, while rushing for 38 yards and the game-clinching touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME MVP 😤 @jakebsullivan #ELFCG2021 pic.twitter.com/DiqmpZlEg8

�" European League of Football (@ELF_Official) September 26, 2021

Trailing 30-20 in the final quarter, Sullivan threw a touchdown pass to start the comeback. But an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt kept it a four-point deficit. After the Sea Devils’ missed a field goal, Sullivan and the Frankfurt offense drove down the field. 

Sullivan completed a pair of passes, including a crucial reception down to the one-yard line. On the next play, Sullivan ran in the go-ahead score with 23 seconds left.

The Sea Devils got the ball back in the waning seconds, but their potential game-winning 62-yard field goal was short. In the second quarter, Sullivan threw three touchdown passes as Frankfurt led 20-17 at halftime. 

The European League of Football was officially created in Nov. 2020 and debuted in June. The league consists of eight teams located in Germany, Poland and Spain.

Sullivan, who is a St. Thomas More High School graduate, most recently played for Marburg Mercenaries in the German Football League South in 2019. He posted 4,359 passing yards and a league-best 43 touchdowns, while he led Marburg to a 9-5 record and its first appearance in the playoffs in two years and best record since 2014.

Sullivan signed with the Dacia Vienna Vikings in Austria, but the pandemic prevented him from playing in 2020. 

In 2021, Sullivan finished with a league-best 32 passing touchdowns and was second in passing yards (2,609). The Galaxy finished the season with a league-best 11-1 record. 

Sullivan will play in an all-star game on Oct. 3 in Berlin. Sullivan and other European League of Championship players will play a team of American talent.

A 6-foot-1, 200-pounder, Sullivan graduated from South Dakota School of Mines as one of the best quarterbacks in school history. He finished the 2018 season with a record-setting 293 of 461 for 3,576 yards and 32 touchdowns passes. He averaged 325.1 yards per game, which led the entire NCAA Division II.

He also had 10 rushing touchdowns and carried the ball 129 times for 340 yards. Sullivan graduated from Mines with 17 school records. He led the conference in passing yards, passing attempts, completions and yards per game.