Stranglers' Hard Luck Goes to Highest Level

They were saying that Boston matched up well with Las Vegas, maybe even better than Manhattan did. They were saying that Boston was on a roll, that RB Tyrone Shoelaces and WR Luke St. Everything and TE Marky DeSade were looking "bad" enough to beat the Sinners.

And for one quarter, that was the case, as the Boston Stranglers took command with a 14-play, 83-yard drive on their second possession, including QB Anson Pants throwing to St. Everything 5 times for 53 yards and the TD. Boston added a field goal on their next possession for 10-0 lead.

St. Everything would not catch another pass in the game. In the 2nd quarter, the Sinners got a break on a botched Boston punt, a short field of just 16 yards, and scored in three plays, Blood busting 13 yards to the 2-yard line, then scoring from there. On the next Sinner possession, Blood broke a 21-yard run to set up a 26-yard field goal from K Cleet Face which tied the game.

Just before halftime, the Sinners stormed to the Boston 1 in 4 plays, the last one an 18-yard scramble by QB Andy Christ. The clock killed the threat and Boston had a tie with the defending champs preserved. But Vegas started the second half just as they ended the first. They received the kickoff and covered 88 yards just 5 plays, the 2nd a 27-yard run by Christ, the 4th a 59-yard pass play from Christ to TE Morgan Mindy to the 2-yard line. RB Buster Gutt scored from there.

Gutt scored again less than 2 minutes later. Vegas forced another botched punt, and when Boston kicker Spike Heels tried to improvise a pass play, the incompletion gave Vegas the ball at the Boston 15. Gutt went 12 yards for the TD on the second play after. Suddenly, it was 24-10 Las Vegas.

Vegas finished off Boston in the 4th quarter with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, which included a 13-yard run by Blood and a 19-yard catch by a fairly quiet Western Conference MVP, WR Jason Rainbows. Mindy scored on a 9-yard reception.

Mindy's performance, few touches but big production, 4 catches for 85 yards and a TD, upstaged DeSade's. The TE was supposed to be the tip of the scales for the Stranglers.

But in this game where the big plays were spread more evenly, it was Blood who got the most important ones, and it was Vegas once again getting more than their opponent. The big strike has always been the trademark of Christ, and the Sinners with him at the helm. And that's how they proved too much for even the Boston Stranglers, and worthy of their 3rd Hyperbowl, their 2nd in a row.