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May 28, 2011
Playoffs
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Stranglers Beat Dons at Heavy CostThe good news / bad news is kind of a loop for Boston. They won their opening playoff game over Orlando as they were favored to do, but they lost Eastern MVP QB Sebastian Ophuls doing so. This was the bad news delivered indirectly when backup Dave Reckning began the second half. More good news: Reckning led Boston to even more points, finishing off the Dons along with an utter defensive domination of them. Obviously the Stranglers don't rely strictly on Ophuls, who sustained an injury to his throwing hand early in the second quarter, which was evidenced by, among other things, an interception and poor passing production. Ophuls was checked at halftime, at which it was determined he had a fracture. Reckning, himself a 10-year veteran who played for Peoria till 2007, took a 7-3 halftime lead and promptly doubled it, his first possession a scoring drive including four complete passes, one to WR Luke St. Everything for 27 yards. The All-East receiver was still too much for Orlando, regardless of QB. The real insurance for Boston, however, was defense, which held Orlando to 143 net yards. Boston heads to its third Eastern Conference Championship. |
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Natives Roll StonesThe Columbus Natives turned a close game into an unlikely rout, their own passing difficulty into surprisingly effective rushing performance, and on rookie QB sensation, Bug Zappa, trumping another, Flint's Sly Drooler, in the process. Zappa threw for 200 yards, most of it to TE Phil Awful, 86 yards on 6 receptions including a 2-yard TD. But Zappa rushed for 64 yards and TD, and Awful and WR Skip Towne each scored on running plays. What's more, Columbus's marquee player, leading rusher Dave Rath gained only 56 yards, behind both Zappa and RB Ray Frollywood, who had 73 to lead the Natives, and a TD. Meanwhile, Columbus held Drooler, who rushed for 120 in an upset of the New Jerseys, to 17 yards rushing and only 188 passing, also intercepting him twice. While Flint's dangerous veteran WR star Roy El Pain did his damage, their big weapon RB Dick Payne rushed for 32 yards, though he got a TD and 29 yards receiving. After Columbus led only 10-0, Zappa led them to score on their next three second-half possessions, though Flint gave Columbus short field twice in the game, on a blocked punt and a long return after a short one. Columbus' last playoff appearance was 20 years ago, when they also went to the Eastern final and won. |
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Ghosts Still out of Reach for LinemenAlthough the result was similar to the regular season meeting, a 20-14 Casper victory, they got there by a different, surprising route. Because at first it looked like a rout. Casper built up a 21-0 halftime lead as just about anything that could go wrong did for the Linemen. It was snowballing, as after that score in the 2nd quarter, Wichita fumbled, was intercepted and even had clock kill a drive deep into Casper territory. It even continued in the second half, as Casper's first drive was stalled, but their punt led to a safety, Wichita WR Adolph DeFlore fumbling the catch on his 2-yard line into the end zone. At 23-0, however, the Linemen turned things around, clamping down on the Ghost offense. Then Wichita QB Payne Indiass finally got going in the 4th quarter, leading two scoring drives, and posting a total of 235 yards passing, with a TD and interception, to only 168, a TD and 3 interceptions for Casper's Peter Andy Woolf. Wichita WR Ringo Fire led all receivers with 120 yards and the Linemen even held Casper's juggernaut, RB Jock Kitsch to just 35 yards and one TD, though his running mate Orson Buggy punched one in and had 54 yards, and Woolf slipped away for 41 more. But scarcely more than one quarter was not enough for Indiass and the Linemen to overcome their chief rival and main conference contender. Casper will return to the Western Championship for the third straight year, this time without Wichita. |
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Bullets Cut Down Gila MonstersIt was a rushing battle as expected, if because neither side could muster much passing as much as having perhaps the two most dominant backfields in the league. But after Dodge veteran RB Hugo Faq-Yusef got all the honors in the season, leading the league in rushing and even being West MVP, it was back to Evelyn Olivus, who led the league as a rookie last year, to dominate this playoff opener. Olivus upstaged all his senior rushers, Flagstaff's Shlomo Replay and Carlo DeChix as well, though Faq-Yusef got the first big run of the game, a 39-yarder on the opening drive that was finished off with a 10-yard pass from Dodge QB Tyrone Essores to WR Nestor Vipers. Olivus scored on a 28-yard run next possession, and Faq-Yusef added a 5-yard TD run in the 2nd quarter to make it 21-0 at half. Essores threw for only 138 yards and a TD, with an interception; Flagstaff QB I.A. Chu for only 131, a TD and 2 interceptions. Vipers led all receivers with 43 yards, as Dodge bottle up Flagstaff veteran WRs Wynn Everett Rains and Donahue Upset-Maugham. Rookie TE Vitor Izedov led Flagstaff with 31 yards and a TD receiving. |
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