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Playoffs
Conference Semifinals
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Projects escape Saurus scareEastern all-star WR Milo Standards finally got to the playoffs, but his Toronto Sauruses drew the Manhattan Projects for their first game and were given the slimmest of chances. But they defied the odds and the Projects by jumping to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, then after Manhattan took the lead, closing it again to 23-20 in the fourth, before the Projects were finally able to put it away. Toronto QB Jason Windmills threw for 228 yards to 182 for Manhattan QB Oliver Klozov. Standards had 6 catches for 107 yards and a TD, while the two Project Aces, RB Anthony Kistmi and WR Jason Skurtz were held to 55 yards rushing and 54 receiving, respectively. RB Avery Nastibooy and WR Orlando Difri picked up the slack for the Projects, the latter particularly on a 69-yard TD pass play in the second quarter that brought them within a point 14-13. Manhattan went ahead on their next drive, on a 41-yard Cappy Collarneck field goal. After Toronto closed the lead to three on a 55-yard Topper Ware field goal in the fourth, the Projects put the game away on a 9-play drive, with Klozov twice converting fourth down on runs, the latter a 2-yarder for the TD. Manhattan advances to the Eastern Championship after missing the playoffs last year. |
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Gurl strikes again, Horrors jump WavesFor the second playoff game in a row, Amityville WR Hugo Gurl scored on a long punt return, this one of 72 yards in the second quarter to give the Horrors the lead for the first time. He then scored the next TD in the third on a 4-yard pass from QB Houghton Holler to cap a 13-play drive and extend the lead to 17-6. But the Macon Waves scored on their next two possessions, long drives of their own, on a 2-yard run by All-East RB Moe Lester and a 9-yard run by Lyon, to take the lead back 20-17. The Horrors had to come from behind again, on a short drive of 44 yards capped by a 5-yard pass from Holler to WR "Dangerous" Lee Azens for the winner with little more than a minute remaining. The game was a reversal of the teams' regular season meeting. This time Eaton-Lyon outpassed Holler 235 yards to 149, but the Horrors got the score (Macon won 24-17 before). Lester was held to 35 yards and 22 on receptions, while Amityville RB O.J. Didit rushed for 68. While Gurl was kept under wraps from scrimmage, Macon TE Dick Head had 8 catches for 86 yards. Amityville, defending league champs, returns to the Eastern Championship for a rematch against archrival Manhattan, who beat them 42-7 in the regular season. |
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Say goodbye to Idaho, hello to Cody PendantThe Idaho Potatoheads were on a collision course for their fourth Hyperbowl in a row, and fourth meeting with Manhattan, and it seemed nobody could derail either of those teams. On a day when the Toronto Sauruses took mighy Manhattan to the wire, Cody Pendant had his playoff coming out party and did what Harlan Daggers could not do. The Wichita Linemen, who surged through division play and snatched the division title with help when Oklahoma lost on the last day of the season, have smashed the Potatoheads' fate of another chance at the Hyyperbowl. Wichita used a 47-yard punt return by WR Hertz Laika-Dickens to set up at TD, then a short field after Idaho missed a 61-yard field goal attempt, for another, the latter a 41-yard strike from Pendant to WR Dustin Klozoff, to stun Idaho with a 14-0 first quarter. After Idaho more typically skipped down the field, 89 yards in 10 plays, to cut the lead in half, Pendant ran 67 yards for a TD to stretch it again. Idaho RB Ruud van Nastibooy answered that with a 54-yard run, but it wasn't until the fourth quarter that he scored again, on a 5-yard pass from All-West QB Dan Smother-Falker to tie the score, after fellow RB Roy Dreige ran in for a 2-point conversion to make up for an earlier missed extra point. The Linemen intercepted Smother-Falker to set up at their own 45 and took six plays to score. Pendant was 4/4 on the drive, including the TD of 3 yards to RB Hugh Jan Derry, and also had a 6-yard run. The Lineman contained three-time West MVP TE Hans auf der Butt, just 2 catches for 60 yards, but Van Nastibooy, who made the All-West team this year, had a huge day. The Potatoheads minimized RB Milo Rider and Laika-Dickens, but in the final tally it was Pendant's spectacular debut in the playoffs to carry his team and leapfrog the status quo. |
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Swamp Rats turn back RednecksPerhaps the most exciting set of conference semis in league history, certainly in a long time, was completed with an overtime game. The game went much like the teams' regular season meeting, when Baton Rouge stymied the Tucson Redneck offense to win 24-3, for most of three quarters, until the Rednecks turned it around for a rally for 13 points, including a 14-yard Dick Burns TD run in the 4th and an 18-yard field goal with less than a minute remaining to tie the game and send it to overtime. But the Swamp Rats ended the suspense there, taking the OT kickoff and going 72 yards 6 plays. At the Tucson 34-yard line, Baton Rouge QB Nolan Void threw to WR Chester Nolsong to cover the distance and get the sudden death win. The Swamp Rats recovered from two missed field goals in the fourth that gave the Rednecks more chances and might have won the game in regular time. Void passed for only 182 yards to 279 for Tucson QB Hugh Jasso. Tucson ace WR Avery Cunningham, after a big wildcard game, was held to 5 catches for 52 yards, while TE Dick Wick became the big target, with 9 catches for 118 yards. Baton Rouge RB Bubba Butt was held to 29 yards rushing, but Mister Period took up the slack, including a 59-yard run for the game's first TD in the first quarter. Now the bonus: with Idaho falling, Baton Rouge gets to host the Western Conference Championship. |
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