SCAB Report

Championship

Galactic Soup Bowl

Pacifists finally get a fight for historic season

The Kootsville Tech Spitters lived up to their historic stature for this championship showdown, over this season's stature in which they were just another victim of the Northwestsoutheastern juggernaut. The Fighting Pacifists' 41-7 pasting of the Spitters in September had made this rematch seem anti-climactic. But Kootsville made quite a dramatic climax indeed, even if the result was what had made Northwestsoutheastern a prohibitive favorite.

At stake in the third championship meeting (after 1982 and 1994) between the two most illustrious SCAB programs was the distinction of most league titles: a fifth for Kootsville to join Puke and Northwestsoutheastern, or the sixth for the latter alone. Kootsville came close enough, made a worthy contest, and did not let the Fighting Pacifists' sixth title campaign go without a real fight.

Nor would the Spitters let a championship game go without an effort befitting. They made for a thriller reminiscent of their upset over similarly favored Cretin in 2010 and their 17-16 loss to UPRNY in 2007, and for even more history, like the 23-21 final loss against Our Lady in 1995, and the 20-14 struggle won by the Pacifists in 1994. The Spitters have in fact been to more championship games and thus also lost more than any team, but even that is an enviable distinction to the rest of the league. Except now perhaps, the Fighting Pacifists.

On the first play from scrimmage, Kootsville struck the note: quarterback Colt Snapp, the play action specialist who'd baffled every other Spitter foe this year, but was throttled by the Pacifists, ripped off a trademark 28-yard run. A 15-yard holding penalty was the obstacle to this drive, and the Spitters punted.

Northwestsoutheastern answered in kind, Demetrius Award winner QB Constantine Angst, the league's leading rushing QB, running 17 yards on the Pacifist's first play. Angst had another 16-yard run on the drive, threw for 21 yards to wide receiver Efren Defoe to the Kootsville one-yard line, then ran it in for the first score. The Pacfists drove 78 yards in 8 plays and it looked like the juggernaut was still rolling.

The Spitters responded with a long drive, ten plays, that ended with a 40-yard field goal from kicker Donavan Tryett. Running back Doug Wells, who'd broken out for a huge performance in the semi game, had runs of 16, 7 and 6 on the drive, and Snapp found his WRs, Jack Sorbetta and Joshua Little, who were supposed to be the one advantage Kootsville had over the Pacifists, for a couple of catches for first downs. The drive was also significant for controlling possession.

But after stalling the Spitters for a field goal, the Pacifists then flexed their rushing muscle, something of a historic swapping of roles. Kootsville was famous in the past for its running game and great RBs, and Northwestsoutheastern for its passing game and great QBs and receivers, but now the Pacifists have the league's most dominant backfield and the Spitters the most dominant WR duo. Pacifist RBs Elvis Eros and Rip Bonaparte took care of the whole drive. Eros ripped a 25-yard run to start it and Bonaparte finished it from the Kootsville 30. The Pacifists were up 14-3 in the first quarter and it looked like another rout was on.

Then Kootsville rose up with the sort of team defensive effort that is the standard of legendary head coach General Beany. The Spitters gummed up the Pacifist offense, and if they were little able to dent the even more impressive Pacifist defense, at least they traded punches with it. The second quarter turned into a punting bout, until it was the Spitters who got the offense going again. Snapp completed four of five passes, two to Little of 15 and 12 yards, two to Sorbetta for 8 and 4, before the clock killed the drive. But it was a sign of a shift.

And the shift went on through the third quarter into the fourth. First, the Pacifists paid for a bit of swagger of their own. On the first possession of the second half, they had a fourth down and seven at their 49. Despite the Spitters surge of defense, the Pacifists tried for the first down. Bonaparte very nearly got it, busting up the middle, but the Spitters took him down one yard short.

With a short field the Spitters ran two run plays of four yards each by Wells and RB Jess Wright, then on third and two, pulled off possibly their biggest play-action bid of the game, a gambit of their own to answer the Pacifists'. In the short-yardage situation, Snapp faked the handoff to Wells and then quickly hit Sorbetta on a slant, with room to streak. The play covered 27 yards. On the next play, the Spitters went straight-up pass, again something of a gutsy change-up, and Snapp got Little in the end zone for 20 yards and the touchdown. Suddenly it was 14-10, third quarter, and all too not a rout.

The Pacifists answered with only a field goal, after a swap of possessions that included their interception of Snapp. The Spitters took their ensuing possession and ground out another ball and clock-hogging drive. The big play was another pass to Little, of 23 yards to the Northwestsoutheastern 15, but altogether it took ten plays. They used things like a tight-end reverse with Liddle Oldman, which got eight yards. The capper was an 11-yard pass from Snapp to Sorbetta, again the Spitters calling a straight pass play and standing up to assert the dominance of their receivers, what they'd failed to do in the regular season meeting.

But the touchdown wasn't all. The Spitters lined up for a two-point conversion try, and again, pulled another strategic gambit, a straight-up run play, and straight up the middle, but with Wright carrying, and Wells leading the way blocking. It worked, and incredibly, Kootsville Tech. had an 18-17 lead against the insuperable 2013 Fighting Pacifists in the fourth quarter. It was only the second time all season another team had a lead on Northwestsoutheastern, only the first time in the second half.

This was hauntingly similar to the 2007 final, where Kootsville Tech. scored later in the fourth quarter, then gambled on a 2-point play, instead of the more sure tie -- there is sudden death in the tournament -- but failed to score again, losing to UPRNY 17-16. For the Spitters at this point it may have seemed like karma, or at least the reversal of that fate. But it was also raising a specter for Northwestsoutheastern of their upset loss in the final two years ago to Holy Grail.

The Spitters got an even bigger chance when they stopped the Pacifists' next drive and then blocked the punt. They were set up at the Pacifist 33. A 10-yard pass to Oldman got them to the 23. After two incompletions, a 9-yard pass to Sorbetta gave them a fourth and one at the 14. Their next gamble was for the chance for touchdown rather than take the field goal. But they also gambled on yet another pass play, and the pass over the middle to Oldman was knocked down.

The Pacifists took over and showed the reason for Kootsiville's gamble for another touchdown. As they've done for the past two years, the Pacifists stepped on the gas pedal to pull away, even if they hadn't demonstrated the capability all along, often seeming as if a lion toying with its prey. They were 86 yards from the end zone, though just decent field goal range would suffice.

After an incomplete pass, Bonaparte bulldozed 18 yards up the middle. Angst hit Eros out of the backfield for a 20-yard pass play, into Spitter territory in two quick strikes. A 6-yard pass to Payne, then a 23-yard strike to RB Bonaparte carrying to the Kootsville 19. Eros ran for one yard, then Angst threw to Defoe for 13 to the 5. Next play, Angst to Defoe for the touchdown. The simple timing lob to the corner seemed as casual as if the Pacifists were in the midst of another rout.

Kootsville from the 20 after the kickoff got an 11-yard pass from Snapp to Sorbetta and seemed still in gear with the offense. But on the next play Snapp threw a second interception, which was returned to the Kootsville 44, and that was effectively the game. The Pacifists drove to the Kootsville 9 in four more quick plays, but the clock kept the Spitters from any more damage to their great effort.

Northwestsoutheastern with the six-point win, meager compared to what they'd done all season and in the playoffs last year as well as this prior to this game, knew the score: a sixth SCAB championship, more than anyone, two more than Kootsville Tech, the SCAB's first great power. And with a second straight undefeated season, they can take aim at Puke's winning streak of 38, as well as a threepeat and title no. 7.

10 Clan:
LB 8 1 0 12 2 0
Bf 8 1 0 8 3 2
Bu 7 2 0 9 4 0
HP 5 4 0 7 5 0
Ca 5 4 0 5 7 0
UF 4 5 0 6 6 0
IO 4 5 0 4 8 0
Gr 3 6 0 5 6 1
MV 1 8 0 1 11 0
Fl 0 9 0 1 11 0

Little 10:
KT 9 0 0 13 2 0
Br 6 2 1 8 4 1
GJ 6 3 0 8 5 0
SP 5 3 1 7 3 2
PU 5 4 0 6 6 0
MS 4 4 1 5 6 1
SS 3 6 0 3 9 0
Wh 2 6 1 2 9 1
Bd 2 7 0 2 9 1
CU 1 8 0 2 10 0

10 Pack:
Nw 9 0 0 15 0 0
HG 8 1 0 13 2 0
Cr 6 3 0 10 4 0
DS 6 3 0 7 5 0
Pb 5 4 0 7 5 0
DG 4 5 0 5 7 0
Fm 3 6 0 5 7 0
SB 3 6 0 4 8 0
AT 1 8 0 4 8 0
MO 0 9 0 1 11 0

Non-Conference:
OD 7 0 2 8 3 2
OL 7 1 1 10 3 1
BH 7 2 0 9 4 0
St 6 3 0 7 4 1
LW 5 3 1 6 5 1
UP 4 5 0 5 6 1
So 3 6 0 6 6 0
Pk 3 6 0 5 6 1
Ox 1 8 0 2 10 0
Pe 0 9 0 0 12 0