*Philadelphia Liberty Franchise Records (post-S24 update)

[Memento Mori]

The S24 regular season is over, meaning it's time for a media piece celebrating the individual achievements of the players on the Philadelphia Liberty roster, both past and present. The team performance was very disappointing, but we did have several longstanding franchise records broken during S24. I'll start with the passing records. 

Passing



S24 was a disappointing season for starting quarterback Brock Phoenix, who threw 13 interceptions in his most turnover-heavy season. He did have a career-high 536 passing attempts - which may go some way in explaining the bump in interceptions - and this helped him pass both Clifford Rove and Tyler Oles for 3rd and 2nd in franchise passing yards. Phoenix also overtook Rove in touchdown passes, his 15 in S24 bringing him to a career total of 82.

Rushing



Congratulations to Sam Torenson, who is now Philadelphia's all-time leading rusher. He entered S24 about 100 yards behind Hall of Fame running back Marquise Brown, so Jonny has been rocking his fancy All-Time Rushing Leader role in the locker room for a few weeks now. Torenson's 1161 yards in S24 have given him a healthy cushion atop the rushing leaderboard, and with plenty of gas still in the tank he'll be looking to extend his lead atop the yardage and touchdown charts - Torenson's eight rushing touchdowns this season take him to 58, one ahead of the aforementioned Hall of Famer.

Fuzzy Dotson didn't have his best year running the ball, but he did overtake Omar Wright in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Dotson is now 4th all-time in both categories, with 2652 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns.

Receiving



Nacho Varga was another Philadelphia player to break a record this past season, passing Fox North for the franchise lead in receiving touchdowns with 61. Varga felt the effects of regression on his old, aching bones in S24 but still caught 40 passes for 554 yards and three touchdowns. Varga ends his career 4th in receptions, 2nd in yards and 1st in touchdowns for the Liberty.

As one star fades, another emerges. Randy Vuxta recorded by far his best season as a Philadelphia player, catching 81 passes for 1208 yards and 6 touchdowns. After averaging between 600 and 800 yards in each of his first four seasons, Varga's decline has opened the door for Vuxta and he is now the top option in the Philadelphia offence.

Avon Blocksdale Jr. joins Vuxta in the top ten all-time after a second successive 60+ catch, 500+ yard season. Three other active Philadelphia players are also in the top 20 all-time, with Fuzzy Dotson, Sam Torenson and Flash Panda 11th, 13th and 15th respectively in career receiving yards.

A special mention should be made for Simon Tremblay, Philadelphia's starting left tackle in each of the last three seasons. Tremblay played some snaps at tight end in Philadelphia's Week 16 loss to Chicago, and recorded a simply incredible 3 catches for 14 yards. Tremblay is now 55th all-time in receiving yards for Philadelphia and needs just 3 yards to overtake a pair of running backs I'd never heard of for 53rd.

Tackles



Yet another franchise record was set this season on the defensive side of the ball, with Richard D'Attoria V's 71 tackles taking the veteran defensive back past Lennox Garnett and into first place. D'Attoria V is also second in forced fumbles (tied with Hall of Fame linebacker Jaylon Lee), but has not forced a fumble in any of the last three seasons. D'Attoria is also fifth all-time in sacks with 33, one ahead of Wayne Howyanow, Vikian Marmeladov and Micah Hendrix, who are all tied on 32.

Three more current Philadelphia players are in the top 20, with Wayne Howyanow in 6th place and the young safety pair of Wesley Eriksen and Matt Cross sneaking into the top 20 at 19th and 20th place. Former Philadelphia linebacker Warren Stephens is 11th, and would have been a lock to break into the top 10 had he not chosen to leave Philadelphia last offseason.

I've also included the season records for tackles as that's the first category in which we've had someone break into the top 5, with Wesley Eriksen's 133 tackles in S24 one shy of the record set by Warren Stephens in S23.



Tackles for Loss



Tackles for loss aren't the flashiest stat, but I included the top 10 in this edition to draw attention to the stellar start that defensive end/linebacker Spike Suzuki has had to his ISFL career. Suzuki set a new ISFL record for tackles for loss in S23, taking 13 games to break a record set all the way back in S3. Suzuki added seven more TFLs as well as nine sacks in S24, taking him to 4th all-time in TFLs for the Liberty and sneaking him into the top 20 in career sacks.

Interceptions



Richard D'Attoria V may have been able to best Lennox Garnett when it comes to tackles, but overcoming Garnett's 37 career interceptions (4th in ISFL history) is a tougher task. D'Attoria V is first in all-time in pass deflections though, having extended his lead atop the charts in S24, and can dry his eyes with that accolade. Philadelphia's first round picks from S22, Matt Cross and Brandon Booker, both break into the top 20 with Booker's 11 interceptions tied for 7th and Cross' 8 interceptions enough for 15th. Booker also added his third and fourth defensive touchdowns, and is now third all-time behind Lennox Garnett and Vikian Marmeladov, who both have 6.

Offensive Line



It's taken just two seasons for Simon Tremblay to make his claim as the best offensive lineman in team history, which says something about the unfair treatment that offensive linemen suffered for much of this league's history. Tremblay's 76 pancakes in S23 and 62 pancakes in S24 are the two highest single-season pancake totals in Philadelphia history, and Tremblay allowed just one sack in S23 and none in S24. Philadelphia drafted Macaroni "Mac" Elephant in the third round of the S24 draft, and Elephant looks likely to start across from Tremblay in S25 and make his way into these rankings next season. I've added the season records as well so we can marvel at Simon Tremblay - OL bots are not included.



Kicking



With the departure of the inactive Lefty Louis, rookie Karmichael Hunt became the ninth player to kick for the Philadelphia Liberty. Hunt's debut season began with a shaky start, missing a field goal try in Week 2 before three misses in Week 3, but the rookie's confidence was not affected and Hunt rebounded with a strong second half of the season to set himself up for S24. Hunt's 57 yard field goal in the Week 10 victory over the Austin Copperheads stands alone as the longest field goal made in the ISFL in S24.

Punting



Karmichael Hunt was anything but shaky when punting the football, averaging 47.24 yards per punt - the highest career mark in team history. Hunt's 74 yard punt ties Stephen Harris' record for the longest punt in team history, a record that has stood for almost 20 seasons.

One record Hunt doesn't have to share is the record for most punts inside the 20-yard line in a single season. Hunt's 26 are just enough to break a record Stephen Harris set all the way back in S2, the first season of the Liberty's existence. Hunt's S24 season was also enough for the fifth highest punting yards in a season and the third highest average yards per punt.



Special Teams



Flash Panda and Sam Torenson handled the majority of Philadelphia's kick return and punt return duties in S24, and will be disappointed not to have scored in a season where six kickoffs and five punts were returned for touchdowns in the ISFL. Torenson was 6th in the ISFL for yards per return with 29.26, and Torenson's longest return (a 61 yard effort) came in the Liberty's Week 14 win 32-28 over the Baltimore Hawks.

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