*S28 Minnesota Grey Ducks Game Balls - Weeks 10 to 14

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S28 Minnesota Grey Ducks Game Balls - Weeks 10 to 14  

WEEK 10 GAME BALL – Rookie WR Janis Lux @Lukstins88

Week 10 was a disappointment in a lot of ways. With the loss to the Pythons our season was effectively over barring either the Pythons or Royals went winless over their remaining games, which of course did not happen. Not only that but both the defense and offense had pretty uninspiring performances. Except of course rookie wide out Lux!

Janis was unstoppable on the field; we just could not convert the production to points. Every catch Lux made that night was for greater than 10 yards and they were just churning out first downs every reception. Their biggest catch of the night came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The Grey Ducks were driving down the field to at least try to score once more and make it a single possession game. Down 20-6, Lux comes down with a beautiful spiral thrown by Raske just past midfield in Python’s territory. Turning on the jets after the catch, Lux had the biggest play of the night with a 26-yard reception to put us just outside the red zone with 2:17 remaining in the game. Unfortunately, we could not convert the touchdown and the game ended after a turnover on downs.

Still Lux, had a great game! With 6 receptions for 118 yards, an average of nearly 20 yards per reception, and a long of 26 yards, they had the most production of any non-QB in the game.  Having won so many game balls now, we should name it after them. The “Jan Is Lux-y” game ball.

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WEEK 11 GAME BALL – WR Joe Bay @coderkmatt

Naturally, after becoming enraged with officially being out of the playoffs, the Grey Ducks therapeutically beat up on the Seawolves in an offensive shootout. With a final score of 38-37, its only natural that this game ball be given to the offense. And wide receiver Joe Bay is the one who really showed up to the Chesapeake Bay this week!!

The first two quarters, Bay saw no real looks as the rest of the Minnesota offense was lighting it up, especially tight end Bobby Tarantino with his opening 84-yard touchdown reception! With everyone else getting involved later in the game, Bay really wanted some of the action. With only 12 seconds remaining in the first half, down at the Minnesota 27-yard line. Raske threw a medium pass to Bay, and he turned on the wheels and took it from there! Bay zoomed all the way down the sideline, racing past his cheering teammates for a 67-yard catch stopping JUST short of the goal line!! Time expired right as he was pushed out of bounds and devastatingly, we could not convert ANY points to show for it and potentially take the lead before half.

Quite miffed by that stolen touchdown, Bay took that personally going into the second half. With just over three minutes left in the third quarter, Raske threw a bullet straight to Bay along the sideline for a quick and easy 26-yard touchdown coming off a game changing interception by free safety John Price! However, the game was not done there, and it came down to the last drive of the wire. With less than six minutes in the game, the Grey Ducks crafted a perfect meticulous drive all the way from their own 26-yard line down by just 6 points. Naturally, Mr. Unstoppable himself reeled in the game sealing touchdown showing who the real king of the Bay is!

Bay ended the night with an astounding 5 receptions for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns, which could have easily been three! Capped off with an average of nearly 25 yards per catch and a long of 67 yards, he easily had the most clutch performance of the night. Bay-lieve it!

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WEEK 12 GAME BALL – FS ‘Captain’ John Price @SnowyWolfz

Going into the Dallas game, the Grey Ducks were playing with nothing to lose, having already been eliminated from the playoffs. This made them a very dangerous team for the Birddogs to face. This then led to ‘Captain’ John Price having one of his best performances of his career and leading the Grey Ducks to an easy 41-28 win at home!

Price had a perfect night for a free safety! He did not rack up tackles, he prevented a play from happening in the first place, and better yet he made his own plays! His first big play of the night came in the first minutes of the second quarter. Dallas was trying to get something going on offense as the defense was stouter than ever. But they made a mind-numbingly dumb pass over the middle, which Price picked off immediately! He was in the perfect position in the middle of the pitch and read the quarterbacks eyes before the ball even left his hands. Price’s interception set up the Grey Ducks just past midfield where they ended the drive with a field goal extending the lead to 20-7!

But Price thought, why settle for just one turnover when two taste just as good? So, he went back for seconds, still in the second quarter, and picked off Dallas yet again! This time deep in Dallas territory. Price then had more open space and just nearly missed punching in the ball for a defensive touchdown, returning it for 29 yards! Just three plays later, Raske and Bay sealed the deal and extended the lead even further to 34-7.

Ultimately, Price topped the night off with just 1 tackle, but 4 passes defended and 2 interceptions! He was just a deflecting and picking machine out there. After a performance like that, there Snow way you are throwing to Price in the future!

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WEEK 13 GAME BALL – Rookie RB John Huntsman @Fronk

Hoping to continue this win streak, even in spite missing the playoffs, Minnesota played inspired against Kansas City! Nearly posting a shutout, the Grey Ducks also had a huge offense game as well! They were determined to secure third place in the division. It is just a shame that no one was bothered to tune in because of some other event that happened that night. Regardless, John Huntsman paved the way for this victory and he rightfully deserves the game ball. Especially over that scrub Soulja.

Now I could go on all night about Huntsman production in this game. That is because he rushed the ball THIRTY-ONE times!! And there was nothing the Coyotes could do to stop him, even though they knew it was coming. In Minnesota’s first drive, the rookie running back pounded the rock and capped the drive off with a 13-yard touchdown rush. It was just a sign of things to come for Kansas City. Huntsman’s longest rush of the night came on first down at the Minnesota 4-yard line, in the middle of the second quarter. Finding an opening set up perfectly by the line, he plowed through like a bulldozer for 17 yards to give the Grey Ducks some much needed breathing room, away from their own endzone.

Huntsman ended the night with 96 yards off his 31 rushing attempts, averaging 3.1 yards a carry. Combine that with his early lone touchdown, and he was a dangerous man that evening. Of all that could be said about that game, Huntsman was shooting up the Coyotes defense, that's for sure!

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WEEK 14 GAME BALL – LB Brooks Bane @jh8

With the final game of the season, the Grey Ducks were hoping to play the role of spoiler over the Royals and to get revenge from their previous meet up in week 7. However, London was victorious yet again in a game that many would say perfectly summed up Minnesota’s season as a whole. Nevertheless, a game ball was earned and how fitting that it went back to defense to close the season. This week’s winner was veteran linebacker Brooks Bane!

As a whole, Bane had an active night by racking up tackles consistently throughout. But his biggest and most impactful play of the night came on the final drive of the third quarter. Down 20-9, the Grey Ducks needed a break, and with the Royals driving, the game was beginning to feel all for naught. In the first set of downs, the Minnesota defense were managing to hold the Royals to a potential three-and-out to give themselves life again. But on that third down, that was when Bane strategically positioned himself right in front of the intended receiver to snatch the ball out of the Lion’s mouth!

Bane attempted to make a return with the interception, but he was immediately stopped for a loss of 3 yards. Although the loss of yards was not critical since he was able to set up the offense deep into London territory at the 28 yardline. Unfortunately, the offense came up dry and threw an interception of their own, so no points were scored off the biggest play of the night for the defense.

With that, the season was wrapped up and the Grey Ducks finished with a .500 record of 7-7. Still one game better than last season! Bane ended the night with 7 total tackles, 1 of which for loss, and the sole turnover for the defense with his interception. Regardless of the end result, he was easily the Bane of their existence.

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 It was a hard fought season, and while we did not make the playoffs, we had the 3rd best record in the league and were even better than last season! We WILL be back next season! Stronger than ever, QUACK!  

 

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