(S30) PT 4 - Tough Loss

[zaynzk]

It’s me talking about tough loses. Probably the most soul crushing loss I felt was too Philly in S29. See this was supposed to be a game we walked over. Philly were rebuilding and we were in championship form. Then we play Philly, and for the majority of the game we dominate all sides of the ball. Then the final two  minutes happen. With New York up 27-16 it would take a miracle for the liberty to come back and win the game. Enter Flash Panda. Panda is a well know WR in Philly having played their his entire career and with a itch for big moment. 2nd and 22 Negs finds Panda up the slot and panda break coverage and runs for 88 yards scoring a touchdown that brings the game to 24-27. At this moment I thought ah that sucks but atleast we won. But one second later with 1 minute on the clock Fencik goes for the onside kick which was recovered by Gary Goodman. With under a minute Negs gets the ball back and find Borgo San Lorenzo for a 50 yard TD which was only the 2nd of Borgia career. This was a soul crushing end to a game that was going very smoothly but I belive the resiliency the team showed that night in the locker room was the mentality we needed to win the Ultimus the same season

[CptGoosar]

The Pythons have just come off an OT loss to the KCC in the final week of the season, giving the KCC the second seed for the playoff games. It’s was a heartbreaking loss for the team, the KCC were able to score on their first drive against the run of play.

The atmosphere in the locker room is despondent, the Pythons have put their heart and soul into this season and too fall short of the playoff by such a short margin in such a loss hurts. All the players heads are down, there is no music playing, no laughter, no anything. It’s just dead, then from a post game interview, the HC & QB enter, summon the team to join a a huddle or in Portland form “The Nest.” The congratulate every single player on the roaster, highlighting each of their hard work, where they’ve come from and the improvement they can be proud off. The HC then says, “Each and everyone of you all has reason to be proud, for each and everyone of you is special, there is not a single player in here who hasn’t show the courage determination and skill that make you into the best locker room in the DSFL. Yes, this loss hurts but what it does do, is show you what and how much these games mean. The pain will fade, but the experience won’t, next year when there are close games, you’ll be able to draw upon this and use it to fuel yourself to find that extra 1% and those sweet sweet wins. Who knows it may even been during the Ultimini game next year. Just remember the highs of this seasons and use the lows to fuel yourself for next year, we will be back and we will win!!”

A huge cheer erupts and that sense of dullness and dread is lifted somewhat, not replaced but lifted. Each player returnes to their locker a tad more upbeat. Mark thinks to himself, right we lost but we lost well. Without the knowledge of the loss I’d be a worse player.

[Southie]

I haven't been on the Kansas City Coyotes for a long time so without any previous knowledge about the franchise, I have to say our main rivals at the moment are the Portland Pythons. Ironically (is that proper use of the word ironic?) the Pythons drafted my first ISFL player T.J Evans. We didn't actually lose to them earlier this season, instead the contest ended in a  tie which feels worse then a loss if I'm honest with you. Especially because I was the one who fumbled within our twenty-yard line to allow them to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter. When you think of the traditional  leader of  a professional football team, you probably think about the Quarterback but our quarterback at the moment is a rookie is first year with the team  so I doubt he'd be the one to rally the troops so to speak.  I think Will Stern, along tenured defensive end on the team would be the best fit for leader. As for his leadership style, that's  a bit hard for me to describe. There's a  lot of different styles of leader and each one of them has their  own time and place. So people need a  loud authoritarian-esque drill sergeant to motivate them while others  prefer the classic wise old mentor who will listen to them and casually inform of them what they have done wrong. Different strokes for different folks.

241 Words

[3lewsers]

PBE Affiliate PT

[Ephenssta]

Looking through the index for the last few seasons, I would have to say that the Yeti’s biggest rival is [REDACTED]. It feels like we always have intense games against [REDACTED] that come down to the final few plays of the game. Naturally, when two teams who play each other frequently and often have close games, these games are a little more intense. During the week of practice leading up to that game, the sessions are a little more intense. The games themselves are more intense, and the post-game celebrations or depression sessions are always a little more extreme. Usually, the first guy to speak up about such losses is Adelie de Pengu. I do not know if you have ever been up close and personal with an angry penguin, but it is not the most pleasant experience. Their mouths are kinda freaky and they have that fishy smell. Now I am not trying to trash talk Pengu. We love having the guy around the clubhouse. I am saying, though, that you do not want Pengu angry at you after a loss. Not to mention the fact that there is always a moose nearby. The angry penguin and moose combo is truly terrifying and is a great motivator to win all the games against [REDACTED].

[Michiganonymous]

Tough Loss -- Over 500 words

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Norfolk’s season so far has been defined by losses. The mighty Seawolf submarine seems to be stuck on the bottom of the standings. Trailing 24-0 to Kansas City at halftime and getting blanked 33-0 was rough. Going up 13-0 to London only to get blown out in the second half and lose 40-19 (the Royals’ only win on the season) might’ve been worse. But I think the toughest loss of the year so far, in my opinion, was Week 8 at home against Bondi Beach. We were flying high after pulling off a miracle upset win over Minnesota in Week 7. Our adrenaline was flowing, we were feeling more confident than we had all season. We went down 14-0 and rallied. We went down 28-19 and rallied. It was 28-26 at the 2-minute warning, but our defense couldn’t get the turnover we needed to try and drive for a game-winning field goal. Ty Knotts was devastated because he doinked an extra point off the upright when it was 14-13. On our next TD we had attempted a 2-point conversion and the rush was stuffed. Those two points ended up being the difference between losing and at least forcing overtime.

But our locker room is strong. After every loss this season, there’s no blame games, no finger-pointing, no fights. Yes, it was frustrating to come within one or two bad bounces of winning our second game in a row after knocking off the defending champions the week before. But we’re united, we build each other up, and we’re relentlessly positive. We reminded Ty that he’s been money all season long, and that there’s no such thing as an easy kick. We focused on the good: our UDFA WR Johnny Patey (@Patey) had himself a game, with a 7/67/2 statline. We’ve got not one, but two strong candidates for DRotY in Sconnie McHits (@g2019), the league leader in tackles, and Nathan Claflin (@Greenbaynathan), who had a DPotG performance with 4 tackles and a strip sack in this one! Our defensive captain Sconnie was fired up as always, and reminded all of us that even though the game didn’t go our way, we’re getting better every week, and we absolutely played well enough to win. For our part, we raved about his mastery of the open-field chase-down tackle. Probably half a dozen times a game he runs 15+ yards and closes down a ballcarrier in the secondary even before the defensive backs can get to them!

Speaking of chase-down tackles, I got some concrete proof that all the extra speed training the boss man has me doing is paying off! I ate up Bondi’s WR Kotoni Staggs at the 25-yard line late in the first quarter to save a touchdown! Two plays later Claflin forced a turnover and we got the ball back! It was probably my most impactful play of the season so far. I only had two more tackles, but they were both critical, last-man-standing type plays that, as a safety, are my responsibility to make. I’ve made it no secret that I’ve been disappointed with my stats and level of play this season, so seeing some real improvement in my game film, even in a loss, was incredibly reassuring.

It gets discouraging to lose so much. It was discouraging to lose a heartbreaker to a division rival. But we’re Seawolf Strong, and we’ll never give up. That’s why this is the best locker room in the league. The results aren’t quite there yet, but we know we’re getting better every week. Watch us!

[Beck]

When I first joined the Honolulu Hahalua, one of the first questions I asked in the locker room was who is our rival? I wanted to know so I knew who to definitely root against. I found out we do not have an official rival, so I right now look at the Chicago Butchers as my personal rival. I pick them due to my players back story of being from Chicago, and also is nickname being the butcher. I did not know there was a team named the Butchers when I joined.

The locker room after any loss is pretty dejected. We are a really young team that has big hopes for the future, but understands that this season is a developmental year. Cobra Kai is who would step up and motivate us to keep moving forward. Kai is not only our offensive leader, but also teaches karate at a dojo in the offseason.
Kai doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to players getting down. He is someone who’s motto is strike first and strike hard. So when as a team we are not living up to that he would get on us pretty good.
Sal takes motivation pretty successfully generally. Being a rookie who is unproven, he gets where his place is on the team. As a team we are set up for success but times like this definitely happen. As time moves forward hopefully, we come out on the winning end of these rivalry games more often than not.



252 Words

[Huskies311]

The rivalry between Kansas City and Portland has lived on, even surviving conference realignment as both teams have stayed in the same one. Being in the same conference is always important to rivalries, as it gives more opportunities to play not only in the regular season but in the postseason as well. After a heartbreaking loss to Portland, the locker doesn’t lose sight of what’s really important. Our leaders, both in the coaching staff and locker room, know the big picture. A loss to our rival is only more important than a loss to anyone else if we let it be; at the end of the day, 1 loss is 1 loss and we need to move on and focus on the next game.

In terms of who is stepping up, Jaycee Higgins and Carter Knight are definitely the ones keeping us on track. They’re the reason fans in KC are so excited about the future, even if this season doesn’t give us what we want to get out of it. On top of that, Rek and Gravity exude quiet confidence even after losses, and just show up week in and week out, and that sets an example for the rest of the team. Hopefully that is something I can imitate and learn as I become a focal point of the offense next season.

[zeagle1]

SHL CW

[Alcott]

Normally a rival is pretty well known by the players and fans, but being a relatively newish player to the league and team means that there's no history to base a rivalry on for Cole Maxwell, the best he can do is to judge who the team seems to care most about by the player's reactions post game. It was an epic battle between the Colorado Yeti and the Yellowknife Wraiths, going late into the night as an overtime period was needed to determine the ultimate winner, which was unfortunately not the Yeti. The locker room was gloomy as the players couldn't believe their luck, just more "sim going to sim" as they seemed to always have the most difficult time against the Wraiths, regardless of how good either team was. This was when Cole learned of the brutal history of poor games and winless streaks against the Wraiths. But it wouldn't last long, as veteran receiver and locker room beast William Lim stood and began to speak. His passion and fire for the game burned away the gloom and brought life back to all the players, now reinvigorated and ready to play again, ready to squash the curse of the Sim and bring a much needed victory to start to even the score with Yellowknife.