(S11) - Ultimus Week

[MrStennett]

1. PBE PT

2. PLAYOFF SERIES MVP

Lets talk a little about Tijuana Luchadores quarterback Andreas Metaxas, and how he almost single-handedly won the SFC Championship Game against the San Antonio Marshals. Now, you might look at his somewhat unsightly quarterback rating and think, how in the world do you think this guy won a game basically by himself. I promise you though, he had a performance to write home about. It starts with his timely touchdown pass to Jaylen Hobbs at the beginning of the second quarter. It helped keep the score respectable, as the Marshals had a fourteen point lead at the end of the first. Several key passes later, including a twenty-nine yard connection with Halvorsen, Tijuana was going into the fourth quarter with just a three point lead. Metaxas seven yard touchdown run with seven minutes left in the fourth iced the game and got the Luchadores within arms reach of a fourth straight Ultimini. For the game, Metaxas completed fifty-seven percent of his passes for two hundred yards and one touchdown, and also ran for a Luchadores playoff record one hundred thirty one yards and a touchdown as well. It was one hell of a game for the speedy quarterback Andreas Metaxas and that is why he was the SFC Championship's Most Valuable Player.

3. ROBBED

OK, hear me out on this one. Allow me to present to you why the Philadelphia Liberty should have made the playoffs over the Colorado Yeti. No doubt, the Yeti had an impressive season. They scored the second most points in the league, topped by only the New Orleans Second Line. On the other hand, the Philadelphia Liberty had the absolute best defense in the league, or at least as close as a team can get. They were number one in all of the NSFL in scoring defense, passing yards allowed, and total yards allowed. The only place that they fell outside of the top spot was rushing yards allowed, where they were fourth in the league, but still held the number one spot in the NSFC. Take the flip side of this, where the Yeti were in last place in every significant defensive category. When you break it down, Colorado only held their opponent to under twenty points three times all season. Also, while the Yeti held a 6-1 record at home, they were dreadful on the road, winning only two contests by a total of eight points. Granted, the Yeti did win one more game than Philly, but the Liberty's home and away splits are much more even. It seems to me that if you're looking for the most complete teams to compete in the playoffs, you would include the Philadelphia Liberty.

4. CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RECAP

The best play from the championship game has to be the fifty yard punt return by Second Line cornerback turned wide receiver Vladimir Fyodorovich. Special teams touchdowns, in my opinion, are some of the most exciting plays in all of football. They're rare, and usually very fast paced, which makes them super exciting to watch. In this case, the momentum was changing back in forth in a very fast paced offensive game. Neither team was having trouble driving down the field, as both teams had scored a touchdown already and there was still over two minutes to go in the first quarter. After a terrible punt by Turk Turkleton that traveled only thirty yards, Fyodorovich caught the ball at the fifty and quickly returned it all the way for a touchdown. The play took all of twenty seconds off of the play clock. It was a momentum shifting play that put the Second Line ahead by a score, who eventually went on to win the game, 42-36 in overtime. You can never go back and say for certain what might have been, but in one of the best Ultimus games that has been played in a long time, the Second Line may have been watching the celebration from the sidelines without Fyodorovich and his special teams heroics.