06-13-2019, 11:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-19-2019, 11:58 PM by ven_knight.)
1) Playoff Review: Palm Beach Solar Bears vs Tijuana Luchadores
The Solar Bears had a surprising turnaround for season 15 and they were looking to keep on showing how much they had improved. But to reach the Ultimini, they needed to get through a tough game in Tijuana against the SFC top team. Let's see how things unfold; during the 1st quarter, Palm Beach had control of the game with some impressive rushing series by Mako Mendonca who went to score a 41 yard touchdown. Additionally, Tijuana just couldn't find anything in the rushing game and Havran threw 2 costly interceptions that ended up in 7 points. Things looked better for the Luchadores in the 2nd quarter, with Gump finding the endzone after a 12 yard run; after stopping the Solar Bears on 2 straight offensive series, Tijuana scored again with a 46 yard field goal by Kyle Frost. That was the last relevant play until the end of the first half.
Having a score of 17-10, the game could go either way and Tijuana knew that they had to keep up with the momentum they gained in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, Havran yet again threw consecutive interceptions, with one of them ending in a 3 yard rushing touchdown by Mendonca. Luchadores tried again the passing attack but things got out of hand with one more interception that gave the Solar Bears the opportunity to almost seal the game by scoring another touchdown now with a 1 yard run by Bigby. At the start of the 4th quarter, Castleberry made a 42 yard field goal to put the score 34 to 10 in favor of the Solar Bears. Even tough Tijuana tried to make a combat with a great effort by Gump and Havran, time wasn't enough and the game finished with the score 34 to 23. Excellent plays by RB Mendoca (21 att, 110 yards, 2 TDs) and LBs Nikko and Gilsack (combined for 20 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 3 passes defended and 1 interception) helped the Solar Bears to get an impressive win against Luchadores and look for an Ultimus win.
347 words
4) Head to Head Matchups: San Jose LBs vs Marquise Brown
S15 Ultimus is all set, with the San Jose SaberCats ready to take on the Baltimore Hawks. San Jose managed to reach the final game again, just like last season and is looking to win back-to back championships. But the Hawks are not an easy team to contain with all their offensive weapons. So a key matchup for this game will be how LBs Chad Pennington and Kolby Deringer manage to contain RB Marquise Brown.
Since Baltimore QB Childish Gambino announced his retirement at the beginning of the season, most of the offensive load has been trusted into Brown and that can be seen with his seasons stats of 1577 yards and 14 touchdowns (both 1st in the league). He's also coming with the designation of offensive player of the game after his 96 yards, 2 touchdowns performance against Philadelphia Liberty.
Although the task at hand may seem overwhelming, you can count with Pennington and Deringer being a reliable duo in the middle of the season. They had an overall good performance during the season (both combined for 190 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 12 sacks, 3 interceptions and 18 passes defended) and a good playoff game against the Otters in which they allowed just 100 rushing yards (their combines stats were 11 tackles, 1 sack and 2 passes defended). Both players must bring their best against Brown, specially Pennington against the run and Deringer helping the defensive backs with coverage.
245 words
5) Spotlight on Youth: SS Fatih Terim
S15 NSFL Draft brought a talented pool of players into the league and there are 2 rising stars among the defensive backs which Baltimore had the fortune to select: FS Walt Green and SS Fatih Terim. For this writing I want to give some highlight to Terim's performance over the season. Even though he's a rookie, he showed that he has the potential to become a very successful safety in the league with a good performance in which he had 47 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 7 sacks, 2 interceptions and 3 passes defended. He didn't get as much attention as his rookie teammate Green, but he surely made some plays when it mattered the most. Looking into his playoff performance, he finished the game against Philadelphia with just 4 tackles, good but certainly not as impressive as some of his regular season games. That changed for the Ultimus, where he truly shone with the following stats: 7 tackles (most among his teammates) and 1 forced fumble.
With the expansion draft coming for the next season, Baltimore may lose some of their key defensive players, but they surely have a young core of defensive backs that deserve a good follow up into their development, being Terim an interesting player of this bunch, who’s looking to build up on what he just showed us during his season debut.
226 words
7) Next year
Unfortunately for the Outlaws, a playoff appearance went away with an ugly loss against the Otters on Week 13. Nonetheless, I felt like the team did great in spite of the many young players that came from the S15 draft and that where asked to start right away. The past season, with a 2-12 record, proved that Arizona needed a lot of help from the previously mentioned draft and SwagSloth did an impressive job with the players he selected. It showed sooner that I would have expected, with a 6-8 performance.
For all of these reasons, I believe that Arizona has a chance to make it into the playoffs the upcoming season 16. All of us young players are only getting better; for the offense, Reese finally has better weapons in WR Landers (strong OROTY candidate) and TE Irving (look for him helping to move the chains and as a red zone threat). In the case of the defense, DT Morris is sure to become the QBs greatest nightmare and LB Lee is shaping up to be the perfect partner for LB Vans in the middle. Also, don't sleep on Stokeley, he may be more involved in the games for next season; lastly the defensive backs come from a good season with safeties McKinnie and Mack showing they can be trusted as starters, and CBs Mughes and Knight working their respective side of the field. The upcoming expansion and Season 16 draft should be interesting (even though there's a possibility to lose some important players) for strengthening some key positions like K, RB, DE/DT or CB and make an easier task for the team to reach the playoffs.
279 words
The Solar Bears had a surprising turnaround for season 15 and they were looking to keep on showing how much they had improved. But to reach the Ultimini, they needed to get through a tough game in Tijuana against the SFC top team. Let's see how things unfold; during the 1st quarter, Palm Beach had control of the game with some impressive rushing series by Mako Mendonca who went to score a 41 yard touchdown. Additionally, Tijuana just couldn't find anything in the rushing game and Havran threw 2 costly interceptions that ended up in 7 points. Things looked better for the Luchadores in the 2nd quarter, with Gump finding the endzone after a 12 yard run; after stopping the Solar Bears on 2 straight offensive series, Tijuana scored again with a 46 yard field goal by Kyle Frost. That was the last relevant play until the end of the first half.
Having a score of 17-10, the game could go either way and Tijuana knew that they had to keep up with the momentum they gained in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, Havran yet again threw consecutive interceptions, with one of them ending in a 3 yard rushing touchdown by Mendonca. Luchadores tried again the passing attack but things got out of hand with one more interception that gave the Solar Bears the opportunity to almost seal the game by scoring another touchdown now with a 1 yard run by Bigby. At the start of the 4th quarter, Castleberry made a 42 yard field goal to put the score 34 to 10 in favor of the Solar Bears. Even tough Tijuana tried to make a combat with a great effort by Gump and Havran, time wasn't enough and the game finished with the score 34 to 23. Excellent plays by RB Mendoca (21 att, 110 yards, 2 TDs) and LBs Nikko and Gilsack (combined for 20 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 3 passes defended and 1 interception) helped the Solar Bears to get an impressive win against Luchadores and look for an Ultimus win.
347 words
4) Head to Head Matchups: San Jose LBs vs Marquise Brown
S15 Ultimus is all set, with the San Jose SaberCats ready to take on the Baltimore Hawks. San Jose managed to reach the final game again, just like last season and is looking to win back-to back championships. But the Hawks are not an easy team to contain with all their offensive weapons. So a key matchup for this game will be how LBs Chad Pennington and Kolby Deringer manage to contain RB Marquise Brown.
Since Baltimore QB Childish Gambino announced his retirement at the beginning of the season, most of the offensive load has been trusted into Brown and that can be seen with his seasons stats of 1577 yards and 14 touchdowns (both 1st in the league). He's also coming with the designation of offensive player of the game after his 96 yards, 2 touchdowns performance against Philadelphia Liberty.
Although the task at hand may seem overwhelming, you can count with Pennington and Deringer being a reliable duo in the middle of the season. They had an overall good performance during the season (both combined for 190 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 12 sacks, 3 interceptions and 18 passes defended) and a good playoff game against the Otters in which they allowed just 100 rushing yards (their combines stats were 11 tackles, 1 sack and 2 passes defended). Both players must bring their best against Brown, specially Pennington against the run and Deringer helping the defensive backs with coverage.
245 words
5) Spotlight on Youth: SS Fatih Terim
S15 NSFL Draft brought a talented pool of players into the league and there are 2 rising stars among the defensive backs which Baltimore had the fortune to select: FS Walt Green and SS Fatih Terim. For this writing I want to give some highlight to Terim's performance over the season. Even though he's a rookie, he showed that he has the potential to become a very successful safety in the league with a good performance in which he had 47 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 7 sacks, 2 interceptions and 3 passes defended. He didn't get as much attention as his rookie teammate Green, but he surely made some plays when it mattered the most. Looking into his playoff performance, he finished the game against Philadelphia with just 4 tackles, good but certainly not as impressive as some of his regular season games. That changed for the Ultimus, where he truly shone with the following stats: 7 tackles (most among his teammates) and 1 forced fumble.
With the expansion draft coming for the next season, Baltimore may lose some of their key defensive players, but they surely have a young core of defensive backs that deserve a good follow up into their development, being Terim an interesting player of this bunch, who’s looking to build up on what he just showed us during his season debut.
226 words
7) Next year
Unfortunately for the Outlaws, a playoff appearance went away with an ugly loss against the Otters on Week 13. Nonetheless, I felt like the team did great in spite of the many young players that came from the S15 draft and that where asked to start right away. The past season, with a 2-12 record, proved that Arizona needed a lot of help from the previously mentioned draft and SwagSloth did an impressive job with the players he selected. It showed sooner that I would have expected, with a 6-8 performance.
For all of these reasons, I believe that Arizona has a chance to make it into the playoffs the upcoming season 16. All of us young players are only getting better; for the offense, Reese finally has better weapons in WR Landers (strong OROTY candidate) and TE Irving (look for him helping to move the chains and as a red zone threat). In the case of the defense, DT Morris is sure to become the QBs greatest nightmare and LB Lee is shaping up to be the perfect partner for LB Vans in the middle. Also, don't sleep on Stokeley, he may be more involved in the games for next season; lastly the defensive backs come from a good season with safeties McKinnie and Mack showing they can be trusted as starters, and CBs Mughes and Knight working their respective side of the field. The upcoming expansion and Season 16 draft should be interesting (even though there's a possibility to lose some important players) for strengthening some key positions like K, RB, DE/DT or CB and make an easier task for the team to reach the playoffs.
279 words
![[Image: a0DYbsg.png]](https://i.imgur.com/a0DYbsg.png)
