7)
Classically in the ISFL, the Running Back of the Year award goes to the running back with the most rushing yards in the regular season. Sometimes it will go to the RB who has the most rushing TD’s in the season. This season both of these titles were held by the same player, Tatsu Nakamura. Orange County finally found a true RB1 for their team who looks to shoulder the load for the Otters and Franklin Armstrong ends his time in the league. His 12 TDs and over 1200 yards put him ahead of all other players on the ground.
However, the RBotY award should not go to Nakamura. This season the best running back in the league was Mako Mendonca.
With 4 less TD’s, almost 200 yards less and a slightly lower Avg at 4 vs 4.1 ypc, you may be wondering why he should win the award? The answer to this comes from the modern games changes to require RB’s to be all around offensive contributors. Catching passes out of the backfield is a vital role to help out a QB and Mendonca did it as well as anyone. His 762 receiving yards blew all other RBs out of the water, and many wide receivers. He is 23rd of all players in receiving yards in S24, better than most WR2’s in the league.
This wasn’t due to him being the only offensive weapon Austin had, 2 of the 22 players in front of him here were also from Austin and the other running back Kichwa Jones also had almost 1000 rushing yards. While rotation is important in the modern league, Mendonca had to share touches much more than Nakamura whose backup only had 98 touches in comparison to Jones’ 234. His production still being very comparable on the ground while also being far superior in the air is an impressive accomplishment. Stats in this league are often inflated by being the sole recipient of touches and in both aspects of his game, Mendonca had to share touches around for the team.
Adding 3 TD’s as well gets him to within 1 all-purpose TD’s of Nakamura. 11 TDs and 1810 yards in the season is an incredible achievement but due to his stats being split on the index, some people may be overlooking him. Mendonca’s numbers weren’t due to him being a workhorse run into the ground, they were through his impressive play and that’s why he is my Running Back of the Year.
10)
The S18 Yellowknife Wraiths were one of the most dominant teams the ISFL has seen in recent years. Their 11-2 record topped the league and they held both the #1 offence and #2 defence in the league. This team was completely dominant through the regular season. After the traditional week 1 loss, they would win 11 games in a row to secure the first seed before seemingly resting players before the playoffs for their second loss.
The offence was centred around futureTM Hall of Famer, Cooter Bigsby. Bigbsy threw for the most yards in the league and was also joint 1st in TDs at 31, leading him to his first MVP award of his career. Cooter had been very good in his first 3 seasons in the league, leading the league in passing yards in S16 and in TDs in S17 but he put both together in what would become the first MVP in his hall fo fame career. The rest of the offence was no slouch either. Backing him up with an incredible 14 TDs was Morgan Marshall. While Marshalls yardage meant he missed out on RBotY, his 14 rushing touchdowns has not been matched by any running back since. The San Jose Legend Nate Swift would share receiving duty with Tommy Helanen and between the 2 of them they would haul in 20 TDs and over 2500 yards.
The defence, while not ranked #1 in points allowed, blew the competition out of the water when it came to sacks, their 53 was 14 more than the 2nd placed team. Another future Hall of Famer Danny Grithead led the league in sacks with other massive names like Ryan Leaf and Giannis Kroustis putting in their fair share. 239 points allowed was still over 100 better than both other NSFC teams who made the playoffs as the dominant Yellowknife team would make no doubt who the greatest team in the NSFC was.
Ultimately, they would fall short in the Ultimus against perennial Ultimus contenders, the Orange County Otters. Franklin Armstrong was too strong in the post season as he won his second straight title. While they would fall short of greatness, it would still be forever immortalised in Yellowknife’s history. This game would become an infamous Ultimus game for them as it began the Ultimus curse. For the Bigsby led team, this would be the first of their 4 straight Ultimus losses, and becoming known as constant Ultimus chokers. Eventually. Cooter’s swan song in S23 would be the only thing to bring relief back to Canada.
Classically in the ISFL, the Running Back of the Year award goes to the running back with the most rushing yards in the regular season. Sometimes it will go to the RB who has the most rushing TD’s in the season. This season both of these titles were held by the same player, Tatsu Nakamura. Orange County finally found a true RB1 for their team who looks to shoulder the load for the Otters and Franklin Armstrong ends his time in the league. His 12 TDs and over 1200 yards put him ahead of all other players on the ground.
However, the RBotY award should not go to Nakamura. This season the best running back in the league was Mako Mendonca.
With 4 less TD’s, almost 200 yards less and a slightly lower Avg at 4 vs 4.1 ypc, you may be wondering why he should win the award? The answer to this comes from the modern games changes to require RB’s to be all around offensive contributors. Catching passes out of the backfield is a vital role to help out a QB and Mendonca did it as well as anyone. His 762 receiving yards blew all other RBs out of the water, and many wide receivers. He is 23rd of all players in receiving yards in S24, better than most WR2’s in the league.
This wasn’t due to him being the only offensive weapon Austin had, 2 of the 22 players in front of him here were also from Austin and the other running back Kichwa Jones also had almost 1000 rushing yards. While rotation is important in the modern league, Mendonca had to share touches much more than Nakamura whose backup only had 98 touches in comparison to Jones’ 234. His production still being very comparable on the ground while also being far superior in the air is an impressive accomplishment. Stats in this league are often inflated by being the sole recipient of touches and in both aspects of his game, Mendonca had to share touches around for the team.
Adding 3 TD’s as well gets him to within 1 all-purpose TD’s of Nakamura. 11 TDs and 1810 yards in the season is an incredible achievement but due to his stats being split on the index, some people may be overlooking him. Mendonca’s numbers weren’t due to him being a workhorse run into the ground, they were through his impressive play and that’s why he is my Running Back of the Year.
10)
The S18 Yellowknife Wraiths were one of the most dominant teams the ISFL has seen in recent years. Their 11-2 record topped the league and they held both the #1 offence and #2 defence in the league. This team was completely dominant through the regular season. After the traditional week 1 loss, they would win 11 games in a row to secure the first seed before seemingly resting players before the playoffs for their second loss.
The offence was centred around futureTM Hall of Famer, Cooter Bigsby. Bigbsy threw for the most yards in the league and was also joint 1st in TDs at 31, leading him to his first MVP award of his career. Cooter had been very good in his first 3 seasons in the league, leading the league in passing yards in S16 and in TDs in S17 but he put both together in what would become the first MVP in his hall fo fame career. The rest of the offence was no slouch either. Backing him up with an incredible 14 TDs was Morgan Marshall. While Marshalls yardage meant he missed out on RBotY, his 14 rushing touchdowns has not been matched by any running back since. The San Jose Legend Nate Swift would share receiving duty with Tommy Helanen and between the 2 of them they would haul in 20 TDs and over 2500 yards.
The defence, while not ranked #1 in points allowed, blew the competition out of the water when it came to sacks, their 53 was 14 more than the 2nd placed team. Another future Hall of Famer Danny Grithead led the league in sacks with other massive names like Ryan Leaf and Giannis Kroustis putting in their fair share. 239 points allowed was still over 100 better than both other NSFC teams who made the playoffs as the dominant Yellowknife team would make no doubt who the greatest team in the NSFC was.
Ultimately, they would fall short in the Ultimus against perennial Ultimus contenders, the Orange County Otters. Franklin Armstrong was too strong in the post season as he won his second straight title. While they would fall short of greatness, it would still be forever immortalised in Yellowknife’s history. This game would become an infamous Ultimus game for them as it began the Ultimus curse. For the Bigsby led team, this would be the first of their 4 straight Ultimus losses, and becoming known as constant Ultimus chokers. Eventually. Cooter’s swan song in S23 would be the only thing to bring relief back to Canada.
![[Image: xam4OKK.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xam4OKK.png)
