(S24) - Ultimus Week

[GoonerBear]

Code:

1) The league has a rich and fascinating history, and our perspectives on it differ from person to person. In 800 words or more, describe any significant non-playoffs moment in ISFL or DSFL history, whether you were around for it or not. Describe the context, the significant members, and the events. What exactly made this event so famous (or infamous) and why does it deserve to be remembered?

It's the end of Season 24. The very last game on not only the participants' slate, but the entire league's regular-season schedule. The San Jose SaberCats are hosting the New Orleans Second Line in a game they must win to secure their place in the postseason. NOLA can move on with or without a win by this point. In a crowd of two 9-7 teams and 9-6 NOLA with earlier results, however, 8-8 will not cut it for San Jose. It's been a painful affair since Montgomery Jack hit Nate Swift on a 1-yard touchdown pass. The offense has continued to struggle, and early in the fourth quarter, Herbert Prohaska has kicked a field goal to make it a nine-point game. Two possessions for the Cats feels like a chasm, especially with an offense that would finish in the bottom half of the ISFL in yards and scoring, by air and land.

Earlier this season, the SaberCats had defeated the Second Line in New Orleans 17-14. Matthew McDairmid came through within the final two minutes to kick what would ultimately hold as the game-winning field goal after the Cats had mounted a 14-3 lead, then NOLA came back to tie the game midway through the quarter. It had been four seasons since the Cats last swept the Second Line in a regular season where the two sides met on two occasions. Since that time, the Second Line had reeled in a bigger prize - an Ultimus in S21.

The stakes were higher for San Jose. After a fantastic S22, especially relative to most of their history, an 8-5 mark was, unfortunately, not enough to secure a postseason berth in a packed ASFC where they lost a head-to-head tiebreaker to...New Orleans. The Austin Copperheads had been relentlessly mocked for tying the Arizona Outlaws in Week 1 24-24, though in the end, it wasn't a loss, and that carried the day to elevate Austin to the 2 seed, out of the tie. 5-11 in S23 was enough for the second overall pick in the S24 ISFL Draft. Heading into S24, optimism was plentiful, though reality would soon set in as the Cats were up and down the entire way. Fortunately for them, so were their conference rivals. The Colorado Yeti and Sarasota Sailfish were running away with the NSFC, and the Chicago Butchers were an afterthought for the conference at 7-9. They still qualified for the postseason.

A hard-luck season two years prior. A team in NOLA who pipped them to the most recent Ultimus, who lingered over the darkest moments of recent history. A team in NOLA who didn't need to win, though figured it would be nice to exact revenge in this game AND see the defeated SaberCats eliminated in one night.

With the pendulum swinging on NOLA's end, Prohaska kicks the ball to Deondre Thomas-Fox, the wide receiver who would end up with the most receiving yards at the end of the season at 1406. In this moment, however, his most important contribution to the SaberCats to date is about to come on a kick return. Thomas-Fox catches the kickoff halfway inside his own end zone. He checks his left and right. He figures he has a better chance going left. As he crosses the goal line, he books it for the left sideline, behind sturdy blockers who are developing them just right. Thomas-Fox weaves through them before it becomes a footrace. NOLA kick defenders, in a mad scramble, are desperate to disengage from the San Jose kick returners locking horns with them. Any fraction of a second could prove the difference. A couple speedier guys from the other side are tracking him down. Thomas-Fox hits the 25, the 20, the 15, 10, hit at the 5 by one of the defenders...

...and leaps out as he's going down on a shoestring tackle. Ball over the line, clear as day.

Touchdown, San Jose. It's recorded as a 105-yard kick return touchdown to pull the Cats back to within a 23-21 deficit.

What makes this moment is it injected life back into the home side. They would still struggle on offense, sure, though a 47-yard field goal from McDairmid when close enough at about four and a half minutes to go now takes them to a lead rather than a setup for a hope to get a touchdown. It puts the pressure on the Second Line. And it puts the strongest unit the Cats have on the field with destiny in their hands. They hold off one charge, take a break for a punt, and run the clock out before NOLA can mount a severe threat to turn the tide at the gun.

The tiebreakers among four 9-7 ASFC teams ultimately shook out to place San Jose first, then Orange County second, New Orleans third, and Arizona out in the cold in fourth place. The Cats would get a bye, defeat the Otters 17-3 in the conference title game, then sweat out a tight contest with the Colorado Yeti before surviving to win their second Ultimus 17-12.

Many members of the SJS locker room would go on to point to this moment as the most pivotal moment in the season in hindsight. Without the Thomas-Fox return touchdown, San Jose does not win their second Ultimus. They don't even get the chance to.

(891)