10-27-2021, 10:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-27-2021, 11:00 AM by MMFLEX. Edited 1 time in total.)
1. This week will see the S31 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? Who do you think will win the final? If you’re writing this after the finals were decided, were you surprised by the outcome?
Writing this after the outcome of the games and we know that the Honolulu Hahalua and Dallas Birddogs won their respective championships. In the ISFL, the ASFC teams from top to bottom were Austin, Arizona, and Honolulu. And in the NSFC, Colorado, Sarasota, and Chicago. Colorado started the regular season looking like the best in class, but stumbled into the playoffs, going 4-4 in their last 8. Of the 6 playoff teams, Colorado was entering the playoffs with the worst record in their last 8 games. Austin, on the other hand, rallied late in the season, going 7-1 in their last 8 with their only loss to Baltimore. Shocking in itself, another shock was their week 13 commanding win over the Arizona Outlaws, 44-20, which cemented themselves as the clear favorites heading into the playoffs. The eventual Ultimus winners, Honolulu, started the season 2-4 and everyone was thinking this would be the same old Honolulu. But the Hahalua rallied late in the season, going 6-2 in their last 8 and clinching a playoff spot in week 15 with New York's loss to Orange County. Entering the playoffs, the Hahalua, likely with the lowest odds, would travel to Arizona where they lost both regular season games to the Outlaws, both a 1 score game. Seemingly, Honolulu's only advantage was on defense, where they lead their conference in points allowed and trailed only Chicago for the league lead by a small margin. What ensued was an offense that stepped up, dropping 33 points, and amount that was exceed in only 3 of their regular season games. Honolulu would go on to win that game and face Austin in the Conference Championship. A big underdog, Honolulu would end up scoring double from the average of their 2 games against Austin in the regular season. The entire game was controlled by Honolulu throughout, and if not for a garbage time score from Cowabunga this game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Now onto the Ultimus game where we would see Colorado and Honolulu play for the S31 title. Colorado arrived to the game by butchering the Butchers in a 23-10 game. This game was a slugfest as it was back-and-forth throughout, which ultimately led to Salamanca hauling in his 2nd touchdown of the day with less than two minutes to go for the winning score. "Were you surprised by the outcome?" Yes, along with everyone else. I'd be lying if I said I was confident with any of the 3 games in this playoff run. Hard to say winning the Ultimus wasn't the biggest surprise, but Honolulu averaged an entire touchdown more than their regular season average. So much of the offense stepped up big, and not even always the players you'd expect. Ace Savage was the hero against Arizona with 175 yards on 15 touches. Against Austin, Honolulu relied on their studs, Cobra Kai and Eleven Kendrick-Watts. Perhaps Freddy Bly's 56 yard FG as time expired in the 1st half was the biggest score of the game. Bly was only 2/3 on 50+ attempts in the regular season and only had a long of 52 yards. If he misses that Honolulu is staring at overtime with the best team in the league. And in the Ultimus, Lalo Salamanca earned OPOG as Kendrick-Watts struggled to get going. Salamanca finished with 130 yard and 2 TDs.
In the DSFL, both Semifinals games were exciting very exciting until the very end. In the Northern Conference Final there were 2 scores in the last 2 minutes of the game. Minnesota's Levy Tate nailed a chip shot, 24 yarder, to go up 27-24. Kansas City then marched down the field and ultimately led to a Keedic game winning touchdown from to Carter Knight. Imagine would could have happened if Minnesota went for it on 4th down for the kill shot, or even not converting, pinning the Coyotes deep in their own territory. In the Southern Conference Final we got a headbanger that everyone expected. The best two teams going at it that ended up going into overtime. This looked to be a runaway as Dallas scored 2 early touchdowns in the 4th quarter to go up 14 points. Malcom Savage and the Norfolk defense wasn't going out without putting up a fight. They rallied to score a 27 yard TD pass to Malcador The Hero with 3:37 left in the game. 2 plays later Spike Daniels picked off Ricky Stanzi and led to a Savage to Patey touchdown to tie the game that would end up going to overtime. Norfolk's stomach is still in their throat because the defense secured another turnover under 2 minutes and in the redzone. Instead of a go-ahead score, a costly interception was thrown just 2 plays later. With momentun in Dallas' favor heading into overtime, the first play was another interception off Savage that led to a game winning FG. The winner of this game was going into the Ultimini as the favorite. However, that's not how the game started. Kansas City entered half time with a 20-9 lead. With a scoreless 3rd quarter, Dallas really got it going in the 4th and scored 22 unanswered points to win the Ultimini.
Writing this after the outcome of the games and we know that the Honolulu Hahalua and Dallas Birddogs won their respective championships. In the ISFL, the ASFC teams from top to bottom were Austin, Arizona, and Honolulu. And in the NSFC, Colorado, Sarasota, and Chicago. Colorado started the regular season looking like the best in class, but stumbled into the playoffs, going 4-4 in their last 8. Of the 6 playoff teams, Colorado was entering the playoffs with the worst record in their last 8 games. Austin, on the other hand, rallied late in the season, going 7-1 in their last 8 with their only loss to Baltimore. Shocking in itself, another shock was their week 13 commanding win over the Arizona Outlaws, 44-20, which cemented themselves as the clear favorites heading into the playoffs. The eventual Ultimus winners, Honolulu, started the season 2-4 and everyone was thinking this would be the same old Honolulu. But the Hahalua rallied late in the season, going 6-2 in their last 8 and clinching a playoff spot in week 15 with New York's loss to Orange County. Entering the playoffs, the Hahalua, likely with the lowest odds, would travel to Arizona where they lost both regular season games to the Outlaws, both a 1 score game. Seemingly, Honolulu's only advantage was on defense, where they lead their conference in points allowed and trailed only Chicago for the league lead by a small margin. What ensued was an offense that stepped up, dropping 33 points, and amount that was exceed in only 3 of their regular season games. Honolulu would go on to win that game and face Austin in the Conference Championship. A big underdog, Honolulu would end up scoring double from the average of their 2 games against Austin in the regular season. The entire game was controlled by Honolulu throughout, and if not for a garbage time score from Cowabunga this game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Now onto the Ultimus game where we would see Colorado and Honolulu play for the S31 title. Colorado arrived to the game by butchering the Butchers in a 23-10 game. This game was a slugfest as it was back-and-forth throughout, which ultimately led to Salamanca hauling in his 2nd touchdown of the day with less than two minutes to go for the winning score. "Were you surprised by the outcome?" Yes, along with everyone else. I'd be lying if I said I was confident with any of the 3 games in this playoff run. Hard to say winning the Ultimus wasn't the biggest surprise, but Honolulu averaged an entire touchdown more than their regular season average. So much of the offense stepped up big, and not even always the players you'd expect. Ace Savage was the hero against Arizona with 175 yards on 15 touches. Against Austin, Honolulu relied on their studs, Cobra Kai and Eleven Kendrick-Watts. Perhaps Freddy Bly's 56 yard FG as time expired in the 1st half was the biggest score of the game. Bly was only 2/3 on 50+ attempts in the regular season and only had a long of 52 yards. If he misses that Honolulu is staring at overtime with the best team in the league. And in the Ultimus, Lalo Salamanca earned OPOG as Kendrick-Watts struggled to get going. Salamanca finished with 130 yard and 2 TDs.
In the DSFL, both Semifinals games were exciting very exciting until the very end. In the Northern Conference Final there were 2 scores in the last 2 minutes of the game. Minnesota's Levy Tate nailed a chip shot, 24 yarder, to go up 27-24. Kansas City then marched down the field and ultimately led to a Keedic game winning touchdown from to Carter Knight. Imagine would could have happened if Minnesota went for it on 4th down for the kill shot, or even not converting, pinning the Coyotes deep in their own territory. In the Southern Conference Final we got a headbanger that everyone expected. The best two teams going at it that ended up going into overtime. This looked to be a runaway as Dallas scored 2 early touchdowns in the 4th quarter to go up 14 points. Malcom Savage and the Norfolk defense wasn't going out without putting up a fight. They rallied to score a 27 yard TD pass to Malcador The Hero with 3:37 left in the game. 2 plays later Spike Daniels picked off Ricky Stanzi and led to a Savage to Patey touchdown to tie the game that would end up going to overtime. Norfolk's stomach is still in their throat because the defense secured another turnover under 2 minutes and in the redzone. Instead of a go-ahead score, a costly interception was thrown just 2 plays later. With momentun in Dallas' favor heading into overtime, the first play was another interception off Savage that led to a game winning FG. The winner of this game was going into the Ultimini as the favorite. However, that's not how the game started. Kansas City entered half time with a 20-9 lead. With a scoreless 3rd quarter, Dallas really got it going in the 4th and scored 22 unanswered points to win the Ultimini.
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