Wow guys, it’s been a while. Well not really. As in, it’s been about 36 hours since I’ve written one of these articles, and I needed to do one. I’m really trying to keep up with this series, and I aim to have over 60 million in my bank before the ISFL draft. Realistically I could probably get to over 80 mil, but I’d need to be really dedicated. Writing about these games has become easier than I thought and the commentary just naturally flows through me. I also love reviewing games and learning about league history, so it’s a win win. I’m really hoping there are some GMs that are noticing this and how much media I’m producing, and come draft time and I have like 40 of these pieces out, I’m sure I’ll get bumped up on some draft boards.
Today I wanted to do things a little bit differently. I have been choosing games, but I figured I might do some RNG for this review and the next one, because, hell, I’m gonna start running out of good games to review, and plus, it’s fun to do some “not close” games anyways. Who knows what kind of games I’ll review with the RNG. First, let me randomize a number between 1 and 26, as that’ll be the season we review the game from. Ok, it’s 6. So we’ll be reviewing season 6. Now, there were 14 weeks of regular season back then, and a week of conference championships, and a week of the ultimus. So, I’ll be putting in a number 1-16, and 15 and 16 will just be those playoff weeks. Ok, and we got 11. Now, let me pick a number between 1-4, that will choose our game for us. And I got 2. The Second Line travels to Yellowknife to take on the Wraiths and their 34 seat stadium. I won’t give much context or stuff cause I don’t want to spoil the games and how close they are. Usually in the other reviews you’d expect a comeback, but I’ll keep you guessing here.
It’s a beautiful day, sorry no, it’s an ugly, cold, gloomy day in Yellowknife, but is anyone surprised? Good thing their stadium is indoors or else we’d all freeze to death. I feel like I’ve done so many of these early era games, and I’m quite familiar with the 2 QBs in the starting lineup for today, Borkus Maximus III and Mat Akselsen.
The opening kickoff is high and returnable, as Evans takes it down the left side and waits for blockers, and runs for 41 yards to the NOLA 46 for an excellent return. Maximus has excellent field position to drive NOLA down the field, but the Wraiths defense has other plans. Back to back sacks makes it 4th and 23 before you can even say bork, and NOLA punts it away. This drive was all about overcoming adversity. Wraiths converted a 3rd and 2, and got sacked and converted a 4th and 1 later, but they couldn’t convert a 3rd and 5 at the NOLA 10 and kicked a short FG to score the first points of the game, making it 3-0 with under 8 to go in the first. After a good 3rd and 4 conversion from Maximus, the Wraiths defense buckles down with a sack, and on the next play, the HoFer Lavelle jumps on a route and picks off the ball, returning it to the NOLA 30. Akselsen threw the ball 4 straight times, all completions to a player, but the 4th one was a completion to a player on the opposite team, who returns the ball 66 yards. 3 plays later and NOLA punches it in the endzone, going up 7-0. A 20 yard scramble by Akselsen to close out the quarter gives the Wraiths the momentum they needed, but they can’t convert on the next series and punt. Maximus starts out hot with 3 straight completions for 48 yards. A clutch sack stalled the drive, and NOLA missed a 40 yard field goal. An 11 yard sack on the next drive kills the Wraiths momentum and forces them to punt. 3 straight rushes by Savea goes nowhere for NOLA and they punt back to YKW with 7 and a half to go in the 2nd quarter. Nuck only got 2 yards on a 3rd and 3 and the Wraiths punt right back to NOLA. As hard as Maximus tried to keep the drive alive, 2 penalties by NOLA would stop them in their tracks and force yet another punt. NOLA defense holds strong and forces another punt, and it’s a snooze fest right now. NOLA fumbles the ball at the YKW 44 yard line with under a minute left, and YKW recovers it and saves the possible FG from ever happening.
The Wraiths open their 2nd half drive with 3 impressive runs tallying 28 yards. The good runs stop there, as a scramble by Akselsen is blown up for -4 yards and they are forced to punt. A nice 10 play drive from NOLA, featuring 5 passes from Maximuis that were at least 9 yards, allowed them to score their 2nd TD of the game, but the XP bounced off of the left upright, extending their lead to only 10 points, 13-3. Down 10, with under 7 to go in the 3rd quarter, the Wraiths put together a good drive, with multiple 3rd down conversions. They’re at the NOLA 13 yard line at one point, but penalties and negative plays force a 43 yard FG, which gets missed. After 3 straight Maximus incompletions, they were forced to punt. Akselsen opens the drive with a huge 37 yard completion, but 2 straight incompletions from him afterwards stalls out the drive, and they are forced to punt as the 3rd quarter ends. But wait, the punt was blocked, and NOLA sets up at their own 39 yard line. The punt was in their territory anyways, so it wasn’t anything game changing. Maximus threw back to back passes for 41 yards while Andrea rushed for 17 yards and a TD, putting them up 20-3 with 11 and a half minutes to go. With 11 minutes to go, down 3 scores, a comeback was out of the picture here, right? They just needed to score, and score fast. A 33 yard return by Lavelle is a great start. Akselsen bombs it down field for 33 yards on the next play, and a 10 yard rush by Nuck sets them up at the NOLA 19 yard line with under 9 and a half minutes to go. Down 17 points with 9 minutes to go, Akselsen knows there needs to be a big play, so he scrambles for 19 yards and the TD, bringing the deficit to 20-10. On the very first play of NOLA’s drive, they get a penalty, but on the 2nd play, Maximus is strip sacked by Hardrool, and the biggest defensive play of the game comes up at the right time, and YKW gets the ball back down 10 with 8 minutes to go on the NOLA 31 yard line. Akselsen throws a screen to Jarden who breaks some tackles and gets pushed out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Nuck punches it in on the next play and with 7 minutes to go, the Wraiths had cleared the deficit by a lot, only trailing by 3, making it 20-17. After 2 straight rushes by Savea, it’s a 3rd and 1 for NOLA with under 6 minutes to play. They could run it up the middle here and most likely convert, and then chew even more clock. But instead they decide to run play action. Maximus throws a quick slant to his tight end, but the ball tips off of the fingers, and Lavelle is there, as he picks it off, and returns it all the way. Another huge defensive play gives the Wraiths the lead, and it’s their defense that’s leading the comeback, as they are up 24-20 with 5 minutes to go. NOLA gets the ball back but after a terrible return, the offense can’t do much and elects to punt with 3 and a half remaining, trusting their defense. On the biggest 3rd and 1 of the game, the Wraiths manage to convert and chew even more clock, but Akselsen makes a fatal mistake on an upcoming play. He decides to tuck it and run after seeing no one open, but ends up getting the ball punched out from Oakes, but thankfully he had the balls to dive back on it, unlike a certain QB I remember seeing play in Super Bowl 50. The drive stalls out there and they punt to NOLA with 1 and a half remaining. NOLA can only get to their 41 yard line before time expires. Wraiths manage to win at home to a terrible NOLA team, 24-20.
What a game, what nice RNG, am I right? Out of all the games it could have picked, it chose a 17 point comeback with 9 minutes left. Wraiths defense showed up well, as we saw one of Lavelle’s best games. Good game, and that’s all for tonight folks.
Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors as I am dead tired.
Today I wanted to do things a little bit differently. I have been choosing games, but I figured I might do some RNG for this review and the next one, because, hell, I’m gonna start running out of good games to review, and plus, it’s fun to do some “not close” games anyways. Who knows what kind of games I’ll review with the RNG. First, let me randomize a number between 1 and 26, as that’ll be the season we review the game from. Ok, it’s 6. So we’ll be reviewing season 6. Now, there were 14 weeks of regular season back then, and a week of conference championships, and a week of the ultimus. So, I’ll be putting in a number 1-16, and 15 and 16 will just be those playoff weeks. Ok, and we got 11. Now, let me pick a number between 1-4, that will choose our game for us. And I got 2. The Second Line travels to Yellowknife to take on the Wraiths and their 34 seat stadium. I won’t give much context or stuff cause I don’t want to spoil the games and how close they are. Usually in the other reviews you’d expect a comeback, but I’ll keep you guessing here.
It’s a beautiful day, sorry no, it’s an ugly, cold, gloomy day in Yellowknife, but is anyone surprised? Good thing their stadium is indoors or else we’d all freeze to death. I feel like I’ve done so many of these early era games, and I’m quite familiar with the 2 QBs in the starting lineup for today, Borkus Maximus III and Mat Akselsen.
The opening kickoff is high and returnable, as Evans takes it down the left side and waits for blockers, and runs for 41 yards to the NOLA 46 for an excellent return. Maximus has excellent field position to drive NOLA down the field, but the Wraiths defense has other plans. Back to back sacks makes it 4th and 23 before you can even say bork, and NOLA punts it away. This drive was all about overcoming adversity. Wraiths converted a 3rd and 2, and got sacked and converted a 4th and 1 later, but they couldn’t convert a 3rd and 5 at the NOLA 10 and kicked a short FG to score the first points of the game, making it 3-0 with under 8 to go in the first. After a good 3rd and 4 conversion from Maximus, the Wraiths defense buckles down with a sack, and on the next play, the HoFer Lavelle jumps on a route and picks off the ball, returning it to the NOLA 30. Akselsen threw the ball 4 straight times, all completions to a player, but the 4th one was a completion to a player on the opposite team, who returns the ball 66 yards. 3 plays later and NOLA punches it in the endzone, going up 7-0. A 20 yard scramble by Akselsen to close out the quarter gives the Wraiths the momentum they needed, but they can’t convert on the next series and punt. Maximus starts out hot with 3 straight completions for 48 yards. A clutch sack stalled the drive, and NOLA missed a 40 yard field goal. An 11 yard sack on the next drive kills the Wraiths momentum and forces them to punt. 3 straight rushes by Savea goes nowhere for NOLA and they punt back to YKW with 7 and a half to go in the 2nd quarter. Nuck only got 2 yards on a 3rd and 3 and the Wraiths punt right back to NOLA. As hard as Maximus tried to keep the drive alive, 2 penalties by NOLA would stop them in their tracks and force yet another punt. NOLA defense holds strong and forces another punt, and it’s a snooze fest right now. NOLA fumbles the ball at the YKW 44 yard line with under a minute left, and YKW recovers it and saves the possible FG from ever happening.
The Wraiths open their 2nd half drive with 3 impressive runs tallying 28 yards. The good runs stop there, as a scramble by Akselsen is blown up for -4 yards and they are forced to punt. A nice 10 play drive from NOLA, featuring 5 passes from Maximuis that were at least 9 yards, allowed them to score their 2nd TD of the game, but the XP bounced off of the left upright, extending their lead to only 10 points, 13-3. Down 10, with under 7 to go in the 3rd quarter, the Wraiths put together a good drive, with multiple 3rd down conversions. They’re at the NOLA 13 yard line at one point, but penalties and negative plays force a 43 yard FG, which gets missed. After 3 straight Maximus incompletions, they were forced to punt. Akselsen opens the drive with a huge 37 yard completion, but 2 straight incompletions from him afterwards stalls out the drive, and they are forced to punt as the 3rd quarter ends. But wait, the punt was blocked, and NOLA sets up at their own 39 yard line. The punt was in their territory anyways, so it wasn’t anything game changing. Maximus threw back to back passes for 41 yards while Andrea rushed for 17 yards and a TD, putting them up 20-3 with 11 and a half minutes to go. With 11 minutes to go, down 3 scores, a comeback was out of the picture here, right? They just needed to score, and score fast. A 33 yard return by Lavelle is a great start. Akselsen bombs it down field for 33 yards on the next play, and a 10 yard rush by Nuck sets them up at the NOLA 19 yard line with under 9 and a half minutes to go. Down 17 points with 9 minutes to go, Akselsen knows there needs to be a big play, so he scrambles for 19 yards and the TD, bringing the deficit to 20-10. On the very first play of NOLA’s drive, they get a penalty, but on the 2nd play, Maximus is strip sacked by Hardrool, and the biggest defensive play of the game comes up at the right time, and YKW gets the ball back down 10 with 8 minutes to go on the NOLA 31 yard line. Akselsen throws a screen to Jarden who breaks some tackles and gets pushed out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Nuck punches it in on the next play and with 7 minutes to go, the Wraiths had cleared the deficit by a lot, only trailing by 3, making it 20-17. After 2 straight rushes by Savea, it’s a 3rd and 1 for NOLA with under 6 minutes to play. They could run it up the middle here and most likely convert, and then chew even more clock. But instead they decide to run play action. Maximus throws a quick slant to his tight end, but the ball tips off of the fingers, and Lavelle is there, as he picks it off, and returns it all the way. Another huge defensive play gives the Wraiths the lead, and it’s their defense that’s leading the comeback, as they are up 24-20 with 5 minutes to go. NOLA gets the ball back but after a terrible return, the offense can’t do much and elects to punt with 3 and a half remaining, trusting their defense. On the biggest 3rd and 1 of the game, the Wraiths manage to convert and chew even more clock, but Akselsen makes a fatal mistake on an upcoming play. He decides to tuck it and run after seeing no one open, but ends up getting the ball punched out from Oakes, but thankfully he had the balls to dive back on it, unlike a certain QB I remember seeing play in Super Bowl 50. The drive stalls out there and they punt to NOLA with 1 and a half remaining. NOLA can only get to their 41 yard line before time expires. Wraiths manage to win at home to a terrible NOLA team, 24-20.
What a game, what nice RNG, am I right? Out of all the games it could have picked, it chose a 17 point comeback with 9 minutes left. Wraiths defense showed up well, as we saw one of Lavelle’s best games. Good game, and that’s all for tonight folks.
Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors as I am dead tired.
