Can you believe it!? Week six kicked off and it wasn’t raining! I mean it was but not really. As much of a dream as it was the have your balls not wet and slippery, they were still wet and slippery due to the mud from the monsoon we received the night before. Out of the six weeks of action, four weeks have been in the rain or effected by the rain. It is the common equalizer and should make for an interesting playoff tournament as one slip in the mud could make or break someone’s season.
Eight eh em, week six: Legion of Doom versus the Dream Killers. Both teams boogied into this one with top rope aspirations but only one team was able to drop the atomic leg. Kiel Canada and his LOD sidekicks had their way with the Dream Killers defense. In seven possessions, they scored six touchdowns; five in the air and one on the ground. Canada connected with Vinnie Frasco on his fourth touchdown of the season, then Al Andrews for his fifth touchdown on his rookie of the year campaign, then lastly Flash Shattuck who doubled his season total of TD’s coming in. Canada littered the stat sheet not only on the air, but he found the endzone in two other varieties. Once on the ground and once in the air; thanks to the other team. Canada finished the day with five passing TDs, one rushing TD and defensive TD to boot. The Dream Killers with backup QB Kyle Twiss managed a pair of touchdowns on the day, one in each half. Matt Arpin and Andre Rioux scored for the tough luck losers in this one. Legion of Doom stays in control of their own fate, 46-13.
Not often will a defensive battle earn itself the Blitz Game of the Week, but when it features a pair of powerfully potent posse’s, how can we resist. Carnage started with the ball first. They marched their way to the Vikings eight yard line and just couldn’t punch it in. The Vikings then went four and out on their first possession. Carnage took back over and turned the ball over on downs right after they got over midfield. The Vikings did the same, right over the thirty and then nothing else. Finally a score happened with six minutes left in the first half. Dane Schindler aired one out down field in the direction of Austin Williams. Vikings corner, Mike Lamonday had it all but picked off until it slipped through his hands only to hit the shuffling ankles of Williams, who reached down and hauled it in while falling to the ground. Two plays later, Chris Rocker would punch it in to give his team the only score of the first half. Carnage went into the lockerroom, seven zip. After the Vikings stalled on yet another drive, Carnage took over again. After a big Vikings penalty, Dane Schindler would take a handoff up the sideline and rumble 25 yards into the endzone to put Carnage up by thirteen. It seemed all but over for the Vikings until the final two minute drive. Quarterback Jake Forsaith tossed a touchdown to Tyson to pull within six in with 59 seconds left to play. The Vikings hunkered down and stopped Carnage on four straight plays burning all their timeouts. With possession and the ball at their own one, they began their comeback drive. Dez for a seven yard out. Anwar Clarke for ten more. Tyson for five and down. Incompletion number one with seven seconds left. Dez for eight more to stop the clock with two ticks left. Jake dropped back and rolled out. Under duress he threw a perfectly placed pea into the back of the endzone towards Clarke. The ball landed into the gut of Clarke and as he hit the ground the force of a JMac body landing atop him jarred the ball loose and it piddled out into the puddle behind the endzone. Fitting for the game that was. Carnage hangs on and wins what many say could be a conference final preview, 13-7.
Across the way,the Battletoads took on the Tigers for a 9:05 kickoff. The first half of this was where the bread was baked. Ben Phelps caught the first TD of the game for the Toads to go up by seven. The Tigers would respond thanks to a Dave Brown touchdown. Evan Witkus would quickly put the Tigers up by six on their ensuing drive. Right before the half, MVP candidate, Nick Kepka made his presence known. He ate up all the yards on the Toads drive with three receptions, the third going for a touchdown that put the Toads up by one at the break. The second half belonged to the Toads and Josh Briand. Briand picked off the a Tigers pass and then Scott French would find Briand in the endzone three plays later. Ben Glassman then snuck into the arms of AJ Labrecque to force a fumble at the Tigers end. A fumble that would set up Briand’s second receiving touchdown of the game. After an AJ Labrecque Tigers TD and Toads turnover, Briand would seal the deal and end the day for the Tigers for good. Briand would leap into the sky with an outstretched flipper to coral an interception and then weave his way through the lengthened paws of the Tigers defenders for the pick six. The Toads even up their record and win 31-20.
The Scoregasms and Coyotes squared off at 10am in an intense divisional battle. A battle where the first play and last play of the half were the only ones that featured scores. The first half was one for the…err..ages as the two teams played to a 7-6 score. On the first play of the game, Derek Riley aired it out deep to Dan Walkley who hauled in his 11th touchdown of the season. On the last play of the half, the Derek Crawford aired a ball out to Mike Sullivan who caught it over Walkley and scored to the Coyotes up one at the half. The second half of action was a bit different. The Scoregasms defense pitched a no hitter that featured three interceptions and three receiving TD’s. Marcus Odiah, Travis Tripodi and Zack Carter did the damage for the winners in this one. Dan Walkley who came into this game second in the league in receptions ended the game with more catches from the opposing quarterback than his own. He led the way with three interceptions to aide yet another MVP campaign. The Scoregasms win again and stay on top in their division, 25-7.
The muddiest of all muddy games took place at 10:30 between the Vinegar Strokes and Metrowest Boomin. Tyler Baker got the Strokes on the board first with a quick two yard out touchdown. Two drives later, Chad Crockett would catch his sixth TD of the season to go up by thirteen at halftime. After a Boomin safety, Matt Lavoie would put his team on the board thanks to a dart of a throw by Jay Davis. After the Boomin TD, a rarely used offensive weapon took charge for the Strokes. Austin Ogiba caught his first pass and touchdown of the season thanks to a powerful stiff arm that put the Boomin on the ground and put the nail in the Boomin’s coffin. The Vinegar Strokes keep pace with their division, 20-8.
Next on the docket was a winless New Wave at home taking on a slumping Illmatic. Nkongolo Harmel has made a name for himself amongst the B teams in this league in just a short time but on this day, was his coming out party for the world to see. When you Moss the other team not once, not twice but three times in the same game; you’re instantly put on watch. To kick the game off, JJ Lopez launched a rocket towards the sky. It was in the process of being picked off until Harmel catapulted over the defender to rip it from his hands. He landed, stiff armed and scampered his way to the endzone for the score. Illmatic’s Cory White would then catch a leaping touchdown of his own over a New Wave defender to tie it up. On the next New Wave drive, Harmel struck again in Moss’ing fashion. Lopez launched a jumped ball to midfield on fourth and long only to be swallowed up by a leaping Harmel. Once again he landed, stiff armed and jetted to the goalline for the score. Then finally on their last possession of the half, Harmel completed the hat trick. This time Lopez hit him in stride streaking down the sideline to hurdle flailing defenders at his feet for the score. The second half belonged to New Wave’s Isaac Velez and Illmatic’s Tyler Hartt. Velez caught a bubble screen for New Wave, followed his blockers and took it sixty yards for the score. Omar Graciamo then came down with a strong TD that he ripped from the hands of a defender to pull within twelve points. On the next New Wave drive, Hartt made up for his first half posterizations. He intercepted an arrant Wave pass and then weaved his way through the defenders for the pick six. Velez would put it out of reach for good on the next New Wave drive. Velez started in the slot and ran a sluggo route that got him wide open down the seam. Lopez found him for the score, New Wave up fifteen. Tyler Hartt tried one last time to get his team back. After a Graciamo INT that set them up with good field position, Hartt would tack on one more touchdown to finish the day. Each team had more possession but failed to capitalize. New Wave gets their first win of the season, 35-26.
The Goonies and Insanity squared off the final game of the day at 1pm. Steve Tambouris, Richie Ellis and Mike Pisapia were an unstoppable three man offense on this day. Pisapia caught the first TD of the game, but did not see the endzone the rest of the game. That is because he was too busy throwing laterals to Tambouris who would envelope the lateral and dart towards the sidelines for first downs. Pisapia’s money ball rocket arm was not needed on this day as he led the team with nine receptions and seventeen laterals (as if we keep track). As for Ellis, he racked up four receptions for over one hundred yards and four touchdowns. An incredible reception to touchdown ratio until he was pushed out of bounds with 35 seconds left on way to his five for five. Craig Maynard did the dirty work for the Goonies. He muscled his way to the endzone three times and also pulled his first sack of the season in the win. Insanity’s highlights saw Jesse Diaz throw his first career TD to Isiah King who scored two touchdowns in this one. Goonies balance their record out, 44-19.