Week four; 57% of the season accomplished. Which to be honest is about 50% more than we anticipated at the beginning of the season.
Flagnado and the Tigers took the field of the frozen tundra at 8am. The field was covered in ice and snow. The dirt was like a brick and the air was a blustery 23 degrees at kickoff. This was a great game in the first half as Dave Brown of the Tigers scored first only to be matched by Jason Michelini on the successive drive for Flagnado. The rest of the first half was a defensive battle with both teams’ offenses literally getting frozen inside of their redzones. The second half belonged to Flagnado. Jerry Brown caught an interception and then found his way into the endzone. Tyler Humphrey at halftime predicted he would force a fumble and he did exactly that. Both he and Michelini forced fumbled of the Tigers offense inside of their own ten yard lines setting up easy touchdowns for the Flagnado offense. The reigning champs remain stifled offensively with the reigning MVP nursing a lower body injury, Flagnado wins convincingly 21-7.
After taking a physical beating, the Tigers laced em up for the second wave of their doubleheader. This time against the offensive juggernaut known as Rampage. MVP hopeful and front-runner, Andrew Duval got Rampage on the board when he toyed with the defender by tipping the ball over the outstretched hand and then right into his own hands into the endzone. Dave Brown kept his touchdown streak alive and tied the game up when he blew by defenders in the open field for the score. Carter Cormier then broke open and scored his second touchdown of the season on a leaping grab to go up six at the break. Rookie Ryan Hollenbaugh snuck by defenders for the Tigers to tie it back up on their first drive out of the lockerroom. That was as close as the Tigers would get on this day, Duval struck again, skying up and snatching a ball from the moon for the go ahead TD. The Rampage D shuts down the Tigers in the second half and wins their third game of the season, 19-12.
At 10:30, the New England Nightmare looked to build off of their first win of the season against a fully stacked Scoregasms team. The first half was as close as this game would be when both teams shot each other out on back to back to back scores highlighted by Scott Daniliek, Tyler McDaniels and JT Harold TD’s. The second half was the Dan Walkley show for the Scoregasms. He hauled in a four of his five receptions for 89 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and even added an interception on defense. Jarrod Childs tried to bring his Nightmare back with a 60 yard TD grab at the end but it was too little too late. Daniliek scored one last time to put it out of reach. Scoregasms win 38-19.
Now for the surprising BGOW. The Phantoms went on the road to face off against America’s Children. The Phantoms found themselves in the driver seat early for a change when Jay Davis went endzone to endzone to take the lead. After failing the convert on offense, America’s Children’s defense went to work. Corey Allen forced the Phantoms to fumble into their endzone to get them on the board with two points. On their ensuing drive, rookie sensation Joey Menafra caught a fifty yard streak down the sideline to take a one point lead. It was back and forth turnovers by both squads when Dean Muzzy captured a soaring touchdown with a minute thirty left to go in the half. But not so fast, the Children had more in the tank. Tom Scalley tapped his toes in the endzone with a leaping snag to take a two point lead in the lockerroom. The second half didn’t feature a score until eight minutes in when Scalley came right back to his scoring ways. He caught a little curl in corner of the endzone to go up 23-14. After the extra point conversion, the very next play saw Dean Muzzy again finding the endzone, this time on a 60 yard catch and run to pay dirt, Phantoms pull within three points. Back and forth it went until the games’ final drive. The Phantoms marched down the field methodically in their two minute offense only to end it by connecting with Jay Davis once again for the score. Phantoms go up by three and secure the bag for their first franchise victory in over a calendar year. Final score, Phantoms 26, America’s Children 23.
In a game that experts picked as the BGOW, ended up a dud when Shake n’Bake took it to the undefeated Battletoads. In the annual Halloween game, the Toads came in costume as per usual. Their costume, Battletoads circa 2014 when they were 2 and 5 and could barely get in the endzone. Garret Nelson and his Toads kept his interesting in the first half when he scored one of his two touchdowns and only trailed by three points at the whistle. Despite his second TD, Nelson’s Toads couldn’t get close thanks to Dane Schindler and the Shake n’Bake defense. Not only did he throw for a pair of touchdowns, he caught a pair of touchdowns. The defense added a pair of pick sixes led by Jason Grace and Eric Williams. Shake n’Bake reclaims their spot at the top of the rankings with a blowout victory, 43-18.
Rest up out deer and stay safe. G’luck and Godspeed to all and to all a week four.