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2023 UFFL season week 8 results and week 9 Preview!
10 months ago
Hello everyone, sorry for the late reply but am finally here for your UFFL news!
First off, here week 8 results:
- Easton at Chicago
The last time these two first-place teams met this season Chicago suffered one of the worst shellackings in team history, allowing 62 points to the Bald Eagles. Fresh off their bye, Easton is looking to repeat the feat, this time in front of Chicago’s home fans. Unfortunately for their ambitions, this would be a much closer game, with neither team having more than a one score lead at any point. The game was surprisingly low-scoring in the first half, with an impressive 62-yard catch and run by Ricky Mitchell the only touchdown scored. Things started to look up in the third quarter, as Easton scored 14 unanswered points to take their first lead of the game. But things would go right back to their back-and-forth nature, with Easton managing to drive down the field and tie the game with a field goal with only 24 seconds remaining. John Gradkowski would bring the ensuing kickoff all the way out of his end zone to the Chicago 40, and two consecutive neutral zone penalties would get Chicago into long field goal range. Thalia Perez attempted the game-winning 57 yard kick, but the kick was wide and the game would go to overtime. Chicago won the toss, and easily made their way down the field, aided by several major defensive penalties by the Bald Eagles. This time, Perez had a much easier chip-shot field goal for the win. Final score: CHI 26, EAS 23
- Nashville at Las Vegas
We go from a close fought game to a total blowout. The Bandits dominated this game from the start, holding the Tuts to under 200 yards of total offense and a paltry 10 yards rushing for the game. Nashville didn’t score their first points of the game until there was less than a minute remaining, deep deep into garbage time. Arnold Tarbour would also follow up last week’s league-record 95 yard punt return TD with a 68 yard score today. And to add insult to injury, Bubba Deezen left the game with a thigh injury on the second play from scrimmage of the game, and is likely to miss time. Final score: LVB 31, NSH 7
- Montreal at New Orleans
This hasn’t been quite the season that Vito Ligustica hoped for. He missed two games due to injury, and was held to less than three yards per carry in two others. He clearly came into today’s contest with a chip on shoulder, as he quickly made up for all of that lost time and potential. He would find the end zone three times, including a career-long 93 yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The Royal passing game, by contrast, didn’t do much, being held to under 200 yards through the air. It wasn’t really needed, however, as Ligustica carried the team to a relatively easy win. On the Corsairs side, Flip Penguinator actually looked really good, throwing for 274 yards and a touchdown. But the New Orleans defense just had no answer for Ligustica and the Royal rushing attack. Final score: MTL 31, NOC 20
- North Florida at Austin
Just go read the Chi/Eas writeup and change the names.
Okay, okay. But seriously, this game had some noticeably similarities to the earlier one, albeit being higher scoring. The Blues jumped out to an early lead with a Nicky Ricky receiving touchdown on their opening drive. But from there the Renegades came back to score 17 unanswered points, and managed to hold that lead despite Austin scoring two more touchdowns and sacking Caryn Becker in the end zone for a safety. North Florida held an eight point lead deep in the fourth quarter, and attempted to ice the game away with a field goal that was wide left. Austin took over at their own 37, and on the first play Kai Koa passed to Carrice Kenton in the flat, and he was off to the races. Lucky von Braunschweig caught up to him at the five yard line, but it was only a temporary reprieve, as they’d score on the next play and successfully convert the two-point attempt to tie the game. And like the earlier game, Austin would win the coin toss, and march down the field to kick a game-winning chip shot field goal. Final score: ATX 34, NFR 31
- Downriver at Colorado
We go from a high-scoring shootout to a low-scoring, defensive battle. Lillian Newman came back to earth a bit after her game-breaking performance last week, only managing 19 yards rushing on four carries. Neither QB had a great game, and in fact they had identical passer ratings of 78.8, far from either player’s career high. When the highlight of the game is rookie back Erica Blanche de la Rosa scoring her first touchdown in four weeks, you know it was a fairly uneventful game. There WAS one real notable play, but it was notable for a bad reason: Downriver defensive end Ronald Heard breaking a leg while attempting a tackle. He’s likely to miss the remainder of the regular season. In the end, the Waves got one more possession down by four, but four straight incompletions would lead to a turnover on downs and a Crushers victory. Final score: COL 17, DWN 13
- Grand Rapids at Richmond
The good news: Tyler Franklin has been a better player under center for Richmond, leading them to their first win last week. The bad news: he’s still thrown five picks in two games, including an awful attempted pass today that went right into the hands of safety Robin Hagefeld, who took it 28 yards for the score. Though Richmond did score 17 points today, the game was nowhere near as close as the final score appears, as most of those points came deep into garbage time when the game was already out of hand for the Flames. The Dragons managed to baffle the Richmond defense with trick plays all game, scoring a touchdown on a double reverse that gave wide receiver Arthur Christopher his first career rushing TD in his twelfth season. However, the REASON they needed to resort to trick plays was that the Grand Rapids offense was actually sputtering without them. They were constantly losing ground to careless penalties, and only managed to rack up a decent rushing total by running the ball 40 times. When an OFFENSIVE TACKLE is the player of the game, you know it’s not been a great day at the office for either team. Final score: GRD 27, RIC 17
- Miami at New York
Well, let’s just rip the bandaid off right away. Miami gave up 42 points for the third time in the last four games. Running back Alex Smith had a career-high three rushing TDs, and Emi Tachibana found Justice Matari in the end zone three times as well. All in all, the Defiant put up 621 yards of offense. So yeah, that happened. However, there WERE positives for the Tropics. Rookie Wil Hudson made his first start under center, and he performed admirably given the game environment, with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. And after allowing a bonanza in the first half, the Miami defense actually stepped up and shut down the Defiant for the remainder of the game. It wasn’t all backups, either. Tachibana stayed in the game for the entire third quarter, and most of the other offensive starters played the entire game. Final score: NYD 42, MIA 14
- California at Baltimore
Baltimore has been the talk of the league in recent weeks, jumping out to an unexpected 4-2 record after winning only six games over the previous two seasons. However, it’s days like today to show that while they may be a much improved team, they’re not quite in the elite tier yet and have plenty of growing to do. While Christian Wright continued to perform well as a career backup thrust into starting duty, drives too often petered out before reaching the red zone. That proved to be a major liability this week, as Tyler Kim missed three field goal attempts. Andrew Castonguay, on the other hand, made all four of his, accounting for half of California’s total points in the game. Kenny Rodriguez, the number two overall pick in the draft, once again underwhelmed, failing to rush for more than 40 yards for the third time in four games. Christian Wright actually out-rushed him on a yards-per-carry basis. Final score: CAL 26, BAL 7
Players of the Week
Offense: Vito Ligustica (RB – MTL): 185 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs
Defense: Kennith Shrader (DE – ATX): 9 tackles (4 for loss), a sack and a safety
Special Teams: Arnold Tarbour (WR – LVB): 3 punt returns for 100 total yards, including a 68 yard return TD
Here the preview of week 9! A small week with many teams on byes, but we are just catching up with everyone to go on the last season stretch!
-2023 UFFL season week 9 on December 15th
California (2-5) vs Las Vegas (4-3)
Montreal (5-2) vs Easton (5-2)
Colorado (4-3) vs Baltimore (4-3)
Downriver (5-2) vs New Orleans (1-6)
See you!
First off, here week 8 results:
- Easton at Chicago
The last time these two first-place teams met this season Chicago suffered one of the worst shellackings in team history, allowing 62 points to the Bald Eagles. Fresh off their bye, Easton is looking to repeat the feat, this time in front of Chicago’s home fans. Unfortunately for their ambitions, this would be a much closer game, with neither team having more than a one score lead at any point. The game was surprisingly low-scoring in the first half, with an impressive 62-yard catch and run by Ricky Mitchell the only touchdown scored. Things started to look up in the third quarter, as Easton scored 14 unanswered points to take their first lead of the game. But things would go right back to their back-and-forth nature, with Easton managing to drive down the field and tie the game with a field goal with only 24 seconds remaining. John Gradkowski would bring the ensuing kickoff all the way out of his end zone to the Chicago 40, and two consecutive neutral zone penalties would get Chicago into long field goal range. Thalia Perez attempted the game-winning 57 yard kick, but the kick was wide and the game would go to overtime. Chicago won the toss, and easily made their way down the field, aided by several major defensive penalties by the Bald Eagles. This time, Perez had a much easier chip-shot field goal for the win. Final score: CHI 26, EAS 23
- Nashville at Las Vegas
We go from a close fought game to a total blowout. The Bandits dominated this game from the start, holding the Tuts to under 200 yards of total offense and a paltry 10 yards rushing for the game. Nashville didn’t score their first points of the game until there was less than a minute remaining, deep deep into garbage time. Arnold Tarbour would also follow up last week’s league-record 95 yard punt return TD with a 68 yard score today. And to add insult to injury, Bubba Deezen left the game with a thigh injury on the second play from scrimmage of the game, and is likely to miss time. Final score: LVB 31, NSH 7
- Montreal at New Orleans
This hasn’t been quite the season that Vito Ligustica hoped for. He missed two games due to injury, and was held to less than three yards per carry in two others. He clearly came into today’s contest with a chip on shoulder, as he quickly made up for all of that lost time and potential. He would find the end zone three times, including a career-long 93 yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The Royal passing game, by contrast, didn’t do much, being held to under 200 yards through the air. It wasn’t really needed, however, as Ligustica carried the team to a relatively easy win. On the Corsairs side, Flip Penguinator actually looked really good, throwing for 274 yards and a touchdown. But the New Orleans defense just had no answer for Ligustica and the Royal rushing attack. Final score: MTL 31, NOC 20
- North Florida at Austin
Just go read the Chi/Eas writeup and change the names.
Okay, okay. But seriously, this game had some noticeably similarities to the earlier one, albeit being higher scoring. The Blues jumped out to an early lead with a Nicky Ricky receiving touchdown on their opening drive. But from there the Renegades came back to score 17 unanswered points, and managed to hold that lead despite Austin scoring two more touchdowns and sacking Caryn Becker in the end zone for a safety. North Florida held an eight point lead deep in the fourth quarter, and attempted to ice the game away with a field goal that was wide left. Austin took over at their own 37, and on the first play Kai Koa passed to Carrice Kenton in the flat, and he was off to the races. Lucky von Braunschweig caught up to him at the five yard line, but it was only a temporary reprieve, as they’d score on the next play and successfully convert the two-point attempt to tie the game. And like the earlier game, Austin would win the coin toss, and march down the field to kick a game-winning chip shot field goal. Final score: ATX 34, NFR 31
- Downriver at Colorado
We go from a high-scoring shootout to a low-scoring, defensive battle. Lillian Newman came back to earth a bit after her game-breaking performance last week, only managing 19 yards rushing on four carries. Neither QB had a great game, and in fact they had identical passer ratings of 78.8, far from either player’s career high. When the highlight of the game is rookie back Erica Blanche de la Rosa scoring her first touchdown in four weeks, you know it was a fairly uneventful game. There WAS one real notable play, but it was notable for a bad reason: Downriver defensive end Ronald Heard breaking a leg while attempting a tackle. He’s likely to miss the remainder of the regular season. In the end, the Waves got one more possession down by four, but four straight incompletions would lead to a turnover on downs and a Crushers victory. Final score: COL 17, DWN 13
- Grand Rapids at Richmond
The good news: Tyler Franklin has been a better player under center for Richmond, leading them to their first win last week. The bad news: he’s still thrown five picks in two games, including an awful attempted pass today that went right into the hands of safety Robin Hagefeld, who took it 28 yards for the score. Though Richmond did score 17 points today, the game was nowhere near as close as the final score appears, as most of those points came deep into garbage time when the game was already out of hand for the Flames. The Dragons managed to baffle the Richmond defense with trick plays all game, scoring a touchdown on a double reverse that gave wide receiver Arthur Christopher his first career rushing TD in his twelfth season. However, the REASON they needed to resort to trick plays was that the Grand Rapids offense was actually sputtering without them. They were constantly losing ground to careless penalties, and only managed to rack up a decent rushing total by running the ball 40 times. When an OFFENSIVE TACKLE is the player of the game, you know it’s not been a great day at the office for either team. Final score: GRD 27, RIC 17
- Miami at New York
Well, let’s just rip the bandaid off right away. Miami gave up 42 points for the third time in the last four games. Running back Alex Smith had a career-high three rushing TDs, and Emi Tachibana found Justice Matari in the end zone three times as well. All in all, the Defiant put up 621 yards of offense. So yeah, that happened. However, there WERE positives for the Tropics. Rookie Wil Hudson made his first start under center, and he performed admirably given the game environment, with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. And after allowing a bonanza in the first half, the Miami defense actually stepped up and shut down the Defiant for the remainder of the game. It wasn’t all backups, either. Tachibana stayed in the game for the entire third quarter, and most of the other offensive starters played the entire game. Final score: NYD 42, MIA 14
- California at Baltimore
Baltimore has been the talk of the league in recent weeks, jumping out to an unexpected 4-2 record after winning only six games over the previous two seasons. However, it’s days like today to show that while they may be a much improved team, they’re not quite in the elite tier yet and have plenty of growing to do. While Christian Wright continued to perform well as a career backup thrust into starting duty, drives too often petered out before reaching the red zone. That proved to be a major liability this week, as Tyler Kim missed three field goal attempts. Andrew Castonguay, on the other hand, made all four of his, accounting for half of California’s total points in the game. Kenny Rodriguez, the number two overall pick in the draft, once again underwhelmed, failing to rush for more than 40 yards for the third time in four games. Christian Wright actually out-rushed him on a yards-per-carry basis. Final score: CAL 26, BAL 7
Players of the Week
Offense: Vito Ligustica (RB – MTL): 185 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs
Defense: Kennith Shrader (DE – ATX): 9 tackles (4 for loss), a sack and a safety
Special Teams: Arnold Tarbour (WR – LVB): 3 punt returns for 100 total yards, including a 68 yard return TD
Here the preview of week 9! A small week with many teams on byes, but we are just catching up with everyone to go on the last season stretch!
-2023 UFFL season week 9 on December 15th
California (2-5) vs Las Vegas (4-3)
Montreal (5-2) vs Easton (5-2)
Colorado (4-3) vs Baltimore (4-3)
Downriver (5-2) vs New Orleans (1-6)
See you!
