Montreal at Chicago

This game was actually a lot closer than the 10 point final spread would indicate. The two teams were fairly evenly matched, with Montreal’s second-ranked rushing attack up against Chicago’s own formidable offense. The difference came down to some of the usual suspects: turnovers, poorly-timed penalties, and at least one crucial failure on special teams. The game was actually tied going into the half, and the Royal were in a splendid position to take the lead after a 67 yard kickoff return by Ligustica got them into Outlaws territory to start the drive. However, the opportunity was wasted when Tyron Appleby threw a pass that was tipped and picked off. While Chicago wasn’t able to score off the turnover, the next series by Montreal proved to be the lynchpin of the game. They went three-and-out, and an unnecessary roughness call on third down pushed them way back into their own red zone. They lined up to punt, only for it to be blocked by Julius Stafford. Gifted a first and goal, the Outlaws scored two plays later on a quarterback sneak. It was a lead that they’d never relinquish. Final score: CHI 34, MTL 24

California at New Orleans

Well, I’m sad to report that it has finally happened. Elise Beaumont has thrown an interception, ending her streak at 130 passes to start her career. However, one pick doesn’t equal a bad game. She once again showed why she’s the presumptive frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award, outdueling veteran Flip Penguinator. She now has twenty touchdown passes on the year, more than anyone but Stapler and Carson. Not bad for a rookie who wasn’t even expected to start this season. Tight end Bart DeGuilham, in his first game against his old team, put up the first 100-yard game of his career, including a 73-yard touchdown reception that nearly doubled his previous longest catch. On the other side of the ball, the Corsairs were in constant catchup mode. Penguinator threw the ball almost 50 times, and while New Orleans’ own rookie sensation Kayla Colt was effective, she rarely had the chance to touch the ball, only getting 16 total carries. Final score: CAL 27, NOC 14

New York at Easton

How the mighty have fallen. After starting the season 3-1-1, the Defiant have now lost four straight games, three of them to teams with losing records. Of course, the fact that their entire offensive line seems to be injured might have played a role in that. Despite carrying a triage unit at that position, the running game actually starts off hot today (given how snowy it was during the game, pun entirely intended). Tyler Wirl rushes for two 20+ touchdowns, and Lukas Barella (who otherwise continues to get chased all over the field) even contributes one himself on a QB draw. By midway through the third quarter, they’re sitting on a comfortable two-score lead, having held the Bald Eagles to nothing but field goals since the first quarter. A pick-six with seven minutes to go puts the Defiant up by 12, and seemingly seals their first win in a while.

And that’s when everything falls apart.

Easton gets the ball back with 4:17 remaining, and is soon at 4th and 5. However, New York is flagged for being offsides on the punt attempt, giving the Bald Eagles a fresh set of downs. Easton eventually scores, but not until after the two-minute warning. They try an onside kick, and the Defiant recover the ball. Game over, right? Well, Easton still has all of its time-outs, so they actually have to run a couple plays instead of just kneeling down three times. On second down, Barella keeps the ball for himself, and gets taken down…and the ball is out! The Bald Eagles have it! The first pass is incomplete, but the second is caught by Delph Adler in the red zone. They burn their final time out. They’re on the 15 yard line, with 7 seconds to go. The ball is snapped. Lindwurm has it. He looks, looks, throws….and finds Delph Adler in the back corner of the end zone. Touchdown, Easton wins! Final score: EAS 31, NYD 28

Las Vegas at Nashville

Ladies and gentlefurs, we may have one of the biggest upsets of the season. The Las Vegas Bandits roll into Nashville as the hottest team in the United Conference for a matchup against the 5-4 Tuts, and walk away with only their second loss of the season. And for most of the game it wasn’t even close. Kiedo Masquarde came into the game on absolute fire, throwing for three touchdowns in the first quarter with a 75% completion rate. Even a late first-half touchdown pass from Stapler to Viridi-Aqua was only enough to lower the gap to 13 points. However, Masquarde would go down hard after a pass late in the third quarter, and was clearly in some pain. With the team up by a decent margin, the decision was made to hold him out for the remainder of the game. Though backup Edward Eaton performed well in relief, and even threw for his first touchdown of the season, the Tuts no longer had their paws down on the gas, and Las Vegas was able to close the gap to make it a single-score game. Unfortunately, the Bandits were not able to close the deal, going three-and-out three times before a field goal put Nashville back up by nine with only 1:40 to go and sealed the deal. Final score: NSH 40, LVB 31

Miami at Colorado

Sometimes, the hottest team in the league lays a surprising egg and gets upset. And sometimes they live up to their name. The Tropics came in to Aspen hoping to emulate the Tuts and, well, got Crushed. And Christina Carson didn’t even have a particularly good game, throwing for her second-lowest number of yards all season and only a single touchdown. But the Crushers didn’t really need her to perform at their best when Miami was completely unable to stop the run, especially in the red zone. Backup Walter Wood had his first 100-yard game playing for the injured Efren Frank, and third-down back Raymond Arnold had the first three-touchdown game of his career. On the other side of the ball, the Tropics running backs ran into an absolute brick wall, managing only 29 total yards on 24 carries. It didn’t help Miami’s cause that they were constantly getting flagged, ten times in total. Final score: COL 34, MIA 6

Richmond at Grand Rapids

It might not have been quite as big of an upset as Vegas/Nashville, but this game actually bears quite a lot of similarity to it. Despite having a losing record, the Dragons were coming off a massive win last week against cross-state rivals Downriver, and were playing against the team with the worst record in the league. So of course what happens? Richmond jumps out to a 17-3 lead, playing the best football they have all season. Looking at the box score, the two teams were much more evenly matched than you’d have expected given their season trajectories. Both quarterbacks threw for two touchdowns without a pick, neither team could really get anything going on the ground, and neither turned the ball over at all. The margin of victory proved to be a three-yard rushing touchdown by undrafted rookie running back Grace Johnston (the first for the primarily special teams player), and the kicking accuracy of Barry Boulianzi, who was a perfect 3 for 3. This is a much-needed win for the Flames, who’d lost six straight coming into today’s game. As for the Dragons, while they may have lost, there was still a notable positive moment on the field. Kova Lewdko broke the Grand Rapids single-game receiving record with 140 yards on 9 catches, the most he’s had in a game since he was with Texas. Final score: RIC 30, GRD 20

Texas at Baltimore

Did you all think that the NYD/EAS and LVB/NSH games were nuts? Well, hold on to your butts.

It looked like it might actually be a fairly quiet game for the first quarter or so, as both teams only managed a field goal each in the opening frame. And then the Ponies opened up the flood gates. In a space of seven and a half minutes, Jillian St. Claire threw two touchdown passes to Sorin Furchet and Maqui Jelani picked off Andrew Calder for a 36 yard TD. The Ramblers were suddenly down by 21 points before they could blink. However, that last pick-six did something that the Ponies should have never done. It pissed Andrew Calder off.

He came out on their next possession, and his first completion was a 75 yard bomb to Jackie Knight for their first touchdown of the game. We’re not sure what happened in the locker room during halftime, but apparently the whole team got into Calder’s spirit. What followed was an all-out aerial bombardment that had air raid sirens going off in D.C. Calder threw for THREE MORE touchdowns of over fifty yards, including two 70+ yarders to Artemis Milano. Not to be left behind, Carrice Kenton contributed a 35 yard scoring rush of his own. By the time Kevin Ellison punched in a 1-yard score with a minute left in the game, the script had been completely flipped. Once down by 21, Texas was now UP by 21, a barrage of 42 unanswered points. As the comics character says, “Bulk smash!” To her credit, St. Claire never gave up. She threw for an 87 yard TD pass of her own on the final play of the game, the longest pass of her young career so far. Final score: TEX 45, BAL 31

North Florida at Downriver

Just looking at the box score, it seems pretty clear which team was better on the field in this game. North Florida had over 100 yards more total offense, almost double the yards per rush, more first downs and fewer penalty yards. However, there’s one stat line that makes the difference: turnovers. The 14 points that the Waves scored off of Renegade turnovers was more than the margin of victory. Of course, it didn’t help that North Florida came into the game without their starting quarterback, and backup Callum Johnson would be forced out of the game with a broken foot at halftime. Under center for the first time in his career, third-string QB Philip Barrett actually acquitted himself well, passing for 193 yards and two touchdowns. But it was still a handicap for the team, one that they really didn’t need in a game that proved to be as close as this one. Running back Max Gold attempted to pick up the slack, rushing for a career-high 147 yards, but it wasn’t quite enough. Final score: DWN 31, NFR 24

Players of the week:

Offense: Andrew Calder (TEX – QB): 407 passing yards, 4 touchdowns and an interception
Defense: Bennie Sierra (CHI – LB): 8 tackles (two for loss), a sack and a forced fumble
Special Teams: Antoine Tardif (BAL – WR): six kickoff returns for a total of 134 yards, and six punt returns for 78 yards (he also had 95 receiving yards, making for 300+ total yards from scrimmage)

Other league news:

Four running backs passed 1000 rushing yards for the season this week: Carrice Kenton (TEX), Isaac Sierra (LVB), Aaron Whitman (CAL) and Seddrick Galloway (BAL)

John Gradkowski (COL) is the first receiver with 1000 receiving yards this season