Grand Rapids at Colorado

The Crushers obviously had a specific gameplan coming into today’s playoff matchup with the Dragons, and that gameplan was “give Efren Frank the ball until he pukes.” The workhorse back (pun not intended) galloped his way (okay, pun ACTUALLY intended) to 146 yards rushing on 33 attempts, and scored three times on the ground in the first half alone. As Grand Rapids clearly had no answer for the Colorado run game, Christina Carson didn’t have to do all that much. She only threw the ball 19 total times, her fewest number of passes in a game this season. And when she did throw it, she didn’t look all that good, to be honest. She was mostly throwing short screen and slant passes, and was held without a touchdown while getting picked off twice. Unfortunately for the Dragons, they weren’t able to capitalize on either takeaway. The Crushers led this one from start to finish, and despite Kova Lewdko’s first career 100-yard playoff game Grand Rapids was never really in it. Final score: COL 24, GRD 10

Texas at Downriver

This week, Texas faces off against Downriver, the first team with a losing record to make the playoffs since 2016 (a historically lopsided year in which THREE such teams made it in). As such, the Ramblers opened as 13.5 point favorites in Vegas, despite being the visiting team. Which is why the gambling community started collectively freaking out when Carrice Kenton fumbled the ball on his own 20 yard line on the first Texas play of the game, and the Waves took a 14-0 lead against the Ramblers only 10 minutes in. The vaunted Texas offense wasn’t able to get on the board until Jackie Knight took an out route 66 yards to the house in the closing seconds of the first quarter. That play was actually directly off of a Downriver fumble of its own, when Drew Dillinger was hit hard on a sack and coughed up the ball. Unfortunately, he was hit a little too hard. He was unconscious on the field for five minutes as medical personnel tended to him. He’d eventually leave on a cart, and though an MRI revealed no spinal or skull damage he still had a nasty concussion and would miss the rest of the game. That injury seemed to take some of the early life out of the Waves, and they just fell apart from there, allowing 24 unanswered points over the next two quarters. Jackie Knight only had one more catch for the rest of the game, but it ALSO went for a long touchdown, and she finished with a team playoff record 146 yards. Final score: TEX 38, DWN 17

Las Vegas at Montreal

Looking to capitalize on their three-game win streak, the Royal start out aggressive out of the gate, taking a 14-3 lead in the first quarter on the back of touchdown passes to Herbert Blunt and Ralph Ellison. The Montreal defense was aggressive as well, putting constant pressure on the Bandits’ John Cameron (Sylvester Stapler tested things out on the field before the game, but was ultimately held out of the game). By the half, they led 17-9, with only a handful of Raleigh Cooper field goals keeping the Bandits in the game. However, that would change quickly at the end of the third quarter. Las Vegas finally managed to score a touchdown, and successfully converted on the two-point try to tie the game. They were then able to pick off Tyron Appleby right away, and kicked another field goal to take their first lead of the game. Unfortunately, it would a short-lived lead, as Appleby led the Royal on a nine-play touchdown drive of their own. After that, the Montreal defense clamped down, allowing just three more Vegas first downs for the entire fourth quarter. Final score: MTL 24, LVB 20 in an upset win.

California at Chicago

In our final game of this round, we have the Demons and rookie phenom Elise Beaumont against the Outlaws, led by FurBowl veteran Darius Smith. California would draw the first blood, with a goal line touchdown run by third-down back Zack Elliot. Chicago would get its own chance at the end of the first quarter, but after an 11-play drive stalled out in the red zone Thalia Perez would miss a 33-yard field goal attempt. In fact, neither kicker was particularly accurate during the game, as Perez would miss a second kick at the end of the half, and Andrew Castonguay would miss one of his own. Perez did manage to get it through the uprights twice during the second quarter, but that would be all of Chicago’s scoring during the half. Bart DeGuilham would catch his first career playoff touchdown to put the Demons up 14-6 at halftime.
The second half opened with a string of three-and-outs for both teams, until California finally went on a long drive of its own, capped off with a second Zack Elliot TD. On their next possession, the Demons would get pinned deep in their own red zone by the punt. It was then that Beaumont made her first rookie mistake of the game, holding on to the ball too long and taking a sack in the end zone for a safety. Chicago would capitalize on it even further, scoring on a RB screen to Tremblay only a minute and a half later to cut California’s lead to 6. The Outlaws would get the ball back with about 8 minutes left in the game, and Darius Smith took command of the field, marching steadily down the field with chunk plays (and a helpful defensive pass interference penalty) over the course of a six minute drive. With 2:30 left to play, on 3rd and 4, Darius Smith took the snap out of shotgun, scrambled to his right, and found Nicholas Baker, whom the team had picked up in a trade with New Orleans at the deadline, open in the end zone for a 34 yard touchdown. This time, Thalia Perez was right down the middle, giving Chicago its first lead of the game. It was just a one point lead, however, so a field goal would still win it for the Demons. Elise completed two passes to bring the ball out to the CAL 38, but time was ticking down with barely a minute left in the game, and only one time out remaining. Beaumont takes the snap, looks, passes to Randy Stanford…and Uka Nakoyak jumps the route and grabs the ball! Chicago wins it! Final score: CHI 22, CAL 21