The Sentinel - Week 4 Review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Wednesday, 18 September 2019 12:37

Published: Wednesday, 18 September 2019 12:37

Written by Super User

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Welcome everyone to the Week 4 review! We are halfway through the regular season and things are really shaping up nicely. New contenders are arising and sitting on the top of their respective divisions. There were plenty of rivalry match ups this week, so much that I found myself not sure on which field I should spend most of my time. Fortunately, for the first time this season, there were no shut outs which is always good to see because let’s face it, it is neither fun to play in or watch a game when one team doesn’t score a point. Peachy Platoon put up 62 points on We Back but at this point no one is impressed and most of us just feel bad for We Back after their already depleted roster suffered the loss of their captain. It was a beautiful day for football as the burned faces of many at the bar later indicated. Let’s take a look at how things went…

Let me be the first to say Blitzkrieg is not as bad a team as their 1-4 record might make it sound. Sure there have been some blow outs in which their greenness showed a little more vibrantly but overall this team has the making to be a good team. This week they lost to TMA 31-32 but that’s a very close score against a team that is vet-savvy and just so happens to be on the upswing. Blitz’s QB continued his role as player coach and looking at the numbers I think I’d listen to him. His team is currently sitting in second last place in the division yet has the 3rd most points. It doesn’t take much analysis to see that the 189 points they are letting up on defense is the main cause of their problems. TMA on the other hand, seems to have hit their stride. They were missing some key personnel but the fire lit by the Godfather article calling out Prim for getting burned seemed to give them all an extra spark. It did not, however, prove enough of a spark to prevent Prim from being burned again as he was in the second drive of the game which resulted in a touchdown for Blitz. 

In the Hofbrauhaus/ Slytherin the Endzone game, Newman was a tale of two halves. This has been a common theme for the SITE QB throughout this season. In the first half, SITE could not be stopped. They were up 18-14, more than doubling the score allowed by HB against their past opponents. HB seemed to be having trouble catching Topper’s balls, I counted 4-5 drops in the first half alone. The game was in hand for SITE to start the second and they had the ball. They ran a beautiful play, HB defense completely broke down and left a receiver wide open down field and Newman sailed the pass 7 feet over his head. Two plays later Gary injured his ankle and HB’s defense had no difficulty catching Newman’s passes. HB continued to drive and SITE did not score again in the second resulting in a 36-18 HB win. 

Practice Squad beat Hope N Ruin in a close 49-46 victory. I’m not sure if HNR is aware, but we do have a sub list. They must not because once again they played a girl short. This team seemed to communicate best by yelling at each other and there was no shortage of it during this game. The QB made some really great throws but then they were offset by some really bad throws. I was trying to look for distinguishing characteristics for some of the guys on this team but there really were none so I will just say that the exceptionally tall guy made a great catch in double coverage that was certainly TSL Highlight Reel worthy. In the opening drive of the game Renee put PS on her back to move the ball down the field. Another noteworthy player on PS is McCabe, who may quietly be one of the top receivers in D5. This game came right down to the wire and ended with a controversial pass interference call. HNR might finally have a game go their way this week after a tough start to the season against all of the divisions’ tops teams. 

Come From Behind finally pulled out their first win beating Hung Buffalo 30-22. HB seemed to have a new female that I haven’t seen before and was missing one of their mainstays (not Kate). Conversely, CFB was missing Jenn and Leslie. These teams were pretty evenly matched athletically. Both had a couple tight end-type receivers to offer some height as well as some small, faster guys. CFB’s Sean had a good game and kept his team in it with some phenomenal catches. Paul LoVello was back as well which always gives his team an edge. These teams know each other well and this game as well as the final score are evidence to that. HB hangs on to the 5th place spot in the division despite the loss. 

Buffalo Solar Solutions beat Uncle Rico’s Time Travelers 41-34. This game was actually a good one to watch as UR finally seemed to be getting into the groove of things. Sure their season has been off to a terrible start but much of that can be attributed to attendance issues and team chemistry. Communication on defense was a problem to this point and while I won’t say it was completely resolved in this game, I can see them heading in the right direction. QB Tim is also doing a better job seeing the field and connecting with his receivers. BSS have also had a tough start to the season but have shown they do belong. After losing to Full Throttle and the Stunts, this was a much needed victory for them. Their schedule doesn’t get much better this week facing a double header against the speedy guys of Mountain Dew Me followed by Matty’s Angels. 

Vaspian fought a tough battle against End Game and came away with the win 25-13. The game was actually closer than the score shows. Both teams traded picks back and forth with Warren grabbing two for EG. Vaspian QB Lucas and EG QB Dave both had difficulty adjusting to the wind speeds. People have been asking what is going on with EG this season after their domination this spring and from what I saw they are beating themselves. On one pick in the endzone, an EG defender ran the ball out and was tagged on the 1 yard line instead of taking the touch back. Dave missed Farr wide open on the sidelines pretty much every play. The icing on the cake was Drew coming up with a pick at the 2 minute mark that Vaspian was able to punch in and go up 4. The rest was history. 

I didn’t see a lot of the pAssless Chaps versus The Replacements game but from what I did see the PC need to get some stickum to help out QB Coach Jay. They had a surprising amount of drops and clearly rely on their defense to win them their games. To be fair, I also saw Coach Jay loft a couple passes over his receivers heads, so I won’t put the blame solely on the receivers but overall this team is going to need to put more points on the board if they want to compete with some of the other teams in this division. On the other side of the ball, The Replacements finally had their full team show up. They continue to have their usual defensive issues but I did see on 2 separate occasions defenders laying out for picks. Moon was not afraid to let the ball fly, unfortunately more often than not no one was there to catch it and they fell to the Chaps 14-32. 

The Replacements went on to play the Graves Bros in one of the unadvertised rivalries of the day. Both of these teams are made up of players from the former 5 Star Generals who split up due to creative differences. Both teams were coming off an earlier noon game so fatigue could not be used as an excuse for either. As mentioned, TR had just lost to PC after being unable to score more than 2 TDs while GB tied Bipolar Express. It’s always tough for somewhat new teams to lose to gender teams so I’m sure both teams came into this game ready for a win. The game was a close, back and forth battle but it was TR day to shine and they came away with the win 29-27. 

The Ultimate Warriors got their first win of the season over Sticky Bandits 46-30. QB Scotty continued his deep ball approach which was just what the doctor ordered against SB. The athletes UW have at receivers were in the spot light as they were able to do what they wanted to do and go get those deep balls. Scotty and his receivers marched and sailed the ball down field then Sam Thompson took over at QB to punch it in for 8. SB didn’t have an answer to stop Sam on defense and the Warriors broke their losing streak. Mike Thomas played well for SB so it came down to their inability to get a defensive stop that cost them this game. 

The Matty’s Angels/ Mountain Dew Me matchup was one game of the day I was highly anticipating. I missed the beginning of it but when I heard the score at half time was 8-6 I was flabbergasted. Everyone knows the Angel’s can put up points and MDM is quickly becoming known for their fast guys and scoring ability. I don’t know what Matty Ice and the ladies were doing in the first half but they woke up hard for the second. I’m sure you heard by now Margo Pagano balled out making 3 picks and running one back for a TD. MDM made the mistake most new teams do against gender teams and failed to run out at the 1 after a deep completion. The Angels carried their momentum throughout the half and came away with a 44-18 win. 

Coming off a last second loss to Jabronies at 1:00, No Punt Intended went on to play right away against Frodo Swaggins. QB Kyle tried to take a page out of Peachy Platoon’s playbook and run the ball himself, however, this was proven time and time again to be unsuccessful. I’m not sure if he didn’t trust his receivers or he was nervous about the wind. FS QB Scott (random observation: there are a large number of guys named Scott in this league) was not afraid to throw the ball and use his females to move down the field. Things didn’t go as well for Frodo at 3:00 when they took on a previously defeated 3rd and Schlong. Katie Keller did what she does but the real MVP in this game was the tall guy who FS could not find an answer for. 3&S finally broke free from their losing streak at just the right time. 

All teams in D1 complain about playing the same teams and Tight Ends in Motion must really be getting sick of beating up on Gryffindor. They didn’t shut them out this time so Joey and Co must be improving but Joey did throw several picks, some of which were right to the opposition. Gryffindor was missing Burr leaving Joey with limited options of offensive weapons to throw to. Overall they just did not match up with the athletes on TEs. TE had the female advantage and QB Mike was able to get a great practice in during this 40-15 win. 

Once again a great day was had by all (well maybe not En Fuego, how embarrassing). We are at the halfway point and teams are either establishing dominance of their divisions or finally coming together to hopefully make a playoff run. The next 4 weeks will sort the men from the boys. We will see if Overcompensators can continue domination of D5, who will end up on top of D1, and which of the top 6 D2 teams are for real. Exciting times await, and remember I’ll be watching…

~ courtesy of...The Sentinel

Week 2 Review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Wednesday, 04 September 2019 12:57

Published: Wednesday, 04 September 2019 12:57

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Hello, hello! Week 2 of the season has come and gone. The weather was marvelous and it seemed to me that most teams brought their A squad to the games this past week. I was surprised by the sheer amount of talent I saw trotting around in every division. Micah made a rare appearance for the DILFs, Matty Moore and Chadwick were in attendance for Eyes Downtown and Delano was back playing with A&A. The stars were out this week and it showed in the scoreboards. Here’s what I saw…

At 10:00 Gryffindor took on Public Enemy and ALMOST came out with a win. Joey Batts utilized Burr effectively, giving him the short routes he was able to turn into significant yardage. He did have some trouble connecting with his female teammates though. PE was up for the majority of the game, allowing Gryffindor to tie it up at one point but never did they look worried. They lost Boccio at the start of the second half following a nasty collision with Osika (another pass from Batts that was almost picked). No surprise, Cole utilized his females well and Misty had an impressive game with her new team. Gryffindor had a chance to win at the end by going for a 2 point conversion, however, they failed to convert and PE took the win 29-28.

Bullet Club finally got a win against a very incorrectly placed We Back team (it should be noted this was not a forced placement, these guys wanted to give D2 the old college try). We Back has players who look the part, but their inexperience was painfully apparent. They also forgot to get any females for this game so Bullet Club allowed them to use one of theirs and grab another. Regardless, this looked closer to a practice for Bullet Club and they came out with a 34-8 win.

Buffalo Solar Solutions was back from their Week 1 bye with a tough opponent in Full Throttle. The game was back and forth with neither team afraid to throw the deep ball. I saw FT utilizing their females more often and the ladies not disappointing. QB Andy of BSS stuck to his tried and true playbook to move his team down the field. While I watched, I saw FT struggle to connect on plays but fortunately for them they appeared to amend this issue and walked away with a 50-30 win. Full Throttle takes an early lead in the division by putting up 78 points in just 2 games.

The Replacements were the exception to my aforementioned statement that everyone had their A squad. They started the game with 4 people then had one more player come late. Topper took pity on them and allowed a sub, however, they played with 4 females and 2 males. Blitzkrieg on the other hand had 2 full lines ready to go. Blitzkrieg took advantage of mismatches and was able to connect on several deep passes that the gassed Replacements couldn’t keep up with. Replacements QB Moon finally learned to slow the pace of his offense to give his receivers some time to breath. The game was actually closer than the 42-30 Blitzkrieg win indicates.

Anyone who was anywhere near the fields at 11 was drawn to Field 2 to see A&A battle it out against Peachy Platoon. Both teams had their weapons ready and the hype surrounding this game did not disappoint. Right from the start there was yelling, trick plays and bombs thrown down field. JZ learned that taunting this team may not be the smartest decision. However, A&A then proceeded to score 15 unanswered points. That may have been the game but PP scored a gender TD at the end of the first half on 5-2. PP held onto the lead (and silenced Matty and JZ) right up until the end of the game when Matty threw to Taylor Pagano in the end zone. It is my job to watch and watch is what I did. Now maybe the ref was at a different angle, maybe he saw something different, maybe he just missed it (we are all human people). From my perspective,  Peachy got robbed. That said, it’s part of sports, and life, and they will move on and face A&A another day where I’m sure they’ll be fighting for redemption.

The Ultimate Warriors suffered a heartbreaking loss against End Game, 23-29. They continued to rotate QBs between Scott Pinto and Sam. In the time I was watching I saw Pinto throw 2 picks then proceed to blame his receivers. Both teams had numerous dropped balls but Dave was able to keep his cool to get the win. I must say I had left to watch another game when I heard a ruckus on this field. Tuning in, I heard (Not Jeff) Farr screaming and yelling about how great he is. Now I’m not sure if you’re related to Jeff but either way, take a page out of his book. If you were that good, you wouldn’t have to tell people.

Speaking of yelling, the QB and certain receivers of Hope N Ruin clearly missed “Play Well With Others” Day at school. This team was at each other’s throats the entire time I watched this game. Yes, there were some dropped passes that could have been big plays but that’s life dudes. I never thought I’d see the day that Blasé was on the calm team in the game. AND not only was En Fuego calm, cool, and collected, they rocked some pretty great jorts. Sure they had some drops as well but when you show a little positivity, things tend to work out for the better. En Fuego came away with smiles and a 32-20 win.

The Tater Tots were able to actually put the plays they practiced last week to use against Zack Attack and came out with a 40-18 win. Despite a couple errors due to not completely knowing the rules (looking at you QB who tried to just run it), Tater Tots looked far from the hot mess we usually see with new teams. Raena’s silver hair continues to get my vote for best hair in the league (yeah I said it Darryl). TT defense was equally impressive. ZA is also a new team but there are a couple familiar faces, particularly to those who played Breakfast Club. I’m not sure who are rostered players and who was subbing but aside from obviously Zack Elphick, Misty and current Breakfast Club champion Drew were also in attendance in this game. A new but another possible female to keep an eye on is Jenna who I saw grab a deep bomb over a defenders head. This game was rough for ZA but looking at the scores of their other games so far, I wouldn’t count this team out of anything.

Matty’s Angels played their first game in D4 against Uncle Rico’s Time Travelers. Unfortunately for Uncle Rico, they were missing a lot of personnel including QB Tim and Jackie. The game was well in hand by the half so the Angels decided to try out pretty much everyone else at QB. It’s never fun having your QB and Female 1 out for your opening game of the season, but adding to that playing a notoriously high scoring gender team that was just added to your division is definitely the pits. I wouldn’t hold much weight in this game to determine how the rest of either of these seasons will go. UR will certainly regroup and the Angel’s will have some much tougher contest shortly.

TMA unveiled their new QB Ryan against an unsuspecting Shattered Dreams. Both teams were coming off a loss, TMA last week and SD earlier in the day. Ryan proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered for TMA. They had the female edge with Steph getting one of her 2 interceptions of the day, Val pressuring the QB and Diana putting together a drive that resulted in a TD. Brother Rob, Ron, and new guy Nick combined for some great offense. SD have had a hard go at it early in the season but they seem to be taking it in stride and the season is still young.

That’s all for this week. It was wonderful to see 5 Star Productions back on the fields and have some music we all could hear. Unfortunately for the QBs on Field 1 that meant the rushers could count a little faster, much to Garbacz’s chagrin. The bar specials were also a welcome treat and I saw many people taking advantage of those. The Lenny Alba Memorial Topper Sports League Fantasy League draft was held in the back room where 24 players from the league (plus a couple consultants) gathered to consume more alcohol and pick their teams to face off in the Cookie and Elmo divisions. Overall the day was a riveting success and while some teams probably would have liked to see it turn out differently (I feel ya Peachy), there still is nowhere else I’d rather be on Saturdays. Until next time, I be watching…

~ courtesy of...The Sentinel

Week 3 Review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Wednesday, 11 September 2019 12:40

Published: Wednesday, 11 September 2019 12:40

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Here we are on the back end of Week 3. Some teams have only played 2 games while others already have 6 under their belts. It’s tough to say where things will finish up, but as it stands All We Do is Quinn is proving to us all they should have been moved up to D2 this session by leading their division and the league in points per game. Conversely, teams like Energy Buff and Puckett All Stars are sitting at the bottom of their division after a run in last season’s playoffs. If we learned anything from last year it’s that anything can happen and nothing is guaranteed (and yes I realize in most divisions everyone makes the playoffs but we’re talking championships here). Here’s what I saw…

At 10:00 Wild Oak Beard Co took on Blitzkrieg and put up a score of 40-26. Blitz’s QB plays this game like he’s got his eye on the TSL Power Rankings Charts. As both coach and QB, he runs a tight ship with his team. Blitzkrieg has some decent players. I particularly noticed the guy with the backwards black hat. He impressed me with his speed and route running. WOBC’s QB, in the time I watched, seemed to have trouble reading the field as he missed some open receivers. This was especial true with the females and as any savvy veteran will tell you, you can’t get to 4-2. Go to the females early and often, if you don’t trust them you won’t go far in this league. What WOBC did well was use their height to their advantage and take the short plays when given to them. Most importantly, I did take note that 3 out of the 5 guys on the team did in fact have a beard.

All We Do Is Quinn lately seems to go into games expecting to win. Maybe they already know they should be in D2 and now see their opponents in D3 as beneath them but that’s a dangerous attitude as I’ve previously stated that anything can happen. But this game was not going to be the Cinderella story some of us may have wanted to see. Quinn and Co beat Ultimate Warriors 44-30 thanks to their Top 10 QB having way too many weapons for the UWs to cover. Aside from the usual suspects, Rawdog, Schwab, Cat, there seems to be a previously unknown receiver making a big catch every time I watch. UW has some solid athletes as well but they continue to be unable to get the go ahead score to win them a game.

Eyes Downtown took on Gryffindor and pulled out a narrow victory 48-45. Gryffindor’s frustrating season continues as they once again lose by a miniscule margin, probably making every player go home thinking “if only”. Gryffindor had the chance to pull off the upset as ED were short on guys so Bobby had to play defense (no offense, but offense is your forte Bobby). I did hear he even skipped his men’s league to make sure ED had enough bodies to field a team. I didn’t watch this game long enough to see how Gryffindor put up ALMOST as many points as ED but I did see them struggle to stop Jeff and Matty on defense. They then went on to play Marketing Mayors in yet another close but no cigar loss, 46-41.

Eyes Downtown went on to play Public Enemy later in the day. The good news for them was more players showed up so Bobby no longer had to play defense. The better news was they caught PE on a bad day. Cole struggled to get anything going offensively and they were missing Boccio while he recovers from a head injury. Misty played well for PE, however, Rachel of ED did as well. The game turned into a defensive (and verbal) battle against teams who are just plain sick of playing each other. ED walked away 2-0 on the day with a 23-16 win.

A&A played We Back in a boring, we all know where this is going contest. We Back showed up once again with not enough players so Matty played receiver for them. Val Testa showed up to be 6^th person and they played 3 males 3 females. I’m still not sure that they actually have females on their roster since Molly McDermid subbed for them again as well. QB Chris was also MIA so Sal and Mark tried out throwing. A&A had their full squad so this game was over before it started. Aside from Sal’s pick preceding his injury there was nothing exciting about this game. As for the injury, we all wish Sal a speedy recovery.

The Full Throttle/Matty’s Angels game was hyped up as it was supposed to a tight game between the current 1 and 2 seeds of the division but the Angels did what they do and FT could not find a way to stop them. FT was able to score a respectable 32 points but defensively they could not find a way to stop the ladies from either chunking it down the field or going for the deep bomb. In the time I watched, I did notice 2 of FT’s touchdowns were scored by throwing over Matty.

Mountain Dew Me beat a downtrodden Uncle Rico’s Time Travelers 61-19. Right off the bat, Tim threw a pick directly to a MDM defender and it never went up from there. To their credit, MDM continues to impress with their speed and play calling despite being a new team. If I didn’t know better, I’d say MDM was the veteran team in this game based on the chemistry among the players and the outcome. URTT looked lost on both sides of the ball. I know it’s been said before but I don’t know what the issue is with this usually top of the division team but I hope they are able to right the ship soon.

Peachy Platoon was back with vengeance this week with the Dilfs standing in their way. I would have guessed this would be a blow out game of an overall faster, younger team dominating a slower, older team but that was not the case. The Dilfs had a new QB in for the game but it appeared Travis was calling most of the plays. PP got off to an early start but the Dilfs were able to answer back. I didn’t see much of what happened throughout the game but later that it came down to the wire when Dean threw an unnecessary pick that the Dilfs were able to convert into a gender touchdown. They needed a 2 point conversion to tie it up but their new QB misread the play and failed to convert. PP took the win 31-29.

En Fuego continued their perfect season with 2 wins on the day. After beating Practice Squad, 34-16, they went on to demolish Pink Pteratacos 33-6. I’m sure Blasé and co already have their bags packed for D4 and are enjoying the smooth sailing while they can. They come out each week in their jorts, happy go lucky. They have talent all over the field along with some veteran leadership. In each of their previous games, they’ve had an edge over the competition be it their girls or their athleticism. This week, PP was short handed in both of their games and had to fill in spots with the Sub List. Joe played defense as well as QB which is always going to be a problem going up against guys like Frank and Co. PP may be looking at a trip back down to D6 at season’s end.

And that’s a wrap on Week 3. I must say I am impressed with the attendance at the fields and at the bar so far this season. Yes, the bar specials help that I’m sure. I love seeing so many of you hanging out, bringing the families along, and socializing. The volleyball courts are always full, the music is playing, such a great atmosphere. I’ve also heard there have now been a couple bets placed on games including the Tater Tots vs French Fries bet between (obviously) Tater Tots and pAssless Chaps as well as a beer bucket challenge between En Fuego and Overcompensators who play each this week. That’s the kind of thing we love to see here at Topper’ Sports so keep em coming. And remember, I am only one person (or am I?) so if something incredible happened in your game that the world needs to hear about, email Topper and he will be sure to pass along the information. Until next time, I’ll be watching….

~ courtesy of...The Sentinel

Week 1 review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 18:32

Published: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 18:32

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Welcome back TSL World! I must say opening weekend was a success complete with glorious weather, limited controversy and being reunited with our football friends we may or may not have seen all summer. Mind you there were some notable absences among the league resulting in 10 teams playing in double headers. Notably, A&A, Heather from PE, the females of Hofbrauhaus (Team Topper), pretty much all of D4, and Hung Buffalo. Nevertheless the teams in attendance came out to play, certain teams looking to already be in midseason form. Maybe the quick turnaround from the Spring session was an advantage to some. Let’s see what went down.

The DILFs, we learned, are a new, old team...if that makes sense. Basically they are a mix of players we all know and love. Already earning the nickname of ‘Dad Bod Squad’, this familiar cast of characters boast probably the highest average age of their male players (no I didn’t do the math so if you know of a team with oldest players let me know). We won’t discuss the ages of their females because well, I know better. Anywho- they played Energy Buff who had a slow start last session but ended up making it to the semis. Ben Stack was not in attendance so Erik Arden led his team. It was a close game with several lead changes. Johnny Dio was slinging for the DILFs after a several session hiatus. EB also had a new QB who could launch it to his speedy receivers. Tensions ran high as they tend to do in close games, but the DILFs pulled ahead and took the W, 27-18.

Bullet Club had a rough start to their season with a 20-61 loss to Peachy Platoon. BC was short on players as their story has gone so many times in the past. They had no answer for the speed and agility pretty much everyone on PP has. I’m not sure who was questioning the decision to move these guys up to D2 but this game showcased why it was the right one. BC is in a bit of a rebuilding year after losing in the championship game last session. The loss of Paul Nieman and Travis was a huge hit for them to take. They went on to play another recent addition to D2, Slytherin that End Zone. With Ricky at the helm, BC was able to take an early lead but after 2 picks in the second half, SITE fought  back to come within a score in the waning minutes. The game was almost in hand when Ricky picked off Newman in the end zone, but BC could not get a completion and were forced to punt. They held SITE until 6^th down when Jess Cunningham caught a TD to put her team on top. With seconds left in the game Ricky was able to get the ball passed midfield but could not connect with Gordon wide open in the end zone for the win. SITE won their D2 debut 32-26. They also had a double header last week. Second opponent, welcome back Peachy. Both of these teams have speed but PP proved they have just a little bit more. SITE lacked female speed to rush Dean so he was able to scramble around for countless seconds while his teammates got open. Kimmy of SITE got hurt during the game so they were down to 2 females. Newman looked to be close to midseason form, still riding the high of last year’s championship, but PP was too much of an offensive threat and took their second win of the day 43-30. Looking at the teams in D2, there aren’t many with the speed to match Peachy and I will definitely have my eye on this team as the season progresses.

No team wants to forget last session as much as the Ultimate Warriors. They tried pretty much everyone at QB but could not find that magic. This year they brought in Scott Pinto. On the other end of the spectrum, the Jabronies had an easy ride last session in D6, albeit they had the unfortunate luck of having the worst day possible to have a bad game which cost them the semifinals game. They beefed up their roster by adding the Kleckers to the mix and moved up to D3. In what was arguable the Game of the Day, both teams were back and forth. Sam threw TD after TD for her team, giving Jabronies some extra work to do. Joe Miano rose to the occasion and was able to fight back from being down late in the game. Both teams had things to prove, UW proved last session was a fluke and they are legit, Jabronies proving they can move up 3 divisions and continue to compete. A 49-49 tie was the best way for this game to end as both teams deserved the win.

Hofbrauhaus Buffalo took on new team We Back and did not give them a warm welcome. Maybe it was a bit of a rivalry to Topper as We Back is run by former teammate Sal. After courageously moving up to D1 last session, Topper and Co are back down in D2 and looking much happier already. All of his females were out of town so he brought in Tammy and Nicole Keller to fill the spots. We Back QB Chris (who Rameer has since dubbed Stranger Things, although I was getting more of a Brian Bosworth vibe) did what most new QBs do which is to try to go deep every play. Unfortunately for them, Pete and Drew were in attendance for HB rendering that play obsolete. We Back also used all subs with Molly and Erica stepping in for them. Topper was able to take what they gave him on defense and won the game 58-8. Don’t count We Back out yet though, so long as they can adjust their game plan to what works rather than what’s more entertaining.

Another new team I was able to see was Mountain Dew Me. It’s hard not to see them as they are the team wearing bright yellow. They also seem like they are going to fit in with us just fine. There were copious amounts of laughing and joking around during the game, even though they ultimately ended up losing. Full Throttle took the 28-14 win but MDM showed promise. They were able to put together a solid defense. Bridget at rusher gave the FT QB a run for his money. On offense, their guys are small and quick which can be used to their advantage once they get some plays worked out and they aren’t afraid to use the females, even when they don’t have to. Veteran move for a new team.

Overcompensators took a victory over Cobblestone 36-20. Daryl had a rough game, throwing at least 3 picks. He had Steph in as sub but hardly used her. His nephew’s frustration was palpable throughout the entire game. OC continue to improve on offense and defense. Their QB showed off some scrambling capabilities and play calling skills. They have solid females, height and some speed. D5 is no walk in the park but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team as a top contender in 8 weeks time.

BiPolar Express took on new comers Blitzkrieg and came away with a 36-33 win. BE have added some new females to their roster which may be the help they needed. Kat from AWDIQ as well as Emily from Gryffindor have joined their ranks. Kat brings some much needed speed and used it to make big plays and gain long yardage for them. Being new to a league and playing a gender team right off the bat is not an ideal situation as the game is different in these situations but Blitzkrieg handled it as best they could and should fit in well.

TMA and the Graves Bros went at it with GB coming out on top 35-6. TMA added Steph to their ranks adding to their solid female core. Rumors are they will have a new QB as well that those of you at the win tournament got a sneak peek. For last week, Ferger remained throwing and less drunk than I hoped he’d be. The Graves Bros appear to be remnants of the old Cellino Sewer Rats, including Baby Gronk. Gronk rushed Ferger resulting a several sacks. TMA’s defense could not get a stop when they needed it most, letting up a deep TD on 3^rd and long after Prim went for the pick and missed. It was all downhill from there. They continue to lack the speed necessary to keep up with many of these teams and it showed in this game. Not to worry though, TMA was still present at the bar as per usual.

Public Enemy played a rare late game against Gryffindor in their D1 debut. Both teams were able to score on their first drives but PE went ahead after Joey threw a pick that they were able to convert into a TD. Gryffindor was not able to score following that and PE went up by 2 scores at the half. The game was well in hand by then and PE cruised into an easy victory 33-13. It was not the debut anyone had in mind for Gryffindor as they went on to lose to Tight Ends in Motion 35-0. Joey Batts and Jeremy Burr showed their ugly sides blaming the refs for their abysmal performance.

Other than that, the day was everything we could have hoped for. Yes, we were hoping Brian Ferger would have to be carried to his car again but that was not the case. Boccio still owes the league one sober day as per the Prize and Punishment Wheel last session. There are some new teams we have not yet met and plenty of new faces around to get to know. Overall opening weekend was a hit and I’m even more excited about the rest of the season now that it’s officially underway. Remember, I’ll be watching…

~ courtesy of...The Sentinel