Week 9 Review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Tuesday, 13 October 2020 18:49

Published: Tuesday, 13 October 2020 18:49

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Welcome to the last regular season segment of the Sentinel! Early in the season I sent out the message to impress me and so many of you have answered the call. I can’t tell you how many times I look around the fields or play in games and think to myself “This really is the greatest football league around”. And I’m not even talking about the camaraderie that goes on before and after games up at the bar. I’m just talking about the sheer talent that shows up in droves every Saturday. From D1 to D6 I have seen highlight reel catches, defensive shut downs, and precision passes that could be described as nothing less than extraordinary. You have answered the call and we all see you. That said, there are still those that stand out among the rest.

The first stand out performance I saw this past week was from Bro Kleckler. The fate of Tight Ends in Motion looked perilous with the loss of QB Alex Buchlis. I’m not sure if Bro as a backup was predetermined but it has worked out exceedingly well for TEs. Added to that, Emily Curry’s injury and that I haven’t seen Maggie or Lindsay at the fields in recent weeks. Given all that information, if you told me they would be sitting in 2^nd place in D1 right now, I’d have told you to take a hike. Not only is Bro leading his team to victories, he’s putting up some big numbers. I can’t wait to see how this plays out when it counts.

Bro isn’t doing it all on his own though. This week, I saw an all star performance from Stoner Dave on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The play calling on TEs has always been on point but Dave surpasses just your average route running and getting open. I saw more contested catches to Dave in their game against Why So Serious? than any other single player all day.  Defensively, Dave proved he  was not afraid to throw himself around to break up a play. TEs went 2-0 on the day and seem to have hit their stride exactly at the right time.

The Untouchaballs also went 2-0 on Saturday with 2 early morning games despite, as the poll question says, Greg in attendance. I jest, although I did see Greg drop a pass in the endzone but that’s just one play right?  They had some trouble getting it together in their 9am game. After a pick on the 10 yard line, they brought in 4 girls to get the gender TD and could not punch it in, settling for a male TD on 5^th down. Vaspian was missing Drew but Trevor Leach made an impressive deep TD, sacrificing his body then rolling off the field to recover. The TD still counted though and it looked good even with the roll.

Next up, Untouchaballs went against Frodo Swaggins, who appeared to be missing some players. Most notably, Garrett Beesing was absent for their 9am game against En Fuego then decided to grace us with his presence for the 10am match up against Untouchaballs. As fate would have it, FS won against En Fuego then lost against Untouchaballs. If I were Garrett, I would be concerned about my position as WR1 with those kind of results. The FS/Untouchaballs game was a defensive battle but Scotty Dro and Co came out on top 15-6.

The Dilfs/Sticky Bandits game was plenty hyped up by the media and proved to be just what everyone thought it would be. Mike Thomas was in for the Bandits while the Dilfs had a surprisingly-present-this-season Dubey. With that solid of a QB line up, you know it was going to be a good game. The game stayed close despite mental errors by both teams. Brian Stevens is probably one of the best players you’ve never heard of based on his route running and speed. Even Kevin Zack had some trouble keeping up with him. Both teams stuck to what they do best and what works ending with the Dilfs on top 39-31.

Tater Tots came out with a big win against Lenny’s Ladies, who struggled to get any offense going. The Tots came out firing, taking every advantage they could and making big plays when they needed them. QB Dylan gave a solid performance, spreading the ball around the field to receivers besides Nick Angelo and keeping away from Dave Baker. The females also performed well against the gender team. Jeff Easton had A LOT of difficulty connecting with his receivers, resulting in several picks and 0 touchdowns. Hopefully the Ladies figure out a new game plan as they face Tater Tots again the first week of semis.

Speaking of gender teams, it was not a good day for ANY of them last week. Yes, that’s right, even the Angels suffered their second loss of the season against none other than the Freeballers. What? FBs were back in action after their two week quarantine and scheduled to play against the Angels in the divisional match up game. Bobby McConnell was back for the Angels and all bets were on the ladies for this one. FBs started off early and often with the long deep passes to tall receivers and the Angels did not have an answer. “Snoop” put on a show on offense for FBs and had a pick in the endzone that was returned for a female TD. It went downhill from there for the Angels. Uncharacteristic drops, miscommunications, and an overall disconnect seemed to plague the Angels all game and the FBs took their first win of the season 34-24.

Bullet Club finally showed some life and ended the regular season at .500 following 2 wins in a double header against Morning Wood. I did overhear some chit chat that Morning Wood was in a dander after the second game due to roster issues. But aside from that, both teams had their ups and downs. Jeff Easton redeemed himself from earlier with an elite performance at QB. They played their first game with only 3 guys on defense. This isn’t a huge disadvantage for this team as their females are about as solid as they come. JJ had a great catch for a conversion at the front cone using just her fingertips to bring in the pass. Conflicts aside both teams played great games and have tough competition coming their way for this week.

That’s all for this week. Next week means the start of playoffs with the semifinal rounds starting promptly at 9am. Make sure you are on time and ready to go at your game time. Also, I was informed the Orange Shirt Brigade will have the official rosters in hand so make sure you are not using anyone not on your roster. Remember that doing so will result in a forfeit which was absolutely suck as a way to end your season. Saturday begins the final push on your journey to football immortality. We don’t know if there is going to be a banquet yet but I suggest playing as if there will be and visualizing yourself holding that championship and MVP trophy. Bring your A game, and know that I’ll be watching…

Week 6 wrap up

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Thursday, 01 October 2020 12:11

Published: Thursday, 01 October 2020 12:11

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Well ladies and gentlemen, here we are post-Week 7 following another beautiful day for some football. Who would have thought I would get sunburned in late September but here we are. Only 2 weeks of the regular season remain until it’s time to prove your true worth. It was pretty quiet at the fields this week due to some extra precautions the powers at be chose to take to protect our league. Nonetheless, there was enough excitement going around to keep me busy. I saw quite a bit of veteran leadership proving that experience still counts for something in several games across all divisions.

Slytherin That Endzone (STEZ, fight me Godfather), had a make up against Morning Wood first thing in the morning. Despite last minute roster issues, they managed to pull off the win with a rookie QB making his debut. Newman’s absence was expected so Rookie, I didn’t catch his name, had time to prepare. Could be a factor in putting up 45 points. Probably more importantly, Taylor Pagano was out leaving STEZ in need of a female. I’m not sure who they brought in but she made some pretty solid catches on offense. MW was also without QB1 and their replacement seemed to be having trouble connecting with his receivers. Rachel Parker did have a phenomenal deep catch but MW could not get a stop on defense.

The Dilfs started their back-to-back double header against a Peachy Platoon team with a much-depleted roster. Derrick was back at QB but PP could only scrounge up 2 other guys to play in the game. While it is possible to win playing with 3 guys/3 ladies (I’ve seen it happen) it was not the case today. Not saying that the females held them back though. Moriah Williamson, who I have noticed before, continued to show off her speed and hands. Sam played WR for this game and also had some impressive catches, even pulled down a one-handed grab. Unfortunately for PP, the Dilfs seem to be getting into a rhythm at the right time. Dubey played spot on, throwing the deep ball when it’s there and taking the yards defense gives him.

STEZ and Dilfs met up immediately following both their 9:00 games. What I noticed most in this game was that both QBs spread the ball around to all their receivers. Both teams had some big offensive weapons and both the youthful rookie and savvy vet used them all well. Val Bernal had a big game for the Dilfs with some nice sideline catches and TDs. Sal Gondolfo showed off his speed and height both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. This was a close match up with 2 teams I wouldn’t be surprised to see make it far come playoff time.

Topper won a game!!! I repeat, Topper won a game!!! Despite being short handed in the female department, Topper looked Jeff May in the eye as he was walking over to take the reins for Hofbrauhaus and said “I got this”. Okay, so that may not be exactly what happened but it should have been. Peachy Platoon came back after the earlier loss and remained short handed as well. Marissa Thompson was in attendance for this game which helped PP by giving them another steadfast target and a rest. HB had the opposite problem; they had a strong cast of guys but no females. Topper was able to use Aaron’s height, Drew’s speed and Salvati’s smarts to pull out their first win on the season.

D1 was upset city it seemed and not for the attendance issues we saw in the lower divisions. There were a number of cancelations due to the safety measures being implemented but the games that did happen were both exciting and somewhat unexpected. Marketing Mayors did beat Gryffindor which isn’t totally surprising. Joey Batts has been having some trouble in the female attendance department all season and this week was no exception. This week, he brought in an unknown female who looked pretty solid but missing Jill definitely was a struggle. He did have his guys there, albeit some showed up late. MM have been having a season of ups and downs. Late games seem to be very problematic for fielding a team but this week’s early double header proved favorable. Not only did they put up a solid 49 points on Gryffindor and hold them to 15, they also went on to beat Public Enemy. Yes, you read that right. I don’t know what the win streak was but it has come to an end at the hands of Corey Turner and Co. An anonymous source reported that PE just “couldn’t get their offense going”. Dalfonso must really be making a last end-of-the-season push to climb that Top 10 chart and this is certainly the day he needed to make it out of that #3 spot he has been stuck in for so long.

Gryffindor did get a win later in the day against Tight Ends in Motion. I believe it was Ray, one of the new youthful receivers Joey brought on, who put on a dazzling display of athleticism.  Joey also had Travis Clev playing in this game who had a big game defensively. Unfortunately for TEIM, Alex Bucalis was hurt during the game and had to be driven off the field. I haven’t heard official word of the extent of his injury but our thoughts are with him for a speedy recovery. Despite losing Alex, TEIM hung in there and kept the game close. Gryffindor ended up stealing the win by scoring a TD with under a minute left. TIEM tried for the Hail Mary to tie it back up but the attempt failed and Gryffindor moved into 3^rd place in the division. 

I have to take this moment to highlight someone who I find to be highly underrated. When you hear TMA, you generally think of Ferger, Ron Webber or Prim. Rarely is Nick Smith recognized and given the credit I believe he is due. For those who don’t know him, Nick is approximately 7 feet tall (not really, but he’s up there). This in and of itself should be exploited every game. I’m going to piggy back on my accolades for Nick and give props to QB Ryan who seems to be understanding more and more how this game is played and taking the advantages given to him. He is using Nick how he should be used: jump ball in the end zone. I saw this happen on two occasions and it was executed perfectly both times.

Last but certainly not least I want to call out B for answering the call and stepping off the sidelines to take the rock for Practice Squad. An underutilized QB on the Universal Sub list, B stepped in when he was needed and showed the world he’s still got it. The TOX defense couldn’t stop him and the rest of PS. B put up 45 points, more than PS has scored so far this season.

That’s all for this week. I want to remind everyone that with cold and flu season coming to be extra cautious both at the fields and off. There’s only 4 more weeks left of the season and we want to be able to finish strong and find out who among us are true champions. Remember to keep your masks on in the playing area up until your game is starting. Also to keep them on at the bar any time you are not seated. You all have been great so far and we are all appreciative of how seriously everyone is taking these precautions. A lot of seeding games are happening for the last 2 weeks of the regular season so I’m excited how teams are matching up against so far. I’ll be watching…

Week 8 Review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Wednesday, 07 October 2020 21:41

Published: Wednesday, 07 October 2020 21:41

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Welcome to this week’s segment of the Sentinel! There was plenty to watch this week and I want to get right into all the spectacular moments I was able to witness. Unfortunately, I also witnessed and heard about numerous injuries throughout the day. I’m hopeful none of them were season-ending in this last stretch to the playoffs. Most of them didn’t seem to be too serious so I’m hoping to see everyone back on their feet soon. Be careful out there people!

The first spotlight today is shining on Q from Why So Serious? I haven’t seen much of her before but she made her presence known this past week with a huge performance on offense. WWS seems to be changing up the QBs fairly regularly this season but whoever it was this past week may be a keeper. He demonstrated he can sling it the length of the field and is not afraid to spread the ball around to all his receivers. Q’s targets were generally always contested and on stride yet I did not see one drop all game. Add to that her height and this definitely qualifies as a female threat most teams probably haven’t heard of…yet. WSS started the day off with an upset win over Eyes Downtown (yes, I know ED was missing Bobby, but who cares? WSS earned this win).

The Bambs and Blitzkrieg had a couple stand out players this week in their match up at 9am. Bamb’s QB played well enough with the rock in his hand but at one point I saw him make a diving catch while rotating sideways through the air. The Catch of the Day in my opinion and even more impressive that it was brought to us by a QB. Fast forward later in the game and he had a pick 6 on defense to further pad his stats. Not to be outdone, the guy in the ADIDAS shirt also returned a conversion, leading to a Bambs victory, 38-24. Blitzkrieg had some bad luck with the loss of their QB at the end of the first half. It looked like he tried to make a come back but his body told him otherwise. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Allie was on fire during this game though and kept Blitzkrieg in it. She caught two touchdowns for her team and the guy with the blue and white hat returned a conversion. Regrettably for them, it was not enough to overcome.

The Tater Tots brought in Mark B for the first match up in their double header versus TMA. These two teams have some history so the pressure was on for Mark when he got the call. He was able to rise to the occasion and led the Tots to a narrow 15-14 victory. TMA rallied later in the day when they faced them again. The Tots had their QB back as well as Nick Angelo. TMA has some key drops and miscues between Ryan and his receivers. Of course, after I hype him up last week, Nick Smith does not play this week. Too much pressure for a repeat performance is my guess. Round 2 of the double header was another tight defensive battle, this one ending in a 12-12 tie. Ya hate to see it.

Marketing Mayors had a bad case of the dropsies in their game against Tight Ends in Motion. I counted at least 3 drops including the would-have-been-game-winner in the end zone. I don’t know how fragile Mark Dalfonzo’s #3 spot on the Power Rankings s, but I wanted to at least give him some back up that their early morning loss was not entirely on him. They were also missing players and brought in Eric Stegs to help fill in the ranks. TEIM lost QB Alex and brought in Bro to throw for them. Bro was a solid replacement and led his team to a 29-28 victory.

All We Do Is Quinn lost to Vaspian. You read that right, take a second and let it sink in. AWDIQ, who have beat Frodo Swaggins, Grey Hair Don’t Care, D4 powerhouse Buffalo Solar Solutions, lost to a then 1-4 Vaspian. What happened, you ask? Well Vince Taverna was not throwing them the ball. In his absence, Joe Schwab stepped in as QB but did not have the field awareness we see with Vince. Vaspian shut out, yes shut out, AWDIQ at the half. Drew and Co must have been firing on all cylinders to pull this one off. Rawdog gave it his all and tried to light a fire under his team but it was too little, too late and they were not able to overcome the deficit they got themselves into. Kasey was also placed on IR during the game in yet another early morning injury caused by a freak misstep. We hope it was nothing too serious and to be seeing her back in action soon.

Last but not least was the game of the day. I honestly meant to get over to the Interdimensional Lightning Falcons/Pteratacos game but I was captivated by the match up between Slytherin That Endzone and Peachy Platoon. Last year, if you asked my opinion on this game I would say PP in a landslide. But how different things may look in just a year. Slytherin started off hot but has since cooled off a bit in recent weeks. PP is always a crowd favorite but has experienced serious attendance issues all season. So these two coming together for the 4:00 game on a brisk Saturday afternoon didn’t seem like it would be anything more or less than expected. Wrong! This game was back and forth action. Dean Thompson was back to throw for PP and Slytherin had everyone except Taylor Pagano (I would have loved to see how this game played out with her there). It was an offensive shoot out. Neither Newman nor Dean were afraid to go deep and they did it early and often. Both teams spread the ball around to all their receivers. It came down to the last minute when Slytherin scored the go ahead TD with 28 seconds left. PP had the ball and should have scored on the first play but it was dropped (several cases of the dropsies were seen in this game). Not to worry though because Dean came back to the same play and it was successful the next time. Now there is 6 seconds left. Matt Newman was in familiar territory. Flashback to the 3:00 game just prior when Slytherin and Sticky Bandits went at it. It came down to a final Hail Mary but Newman didn’t have the distance to let his receivers make a play. He was not going to repeat that fate. Newman launched the ball in a high arch perfectly in the endzone where it made it through the hands of 3 Peachy defenders and into the chest of a Slytherin receiver for the win. I believe it was Dawson who made the catch but I could be wrong. Frankly I was too caught up in the hype. Slytherin came away with the win 48-42 and proved to the world they are still very much a D2 playoff contender.

I did get wind of a couple possible wagers in the coming weeks. There was talk of a Cole/Boccio versus Blasé/Kieta 2 on 2 drill; three downs to score from your own 5 yard line. A bar tab may be on the line. Sounds like great entertainment boys and in lieu of Costume Bowl this year, I am all for it. Sticky Bandits and the Dilfs had some chattering going on in the Telegram app regarding their upcoming rematch. It looks like this one is a go with the winners getting some fries, shots and a bucket. For those of you new to the league, this used to happen all the time and should be brought back.

That’s all for this week. Next week is pretty much all match up games so make sure you check the website for your game times (looking at you Mark). It’s your last week to get any kinks out before the playoffs and it’s supposed to be a beautiful day. Make sure you warm up and stretch properly. I don’t want to hear at the end of October that “we would have won it but {fill in injury excuse}.” This week should be a glimpse into what the finals will look like in some divisions but we all know that any given Saturday anything can happen. Remember, I’ll be watching…

Week 6 Review

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Category: The Sentinel

Created: Tuesday, 22 September 2020 12:33

Published: Tuesday, 22 September 2020 12:33

Written by Patrick McGovern

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Well ladies and gentlemen, Week 6 is in the books. There are now only 4 teams who remain undefeated. Conversely there are also now 4 teams that have yet to win a game. I’ll let the experts over at Power Rankings get into the details about all that because I know some streaks ended because of crossover games but that’s still not many. In one month’s time we will be praying to the football gods to give us the strength we need to reign victorious in the semis and finals. How quickly the time has gone.

While we all shape up for the big dance, glimpses of greatness can be observed on any field, in any division. Take for instance Nick Angelo of Tater Tots. Drunk Meg and Boyfriend Dave get most of the press with the Tots but Nick was the shining star against Lenny’s Ladies and PC Plumbing. He’s quick, has hops and hands. Neither team had an answer for him on defense. Granted, PC Plumbing didn’t seem to have an answer at all. Every time I looked they had a new QB and in their second game of the day they played with 3 females. But I digress. The point is Nick was phenomenal. I’m not sure how this guy hasn’t been talked about before but he should be. Not to be overshadowed, Caitlin from TT was also silently showing her stuff all day. Every target was a catch and most were contested. Way to go Caitlin!

Over in D2, Peachy Platoon may be without Dean but they still have plenty of stars making plays. Now you may be expecting me to call out Leseaon or Josh and they had their moments in the win against Hofbrauhaus Buffalo but Moriah Williamson made touchdown catches in traffic look easy. Also props to their new QB Sam for trusting his females to make the difficult catches.

Speaking of HB, what’s up with Topper? He pulls himself for Jeff May to throw for HB. I saw this and thought, oh that’s nice of Topper to let Jeff play a game now that he’s back in town and reffing all day for us. But then he pulls himself again for TOX and has Non-award winning Tommy Hughes? Was there an injury I didn’t hear about? Did he get drunk early?  I was going to wait for later to call this out but this was a much better segue.

Back to the highlights though, Dave Baker had 2 picks for Lenny’s Ladies that I saw. Unfortunately the Ladies couldn’t capitalize and fell to the TT 20-9. Baker was reading the QB like a book though. Granted it was his first of 3 games for the day. I didn’t see any shining moments of greatness in his Tight Ends or Sticky game later and wonder if it could be attributed to fatigue? It’s possible but is it likely for this father of 8?

Not a team that gets much press but Pteratacos is comfortably sitting in the middle spot of D5 this session. Joe and Mark Buscaglia have rebuilt this team and their patience has been rewarded. In Saturday’s game I saw Ryan get up to make a pick on Intentional Pounding’s new QB. Scott Keller Sr was in attendance so I’m not sure who the new guy throwing was but I also saw SKS make a touchdown catch and point upward in recognition of his late father. Beautiful moment.

Buffalo Solar Solutions now stands on top of the D4 division after their win against the Angels. They proved this was not their first rodeo and did what others are, for some reason, scared to do. Continuously throw it up to the tall guy. I don’t mean to take anything away from Andy or said tall guy (I apologize for not catching your name but there was a lot going on at 1:00). Andy has always been a top tier QB and gets the ball where it needs to be. This is a division that could go in so many directions and I can’t wait to see how playoffs shape up.

Eyes Downtown was without QB Bobby in their morning game against Jabronies. Bobby apparently thought the cross over game would be a walk in the park and his attendance was not required. Mike Radon stepped in and everyone who knows Radon knows that ball is going over them mountains on the first play. Sure enough, it did. Adam made an appearance for ED and caught Radon’s deep bomb before Jabronies knew what hit ‘em. Not a great start but the Jabronies battled and what Bobby (and probably some others) thought would be an easy win, ended up being a close contest won by 1 point.  Now it may be a different outcome with Bobby there, but the Jabronies proved to everyone they are strong contenders for any competition.

In another crossover game between Slytherin That End Zone and Public Enemy, Gary Schmelzer had a nice pick against Cole that he almost ran back.  Greg Oiska however, had 2 picks against Newman and, as predicted, STEZ just couldn’t match up. For the spectators though, it was an exciting game to watch.

Not so much a highlight as an observation but it appears Kyle Conniff is still among us. He made his return to the fields this week in Tight End’s crossover game against Bullet Club. From what I saw, both teams struggled on defense though and there were few noteworthy plays meriting recognition.

Family Feud and Some Dudes suffered a loss to Uncle Ricos Time Travelers. I’m going to take this as an opportunity to drop some knowledge on FFASD. When you have a female as good as Riley, use her. Boom. You’re welcome. Seriously, she was wide open on the sideline almost every play and not even a glance in her direction. Just look at how UR uses Jackee. When you have game changing females, let them change the game!

Lastly I saw a portion of the Freeballers/ Scared Hitless game until it was too much to watch anymore. The final score was 52-0, ay dios mio! It was pick city for SH and FB could not even get a semblance of offense or defense. Now in QB George’s defense, I did hear him say that most of his team was drunk. Understandable as my minions have informed me it was 40 year plan guy’s birthday. Never a good combination but doesn’t take away from the fact that FB is one of the 4 winless teams in the league.

That’s all for today. I hope everyone enjoyed their day and the nice weather we have been having thus far this season. I must say everyone’s been doing a great job filling up those 9am slots for make ups. I commend all your determination to play and it gives me more to watch so great work. We are into the tail end of the season and things are heating up quickly. I can’t wait to see how things play out. Remember to stretch and warm up before your games. We don’t need a weekend like the NFL had on Sunday. If you’re going to do something amazing, make sure your body is ready for it and remember, I’ll be watching…