Okay, got some Indian food and a beer in me and I'm ready to tackle the rest of the week's games.
Alpha Conference:
The Alpha Game of the Week between Portland and Stalingrad was as exciting as expected, but it was the Niners who came out on top instead of the favored Ironmen. Having learned some lessons in their loss to Vilnius and feeling good about a scrimmage win against the Butchers, Portland's defense completely shut down Stalingrad's offense for the first half. The Niners had no such difficulty, with three long scoring drives in the first half, two for touchdowns. Down three scores to start the third, Stalingrad came up big with a pick of QB Eric Arnson, which led to a long touchdown drive. The euphoria wouldn't last long as the Niners D buckled down, and the offense picked up two more scores. Down but not out, the Ironmen held on long enough to score again in the middle of the fourth, but it would be the last points of the game. Portland holds on to win it convincingly 27-14.
Elsewhere in the conference, the games turned out pretty much as expected. The Gods smote the lowly Rebels, Vilnius devoured the Pirahnas, the Nightmare pushed around the Pushers, The Pecs got a little swagger back against the Stampede, Vorkuta shutout the Blaze, as did the Players vs Sioux City and the Kardinals vs the Tigers.
Zeta Conference:
The second feature game in Zeta saw the Italy Guardians go up against the Dresden Doomsday in a position battle for the playoffs. Italy put first points on the board with an early field goal, and held Dresden's offense in check until late in the first quarter, when the Doomsday were finally able to get the chains moving and get a touchdown. The Guardians answered back with a touchdown on their next drive to regain the lead, then picked up a field goal to end the half. Italy looked to be running away with it when the defense snagged a pass from Reverend Maynard, leading to another Guardian touchdown. Dresden struggle throughout the third, until the defense made their presence felt and forced Lince Brown to drop the football. The offense capitalized, scoring on a 68-yard missed tackle party by Joshua Silver. In the fourth quarter, with the Doomsday down by six, Dresden cashed in on another big play, this time by wideout Silvannos Fuligin, who broke to the sideline for a 76.5 yard dash. Now up by one, with a big defensive stop putting the ball back in their hands, Dresden drove it downfield again, but Italy held them to three to keep the game in reach. Again driving the field, trying to run down some clock, Dresden made a crucial mistake, as Italy's Kent Davis popped the ball out of Superfly Schnooka's hands and ran it back for a score. With less than two minutes remaining, the Doomsday needed to find some intestinal fortitude to drive and score to win, and found it in the capable hands of Joshua Silver, whose 28 yard touchdown reception capped the win for the Doomsday. With time running out, Italy attempted one final comeback, but were stymied by the defense, and turned the ball over on downs. Dresden jumped to the number 5 seed with the win, and I again eat my words as Italy let me down on my prediction.
In other Zeta games, Dayton let me down too, losing to the Silverbacks against my prediction, not that I really put that much thought into that one to begin with. Chernobyl did win their snoozer of the week, defeating the Flames easily. South City shut out Sicilia, as did Warsaw against Edinburgh, as well as Berlin over Nizhny. I really thought Gateshead could beat Sooner, but I underestimated the Syndicate a bit. Interestingly, it looks like the Syndicate will likely face the Butchers for the last game of the season, and then immediately again for the first game of the playoffs. They can't be feeling good about that matchup.
That's it for the recap, I'll be back tomorrow with the Week 14 preview, as Bratislava takes on the Wolfpack at home, and Portland faces Vorkuta in another sure-to-be-brutal battle royale.
Alpha Conference:
The Alpha Game of the Week between Portland and Stalingrad was as exciting as expected, but it was the Niners who came out on top instead of the favored Ironmen. Having learned some lessons in their loss to Vilnius and feeling good about a scrimmage win against the Butchers, Portland's defense completely shut down Stalingrad's offense for the first half. The Niners had no such difficulty, with three long scoring drives in the first half, two for touchdowns. Down three scores to start the third, Stalingrad came up big with a pick of QB Eric Arnson, which led to a long touchdown drive. The euphoria wouldn't last long as the Niners D buckled down, and the offense picked up two more scores. Down but not out, the Ironmen held on long enough to score again in the middle of the fourth, but it would be the last points of the game. Portland holds on to win it convincingly 27-14.
Elsewhere in the conference, the games turned out pretty much as expected. The Gods smote the lowly Rebels, Vilnius devoured the Pirahnas, the Nightmare pushed around the Pushers, The Pecs got a little swagger back against the Stampede, Vorkuta shutout the Blaze, as did the Players vs Sioux City and the Kardinals vs the Tigers.
Zeta Conference:
The second feature game in Zeta saw the Italy Guardians go up against the Dresden Doomsday in a position battle for the playoffs. Italy put first points on the board with an early field goal, and held Dresden's offense in check until late in the first quarter, when the Doomsday were finally able to get the chains moving and get a touchdown. The Guardians answered back with a touchdown on their next drive to regain the lead, then picked up a field goal to end the half. Italy looked to be running away with it when the defense snagged a pass from Reverend Maynard, leading to another Guardian touchdown. Dresden struggle throughout the third, until the defense made their presence felt and forced Lince Brown to drop the football. The offense capitalized, scoring on a 68-yard missed tackle party by Joshua Silver. In the fourth quarter, with the Doomsday down by six, Dresden cashed in on another big play, this time by wideout Silvannos Fuligin, who broke to the sideline for a 76.5 yard dash. Now up by one, with a big defensive stop putting the ball back in their hands, Dresden drove it downfield again, but Italy held them to three to keep the game in reach. Again driving the field, trying to run down some clock, Dresden made a crucial mistake, as Italy's Kent Davis popped the ball out of Superfly Schnooka's hands and ran it back for a score. With less than two minutes remaining, the Doomsday needed to find some intestinal fortitude to drive and score to win, and found it in the capable hands of Joshua Silver, whose 28 yard touchdown reception capped the win for the Doomsday. With time running out, Italy attempted one final comeback, but were stymied by the defense, and turned the ball over on downs. Dresden jumped to the number 5 seed with the win, and I again eat my words as Italy let me down on my prediction.
In other Zeta games, Dayton let me down too, losing to the Silverbacks against my prediction, not that I really put that much thought into that one to begin with. Chernobyl did win their snoozer of the week, defeating the Flames easily. South City shut out Sicilia, as did Warsaw against Edinburgh, as well as Berlin over Nizhny. I really thought Gateshead could beat Sooner, but I underestimated the Syndicate a bit. Interestingly, it looks like the Syndicate will likely face the Butchers for the last game of the season, and then immediately again for the first game of the playoffs. They can't be feeling good about that matchup.
That's it for the recap, I'll be back tomorrow with the Week 14 preview, as Bratislava takes on the Wolfpack at home, and Portland faces Vorkuta in another sure-to-be-brutal battle royale.
