[div align=\\\"center\\\"]DSFL (S22) POWER RANKINGS Edition 3 [/div]
Hello and welcome to edition 3 of these DSFL Power Rankings. Delay on both the NSFL and DSFL rankings to give us time to process and digest Saturday’s games, so apologies for that! There was some movement in the crapshoot that is the DSFL. Myrtle Beach has emerged as a strong #1 team in the league with London leading the pack of tier 2 teams. I truly believe the DSFL parity this season will make any sort of predictions nearly impossible, with the exception of Myrtle Beach. As it stands, the only team I can see who can even remotely beat the home field advantage is the Buccs, every other game I believe the favorite will be the home team. But such is the life of a DSFL player. I considered introducing some of the more advanced weighting methods that I have developed for the NSFL, and implementing them this week in the DSFL, but decided against it.
Regardless we have a good piece for you here today. No media spotlight for the DSFL this week (youll have to catch our NSFL article for that), but we have shifted from covering every single game, to covering the more important ones. This should be accompanied with an increase in quality that we hope you all enjoy! In addition, my coverage of the changes in each power rankings will only feature the notable changes.
And finally, I’ve said it before but I will remind all our new readers, that these DSFL power rankings are NOT reliable due to the nature of the sim. Since many of you enjoy them (indeed many of our new players enjoy seeing content written on their team by a source that isn’t a member of their team) we will continue to make them. We do our best to predict but sim gonna sim.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] METHOD [/div]
1. TPE Update from LAST Saturday.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] RESULTS [/div]
OFFENSIVE POWER RANKINGS
(number in brackets denotes TPE rankings)
MAX SCORE=3 MIN SCORE=0
1. Myrtle Beach 1.333 (2) +1
2. London 1.245 (1) -1
3. Tijuana 1.11 (4) +4
4. Minnesota 1.094 (3) -1
5. Norfolk 1.033 (8) +1
6. Kansas City 0.876 (7) -2
7. Portland 0.860 (6) +1
8. Dallas 0.826 (5) -3
Teams of Note:
1. went 2-0 as of these rankings, but additionally went 2-0 on Saturday. If you will all recall we originally predicted that this would be the #1 team and the #1 offense. While its still early, Tijuana has emerged as the #1 offense in terms of raw yardage, especially through the air. They come in #3 in terms of most overall points and seem to have figured their stuff out.
2. Dallas fell from their 5th place spot to the bottom of the list. When they lose, they score less than 10 points, and when they win they only score 20.
DEFENSIVE POWER RANKINGS
(number in brackets denotes TPE rankings)
MAX SCORE=3 MIN SCORE=0
1. Myrtle Beach 1.333 (1)
2. Portland 0.934 (2) +6
3. Norfolk 0.910(3) +1
4. Minnesota 0.894 (5) -1
5. London 0.892 (8) -3
6. Dallas 0.892 (6) -1
7. Kansas City 0.801 (7) -1
8. Tijuana 0.792 (4) -1
Teams of Note:
1. Portland climbed all the way to 2nd before Saturday. Allowing 3 and 6 points against the expansion teams, they were looking really good until Saturday, when their defense came to play but their offense did not. Holding Kansas City, while on the road, to 10 points is certainly an accomplishment. It’s looking like Portland will struggle with the same things they struggled with last year, a great defense that can’t be helped out by its offense.
2. London was our big loser this week falling to 5th. They have the 6 most yards against and the 5th most points against. This was expected with the #8 ranked TPE defense.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] FINAL COMBINED POWER RANKINGS WITH INDEX[/div]
(First bracket number is purely stats/performance. Second number is TPE rankings)
1. Myrtle Beach 2.716 (1)
2. London 2.241 (2)(6) -3
3. Tijuana 2.118 (5)(3)
4. Portland 2.053 (6)(4) +4
5. Minnesota 1.987 (3)(2)
6. Dallas 1.924 (7)(7)
7. Norfolk 1.890 (4)(5) +1
8. Kansas City 1.813 (8)(8) -2
[div align=\\\"center\\\"]Notable Games[/div]
Presented by Sakrosankt
DSFL Week 3
Minnesota @ Kansas City 13-17:
The speed “F” was the main reason why the games of week 3 and 4 had to be resimmed. Jamar Lackson seemed to have found his speed back and racked up 127 yards and a touchdown after a disastrous -37 yards game with the ominous value f at speed. This amazing stat didn’t help Minnesota in winning the game, as the home playing Coyotes came out as the winner in a close game. The Grey Ducks had the control of the game, with over 36 minutes of possession and almost 400 total offense yards with a much better passing attack than the Coyotes. Minnesota punted the ball 4/5 times from midfield or KC half, which explains the much higher yards. Another reason is a kick return touchdown by Jon Bois for 104 yards. This return ties the DSFL record for longest kick return touchdown in history. At the start of the game, the momentum was clearly on Minnesota’s side, but as soon as midfield was passed, they had to give up possession. With the beginning of the second quarter, Kansas City finished their first good drive with a touchdown, which was equalized before half time by Minnesota. After the special team touchdown by Jon Bois, Kansas City could secure the game and let Minnesota score only two more field goals, which wasn’t enough for them. In their last drive, the Grey Ducks had to score a touchdown to win the game, but they only got to the 19 yards line before the game was over. So the Coyotes could celebrate their second win of the season.
Myrtle Beach @ Tijuana 21-27:
Bucs vs Luchadores is a classic in recent history. And no matter how good of a season the Bucs are playing, Tijuana always knows what is needed to challenge them. We saw almost 4 hundred yards rushers on both sides, but the second Luchadores RB fell short by 12 yards. Jeffrey and Ayers both racked up 100 yards rushing, and Gilbert did the same. Gilbert had a formidable game, scoring one time on the ground and another time through the air as well. This paved the way for the Tijuana victory. On the Myrtle Beach side, it wasn’t for the both 100 yard rusher to make the difference, but once again for their QB Chris Ramos, who scored two times passing and had an amazing 63-yard rushing touchdown as well. But this three touchdowns were not enough, as Tijuana also scored three times, and moreover got 2 field goals. The two field goals were the only points the Luchadores could score in the first half, but came back strong after the break and started the second half with two more big scores. This was too much for Myrtle Beach to overcome, and they had to take the first loss of the season, while Tijuana got their first win.
London @ Norfolk 27-26:
This close game was decided by a strong comeback by the Royals in the fourth quarter. London tried hard on the ground, but weren’t really successful in doing so. Both of their RBs finished with way under 4 yards per carry. King (3.6) and Batista (2.4) were the scorer in that game though. Combined they scored three times, which accounts for all touchdowns of London. Kicker PhastBawl made all three XP and two field goals, with his last being the game winning score in a very close game with 1:45 on the clock. The rushing attack on Seaswolves side was much better in terms of efficiency, with Sunrise (4.4) and Skrills (4.9) racking up 236 yards together, but scoring only once. The other two scores came from TE Haugland, who was the main target for Skywalker. With their ground driven strategy, Norfolk wasn’t able to get into scoring range in time in their last drive.
Portland @ Dallas 20-3:
Player of the Game: Pseudo QB, Punter, Portland Pythons
Pseudo QB had a very good day in this matchup, as he successfully placed the ball two times inside the 20 of Dallas. The Birddogs weren’t able to move the ball the whole game, Jack finished with only 55 passing yards. Kichwa Jones wasn’t able to carry the whole team alone, he finished with 92 yards. On the other side, the Pythons had it easy going on offense, and were nasty on defense. An almost perfect game for the Pythons.
DSFL Week 4
Dallas @ Norfolk 23-16:
Dallas had a similar game on offense in week 4 as in week 3 looking at the stats. Jack was again far under 100 yards passing, and Kichwa Jones had almost 100 yards rushing. Feels helped him a lot more though, getting 71 yards and a touchdown. How did the Birddogs win this game, if the stats look quite bad again? The defense showed up big, and special teams did their part too. The player of the game is LB Bradley Owens. He got 16 tackles and forced a fumble which he also recovered at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Owens gets the player of the game because he is on the winning team. Although another player made a strong impression, namely Norfolk LB Jack Banks. He finished the game with 9 tackles, 4 sacks and 1 PD. An outstanding performance. The whole Norfolk defense showed up to be fair, as they finished the night with 8 sacks, 1 FF, 1 FR and 2 PD. But in this game it wasn’t enough to make big plays on defense, as the offense gave away too much. In fact, Dallas also took advantage of very good special team play, as Jones set up a touchdown by a 88 yard kick return. This was the second touchdown from Dallas, and they extended their drive in the second half far enough to score 2 more field goals and held Norfolk on the other side also to just 2 field goals then.
London @ Portland 6-27:
The second easy going game for Portland in a row. It’s hard to find a player of the game, as the team performance was just overall really good. The biggest statement on offense made RB McZeal, who scored twice and averaging 5.6 yards on 15 rushes. On defense, the shining star was Heinrich Kackpoo, the Austrian import in Portland. The Linebacker racked up 6 tackles, 1 sack, 2 PD and 1 interception. But he wasn’t the only one to pick off Jack this game, as Mac Griddle did the same, but with also scoring a pick 6. This win brings the Pythons back to even and a stop to the surprisingly good start into the season by the Royals.
Kansas City @ Myrtle Beach 9-29:
The rematch of the last Ultimini brings no revenge for the Coyotes. Ramos once again plays at his best level against Kansas City. This time, he passes for 2 TD for a 101 passer rating and rushes for another 32 yards. The run game wasn’t stopped by the Coyotes the whole evening, allowing two Bucs RBs to rack up over 100 yards on the ground. Another big performance had kicker Kai Solarin, who successfully converted 5 field goal attempts in the game.
Tijuana @ Minnesota 30-22:
After a devastating start into the season, the Luchadores attempted to go back to even in week 4 against Minnesota. And they succeeded in doing so. In the second win in a row, they outscored the Grey Ducks on the road in all aspects on the field. The offense was rolling the whole game, while Minnesota reacted to late to avoid a loss.
The game started off eventless, with only Tijuana able to score a field goal in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter the Grey Ducks scored their first touchdown in a way, that couldn’t be better for a defense. It was a pick 6 intercepted and returned for 29 yards by Buck Thornton. But the lead wasn’t protected by the scoring defense, they still got two field goals and a touchdown by Richard Gilbert before the break. Trailing 16-7, the Grey Ducks weren’t able to start a comeback. Everytime they managed to come into the range of a one score game, the Luchadores had the perfect answer and extended the lead with a touchdown. The offense outscored the Grey Ducks 390-279 total yards and had over 35 minute in time of possession.
DSFL Week 5
Myrtle Beach @ London 18-21:
The 3-1 Bucs were visiting the 3-1 Royals in week 5 for the top game of the week. Although Myrtle Beach was on the road, they went into the game as favorites, leading the power ranking. But the game turned out differently than thought. The Royals successfully came back on victory road after a solid performance at home. Both teams struggled to get things going in the first quarter, so it went scoreless. The first score of the game got London, Jacoby Batista rushed for the TD. After two unsuccessful drives, the Bucs were able to score with 1:07 left on the clock to tie the game just before half. But the Myrtle Beach defense still had something in petto in the first half. London couldn’t get going anything in the following drive, and Namen Jr was able to force a fumble on a rush by King and recovered it on the 16-yard line of London with 11 seconds left to play. Myrtle Beach decided to score a field goal immediately, and went to half with a 10-7 lead after the successful kicking attempt. The turnover shortly before halftime seemed to have set the Royals on fire. They finished their first drive with a touchdown by King. In the next drive, Ramos was intercepted by Boyd on their own 32 yard line. The Royals couldn’t get anything going and tried to convert on fourth down, which they failed. The Bucs got back the ball, but London immediately picked off Ramos a second time. This time it was Greedy Sly with the pick. London used their second chance to score a touchdown, and they set their lead to 21-10. On the next drives, no team could get into scoring range. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Ramos was picked off by Boyd a second time, as Myrtle Beach already entered the red zone. This was the finishing point of the game, as Myrtle Beach only got one more chance to score - which they did - and the Royals controlled the clock to end the game and come out as winner.
Portland @ Kansas City 9-10:
The Pythons visited the Coyotes after a 2 game winning streak. The Coyotes on the other side, finished both 2 game stretches with a 1-1 record so far. It was a very close and balanced matchup between the two teams, with slight advantages for Kansas City. And they also came out with the win in the end. In the first half it was only the Pythons scoring, they did so with 3 field goals to go into halftime with a 9-0 lead. After halftime, the Pythons didn’t score anymore and it was Kansas City’s turn. At first they scored a field goal, and in the fourth quarter they managed to score the only touchdown of the game, which got them a 10-9 lead and victory. The player of the game is Reginald Covington III, passing for 186 yards, a touchdown and finishing the game with a passer rating of 102.4.
Dallas @ Tijuana 9-30:
Tijuana on a winning streak at home is a tough matchup for anyone. The Birddogs visited them in week 5 to try to steal the win from them, but didn’t really have a chance in doing so. Tijuana utilized their amazing offense very well again. They used a run-heavy approach, but also were successful through the air when needed. Player of the game is RB Running Back, who finished with 111 yards and 2 scores.
Norfolk @ Minnesota 0-10:
Norfolk visited the Grey Ducks in week 5, and didn’t have much more business then. They stayed scoreless the whole game while Minnesota accomplished to score twice, in a 10-0 win. In a game dominated by both defenses, Water Chestnut III stood out with 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 2 sacks. The whole defense managed to sack the opposing QB 7 times this game, which led to shutting them out.
DSFL Week 6
Kansas City @ Tijuana 17-20:
The Kansas City Coyotes ended every two game stretch so far 1-1. In the 3rd opportunity, they ended up again finishing with a 1-1 record. On the other side, Tijuana increased their winning streak to 4 games, leading their division after week 6. This game was as close as it can get, and we were presented a real thriller with the better end for the home team. Kansas City started with a 7-0 lead after a TD pass from Covington to Cooper. Soon after, Gilbert equalized with a rushing TD. In the second quarter, Kansas City was able to increase their lead to 17-7 after a Nova TD and a field goal. In the second quarter, Tijuana answered with two field goals and were able to hold the Coyotes scoreless. With 1:39 on the clock, Jackson Kingston caught the TD pass from Jim Waters, to get the 20-17 lead. Jackson Kingston is the player of the game in this one, catching some clutch passes and finishing with 53 yards and a touchdown.
Norfolk @ Portland 21-20:
This two teams face each other after they got two devastating losses in the week before. On the one side there is Norfolk, who were shut out by Minnesota, on the other side there’s Portland, who lost by just one point against the Coyotes. And the Pythons suffer another rough loss, losing again by just 1 point. Both teams didn’t give many chances for the other to score in the first half, close before the end of the half Norfolk scored and got a 7-3 lead to go into halftime. The second half is where the game went wrong for Portland. They started off well, scoring a TD to get back the lead. But then the turnovers started. At first they fumbled inside the redzone and gave away a scoring opportunity and in the next drive O’Donnell was intercepted by Banks, who scored a 59 yard pick 6. Portland didn’t give up after those hard hits, and got back into the game with TD and a field goal. Another touchdown by Norfolk, set up after an excellent 84- yard kickoff return by Brosely, set the score to 21-10 for Norfolk. With 2 minutes on the clock, Portland got the ball once again and wanted to move down the field, but at midfield, O’Donnell was intercepted by Brosely, which sealed the game for Norfolk. Banks and Brosely were the deciding factors for the Seawolves to turn the game into their favors.
Minnesota @ Myrtle Beach 16-10:
To make this 2 game stretch a losing one for Myrtle Beach, the Grey Ducks came to town and took the win home to Minnesota. Their new trade acquisition, RB Rice Ahoc-Machine, had an outstanding performance and finished the game with 87 yards, 5.1 on average and a TD. It wasn’t just a casual TD, it was the deciding TD in overtime to get the win.
Both teams didn’t allow much, both got a TD and a field goal. Myrtle Beach scored their FG with only 2:15 left on the clock, which brought them to overtime, where they finally lost though.
London @ Dallas 18-21:
This is the matchup of the sophomore seasons between last years expansion teams. The Royals had a head start into the season, coming into the game at 4-1, whereas the Birddogs are heading into the game with a losing record (2-3). Dallas started better into the game by scoring a touchdown and managed to never give that lead out of hand thereafter. They continued to play on a similar level, but everytime London came into one scoring range, Dallas answered right away to extend their lead again. Mike Lee recorded two TDs, and the newly acquired RB Arik Eller also rushed for a score. In the end, the better start into the game led to the win.
Word count=3495
Play pay Sakrosankt 66% and Isidore94 34%
Hello and welcome to edition 3 of these DSFL Power Rankings. Delay on both the NSFL and DSFL rankings to give us time to process and digest Saturday’s games, so apologies for that! There was some movement in the crapshoot that is the DSFL. Myrtle Beach has emerged as a strong #1 team in the league with London leading the pack of tier 2 teams. I truly believe the DSFL parity this season will make any sort of predictions nearly impossible, with the exception of Myrtle Beach. As it stands, the only team I can see who can even remotely beat the home field advantage is the Buccs, every other game I believe the favorite will be the home team. But such is the life of a DSFL player. I considered introducing some of the more advanced weighting methods that I have developed for the NSFL, and implementing them this week in the DSFL, but decided against it.
Regardless we have a good piece for you here today. No media spotlight for the DSFL this week (youll have to catch our NSFL article for that), but we have shifted from covering every single game, to covering the more important ones. This should be accompanied with an increase in quality that we hope you all enjoy! In addition, my coverage of the changes in each power rankings will only feature the notable changes.
And finally, I’ve said it before but I will remind all our new readers, that these DSFL power rankings are NOT reliable due to the nature of the sim. Since many of you enjoy them (indeed many of our new players enjoy seeing content written on their team by a source that isn’t a member of their team) we will continue to make them. We do our best to predict but sim gonna sim.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] METHOD [/div]
1. TPE Update from LAST Saturday.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] RESULTS [/div]
OFFENSIVE POWER RANKINGS
(number in brackets denotes TPE rankings)
MAX SCORE=3 MIN SCORE=0
1. Myrtle Beach 1.333 (2) +1
2. London 1.245 (1) -1
3. Tijuana 1.11 (4) +4
4. Minnesota 1.094 (3) -1
5. Norfolk 1.033 (8) +1
6. Kansas City 0.876 (7) -2
7. Portland 0.860 (6) +1
8. Dallas 0.826 (5) -3
Teams of Note:
1. went 2-0 as of these rankings, but additionally went 2-0 on Saturday. If you will all recall we originally predicted that this would be the #1 team and the #1 offense. While its still early, Tijuana has emerged as the #1 offense in terms of raw yardage, especially through the air. They come in #3 in terms of most overall points and seem to have figured their stuff out.
2. Dallas fell from their 5th place spot to the bottom of the list. When they lose, they score less than 10 points, and when they win they only score 20.
DEFENSIVE POWER RANKINGS
(number in brackets denotes TPE rankings)
MAX SCORE=3 MIN SCORE=0
1. Myrtle Beach 1.333 (1)
2. Portland 0.934 (2) +6
3. Norfolk 0.910(3) +1
4. Minnesota 0.894 (5) -1
5. London 0.892 (8) -3
6. Dallas 0.892 (6) -1
7. Kansas City 0.801 (7) -1
8. Tijuana 0.792 (4) -1
Teams of Note:
1. Portland climbed all the way to 2nd before Saturday. Allowing 3 and 6 points against the expansion teams, they were looking really good until Saturday, when their defense came to play but their offense did not. Holding Kansas City, while on the road, to 10 points is certainly an accomplishment. It’s looking like Portland will struggle with the same things they struggled with last year, a great defense that can’t be helped out by its offense.
2. London was our big loser this week falling to 5th. They have the 6 most yards against and the 5th most points against. This was expected with the #8 ranked TPE defense.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] FINAL COMBINED POWER RANKINGS WITH INDEX[/div]
(First bracket number is purely stats/performance. Second number is TPE rankings)
1. Myrtle Beach 2.716 (1)
2. London 2.241 (2)(6) -3
3. Tijuana 2.118 (5)(3)
4. Portland 2.053 (6)(4) +4
5. Minnesota 1.987 (3)(2)
6. Dallas 1.924 (7)(7)
7. Norfolk 1.890 (4)(5) +1
8. Kansas City 1.813 (8)(8) -2
[div align=\\\"center\\\"]Notable Games[/div]
Presented by Sakrosankt
DSFL Week 3
Minnesota @ Kansas City 13-17:
The speed “F” was the main reason why the games of week 3 and 4 had to be resimmed. Jamar Lackson seemed to have found his speed back and racked up 127 yards and a touchdown after a disastrous -37 yards game with the ominous value f at speed. This amazing stat didn’t help Minnesota in winning the game, as the home playing Coyotes came out as the winner in a close game. The Grey Ducks had the control of the game, with over 36 minutes of possession and almost 400 total offense yards with a much better passing attack than the Coyotes. Minnesota punted the ball 4/5 times from midfield or KC half, which explains the much higher yards. Another reason is a kick return touchdown by Jon Bois for 104 yards. This return ties the DSFL record for longest kick return touchdown in history. At the start of the game, the momentum was clearly on Minnesota’s side, but as soon as midfield was passed, they had to give up possession. With the beginning of the second quarter, Kansas City finished their first good drive with a touchdown, which was equalized before half time by Minnesota. After the special team touchdown by Jon Bois, Kansas City could secure the game and let Minnesota score only two more field goals, which wasn’t enough for them. In their last drive, the Grey Ducks had to score a touchdown to win the game, but they only got to the 19 yards line before the game was over. So the Coyotes could celebrate their second win of the season.
Myrtle Beach @ Tijuana 21-27:
Bucs vs Luchadores is a classic in recent history. And no matter how good of a season the Bucs are playing, Tijuana always knows what is needed to challenge them. We saw almost 4 hundred yards rushers on both sides, but the second Luchadores RB fell short by 12 yards. Jeffrey and Ayers both racked up 100 yards rushing, and Gilbert did the same. Gilbert had a formidable game, scoring one time on the ground and another time through the air as well. This paved the way for the Tijuana victory. On the Myrtle Beach side, it wasn’t for the both 100 yard rusher to make the difference, but once again for their QB Chris Ramos, who scored two times passing and had an amazing 63-yard rushing touchdown as well. But this three touchdowns were not enough, as Tijuana also scored three times, and moreover got 2 field goals. The two field goals were the only points the Luchadores could score in the first half, but came back strong after the break and started the second half with two more big scores. This was too much for Myrtle Beach to overcome, and they had to take the first loss of the season, while Tijuana got their first win.
London @ Norfolk 27-26:
This close game was decided by a strong comeback by the Royals in the fourth quarter. London tried hard on the ground, but weren’t really successful in doing so. Both of their RBs finished with way under 4 yards per carry. King (3.6) and Batista (2.4) were the scorer in that game though. Combined they scored three times, which accounts for all touchdowns of London. Kicker PhastBawl made all three XP and two field goals, with his last being the game winning score in a very close game with 1:45 on the clock. The rushing attack on Seaswolves side was much better in terms of efficiency, with Sunrise (4.4) and Skrills (4.9) racking up 236 yards together, but scoring only once. The other two scores came from TE Haugland, who was the main target for Skywalker. With their ground driven strategy, Norfolk wasn’t able to get into scoring range in time in their last drive.
Portland @ Dallas 20-3:
Player of the Game: Pseudo QB, Punter, Portland Pythons
Pseudo QB had a very good day in this matchup, as he successfully placed the ball two times inside the 20 of Dallas. The Birddogs weren’t able to move the ball the whole game, Jack finished with only 55 passing yards. Kichwa Jones wasn’t able to carry the whole team alone, he finished with 92 yards. On the other side, the Pythons had it easy going on offense, and were nasty on defense. An almost perfect game for the Pythons.
DSFL Week 4
Dallas @ Norfolk 23-16:
Dallas had a similar game on offense in week 4 as in week 3 looking at the stats. Jack was again far under 100 yards passing, and Kichwa Jones had almost 100 yards rushing. Feels helped him a lot more though, getting 71 yards and a touchdown. How did the Birddogs win this game, if the stats look quite bad again? The defense showed up big, and special teams did their part too. The player of the game is LB Bradley Owens. He got 16 tackles and forced a fumble which he also recovered at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Owens gets the player of the game because he is on the winning team. Although another player made a strong impression, namely Norfolk LB Jack Banks. He finished the game with 9 tackles, 4 sacks and 1 PD. An outstanding performance. The whole Norfolk defense showed up to be fair, as they finished the night with 8 sacks, 1 FF, 1 FR and 2 PD. But in this game it wasn’t enough to make big plays on defense, as the offense gave away too much. In fact, Dallas also took advantage of very good special team play, as Jones set up a touchdown by a 88 yard kick return. This was the second touchdown from Dallas, and they extended their drive in the second half far enough to score 2 more field goals and held Norfolk on the other side also to just 2 field goals then.
London @ Portland 6-27:
The second easy going game for Portland in a row. It’s hard to find a player of the game, as the team performance was just overall really good. The biggest statement on offense made RB McZeal, who scored twice and averaging 5.6 yards on 15 rushes. On defense, the shining star was Heinrich Kackpoo, the Austrian import in Portland. The Linebacker racked up 6 tackles, 1 sack, 2 PD and 1 interception. But he wasn’t the only one to pick off Jack this game, as Mac Griddle did the same, but with also scoring a pick 6. This win brings the Pythons back to even and a stop to the surprisingly good start into the season by the Royals.
Kansas City @ Myrtle Beach 9-29:
The rematch of the last Ultimini brings no revenge for the Coyotes. Ramos once again plays at his best level against Kansas City. This time, he passes for 2 TD for a 101 passer rating and rushes for another 32 yards. The run game wasn’t stopped by the Coyotes the whole evening, allowing two Bucs RBs to rack up over 100 yards on the ground. Another big performance had kicker Kai Solarin, who successfully converted 5 field goal attempts in the game.
Tijuana @ Minnesota 30-22:
After a devastating start into the season, the Luchadores attempted to go back to even in week 4 against Minnesota. And they succeeded in doing so. In the second win in a row, they outscored the Grey Ducks on the road in all aspects on the field. The offense was rolling the whole game, while Minnesota reacted to late to avoid a loss.
The game started off eventless, with only Tijuana able to score a field goal in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter the Grey Ducks scored their first touchdown in a way, that couldn’t be better for a defense. It was a pick 6 intercepted and returned for 29 yards by Buck Thornton. But the lead wasn’t protected by the scoring defense, they still got two field goals and a touchdown by Richard Gilbert before the break. Trailing 16-7, the Grey Ducks weren’t able to start a comeback. Everytime they managed to come into the range of a one score game, the Luchadores had the perfect answer and extended the lead with a touchdown. The offense outscored the Grey Ducks 390-279 total yards and had over 35 minute in time of possession.
DSFL Week 5
Myrtle Beach @ London 18-21:
The 3-1 Bucs were visiting the 3-1 Royals in week 5 for the top game of the week. Although Myrtle Beach was on the road, they went into the game as favorites, leading the power ranking. But the game turned out differently than thought. The Royals successfully came back on victory road after a solid performance at home. Both teams struggled to get things going in the first quarter, so it went scoreless. The first score of the game got London, Jacoby Batista rushed for the TD. After two unsuccessful drives, the Bucs were able to score with 1:07 left on the clock to tie the game just before half. But the Myrtle Beach defense still had something in petto in the first half. London couldn’t get going anything in the following drive, and Namen Jr was able to force a fumble on a rush by King and recovered it on the 16-yard line of London with 11 seconds left to play. Myrtle Beach decided to score a field goal immediately, and went to half with a 10-7 lead after the successful kicking attempt. The turnover shortly before halftime seemed to have set the Royals on fire. They finished their first drive with a touchdown by King. In the next drive, Ramos was intercepted by Boyd on their own 32 yard line. The Royals couldn’t get anything going and tried to convert on fourth down, which they failed. The Bucs got back the ball, but London immediately picked off Ramos a second time. This time it was Greedy Sly with the pick. London used their second chance to score a touchdown, and they set their lead to 21-10. On the next drives, no team could get into scoring range. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Ramos was picked off by Boyd a second time, as Myrtle Beach already entered the red zone. This was the finishing point of the game, as Myrtle Beach only got one more chance to score - which they did - and the Royals controlled the clock to end the game and come out as winner.
Portland @ Kansas City 9-10:
The Pythons visited the Coyotes after a 2 game winning streak. The Coyotes on the other side, finished both 2 game stretches with a 1-1 record so far. It was a very close and balanced matchup between the two teams, with slight advantages for Kansas City. And they also came out with the win in the end. In the first half it was only the Pythons scoring, they did so with 3 field goals to go into halftime with a 9-0 lead. After halftime, the Pythons didn’t score anymore and it was Kansas City’s turn. At first they scored a field goal, and in the fourth quarter they managed to score the only touchdown of the game, which got them a 10-9 lead and victory. The player of the game is Reginald Covington III, passing for 186 yards, a touchdown and finishing the game with a passer rating of 102.4.
Dallas @ Tijuana 9-30:
Tijuana on a winning streak at home is a tough matchup for anyone. The Birddogs visited them in week 5 to try to steal the win from them, but didn’t really have a chance in doing so. Tijuana utilized their amazing offense very well again. They used a run-heavy approach, but also were successful through the air when needed. Player of the game is RB Running Back, who finished with 111 yards and 2 scores.
Norfolk @ Minnesota 0-10:
Norfolk visited the Grey Ducks in week 5, and didn’t have much more business then. They stayed scoreless the whole game while Minnesota accomplished to score twice, in a 10-0 win. In a game dominated by both defenses, Water Chestnut III stood out with 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 2 sacks. The whole defense managed to sack the opposing QB 7 times this game, which led to shutting them out.
DSFL Week 6
Kansas City @ Tijuana 17-20:
The Kansas City Coyotes ended every two game stretch so far 1-1. In the 3rd opportunity, they ended up again finishing with a 1-1 record. On the other side, Tijuana increased their winning streak to 4 games, leading their division after week 6. This game was as close as it can get, and we were presented a real thriller with the better end for the home team. Kansas City started with a 7-0 lead after a TD pass from Covington to Cooper. Soon after, Gilbert equalized with a rushing TD. In the second quarter, Kansas City was able to increase their lead to 17-7 after a Nova TD and a field goal. In the second quarter, Tijuana answered with two field goals and were able to hold the Coyotes scoreless. With 1:39 on the clock, Jackson Kingston caught the TD pass from Jim Waters, to get the 20-17 lead. Jackson Kingston is the player of the game in this one, catching some clutch passes and finishing with 53 yards and a touchdown.
Norfolk @ Portland 21-20:
This two teams face each other after they got two devastating losses in the week before. On the one side there is Norfolk, who were shut out by Minnesota, on the other side there’s Portland, who lost by just one point against the Coyotes. And the Pythons suffer another rough loss, losing again by just 1 point. Both teams didn’t give many chances for the other to score in the first half, close before the end of the half Norfolk scored and got a 7-3 lead to go into halftime. The second half is where the game went wrong for Portland. They started off well, scoring a TD to get back the lead. But then the turnovers started. At first they fumbled inside the redzone and gave away a scoring opportunity and in the next drive O’Donnell was intercepted by Banks, who scored a 59 yard pick 6. Portland didn’t give up after those hard hits, and got back into the game with TD and a field goal. Another touchdown by Norfolk, set up after an excellent 84- yard kickoff return by Brosely, set the score to 21-10 for Norfolk. With 2 minutes on the clock, Portland got the ball once again and wanted to move down the field, but at midfield, O’Donnell was intercepted by Brosely, which sealed the game for Norfolk. Banks and Brosely were the deciding factors for the Seawolves to turn the game into their favors.
Minnesota @ Myrtle Beach 16-10:
To make this 2 game stretch a losing one for Myrtle Beach, the Grey Ducks came to town and took the win home to Minnesota. Their new trade acquisition, RB Rice Ahoc-Machine, had an outstanding performance and finished the game with 87 yards, 5.1 on average and a TD. It wasn’t just a casual TD, it was the deciding TD in overtime to get the win.
Both teams didn’t allow much, both got a TD and a field goal. Myrtle Beach scored their FG with only 2:15 left on the clock, which brought them to overtime, where they finally lost though.
London @ Dallas 18-21:
This is the matchup of the sophomore seasons between last years expansion teams. The Royals had a head start into the season, coming into the game at 4-1, whereas the Birddogs are heading into the game with a losing record (2-3). Dallas started better into the game by scoring a touchdown and managed to never give that lead out of hand thereafter. They continued to play on a similar level, but everytime London came into one scoring range, Dallas answered right away to extend their lead again. Mike Lee recorded two TDs, and the newly acquired RB Arik Eller also rushed for a score. In the end, the better start into the game led to the win.
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