09-29-2020, 03:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-01-2020, 01:53 AM by Asked Madden.)
Well another crazy season of the Developmental Simulation Football League is in the books! A season that was filled with twists and turns and saw the London Royals capture the Ultimini in the end. There were a lot of impact players this season and in my opinion you can list those players and not mention the likes of Brach Thomaslacher. Coming off a 100 Tackle, 6 sack campaign for the Kansas City Coyotes, in which they lost in the Ultimini to the Norfolk Seawolves, there were high expectations for Brach Thomaslacher, who looked to lead the Kansas City Linebacker core. The season opened up at home against the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers where the Coyotes fell behind early 13-0. They quickly fought back with a 25 yard touchdown pass to from quarterback Reginald Covington III to Joshua Campbell in the closing stages of the first quarter. The defense help Myrtle Beach to a punt at the beginning of the 2nd and the offense was then able to drive down the field and grab another 3 points off of a Juke Thomason field goal. With the score at 13-10 the Coyote defense tried its best to stop the driving Buccaneer offense but, was unable to keep them out of the endzone and went down 20-10 at half-time. The Buccaneers then proceeded to get the ball back in the third quarter and effectively put the game away on 13 yard touchdown pass from Jackie Daytona in the 3rd to put the Buccaneers up 27-10. The Coyotes were able to grab one last score in the 4th to bring it back to 27-17 but, it was not enough. It was a disappointing start to the season not only for the team but also for Brach who was not very impactful and only added 5 tackles to the stat sheet. Moving onto Week 2 the Coyotes had yet another tough test against the Dallas Birddogs on the road, and just like last game they fell behind early with Dallas adding both a field goal and an impressive 71 yard interception return for a touchdown by Byron Blackwell. The Coyotes quickly answered back in the second to bring the score to 10-7 but, were unable to make the crucial stop in the 3rd as the Birddogs drove down the field and punched it in their lead RB Zoe Watts. Again the Coyotes drove down the field and answered to bring the score back to 17-13 and again the defense faltered in the 4th as Zoe Watts put the game away with her 2nd touchdown of the day. The final score was a disappointing 24-21 loss for Kansas City, but with that loss came a much better performance for Brach Thomaslacher who had a game high 11 tackles. The Coyotes needed a bounce back win at home to turn their 0-2 season around and the opportunity came against a strong Tijuana Luchadores team in week 3. With their backs against the wall the Coyotes quickly went down 7-0 early on but, were able to tie is up on yet another touchdown reception from Joshua Campbell who was now at 3 on the season in as many games. However, even though the team was tied 7-7 going into the 2nd quarter the Luchadores quickly put up 2 scores or their own, one of which was an 88 yard run by running back Bronco Mills as their was no time left on the clock. The Coyotes started with the ball in the second half and quickly drove down the field to bring the score to 21-14. After an impressive stop by the Kansas City defense the special teams unit came through with an 88 yard punt return by Joshua Campbell to tie the game back up and after another quick stop by the Coyote defense the team took the lead on Joshua Campbell's 3rd touchdown of the day. The lead was short lived and Tijuana quickly tied the game up at 28 going into the 4th and then quickly retook the lead off of touchdown pass from Mike Boss Jr. With little time remaining in the game the Coyotes drove the ball down the field and running back Sergio Kitchens punched the tying score in with 3:12 remaining in the 4th, helping to send the game to overtime where he again punched it in to clinch the game for Kansas City. Coming off of an 11 tackle game in Week 2 the expectation were a little higher for Brach, but he once again fell short and amassed his 2nd game of the season with only 5 tackles, putting him at 21 for the season. Sitting at a record of 1-2 the Coyotes were set to face Portland Pythons in week 4 in order to bring their record back to .500. The Kansas City defense was also looking to bounce back after having allowed a staggering 35 points against Tijuana the week before. However, the bounce back did not happen in this game as the Portland Offense grabbed an early lead and never looked back. Quarterback Sam Howitzer through 2 touchdown passes and the ground game proved to be too much for the Kansas City defense as they put up a combined 155 yards on the ground and beat Kansas City at home 38-24 and pushed their record to 1-3. One bright spot of this game was from Thomaslacher who managed to put up another 11 tackle performance and added his first tackle for loss in the game. This brought Brach up to 32 tackles and 1 tackle for loss on the season. Going into Week 5 there were not high expectations for the 1-3 Coyotes as they travelled to play the undefeated Norfolk Seawolves. The game turned out to be a defense battle as the first score of the game came off of a field goal by Melvin Murder-Moose at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Coyotes answered back with a field goal of their own before, ultimately falling short as the Seawolves put the game away with a 71 yard punt return for touchdown with only 1:58 seconds left to go in the 4th quarter. It was a heartbreaking loss for the Kansas City Coyotes and it pushed their record to 1-4 on the season. Brach had a solid game as he led Kansas City in tackles with 7 and added 2 more tackles for loss to his season tally. With the season looking bleak the Coyotes knew that they had to buckle down or their hopes for a return to the Ultimini were going to fall short. Traveling on the road to Minnesota in Week 6 there was an opportunity to get back to winning ways and this time the Coyotes did not miss the chance. Although they fell behind early in the first half and only put up 7 points the offense came alive in the second half and put up 24 points with tight end Rigby Raccoon grabbing 2 TD passes in the 4th quarter to finalize a solid 31-21 away victory for the Coyotes. Although it was a solid game for the team Brach Thomaslacher conitnued his trend of alternating good and bad games as he on added 4 total tackles on the day. However, one bright spot in his performance was a forced fumble and his first pass defense on the year. With the coyotes now sitting at 2-4 they knew it was important to grab another win in Week 7 against the division favorite London Royals. The Royals came into Kansas City with a 3-3 record and Kansas City knew they had to take advantage of the opportunity to jump in front of them in the standings. The game started with a London field goal followed by a 1 yard Terry Yaki rushing touchdown to but Kansas City down 10-0 at the start of the 2nd. However, Kansas City fought back and scored 16 straight points to retake the lead 16-13 going into halftime. The Royals then put together 10 unanswered points to take a 23-16 lead with 10 minutes left to go in the 4th. Quarterback Reginald Covington III led the offense down the field and the Coyotes tied it up on a 2 yard touchdown run by the running back Kevin Fakon. The defense stopped London in the following possession and gave the opportunity for Kansas City to take the lead late in the 4th quarter and that is exactly what they did. With 4:27 seconds left in the game kicker Juke Thomason put the game away from 36 yards out and the Coyotes found themselves at 3-4 at the halfway point in the season. Brach was able to add 6 more tackles to his tally to put him at 49 tackles at the halfway point of the season. As Week 7 ended and Brach found himself feeling the need to find a opportunity elsewhere, where he could challenge himself a little bit more and find a lockeroom where he felt a little more comfortable. After sitting down with the General Managers of the Coyotes it was decided that Brach would go on the trading block. A couple of teams came calling for Brach but, one stood out to him more than any other and that was the Portland Pythons, the General Manager immediately showed Brach the support and culture that he was looking for and before kickoff in week 8 Brach was wearing a Portland Python jersey. The Pythons were sitting at a 3-4 record and were looking to make a push for the playoffs with the new addition of Brach Thomaslacher to their defensive ranks. However, they had a tough stretch of games to finish the season out and none was tougher than their Week 8 matchup against the Norfolk Seawolves who were heavy favorites at home against the Pythons. That did not scare this new Portland Python defense as the team banded together and made a commanding statement with a 21-9 away victory at Norfolk. Sam Howitzer and Korbin Brown proved to be too much for the Norfolk defense and the newly formed Python Defense shut down the high powered offense of the Seawolves and did not allow for a single Touchdown. Brach was looking to make an impact in his first game as a Python and he did with a game high and team leading 9 tackles on the day to help push the Pythons back to .500 and a record of 4-4. Week 9 did not bring any less of a challenge to the Pythons, as divisional favorite London Royals were coming to Portland. Riding the momentum from the Week 8 upset the Pythons looked to do it again in Week 9 as they picked up right where they left off in Week 8. Early on in the first quarter quarterback Sam Howizter continued to show his form with an opening drive touchdown throw to the Tight End Dave Batista to give Portland the early lead. The Python defense contiunued to hold out as the teams traded field goals in the 2nd. London was finally able to break through the Python defense with 5:49 seconds to go in the 3rd quarter and tie the game up off of a 12 yard pass from Charlemagne Cotez to receiver Gunner Thorbjornsson. The teams entered a defensive stalemate but, with 2:39 seconds left to go in the game quarterback Sam Howitzer found Tight End Nicker Marksman for an 11 yard score and a 17-10 Python lead. With 2:30 seconds left to go in the game London was driving down the field and with less than 20 seconds left on the Python's 20 yard line newly acquired Brach Thomaslacher forced a game winning fumble and recovery that secured the 2nd upset in as many games for Brach. Even though Brach has had a short career, this game will stand out to him for years to come ending with 11 tackles and 2 forced fumbles that were both recovered by the Pythons. The team was firing on all cylinders as they improved to 5-4 on the season. Week 10 brought the Pythons to Minnesota in what was thought to be a very winnable away game. With the team stil riding the energy of the past 2 victories they looked to do the same against the Grey Ducks. The Grey Ducks jumped out to an early lead off of a 38 yard Bill Brasky field goal but, the Pythons quickly responded with a Darrewn Pama touchdown run from 3 yards out. Minnesota was then able to punch it through on a touchdown pass from rookie quarterback Matt Peterson to give the Grey Ducks a 10-7 lead. However, Portland's defense quickly came through and rookie linebacker Donald McBobby grabbed a safety to cut the lead to 10-9 before Portland took a 12-10 lead going into halftime. The teams continued to trade field goals as neither offense could really get things moving but, unfortunately for the Pythons the Grey Ducks were able to grab one more field goal than them and pull off a heart breaking 16-15 win over the Pythons. This was a game that definitely rattled the locker room of Portland and Brach Thomaslacher as he had only 5 tackles in the game. Going into Week 11 in crucial matchup against the Kansas City Coyotes you could tell the Pythons had not shaken the heart breaking loss from the week before and that really showed in their home performance against Kansas City. The Coyotes jumped out to a commanding 27-9 lead as the offense could not even score a touchdown for the Pythons. The team was reeling and the Playoffs seemed to be becoming even less of a possibility as they headed into Week 12 against Myrtle Beach. This was another game that the Portland Pythons were favored in but, again they could not deliver. For the second game in a row Thomaslacher added 7 tackles but, the team lost in another heartbreaking fashion as Jackie Daytona led the Buccaneers down the field to score and take a 21-16 lead with only 40 seconds left in the game. The Portland Pythons were now on the outside looking in when it came to the playoffs as they were sitting on a record of 5-7 and about to play the red hot Tijuana Luchadores. With the season hanging in the balance it finally appeared that the Pythons shook off the upset that had been hampering them since Minnesota and put in their best team performance of the year! Quarterback Sam Howitzer was on target with every through as threw for 4 touchdown passes and the Portland Defense seemed to be back as Brach Thomaslacher led them with 11 tackles and his 4th forced fumble of the year! The game was a blowout as Portland won easily 34-10 and put themselves back in the driver seat when it came to the playoffs. Going into the last game of the season, the Pythons were not in a must win scenario to lock up their spot in the playoffs but, a win would secure it. Heading to Dallas is never an easy task and after such a successful game against Tijuana it was going to be hard to replicate the same performance. The Python offense looked great as the the team put up aa staggering 27 points, but the defense had no answer for running back Zoe Watts as Dallas upset the Pythons 33-27 and put their playoff hopes out of their hands. Luckily, with the London Royals beating the Coyotes in the final game of the season the Pythons punched their ticket to the playoffs! The trip to the playoffs was their frist time since Season 21 and although they lost handily to the Royals in the opening round it was still a very impressive season for the organization! Brach finished the season with 103 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 4 forced fumbles, 2 sacks and 5 pass defenses. All in all it was another very successful year for the young Brach Thomaslacher!