04-24-2018, 11:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-05-2018, 11:18 PM by Supersquare04.)
The Pythons, after a late regular season surge in season six following the signing of a few key players, including my good friend Mason Brown and myself, in the middle of the season, the Portland Pythons came in to the playoffs hot, with our new look defense allowing only forty five points in our final six games, and we had gone 4-1 in that span.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out that way, as we were ousted in the first round of the playoffs. Despite this, expectations were high for this season, with McCoy, Grau, Brown, and myself all returning, the Portland Pythons, for once, were being looked at as a top contender for the DSFL's Ultimini Championship. Surging out to a 5-0 start helped us out there, bringing down our rival Kansas City in a 30-11 game that saw Mason Brown rack up nine tackles while I tallied three, with one for a loss to go along with my first career sack. Norfolk gave us a run in week two, a thirteen to seven win for us, but after that, we breezed through the next couple of games.
Then came our second matchup against the rival Coyotes.
After an initial slow start on our end, we ended up with a two score deficit early on, and it looked like KC was going to establish itself as a contender by wiping the floor with us, and our talented quarterback, McCoy, was looking absolutely terrible. Fortunately, a second-half resurgence was in store, and we took back the lead late on the back of that same quarterback, who turned the game around late for us. It was a close, emotional, comeback victory over a rival, and being able to take that one from them felt good.
We were not able to do so in week six, our second matchup against the Norfolk Seawolves.
Coming in with the DSFL's best run, and arguably overall, defense, as well as the second best passing attack, it seemed like this would be just another win to add to our five win, zero loss tally on the year. Unfortunately, it was not quite that simple.
We followed a trend that we had set the week before and started slow. That was the death of us against Norfolk, who beat us convincingly to end our hopes of a perfect season. With all of the buildup not only going into the year, but throughout the beginning of our season, it was a major letdown for this football team.
Don't get me wrong, we are sitting at 5-1, we're the best team in the DSFL, both by record and by the strength of our roster, but it still sucked to drop a game to a team that had one win up until that point.
With any luck, however, that will not affect us going foreward, besides, that is, to warn us that we are not, in fact, infallible. We have San Antonio, a team that gave us a run for our money in the preseason, coming up next week. And while they do sit at 2-4, we just lost to at team that was 1-4, and is now 2-4, in the Seawolves, so there is no room for us to look past them. Barring any upset performances, however, it appears that the only team currently holding a winning record for the remainder of our schedule would be the Tijuana Luchadores, who are a 4-2 squad at the moment. If we finish strong, we have a legitimate chance to go 13-1 heading into the tournaments with a clear spot as the favorite to win it, but I have a feeling that we will slip up somewhere down the line, and 12-2 seems like a more accurate, if still lofty, prediction.
As for the playoffs, I think that we have the best defense in the DSFL, and we're only continuing to get better, with that final statement going for both sides of the ball. My feeling is that we are clear favorites to win the Ultimini, and that we are the best team in the DSFL.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out that way, as we were ousted in the first round of the playoffs. Despite this, expectations were high for this season, with McCoy, Grau, Brown, and myself all returning, the Portland Pythons, for once, were being looked at as a top contender for the DSFL's Ultimini Championship. Surging out to a 5-0 start helped us out there, bringing down our rival Kansas City in a 30-11 game that saw Mason Brown rack up nine tackles while I tallied three, with one for a loss to go along with my first career sack. Norfolk gave us a run in week two, a thirteen to seven win for us, but after that, we breezed through the next couple of games.
Then came our second matchup against the rival Coyotes.
After an initial slow start on our end, we ended up with a two score deficit early on, and it looked like KC was going to establish itself as a contender by wiping the floor with us, and our talented quarterback, McCoy, was looking absolutely terrible. Fortunately, a second-half resurgence was in store, and we took back the lead late on the back of that same quarterback, who turned the game around late for us. It was a close, emotional, comeback victory over a rival, and being able to take that one from them felt good.
We were not able to do so in week six, our second matchup against the Norfolk Seawolves.
Coming in with the DSFL's best run, and arguably overall, defense, as well as the second best passing attack, it seemed like this would be just another win to add to our five win, zero loss tally on the year. Unfortunately, it was not quite that simple.
We followed a trend that we had set the week before and started slow. That was the death of us against Norfolk, who beat us convincingly to end our hopes of a perfect season. With all of the buildup not only going into the year, but throughout the beginning of our season, it was a major letdown for this football team.
Don't get me wrong, we are sitting at 5-1, we're the best team in the DSFL, both by record and by the strength of our roster, but it still sucked to drop a game to a team that had one win up until that point.
With any luck, however, that will not affect us going foreward, besides, that is, to warn us that we are not, in fact, infallible. We have San Antonio, a team that gave us a run for our money in the preseason, coming up next week. And while they do sit at 2-4, we just lost to at team that was 1-4, and is now 2-4, in the Seawolves, so there is no room for us to look past them. Barring any upset performances, however, it appears that the only team currently holding a winning record for the remainder of our schedule would be the Tijuana Luchadores, who are a 4-2 squad at the moment. If we finish strong, we have a legitimate chance to go 13-1 heading into the tournaments with a clear spot as the favorite to win it, but I have a feeling that we will slip up somewhere down the line, and 12-2 seems like a more accurate, if still lofty, prediction.
As for the playoffs, I think that we have the best defense in the DSFL, and we're only continuing to get better, with that final statement going for both sides of the ball. My feeling is that we are clear favorites to win the Ultimini, and that we are the best team in the DSFL.
[div align=center][SELECT style="background-color:black; color:cyan; font-family:Arial; font-size: 12px; width: 400px; "][br][OPTION]Zach Skinner || DE #94||Yellowknife Wraiths|| peak 544 TPE
[OPTION]Info: 6'5", 300 lb, born in Memphis, Tennessee
[OPTION]DSFL: Portland Pythons, Waivers, S6-S7
[OPTION]NSFL: Yellowknife Wraiths, 2nd Round Selection, S8-present
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]Carrer Stats: 332 Tackles | 38 TFL | 50 Sacks |
[OPTION]S6, POR: 7 Tackles | 2 TFL | 0 sacks | Playoffs: 6 Tackles | 3 TFL | 1 Sack
[OPTION]S7, POR: 31 Tackles | 12 TFL | 4 Sacks | Playoffs: 3 Tackles | 2 Sacks
[OPTION]S8, YKW: 27 Tackles | 2 TFL | 4 Sacks | Playoffs: 3 Tackles
[OPTION]S9, YKW: 27 Tackles | 7 TFL | 5 Sacks | 1 FF/1 FR
[OPTION]S10, YKW: 27 Tackles| 10 TFL | 5 Sacks
[OPTION]S11, YKW: 25 tackles| 6 TFL | 4 Sacks
[OPTION]S12, YKW: 42 tackles | 0 TFL | 6 Sacks | 1 FF
[OPTION]S13, YKW: 46 tackles | 0 TFL | 11 Sacks | 0 FF
[OPTION]S14, YKW: 48 tackles | 0 TFL | 7 Sacks | 0 FF
[OPTION]S15, YKW: 51 tackles | 0 TFL | 7 Sacks | 0 FF
[OPTION]S15, YKW: 24 tackles | 4 TFL | 0 Sacks | 0 FF
[OPTION]S16, YKW: 22 tackles | 9 TFL | 1 Sack | 1 FF
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]Trophy Case:
[OPTION] S7 Ultimini Champion, S8 Ultimus Champion, S13 Pro Bowl, S13 Tied for 2nd in sacks lead