[div align=\\\"center\\\"]Tier 1 - Option 2[/div]
Well, I haven't been here long, so there's only one playoff cycle I can accurately recount which is S22. During S22, Yellowknife and Orange County dominated their respective conferences during the regular season, seemingly on a crash course in the Ultimus. Orange County and Yellowknife combined for 5 regular season losses as both teams clinched the #1 seeds in their respective conferences. On the other side of S22, we saw two new expansion teams emerge, Honolulu in the AFSC and Sarasota in the NFSC. Honolulu finished at the bottom of the ASFC as expected, but the Sailfish decided to buck the trend and make a push to the playoffs.
While taking advantage of the rebuilding Chicago and Baltimore squads for four wins, Sarasota also split their series with Philadelphia and surprisingly picked up a week 11 home win against Colorado to finish tied with Philly at 6-7 and finish 3rd. Sarasota, after a midseason QB change, still managed to grind out 6 wins with the league's rd best defense, all within their own conference. In that same week 11, Philly was also a part of an upset as they lost a critical home game to eventual 3 win Hawks which pitted them in a less favorable matchup against the Wraiths and not the Yeti. Speaking of the Yeti, Colorado cruised to a second place conference finish, led by the stingiest pass defense. The Yeti had one awful matchup in the regular season: against Orange County.
Orange County, buoyed by another stellar season from Armstrong, had their annual misfires against San Jose but also suffered a rare home defeat to Austin. At the end of week 6, Orange County was 5-1 and 2 weeks into a 6 game win streak while Austin was 1-4-1, at the bottom of the conference, before ripping off 7 straight wins to take 2nd place over the equally 8-5 New Orleans and San Jose. Austin swept New Orleans and San Jose swept Orange County so we should've expected Austin and San Jose to meet in the conference finals?
San Jose, dominant throughout the game, led 13-6 going into the 4th quarter. Thomas-Fox had 126 yards going into the 4th ---- he finished with 126 yards. Orange County just needed to string one drive together and they finally did in the 4th with Trunks scoring the go ahead score with 1:51 to go. Austin and New Orleans went back and forth and started their 4th quarter tied at 24, but the Copperheads locked in, with 6 PD's in the game, to help stifle New Orleans in the 4th and escape with a 10 point win.
The Sailfish and Liberty were inexperienced and it showed as they were both blown out in their respective playoff games, thus setting up the big matchup between the Yeti and Wraiths. In a tight defensive battle, the Yeti were able to bottle up the Wraiths receivers and prevent Bigsby from his typical excellence. The Wraiths will wonder if they had just not committed a huge penalty on the first play of the drive that led to them missing a 54 yard field goal before halftime.
On the other side, Orange County was set to prove their would be no upsets against them as Armstrong finished the first quarter with 3 TD passes that went for 108 yards. Orange County would use that three score buffer to hold the resilient Copperheads off for a 50-38 win, setting up the Yeti in Orange County for the S22 Ultimus.
Orange County managed a 21-3 lead with 7:39 to go in the 3rd quarter and then the game mimicked the Patriots - Falcons superbowl as Colorado charged back to take the go ahead score with 10 seconds left to cap the extraordinary comeback and win 25-24. I'm glad I can say my first season, I witnessed one of the greatest title games ever in ISFL/NSFL existence.
Well, I haven't been here long, so there's only one playoff cycle I can accurately recount which is S22. During S22, Yellowknife and Orange County dominated their respective conferences during the regular season, seemingly on a crash course in the Ultimus. Orange County and Yellowknife combined for 5 regular season losses as both teams clinched the #1 seeds in their respective conferences. On the other side of S22, we saw two new expansion teams emerge, Honolulu in the AFSC and Sarasota in the NFSC. Honolulu finished at the bottom of the ASFC as expected, but the Sailfish decided to buck the trend and make a push to the playoffs.
While taking advantage of the rebuilding Chicago and Baltimore squads for four wins, Sarasota also split their series with Philadelphia and surprisingly picked up a week 11 home win against Colorado to finish tied with Philly at 6-7 and finish 3rd. Sarasota, after a midseason QB change, still managed to grind out 6 wins with the league's rd best defense, all within their own conference. In that same week 11, Philly was also a part of an upset as they lost a critical home game to eventual 3 win Hawks which pitted them in a less favorable matchup against the Wraiths and not the Yeti. Speaking of the Yeti, Colorado cruised to a second place conference finish, led by the stingiest pass defense. The Yeti had one awful matchup in the regular season: against Orange County.
Orange County, buoyed by another stellar season from Armstrong, had their annual misfires against San Jose but also suffered a rare home defeat to Austin. At the end of week 6, Orange County was 5-1 and 2 weeks into a 6 game win streak while Austin was 1-4-1, at the bottom of the conference, before ripping off 7 straight wins to take 2nd place over the equally 8-5 New Orleans and San Jose. Austin swept New Orleans and San Jose swept Orange County so we should've expected Austin and San Jose to meet in the conference finals?
San Jose, dominant throughout the game, led 13-6 going into the 4th quarter. Thomas-Fox had 126 yards going into the 4th ---- he finished with 126 yards. Orange County just needed to string one drive together and they finally did in the 4th with Trunks scoring the go ahead score with 1:51 to go. Austin and New Orleans went back and forth and started their 4th quarter tied at 24, but the Copperheads locked in, with 6 PD's in the game, to help stifle New Orleans in the 4th and escape with a 10 point win.
The Sailfish and Liberty were inexperienced and it showed as they were both blown out in their respective playoff games, thus setting up the big matchup between the Yeti and Wraiths. In a tight defensive battle, the Yeti were able to bottle up the Wraiths receivers and prevent Bigsby from his typical excellence. The Wraiths will wonder if they had just not committed a huge penalty on the first play of the drive that led to them missing a 54 yard field goal before halftime.
On the other side, Orange County was set to prove their would be no upsets against them as Armstrong finished the first quarter with 3 TD passes that went for 108 yards. Orange County would use that three score buffer to hold the resilient Copperheads off for a 50-38 win, setting up the Yeti in Orange County for the S22 Ultimus.
Orange County managed a 21-3 lead with 7:39 to go in the 3rd quarter and then the game mimicked the Patriots - Falcons superbowl as Colorado charged back to take the go ahead score with 10 seconds left to cap the extraordinary comeback and win 25-24. I'm glad I can say my first season, I witnessed one of the greatest title games ever in ISFL/NSFL existence.