1. The Season 36 Ultimus and Ultimini have officially come to an end. Congratulations to the the Tijuana Luchadores and Honolulu Hahalua for each winning their respective championships. How did each of the finalists in either the Ultimus or Ultimini arrive at the playoffs? Were there any teams that surprised or disappointed during the playoffs? Did the outcome of either championship game surprise you at all?
In the DSFL, starting on the north side of the bracket, this one pains me to write about as my very own London Royals got walloped by the Portland Pythons. Putting up a measly 6 points, the Royals were not able to handle the offensive onslaught from the Pythons who scored 37 of their own points. This game punched Portland’s ticket to the Ultimini. Following this, we watched a close game in the South bracket between Bondi Beach and Tijuana that the Luchadores ended up coming out on top of. Winning by 3 points, Tijuana was slated to match up with Portland for the DSFL championship. This game was another one sided affair, much like the first round of the North playoffs. Tijuana overcame their Ultimini curse and won 27-3 off the back of a stellar defensive performance. The Pythons had just put up a playoff high of 37 points in the previous game and their offense was humming at an unbelievable pace. Tijuana put a stop to this and showed off some dominance of their own in this 24 point victory.
In the ISFL, Honolulu and Chicago earned byes in the first round of the ASFC and NSFC playoffs respectively. First up in the ASFC was Arizona against San Jose, and the Outlaws made quick work of the Saber Cats, winning this bout 28-13 and moving on to the conference championship. In the NSFC we saw an incredibly close game between Yellowknife and Sarasota, both hoping to make it to the championship obviously and both playing like they belonged there. The Sailfish barely came out on top in this game winning by only 3 points in this 25-22 victory. This may have come as a surprise to many viewers given the record disparity of the 2 teams, but make no mistake the Sailfish were here to play. In the following round they faced off against Chicago and did not allow a single offensive score by the Butchers. Sarasota took this game 22-2 in a strange (and possibly scorigami?) game that saw a safety, something rarely seen in the ISFL. Chicago’s offense could do nothing against the stalwart Sarasota defense all night and that was obvious to anyone who was watching. On the ASFC side of the bracket, the Honolulu offense took the field for the first time this post season and did not disappoint. The Hahalua dropped 38 points and relied on their defense to hold the Outlaws to less than that, which they surely delivered on. Honolulu took this game 38-21 and moved on to face Sarasota in the coveted Ultimus, crowning the best team in the ISFL. Once again the Hahalua offense came to play putting up a whopping 31 points in the championship game, but that was almost not enough. Sarasota tried their best but just couldn’t quite keep up with the track squad across from them, falling by only 3 points and losing in this 31-28 game. For the ultimus, I would say that the offensive player of the game was Dexter Zaylren, their quarterback. He had a shaky night accuracy wise, but when he hit he sure hit. 24 completions on 40 attempts for 261 yards and an insane 4 touchdowns to put his team over the top. These touchdowns were caught by Sal Ami (1), Leek Mai-Heinous (1), and Buffalo Hunter (2). The defensive player of the game would have to be either Lip Gallagher or Xavier Walls. Gallagher had 7 tackles with 2 pass break ups and a clutch 2 interceptions to stop the Sailfish drives before they could score. Walls had no turnovers, but made up for it with 8 tackles, a tackle for a loss, a sack, and 2 pass break ups of his own. Be on the lookout for the Hahalua in Season 37 as they are surely looking to 3-peat and add another trophy to their collection!
Wc: 649
In the DSFL, starting on the north side of the bracket, this one pains me to write about as my very own London Royals got walloped by the Portland Pythons. Putting up a measly 6 points, the Royals were not able to handle the offensive onslaught from the Pythons who scored 37 of their own points. This game punched Portland’s ticket to the Ultimini. Following this, we watched a close game in the South bracket between Bondi Beach and Tijuana that the Luchadores ended up coming out on top of. Winning by 3 points, Tijuana was slated to match up with Portland for the DSFL championship. This game was another one sided affair, much like the first round of the North playoffs. Tijuana overcame their Ultimini curse and won 27-3 off the back of a stellar defensive performance. The Pythons had just put up a playoff high of 37 points in the previous game and their offense was humming at an unbelievable pace. Tijuana put a stop to this and showed off some dominance of their own in this 24 point victory.
In the ISFL, Honolulu and Chicago earned byes in the first round of the ASFC and NSFC playoffs respectively. First up in the ASFC was Arizona against San Jose, and the Outlaws made quick work of the Saber Cats, winning this bout 28-13 and moving on to the conference championship. In the NSFC we saw an incredibly close game between Yellowknife and Sarasota, both hoping to make it to the championship obviously and both playing like they belonged there. The Sailfish barely came out on top in this game winning by only 3 points in this 25-22 victory. This may have come as a surprise to many viewers given the record disparity of the 2 teams, but make no mistake the Sailfish were here to play. In the following round they faced off against Chicago and did not allow a single offensive score by the Butchers. Sarasota took this game 22-2 in a strange (and possibly scorigami?) game that saw a safety, something rarely seen in the ISFL. Chicago’s offense could do nothing against the stalwart Sarasota defense all night and that was obvious to anyone who was watching. On the ASFC side of the bracket, the Honolulu offense took the field for the first time this post season and did not disappoint. The Hahalua dropped 38 points and relied on their defense to hold the Outlaws to less than that, which they surely delivered on. Honolulu took this game 38-21 and moved on to face Sarasota in the coveted Ultimus, crowning the best team in the ISFL. Once again the Hahalua offense came to play putting up a whopping 31 points in the championship game, but that was almost not enough. Sarasota tried their best but just couldn’t quite keep up with the track squad across from them, falling by only 3 points and losing in this 31-28 game. For the ultimus, I would say that the offensive player of the game was Dexter Zaylren, their quarterback. He had a shaky night accuracy wise, but when he hit he sure hit. 24 completions on 40 attempts for 261 yards and an insane 4 touchdowns to put his team over the top. These touchdowns were caught by Sal Ami (1), Leek Mai-Heinous (1), and Buffalo Hunter (2). The defensive player of the game would have to be either Lip Gallagher or Xavier Walls. Gallagher had 7 tackles with 2 pass break ups and a clutch 2 interceptions to stop the Sailfish drives before they could score. Walls had no turnovers, but made up for it with 8 tackles, a tackle for a loss, a sack, and 2 pass break ups of his own. Be on the lookout for the Hahalua in Season 37 as they are surely looking to 3-peat and add another trophy to their collection!
Wc: 649