Tier 1, Option 1:
I’m very thankful that I finally get to do one of these Offseason Tasks where I get to talk about my team over the last 14 seasons. It has been a hard fought and well earned championship for the Arizona Outlaws. The year started out tough, like the early days of mine and Crunk’s tenure. The team would always lose the first game of the season and be in an immediate hole. It was a tough match-up against the reigning champs on the road and AZ battled hard, but ultimately fell short. We started getting into a groove and managed to rattle off 3 of 4 wins to be over .500 5 weeks in. However, things fell off with a brutal 3 game losing streak against Sarasota, Austin, and Chicago. Halfway through the season and Arizona was trending towards missing out on the playoffs with a 3-5 record. Some in the league were starting to get their hopes up that this was finally the end of Arizona’s winning ways. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
Despite the losing record, attitudes remained positive and the mantra “run the table” started popping up. Well, that’s exactly what they did. One game at a time, Arizona continued to win. We started the winning streak off with an emphatic thomping of Colorado on the road 41-10 and followed it up with a nearly as dominate 31-9 victory against the Otters. A 14 point revenge win over Honolulu was game three and two more demolishings to Baltimore and San Jose brought about victories 4 and 5 in a row. They were still a few games out from the #1 seed, but Arizona stayed on course and only worried about themselves. New York, Austin, and NOLA all battled Arizona to one score games, but couldn’t get in the W column. Arizona finished the season with 7 straight wins and clinched the all important first round bye.
The playoffs started with an inevitable Honolulu win in the wildcard to force a clash of juggernauts. Honolulu got off to an early 7-0 lead, but it quickly turned into another Arizona dominate performance that the team was accustomed to seeing this season. A couple of quick Jay Cue TD’s put Arizona up 21-10 and his third one of the game made it a 31-12 game with 2:24 left in the game. Honolulu got a late garbage time touchdown that made the scoreline more flattering than it actually was. Arizona exorcised their playoffs demons with a great performance and went into the Ultimus with the momentum of 8 straight wins.
Their Ultimus opponent, Sarasota were no slouches. They were regular season champs and secured home field advantage. In a rematch to the S30 Ultimus, it was bound to be a good one as for the first time in what seems like forever, it was a matchup of both #1 seeds. Arizona got on the board late in the 1st quarter with a deep Crash TD from Wendell Sailor. It was a pretty quiet in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and Sarasota snagged a TD back making it a 14-11 Arizona lead to start the 4th. Time was ticking off the clock and no much offense was clicking. Every snap become more and more nerve wrecking. Then with just under 6 minutes left, breakout star WR Captain Billy Stinkwater broke free from press coverage and made it a 21-11 game. The very next play, Toucan Sam forced a fumble and AZ converted it to a FG. 3 plays later, Carter Knight threw a pick six to the best CB in the game as Mark Goodhead sealed the Ultimus for Arizona.
It was party time in the locker room as the Arizona Outlaws finally secured their Ultimus trophy. Many of the players wound up winning individual awards as this team was one of the best we’ve ever seen.
I’m very thankful that I finally get to do one of these Offseason Tasks where I get to talk about my team over the last 14 seasons. It has been a hard fought and well earned championship for the Arizona Outlaws. The year started out tough, like the early days of mine and Crunk’s tenure. The team would always lose the first game of the season and be in an immediate hole. It was a tough match-up against the reigning champs on the road and AZ battled hard, but ultimately fell short. We started getting into a groove and managed to rattle off 3 of 4 wins to be over .500 5 weeks in. However, things fell off with a brutal 3 game losing streak against Sarasota, Austin, and Chicago. Halfway through the season and Arizona was trending towards missing out on the playoffs with a 3-5 record. Some in the league were starting to get their hopes up that this was finally the end of Arizona’s winning ways. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
Despite the losing record, attitudes remained positive and the mantra “run the table” started popping up. Well, that’s exactly what they did. One game at a time, Arizona continued to win. We started the winning streak off with an emphatic thomping of Colorado on the road 41-10 and followed it up with a nearly as dominate 31-9 victory against the Otters. A 14 point revenge win over Honolulu was game three and two more demolishings to Baltimore and San Jose brought about victories 4 and 5 in a row. They were still a few games out from the #1 seed, but Arizona stayed on course and only worried about themselves. New York, Austin, and NOLA all battled Arizona to one score games, but couldn’t get in the W column. Arizona finished the season with 7 straight wins and clinched the all important first round bye.
The playoffs started with an inevitable Honolulu win in the wildcard to force a clash of juggernauts. Honolulu got off to an early 7-0 lead, but it quickly turned into another Arizona dominate performance that the team was accustomed to seeing this season. A couple of quick Jay Cue TD’s put Arizona up 21-10 and his third one of the game made it a 31-12 game with 2:24 left in the game. Honolulu got a late garbage time touchdown that made the scoreline more flattering than it actually was. Arizona exorcised their playoffs demons with a great performance and went into the Ultimus with the momentum of 8 straight wins.
Their Ultimus opponent, Sarasota were no slouches. They were regular season champs and secured home field advantage. In a rematch to the S30 Ultimus, it was bound to be a good one as for the first time in what seems like forever, it was a matchup of both #1 seeds. Arizona got on the board late in the 1st quarter with a deep Crash TD from Wendell Sailor. It was a pretty quiet in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and Sarasota snagged a TD back making it a 14-11 Arizona lead to start the 4th. Time was ticking off the clock and no much offense was clicking. Every snap become more and more nerve wrecking. Then with just under 6 minutes left, breakout star WR Captain Billy Stinkwater broke free from press coverage and made it a 21-11 game. The very next play, Toucan Sam forced a fumble and AZ converted it to a FG. 3 plays later, Carter Knight threw a pick six to the best CB in the game as Mark Goodhead sealed the Ultimus for Arizona.
It was party time in the locker room as the Arizona Outlaws finally secured their Ultimus trophy. Many of the players wound up winning individual awards as this team was one of the best we’ve ever seen.