#12
Sarasota has developed a strong rivalry with the Yellowknife Wraiths during my time in the league, based on our evenly matched teams and the closeness of our games. Since S44 (my rookie year), the two teams have split their in-season series every year, right down the middle: both franchises have 2 home wins, 2 home losses, 2 road wins, and 2 road losses in that time. During S46 the teams also met in the playoffs, and the Wraiths escaped with a 29-26 overtime win (they would go on to another overtime win the following week before losing in the Ultimus). Of those 9 games over 4 seasons, the majority (6) have been decided by 8 points or fewer.
S44 and S45 were the “road warrior” years of this rivalry, as the home team lost all 4 contests. Yellowknife won a narrow 24-21 victory in Week 1 of S44 behind 3 TD passes from Absolute Unit, but Sarasota triumphed in week 12 after nearly blowing a 27-6 lead in the second half. S45 Yellowknife only won 4 games, but one victory was week 9 in Sarasota when they started out hot with 24 1st half points and sacked Willier Miller 8 times in total. In S46 the travel luck swapped, with the home team winning 4 regular season games in a row. Sarasota got blown out by 3 scores early in the season, but got their revenge in week 16 with a narrow 17-10 upset. That meant that they got to host the wild card game, but the very same Wraiths showed up and defeated them in overtime. S47 was more of the same, with Sarasota losing on the road in week 2 by a score of 24-17 on a last-minute Nick Williams touchdown grab. But in week 12 Sarasota got their revenge, keeping the Wraiths out of the end zone in a 20-9 beatdown.
The combination of close games, meaningful contests, and evenly-matched teams has created a strong rivalry between Sarasota and Yellowknife. As conference rivals that play twice a year, there is every possibility that this continues for years to come.
#16
S47 was the first year that a Jamie Orion team did not make their league’s playoffs. He’s been very lucky so far, starting with winning an Ultimus in S43 with the Portland Pythons after a dominating 11-3 season and winning two playoff games by a combined 40 points. He was drafted in the first round by the Sarasota Sailfish and immediately called up, starting at strong safety for two years before moving to free safety for another two. In seasons 44-46 the team went 9-7 each year and qualified for the playoffs.
This year things went a little differently. The team still went 7-9, so they didn’t completely collapse. But they finished 5th in the conference and well outside the playoff race. They also started 4-7, so nearly half of their victories came with the team out of contention. This is another reason why a season with a similar number of wins felt completely different from a competitive standpoint.
There were a couple of reasons for the missed expectation. Last year’s newly acquired strong safety appears to have gone inactive, rendering the back of the defense weaker (now that Orion was moved to free safety and Spruce Willis changed positions to cornerback). The team finished 6th in interceptions and 8th in passes defended; not terrible, but not playoff caliber. But the big issue lies in a lack of explosion from the offense; the team scored 280 points last season, an average of only 17.5 per game, good enough for last in the league. For comparison, the worst playoff offense that year was Chicago, who scored 386 (24.1 per game). The team was held under 20 points nine times, including a 4-game stretch from weeks 8-11 (all losses).
With Johnny Blaze Jr showing his age, the offense needs a shot in the arm if they want to compete at a playoff level in the ISFL. They had a decent year last year on defense, but decent and average aren’t going to cut it if they want to return to postseason play.
Sarasota has developed a strong rivalry with the Yellowknife Wraiths during my time in the league, based on our evenly matched teams and the closeness of our games. Since S44 (my rookie year), the two teams have split their in-season series every year, right down the middle: both franchises have 2 home wins, 2 home losses, 2 road wins, and 2 road losses in that time. During S46 the teams also met in the playoffs, and the Wraiths escaped with a 29-26 overtime win (they would go on to another overtime win the following week before losing in the Ultimus). Of those 9 games over 4 seasons, the majority (6) have been decided by 8 points or fewer.
S44 and S45 were the “road warrior” years of this rivalry, as the home team lost all 4 contests. Yellowknife won a narrow 24-21 victory in Week 1 of S44 behind 3 TD passes from Absolute Unit, but Sarasota triumphed in week 12 after nearly blowing a 27-6 lead in the second half. S45 Yellowknife only won 4 games, but one victory was week 9 in Sarasota when they started out hot with 24 1st half points and sacked Willier Miller 8 times in total. In S46 the travel luck swapped, with the home team winning 4 regular season games in a row. Sarasota got blown out by 3 scores early in the season, but got their revenge in week 16 with a narrow 17-10 upset. That meant that they got to host the wild card game, but the very same Wraiths showed up and defeated them in overtime. S47 was more of the same, with Sarasota losing on the road in week 2 by a score of 24-17 on a last-minute Nick Williams touchdown grab. But in week 12 Sarasota got their revenge, keeping the Wraiths out of the end zone in a 20-9 beatdown.
The combination of close games, meaningful contests, and evenly-matched teams has created a strong rivalry between Sarasota and Yellowknife. As conference rivals that play twice a year, there is every possibility that this continues for years to come.
#16
S47 was the first year that a Jamie Orion team did not make their league’s playoffs. He’s been very lucky so far, starting with winning an Ultimus in S43 with the Portland Pythons after a dominating 11-3 season and winning two playoff games by a combined 40 points. He was drafted in the first round by the Sarasota Sailfish and immediately called up, starting at strong safety for two years before moving to free safety for another two. In seasons 44-46 the team went 9-7 each year and qualified for the playoffs.
This year things went a little differently. The team still went 7-9, so they didn’t completely collapse. But they finished 5th in the conference and well outside the playoff race. They also started 4-7, so nearly half of their victories came with the team out of contention. This is another reason why a season with a similar number of wins felt completely different from a competitive standpoint.
There were a couple of reasons for the missed expectation. Last year’s newly acquired strong safety appears to have gone inactive, rendering the back of the defense weaker (now that Orion was moved to free safety and Spruce Willis changed positions to cornerback). The team finished 6th in interceptions and 8th in passes defended; not terrible, but not playoff caliber. But the big issue lies in a lack of explosion from the offense; the team scored 280 points last season, an average of only 17.5 per game, good enough for last in the league. For comparison, the worst playoff offense that year was Chicago, who scored 386 (24.1 per game). The team was held under 20 points nine times, including a 4-game stretch from weeks 8-11 (all losses).
With Johnny Blaze Jr showing his age, the offense needs a shot in the arm if they want to compete at a playoff level in the ISFL. They had a decent year last year on defense, but decent and average aren’t going to cut it if they want to return to postseason play.