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The S48 DSFL season was another interesting one, with some surprise playoff teams and competitive playoff games. At the beginning of the season, many expected London and Kansas City to be the top teams in the North while Tijuana, Norfolk, and Bondi Beach battled for the two playoff spots in the South. Despite losing a record 14 players to ISFL call-ups, Minnesota ended up making a run in the second half and securing the second playoff spot in the North behind London. In the South, Norfolk broke their curse by winning the conference and securing a first round matchup with Tijuana.
The first round of the playoffs featured both away teams winning, with the big upset being Minnesota over 12-2 London. Tijuana again won the right to represent the South in the Ultimini. In a low scoring and closely contested affair, Tijuana clawed their way to a 20-10 victory to claim another Ultimini trophy. While the season ended with a familiar face lifting the trophy, the way we got there was worth the price of admission.
In the ISFL, New Orleans came into the season as the presumed favorite and their performance in the regular season validated those thoughts. They finished 1st in the ASFC and were joined by familiar foes Arizona and San Jose. In the NSFC, Cape Town was able to secure the overall #1 seed in the final week of the season, while Chicago and Baltimore held on to clinch the wild card matchup.
The results of the wild card game in the ASFC should have come as no surprise, as Arizona again defeated San Jose and joined New Orleans in the conference championship. While New Orleans was a decent favorite on paper, counting Arizona out never seemed like a good bet. However, history proved to not matter in this one as New Orleans took care of business and walloped the Outlaws 27-6 to move on to the Ultimus.
In the NSFC, things went less according to plan. Baltimore embarrassed the home favorites Chicago, scoring 42 unanswered points and winning 42-7. In the conference championship, they picked up where they left off and upset the heavy favorite Cape Town Crash 20-13. Their final obstacle in the way of their Cinderella run was the New Orleans Second Line.
In an incredibly exciting Ultimus, the Hawks jumped out to an early lead and kept their foot on the pedal, going up 27-10 at the end of the 3rd quarter. New Orleans never gave up, though, and rattled up 27 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to give them their first Ultimus win in 27 seasons.
While neither championship winning team was considered a surprise, we had a ton of really fun playoff matchups and the way New Orleans ended their drought will forever be memorable. In the DSFL, the story of the season (in my somewhat biased opinion) was the Minnesota Grey Ducks making the playoffs after losing 14 players to the ISFL. Through a strong draft and great leadership by Daniel and amk, they never gave up and almost pulled off what seemed like an extremely unlikely Ultimini win. In the South, Norfolk finally breaking through and making the playoffs was also a huge accomplishment. Though they had the tools to get there, the 6 season drought was looming heavy over their heads until they pulled off a late season victory over Tijuana to secure their spot. We also had the uncommon instance of a re-sim occur for 2 weeks this season when Portland’s kicker’s attributes got loaded in wrong. While it was probably the right decision, it won’t stop me from being salty about losing the best game of my DSFL career and blaming Bamford for it.
All in all, it was another great season to be a part of this league and I can’t wait to get another one started.
The S48 DSFL season was another interesting one, with some surprise playoff teams and competitive playoff games. At the beginning of the season, many expected London and Kansas City to be the top teams in the North while Tijuana, Norfolk, and Bondi Beach battled for the two playoff spots in the South. Despite losing a record 14 players to ISFL call-ups, Minnesota ended up making a run in the second half and securing the second playoff spot in the North behind London. In the South, Norfolk broke their curse by winning the conference and securing a first round matchup with Tijuana.
The first round of the playoffs featured both away teams winning, with the big upset being Minnesota over 12-2 London. Tijuana again won the right to represent the South in the Ultimini. In a low scoring and closely contested affair, Tijuana clawed their way to a 20-10 victory to claim another Ultimini trophy. While the season ended with a familiar face lifting the trophy, the way we got there was worth the price of admission.
In the ISFL, New Orleans came into the season as the presumed favorite and their performance in the regular season validated those thoughts. They finished 1st in the ASFC and were joined by familiar foes Arizona and San Jose. In the NSFC, Cape Town was able to secure the overall #1 seed in the final week of the season, while Chicago and Baltimore held on to clinch the wild card matchup.
The results of the wild card game in the ASFC should have come as no surprise, as Arizona again defeated San Jose and joined New Orleans in the conference championship. While New Orleans was a decent favorite on paper, counting Arizona out never seemed like a good bet. However, history proved to not matter in this one as New Orleans took care of business and walloped the Outlaws 27-6 to move on to the Ultimus.
In the NSFC, things went less according to plan. Baltimore embarrassed the home favorites Chicago, scoring 42 unanswered points and winning 42-7. In the conference championship, they picked up where they left off and upset the heavy favorite Cape Town Crash 20-13. Their final obstacle in the way of their Cinderella run was the New Orleans Second Line.
In an incredibly exciting Ultimus, the Hawks jumped out to an early lead and kept their foot on the pedal, going up 27-10 at the end of the 3rd quarter. New Orleans never gave up, though, and rattled up 27 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to give them their first Ultimus win in 27 seasons.
While neither championship winning team was considered a surprise, we had a ton of really fun playoff matchups and the way New Orleans ended their drought will forever be memorable. In the DSFL, the story of the season (in my somewhat biased opinion) was the Minnesota Grey Ducks making the playoffs after losing 14 players to the ISFL. Through a strong draft and great leadership by Daniel and amk, they never gave up and almost pulled off what seemed like an extremely unlikely Ultimini win. In the South, Norfolk finally breaking through and making the playoffs was also a huge accomplishment. Though they had the tools to get there, the 6 season drought was looming heavy over their heads until they pulled off a late season victory over Tijuana to secure their spot. We also had the uncommon instance of a re-sim occur for 2 weeks this season when Portland’s kicker’s attributes got loaded in wrong. While it was probably the right decision, it won’t stop me from being salty about losing the best game of my DSFL career and blaming Bamford for it.
All in all, it was another great season to be a part of this league and I can’t wait to get another one started.