12-11-2023, 03:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-14-2023, 01:48 PM by lemonoppy. Edited 1 time in total.)
We’re nearly halfway through S45 in the ISFL, and so far it’s been a season to remember! The ASFC is a picture of parity, with six teams within a game of the conference lead. Meanwhile, the NSFC is led by a Colorado team that has already surpassed its win total from S44, while perennial contenders Baltimore and Cape Town are closer to the .500 mark.
I’m back once again to catalog the most dramatic games of the season, using a simple system:
All overtime games = 3 drama points
Non-OT, margin 3 or less = 2 drama points (Very Close)
Non-OT, margin 4-8 = 1 drama point (Close)
Instead of going by team, this time I’ll be going by week. I’ll present the total number of drama points earned that week and highlight a single game that I think was the most exciting (note that since drama points are given to both teams playing, the numbers by game will be doubled: 6 for Overtime, 4 for Very Close, 2 for Close). Then I’ll wrap things up with totals by team and a chart that maps both dramatics and wins.
Week 1
Close Games: 3
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Sarasota Sailfish 20, Berlin Fire Salamanders 17
Sarasota picked up right where their “Cardiac Carp” season left off, with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Berlin. The Fire Salamanders led 17-0 at halftime, but the Sailfish chipped away at them in the second half with a couple of field goals and a short TD run by Ace Anderson. On their final drive, Johnny Blaze Jr finally broke away for a 60-yard touchdown catch and run to give the Sailfish their first and final lead. The ensuing kickoff was returned to the 40-yard line, but Berlin couldn’t advance the ball and Sarasota held on to win.
Week 2
Close Games: 2
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Berlin Fire Salamanders 23, Cape Town Crash 17 (OT)
Berlin fans didn’t have long to linger on the close loss, as they were back in it for week 2. With horrifying similarity, the Fire Salamanders gave up a long touchdown (this time 79 yards from Creg Jerrith IV to Nakiri Ayame) with under 3 minutes to go. Thankfully this only tied the game. But three plays later, Adrian St Christmas’ pass was intercepted by safety Aleksandr Milescu to put the Crash in position to score again. A penalty and a sack pushed them out of field goal range, and they punted to Berlin who got close to midfield before the clock ran out. In the overtime period, Berlin got a long completion and a fortunate DPI call to move the ball into scoring position, and St Christmas threw a touchdown to Armor Queen that won the game in overtime.
Week 3
Close Games: 4
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Berlin Fire Salamanders 54, Yellowknife Wraiths 48
Guess who? In a game that featured 7 lead changes and 102 points (and multiple safeties!), the Fire Salamanders again came out on top in dramatic fashion. After tying the game at the end of the third quarter, Berlin gave up a safety on a Cheecago Boucher sack to make the game 40-38. But they made a defensive stop, and St Christmas completed a long 68-yard bomb to Emile Charles. They connected again two plays later for a touchdown to retake the lead. Not to be outdone, the Wraiths marched 79 yards in 8 plays and pulled ahead again on a TD dive by Adebayo Akinfenwa. They added a two-point conversion, and the score was 48-45.
After exchanging punts, Berlin found themselves pinned at their own 2-yard line with only 2:36 to go. But St Christmas found rookie running back Kyle Bessey wide open on a wheel route for 57 yards, and then Charles again for a touchdown with under a minute remaining to go up 52-48. After a poor kickoff return and a penalty, Maximus Boudreaux was sacked in the end zone for the final points. Berlin couldn’t quite run out the clock after the ensuing free kick, so Yellowknife had one final play from midfield. But they couldn’t pull off a miracle as the clock finally hit all zeroes.
Week 4
Close Games: 3
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Colorado Yeti 18, Chicago Butchers 14
Yes, other teams played close games too! In a hard-fought, low-scoring contest, Colorado came back from a 14- halftime deficit (which was still 14-3 in the fourth quarter) by scoring two touchdowns in the final 8 minutes. The first scoring drive was aided by three Chicago penalties that gave Colorado 28 free yards and 2 first downs. Henry Oswald-Newman finished things off with a 1-yard run, and then Wolfie McDummy Jr found National Treasure for a two-point conversion. With under two minutes to go, Chicago was called for another pass interference penalty, and the Yeti turned that into a 1-yard touchdown pass to rookie Hercules Henry five plays later. On the Butchers final drive, the Yeti recorded sacks on first and fourth down to seal the victory.
Game of the Week: Berlin Fire Salamanders 38, Arizona Outlaws 34
I’m sorry, did you think I wasn’t going to cover this game just because Berlin was involved again? I don’t make the results people, I just report them. How’s this for a sequence: Berlin ties the game late in the third quarter on an Armor Queen run, then Danny Nedelko returns the ensuring kickoff 100 yards to give Arizona the lead right back. Less than 5 minutes later they add a field goal, then Charlie Thorsen returns that kickoff 106 yards for another touchdown! A few punts later we’re in the final two minutes, and St Christmas finds Queen for a 29-yard score to give Berlin yet another lead. Arizona races down the field with time running out, but ‘Captain’ Billy Stinkwater fumbles the ball on the 37-yard line and Berlin jumps on it to save the game. Absolutely incredible.
Week 5
Close Games: 4
Total Points: 12
Game of the Week: New York Silverbacks 28, Arizona Outlaws 27
With Berlin stuck in a surprising mundane loss, it was up to New York and Arizona to bring the drama. After trailing most of the game, New York took the lead on a 52-yard field goal by Wing Wang with only 2:24 to go. After a great return, Arizona marched 38 yards on four straight completions by Donovan Winters III. But the drive stalled on the Silverbacks 15-yard line, so Jay-Jaymison kicked a field goal to make the score 27-25. New York answered with an excellent kickoff return of their own, and a 24-yard connection from Blaine Falco to Michael Touchback put Wing Wang in position for another field goal, which he nailed with 14 second to go. Arizona only had time for a single desperation heave, which was intercepted as the clock ran out.
Week 6
Close Games: 3
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Austin Copperheads 37, San Jose SaberCats 34
Jay Cue III endured 7 sacks and an interception on the first play from scrimmage to throw for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns as he led his team to a dramatic comeback win. Down 10 with under four minutes to go, he found Delores Bickerman for a 36-yard completion down the seam. Then he followed up another sack with a beautiful sideline pass to Howard Coward for a 26-yard touchdown. The defense forced San Jose to go 3-and-out, and Cue III passed to Jeff Newman for a 48-yard catch and run. Four plays later he found Zaphod Beeblebrox in the end zone to complete the comeback.
Week 7
Close Games: 4
Total Points: 12
Game of the Week: New York Silverbacks 31, Baltimore Hawks 27
My apologies to Booter McGavin, whose 62-yard game-winning field goal was a thing of beauty for San Jose (over poor Arizona, who apparently hadn’t suffered enough already). But the best game of week 7 saw several big plays, lead changes, and near misses in a close final quarter. Baltimore led going into the period thanks to a 3-yard pass from Preston Beatz to Ceti Pyxis, but a Wing Wang field goal tied it up on the next possession. He missed another from 60 yards out, giving Baltimore great field position which would turn into a 46-yard field goal from Master Chief to make the score 27-24. New York responded with a quick 6-play drive, finally getting back into the end zone on a 33-yard pass from Falco to Mandrews McHollywood. When Baltimore turned it over on downs on their ensuring possession, the game looked to be over. But Wang missed again from 37 yards away with under a minute to go, and Baltimore raced to the New York 38-yard line. But their final pass came up short, and New York escaped with the victory.
With all those results in the books, let's look at the drama standings by team going into week 8.
Current Drama Standings
Austin 9
Berlin 8
San Jose 7
Arizona 6
New York 5
Colorado 5
Sarasota 5
Honolulu 4
Cape Town 4
Chicago 3
Yellowknife 3
Orange County 2
Baltimore 2
New Orleans 1
Wait…Austin? That can’t be right, clearly Berlin is the most dramatic team in the league so far – they’ve been my Game of the Week three and a half times! But it turns out that Austin have found themselves in 3 Very Close games and 3 Close games in only seven weeks, so by the numbers they’re currently in first. This is one case where the box scores don’t tell the full story. I’m not saying that Austin hasn’t played in some dramatic games (they certainly have!) but for quality I don’t think anyone compares with Berlin so far this season.
We can see the parity across the league with so many teams bunched in a tight band on the y-axis; there’s no definitive “top-left” team winning a lot of games with ease (although Baltimore has four double-digit wins and two close losses). Meanwhile Colorado and Sarasota have scratched and clawed to get to their respective win totals, and we’ve already looked at the wild ride that Austin and Berlin have been on this season.
But there’s lots of football still to be played! I’ll have an update at the end of the regular season, so stay tuned!
I’m back once again to catalog the most dramatic games of the season, using a simple system:
All overtime games = 3 drama points
Non-OT, margin 3 or less = 2 drama points (Very Close)
Non-OT, margin 4-8 = 1 drama point (Close)
Instead of going by team, this time I’ll be going by week. I’ll present the total number of drama points earned that week and highlight a single game that I think was the most exciting (note that since drama points are given to both teams playing, the numbers by game will be doubled: 6 for Overtime, 4 for Very Close, 2 for Close). Then I’ll wrap things up with totals by team and a chart that maps both dramatics and wins.
Week 1
Close Games: 3
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Sarasota Sailfish 20, Berlin Fire Salamanders 17
Sarasota picked up right where their “Cardiac Carp” season left off, with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Berlin. The Fire Salamanders led 17-0 at halftime, but the Sailfish chipped away at them in the second half with a couple of field goals and a short TD run by Ace Anderson. On their final drive, Johnny Blaze Jr finally broke away for a 60-yard touchdown catch and run to give the Sailfish their first and final lead. The ensuing kickoff was returned to the 40-yard line, but Berlin couldn’t advance the ball and Sarasota held on to win.
Week 2
Close Games: 2
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Berlin Fire Salamanders 23, Cape Town Crash 17 (OT)
Berlin fans didn’t have long to linger on the close loss, as they were back in it for week 2. With horrifying similarity, the Fire Salamanders gave up a long touchdown (this time 79 yards from Creg Jerrith IV to Nakiri Ayame) with under 3 minutes to go. Thankfully this only tied the game. But three plays later, Adrian St Christmas’ pass was intercepted by safety Aleksandr Milescu to put the Crash in position to score again. A penalty and a sack pushed them out of field goal range, and they punted to Berlin who got close to midfield before the clock ran out. In the overtime period, Berlin got a long completion and a fortunate DPI call to move the ball into scoring position, and St Christmas threw a touchdown to Armor Queen that won the game in overtime.
Week 3
Close Games: 4
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Berlin Fire Salamanders 54, Yellowknife Wraiths 48
Guess who? In a game that featured 7 lead changes and 102 points (and multiple safeties!), the Fire Salamanders again came out on top in dramatic fashion. After tying the game at the end of the third quarter, Berlin gave up a safety on a Cheecago Boucher sack to make the game 40-38. But they made a defensive stop, and St Christmas completed a long 68-yard bomb to Emile Charles. They connected again two plays later for a touchdown to retake the lead. Not to be outdone, the Wraiths marched 79 yards in 8 plays and pulled ahead again on a TD dive by Adebayo Akinfenwa. They added a two-point conversion, and the score was 48-45.
After exchanging punts, Berlin found themselves pinned at their own 2-yard line with only 2:36 to go. But St Christmas found rookie running back Kyle Bessey wide open on a wheel route for 57 yards, and then Charles again for a touchdown with under a minute remaining to go up 52-48. After a poor kickoff return and a penalty, Maximus Boudreaux was sacked in the end zone for the final points. Berlin couldn’t quite run out the clock after the ensuing free kick, so Yellowknife had one final play from midfield. But they couldn’t pull off a miracle as the clock finally hit all zeroes.
Week 4
Close Games: 3
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Colorado Yeti 18, Chicago Butchers 14
Yes, other teams played close games too! In a hard-fought, low-scoring contest, Colorado came back from a 14- halftime deficit (which was still 14-3 in the fourth quarter) by scoring two touchdowns in the final 8 minutes. The first scoring drive was aided by three Chicago penalties that gave Colorado 28 free yards and 2 first downs. Henry Oswald-Newman finished things off with a 1-yard run, and then Wolfie McDummy Jr found National Treasure for a two-point conversion. With under two minutes to go, Chicago was called for another pass interference penalty, and the Yeti turned that into a 1-yard touchdown pass to rookie Hercules Henry five plays later. On the Butchers final drive, the Yeti recorded sacks on first and fourth down to seal the victory.
Game of the Week: Berlin Fire Salamanders 38, Arizona Outlaws 34
I’m sorry, did you think I wasn’t going to cover this game just because Berlin was involved again? I don’t make the results people, I just report them. How’s this for a sequence: Berlin ties the game late in the third quarter on an Armor Queen run, then Danny Nedelko returns the ensuring kickoff 100 yards to give Arizona the lead right back. Less than 5 minutes later they add a field goal, then Charlie Thorsen returns that kickoff 106 yards for another touchdown! A few punts later we’re in the final two minutes, and St Christmas finds Queen for a 29-yard score to give Berlin yet another lead. Arizona races down the field with time running out, but ‘Captain’ Billy Stinkwater fumbles the ball on the 37-yard line and Berlin jumps on it to save the game. Absolutely incredible.
Week 5
Close Games: 4
Total Points: 12
Game of the Week: New York Silverbacks 28, Arizona Outlaws 27
With Berlin stuck in a surprising mundane loss, it was up to New York and Arizona to bring the drama. After trailing most of the game, New York took the lead on a 52-yard field goal by Wing Wang with only 2:24 to go. After a great return, Arizona marched 38 yards on four straight completions by Donovan Winters III. But the drive stalled on the Silverbacks 15-yard line, so Jay-Jaymison kicked a field goal to make the score 27-25. New York answered with an excellent kickoff return of their own, and a 24-yard connection from Blaine Falco to Michael Touchback put Wing Wang in position for another field goal, which he nailed with 14 second to go. Arizona only had time for a single desperation heave, which was intercepted as the clock ran out.
Week 6
Close Games: 3
Total Points: 8
Game of the Week: Austin Copperheads 37, San Jose SaberCats 34
Jay Cue III endured 7 sacks and an interception on the first play from scrimmage to throw for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns as he led his team to a dramatic comeback win. Down 10 with under four minutes to go, he found Delores Bickerman for a 36-yard completion down the seam. Then he followed up another sack with a beautiful sideline pass to Howard Coward for a 26-yard touchdown. The defense forced San Jose to go 3-and-out, and Cue III passed to Jeff Newman for a 48-yard catch and run. Four plays later he found Zaphod Beeblebrox in the end zone to complete the comeback.
Week 7
Close Games: 4
Total Points: 12
Game of the Week: New York Silverbacks 31, Baltimore Hawks 27
My apologies to Booter McGavin, whose 62-yard game-winning field goal was a thing of beauty for San Jose (over poor Arizona, who apparently hadn’t suffered enough already). But the best game of week 7 saw several big plays, lead changes, and near misses in a close final quarter. Baltimore led going into the period thanks to a 3-yard pass from Preston Beatz to Ceti Pyxis, but a Wing Wang field goal tied it up on the next possession. He missed another from 60 yards out, giving Baltimore great field position which would turn into a 46-yard field goal from Master Chief to make the score 27-24. New York responded with a quick 6-play drive, finally getting back into the end zone on a 33-yard pass from Falco to Mandrews McHollywood. When Baltimore turned it over on downs on their ensuring possession, the game looked to be over. But Wang missed again from 37 yards away with under a minute to go, and Baltimore raced to the New York 38-yard line. But their final pass came up short, and New York escaped with the victory.
With all those results in the books, let's look at the drama standings by team going into week 8.
Current Drama Standings
Austin 9
Berlin 8
San Jose 7
Arizona 6
New York 5
Colorado 5
Sarasota 5
Honolulu 4
Cape Town 4
Chicago 3
Yellowknife 3
Orange County 2
Baltimore 2
New Orleans 1
Wait…Austin? That can’t be right, clearly Berlin is the most dramatic team in the league so far – they’ve been my Game of the Week three and a half times! But it turns out that Austin have found themselves in 3 Very Close games and 3 Close games in only seven weeks, so by the numbers they’re currently in first. This is one case where the box scores don’t tell the full story. I’m not saying that Austin hasn’t played in some dramatic games (they certainly have!) but for quality I don’t think anyone compares with Berlin so far this season.
We can see the parity across the league with so many teams bunched in a tight band on the y-axis; there’s no definitive “top-left” team winning a lot of games with ease (although Baltimore has four double-digit wins and two close losses). Meanwhile Colorado and Sarasota have scratched and clawed to get to their respective win totals, and we’ve already looked at the wild ride that Austin and Berlin have been on this season.
But there’s lots of football still to be played! I’ll have an update at the end of the regular season, so stay tuned!