6) Something that interests me—An in-depth season recap of rookie Mike Boss Jr and the Sarasota Sailfish
Mike Boss Jr. had a rollercoaster of a ride for his first season in the ISFL. The young phenom made his long-awaited professional debut this season, and by all accounts, was a success. While the team ultimately fell short of their collective goal of a world championship, they took steps forward to making the leap into the next stratosphere.
The season got off to a difficult start in the preseason. The Sailfish stumbled out of camp finishing 1-3 during the exhibition portion of the season. In his first ever game professionally, Junior was embarrassed in the 3rd quarter after being taken down for a safety, further increasing the team’s deficit on the scoreboard. Surely, this was a one-off situation? No—Junior would have the same issue in game two against the Fire Salamanders, again going down in the 3rd quarter for a safety that put the team down by a score of 22-6. The Sailfish would go on to lose the game 31-20, but Junior put up an otherwise solid performance 24/49 for 309 yards, 2D, and an INT. The all-important game three of the preseason was the best of them all for Sarasota, they won 45-24 over the Liberty. Junior avoided getting sacked for a safety and threw for 5 TD and over 400 yards, this was the coming out party for the youngster. For as great as Junior was in this game, he was horrible in the finale against the Butchers. Intercepted twice, along with a rating hovering around 50, the season began with a lot of question marks in Sarasota.
The Sailfish were quickly put into a hole in the season opener, losing on the road to the Yeti 27-15. Junior looked like a young boy amongst men. He failed to find the endzone and threw an interception. Insult was added to injury as the ferocious Yeti defense combined for five sacks against the rookie. All it took was some home cooking for things to get back on track, in week two Sarasota defeated Berlin 45-24. While Junior did not exactly light up the stat sheet, he threw for 369 yards, a touchdown, and had a rating of 98.4. Week three saw more of the same, the Sailfish were officially on a winning streak now. They traveled to Philadelphia and laid an absolute whooping on the Liberty, beating them 37-7. Junior threw for over 300 yards with 3 TD, easily taking home player of the game honors. Week four was the first time Junior’s magic was felt. With his team trailing 24-20 and 3:35 left on the clock, he led a drive that started on his own 34 yard line resulting in a TD pass with under 40 seconds left in the game; leading the team to victory. This was the moment the national media really started to take notice of what he was doing.
3-1 after the first quarter of the season, the Sailfish kept on swimming to victory this time again with 4th quarter magic led by Junior and the offense. The Sailfish were trailing Baltimore 17-13 headed into the 4th quarter when Sarasota scored 14 unanswered points off of a 62 yard and 10 yard touchdown pass by Junior. Things were not nearly as exciting in their week six trip to Arizona, but they came away with a victory and a 5-1 record. Junior put up a modest 361 yards with 3 TD and no interceptions. Little did the team know, however, that this 5-1 free ride would derail. The team was humbled in their week 7 matchup vs Yellowknife, getting their doors blown off at home 26-6. The offense couldn’t score a touchdown, mainly in part to Junior’s pathetic 2 INT and 47.9 rating performance. The halfway point of the season was capped off with a home victory against the Silverbacks, 23-13 where Junior again passed for over 300 yards with 2 TD and 1 INT.
6-2 through 8 weeks felt great for the Sailfish, until the world came crashing down around them. The pain began with a trip to San Jose, where they would lose 52-17. Junior completed under 20 passes and threw for 2 INT in a horrible effort all-around. This would be followed up by an unimaginable home loss to the lowly Liberty, where the Sailfish defense somehow allowed Philadelphia to score 37 points on them. Suddenly, at 6-4, the playoff certainty began to get cloudy a bit. The clouds would turn into a blaze of catastrophe a week later in Berlin, as the team lost 24-10 to the Fire Salamanders and the 2nd time in as many weeks where the Sailfish QB failed to complete 20 passes or have a rating above 60. Luckily, with some home cooking against the Yeti, the team finished up the ¾ mark of the season 7-5 behind a great performance by Junior, throwing for 398 yards on 4 TD 0 INT and a rating of 111.2.
After such a big win and convicning performance the week prior, week 13 was again met with disappointment as Sarasota fell at home to New Orleans, 27-13. Sarasota led this game as late as the 2nd quarter, but after that, it was all Second Line. Junior had a pedestrian day, no turnovers but no big plays to help his team win. The team was now 7-6, and had a huge road trip to Chicago staring them in the face. The Sailfish came away with a surprising victory on the road, winning the game 20-13 after Raphtalia Chan had a TD run early in the 4th quarter. This was a defensive battle and both offenses looked putrid. Headed back home to face Baltimore with a record of 8-6, the Sailfish suffered yet another massive beatdown at home. This time losing to the Hawks by a score of 37-17. This game was actually tied at 17 halfway through the 2nd quarter, until Baltimore went on a run and never looked back. Their defense held Junior to under 300 yards passing, only 1 TD, and forced an INT. The regular season was set to wrap up against the league leading Wraiths in Yellowknife, and it turned out to be one of the most entertaining games of the season. Trailing in the 4th quarter 44-27, the Sailfish came all the way back to within 3 points, losing 44-41. Junior again was over 300 yards, had 2 TD and 1 INT with a rating of 92.2; finishing the season with a record of 8-8 and barely making the playoffs.
That game was one of the best of the season, but the playoff matchup against the Butchers in Chicago, is one that will go down in the books forever for the Sailfish. The game started off slowly for everyone involved, the first half ended with a Butchers lead of 9-0. Early on in the 3rd quarter, the Sailfish cut the lead to 9-3. Less than seven minutes later, however, Chicago marched down the field and scored a TD extending their lead to 16-3 after 3 quarters. The 4th quarter started off with a drive that resulted in a 16 yard TD pass from Boss to Witheblock to cut the lead to 16-10. Chicago then marched right back down the field and George O’Donnell found Bender B. Rodriguez for 9 yards on a TD pass resulting in a 23-10 lead for the Butchers with 7:29 left in the game. Then, with under 5 minutes remaining, Boss Jr found James Angler for a 3 yard TD pass after a two and a half minute drive making the score 23-17. The Butchers took the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to their own 48 yard line, ran the ball three straight times and took under a minute off the clock. With 3:36 remaining in the game, Boss Junior led the Sailfish on an 8 play drive, 2 of which were 3rd and 10 and 3rd and 9 to go, respectively. When faced with those 3rd downs, Junior connected first with Witheblock for 35 yards, and then to Chan for 21. With 12 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, the Sailfish had time for one more play. Junior connected with Chan as the clock hit 0:00, Small hit the XP, and the Sailfish won 24-23. This will surely go down as one of the highlights of Boss Jr’s career.
The following game, the luck would run out and their season would come to an end. The eventual champion Yellowknife Wraiths worked their own magic in the closing seconds of the conference championship game. The hearts across Sarasota were broken, as the team took a 22-21 lead with 11:33 left to go in the 4th quarter. It was not meant to be for Sarasota, as the Wraiths had the ball with 4:13 seconds left in the game and drove from their own 22 yard line to get into FG range for Blago Kokot, who would hit the easy 29 yarder for the victory.
While Saraosta ultimately fell short, they went through a lot as a team and have a lot to look forward to.
[1514 words]
Mike Boss Jr. had a rollercoaster of a ride for his first season in the ISFL. The young phenom made his long-awaited professional debut this season, and by all accounts, was a success. While the team ultimately fell short of their collective goal of a world championship, they took steps forward to making the leap into the next stratosphere.
The season got off to a difficult start in the preseason. The Sailfish stumbled out of camp finishing 1-3 during the exhibition portion of the season. In his first ever game professionally, Junior was embarrassed in the 3rd quarter after being taken down for a safety, further increasing the team’s deficit on the scoreboard. Surely, this was a one-off situation? No—Junior would have the same issue in game two against the Fire Salamanders, again going down in the 3rd quarter for a safety that put the team down by a score of 22-6. The Sailfish would go on to lose the game 31-20, but Junior put up an otherwise solid performance 24/49 for 309 yards, 2D, and an INT. The all-important game three of the preseason was the best of them all for Sarasota, they won 45-24 over the Liberty. Junior avoided getting sacked for a safety and threw for 5 TD and over 400 yards, this was the coming out party for the youngster. For as great as Junior was in this game, he was horrible in the finale against the Butchers. Intercepted twice, along with a rating hovering around 50, the season began with a lot of question marks in Sarasota.
The Sailfish were quickly put into a hole in the season opener, losing on the road to the Yeti 27-15. Junior looked like a young boy amongst men. He failed to find the endzone and threw an interception. Insult was added to injury as the ferocious Yeti defense combined for five sacks against the rookie. All it took was some home cooking for things to get back on track, in week two Sarasota defeated Berlin 45-24. While Junior did not exactly light up the stat sheet, he threw for 369 yards, a touchdown, and had a rating of 98.4. Week three saw more of the same, the Sailfish were officially on a winning streak now. They traveled to Philadelphia and laid an absolute whooping on the Liberty, beating them 37-7. Junior threw for over 300 yards with 3 TD, easily taking home player of the game honors. Week four was the first time Junior’s magic was felt. With his team trailing 24-20 and 3:35 left on the clock, he led a drive that started on his own 34 yard line resulting in a TD pass with under 40 seconds left in the game; leading the team to victory. This was the moment the national media really started to take notice of what he was doing.
3-1 after the first quarter of the season, the Sailfish kept on swimming to victory this time again with 4th quarter magic led by Junior and the offense. The Sailfish were trailing Baltimore 17-13 headed into the 4th quarter when Sarasota scored 14 unanswered points off of a 62 yard and 10 yard touchdown pass by Junior. Things were not nearly as exciting in their week six trip to Arizona, but they came away with a victory and a 5-1 record. Junior put up a modest 361 yards with 3 TD and no interceptions. Little did the team know, however, that this 5-1 free ride would derail. The team was humbled in their week 7 matchup vs Yellowknife, getting their doors blown off at home 26-6. The offense couldn’t score a touchdown, mainly in part to Junior’s pathetic 2 INT and 47.9 rating performance. The halfway point of the season was capped off with a home victory against the Silverbacks, 23-13 where Junior again passed for over 300 yards with 2 TD and 1 INT.
6-2 through 8 weeks felt great for the Sailfish, until the world came crashing down around them. The pain began with a trip to San Jose, where they would lose 52-17. Junior completed under 20 passes and threw for 2 INT in a horrible effort all-around. This would be followed up by an unimaginable home loss to the lowly Liberty, where the Sailfish defense somehow allowed Philadelphia to score 37 points on them. Suddenly, at 6-4, the playoff certainty began to get cloudy a bit. The clouds would turn into a blaze of catastrophe a week later in Berlin, as the team lost 24-10 to the Fire Salamanders and the 2nd time in as many weeks where the Sailfish QB failed to complete 20 passes or have a rating above 60. Luckily, with some home cooking against the Yeti, the team finished up the ¾ mark of the season 7-5 behind a great performance by Junior, throwing for 398 yards on 4 TD 0 INT and a rating of 111.2.
After such a big win and convicning performance the week prior, week 13 was again met with disappointment as Sarasota fell at home to New Orleans, 27-13. Sarasota led this game as late as the 2nd quarter, but after that, it was all Second Line. Junior had a pedestrian day, no turnovers but no big plays to help his team win. The team was now 7-6, and had a huge road trip to Chicago staring them in the face. The Sailfish came away with a surprising victory on the road, winning the game 20-13 after Raphtalia Chan had a TD run early in the 4th quarter. This was a defensive battle and both offenses looked putrid. Headed back home to face Baltimore with a record of 8-6, the Sailfish suffered yet another massive beatdown at home. This time losing to the Hawks by a score of 37-17. This game was actually tied at 17 halfway through the 2nd quarter, until Baltimore went on a run and never looked back. Their defense held Junior to under 300 yards passing, only 1 TD, and forced an INT. The regular season was set to wrap up against the league leading Wraiths in Yellowknife, and it turned out to be one of the most entertaining games of the season. Trailing in the 4th quarter 44-27, the Sailfish came all the way back to within 3 points, losing 44-41. Junior again was over 300 yards, had 2 TD and 1 INT with a rating of 92.2; finishing the season with a record of 8-8 and barely making the playoffs.
That game was one of the best of the season, but the playoff matchup against the Butchers in Chicago, is one that will go down in the books forever for the Sailfish. The game started off slowly for everyone involved, the first half ended with a Butchers lead of 9-0. Early on in the 3rd quarter, the Sailfish cut the lead to 9-3. Less than seven minutes later, however, Chicago marched down the field and scored a TD extending their lead to 16-3 after 3 quarters. The 4th quarter started off with a drive that resulted in a 16 yard TD pass from Boss to Witheblock to cut the lead to 16-10. Chicago then marched right back down the field and George O’Donnell found Bender B. Rodriguez for 9 yards on a TD pass resulting in a 23-10 lead for the Butchers with 7:29 left in the game. Then, with under 5 minutes remaining, Boss Jr found James Angler for a 3 yard TD pass after a two and a half minute drive making the score 23-17. The Butchers took the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to their own 48 yard line, ran the ball three straight times and took under a minute off the clock. With 3:36 remaining in the game, Boss Junior led the Sailfish on an 8 play drive, 2 of which were 3rd and 10 and 3rd and 9 to go, respectively. When faced with those 3rd downs, Junior connected first with Witheblock for 35 yards, and then to Chan for 21. With 12 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, the Sailfish had time for one more play. Junior connected with Chan as the clock hit 0:00, Small hit the XP, and the Sailfish won 24-23. This will surely go down as one of the highlights of Boss Jr’s career.
The following game, the luck would run out and their season would come to an end. The eventual champion Yellowknife Wraiths worked their own magic in the closing seconds of the conference championship game. The hearts across Sarasota were broken, as the team took a 22-21 lead with 11:33 left to go in the 4th quarter. It was not meant to be for Sarasota, as the Wraiths had the ball with 4:13 seconds left in the game and drove from their own 22 yard line to get into FG range for Blago Kokot, who would hit the easy 29 yarder for the victory.
While Saraosta ultimately fell short, they went through a lot as a team and have a lot to look forward to.
[1514 words]
MR 8X ULTIMUS CHAMPION
QB Mike Boss - HOF
TE Johnny Blaze - HOF
QB Mike Boss Jr
WR Johnny Blaze Jr
QB Mike Boss - HOF
TE Johnny Blaze - HOF
QB Mike Boss Jr
WR Johnny Blaze Jr