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These recaps are a great addition, look forward to reading them each week.

Glad folks are getting some enjoyment out of them. If it isn't chasing folks out of the league, it's all good :)

Week 11 recap

Marauders 14, Wampas 6…if you missed the second quarter, you missed all the scoring in this one. George Espinal hauled in a 6-yard TD pass and Matthew Schrock ran in from a yard out for Reno’s other score as Marauder fans celebrated the first victory of the season. Michael Williams threw for 141 yards in the win.

Spartans 18, Golden Pterodactyls 3…Dewayne Gaulke had a 74-yard TD reception, Milton Sheets booted a trio of field goals, Thomas Dwyer added a safety and I have no life because I’m home typing about it all on a Friday night, but, hey, Toronto wins! Nathaniel Finley finished 29-for-37 with a TD throwing the ball for the Spartans, who held Star City to just 157 yards in the contest. The Spartans are now 10-1 while Star City slips to 8-2-1.

Americans 24, Islanders 0…Michael Love ran for a pair of touchdowns and Galen Manwaring was on the receiving end of an Alexander Thomas toss for a score as Rochester blanked Hawai’I in a battle for Brown Division supremacy. Love finished with just 46 yards on the ground, but made the most of them when it mattered in Friday night’s contest. Defensively, Rochester forced five Islander turnovers, including four interceptions of QB Kenneth Gonzales, who had a very long night at the office.

Crusaders 40, Thunder 13…After a couple of close calls, California became the first team to officially qualify for the post-season with a 40-13 beatdown of the Thunder. John Germaine rushed for 107 yards while Mark Lofton and Parker Lewis each surpassed the century mark receiving. Lofton finished with a game-best 7 receptions and 118 yards, including a pair of touchdown receptions. Lewis had 5 catches for 105 yards and a TD. In all, Crusader QB James Vincent was 27-for-33 for 371 yards.

Kings 19, Cobras 10…Tad Jensen had four field goals and Bobby Wilson hauled in a 9-yard touchdown pass to lead the Kings over Rancho Cucamonga in a defensive tussle. The Cobras struck first on a 1-yard Chad Walker touchdown receptions, but then watched as Lyon reeled off 13 straight points. That streak ended when Wendell Jessen kicked a 46-yard field goal late in the third quarter to draw RC back within 3, but the Kings’ defense gave up just 34 more yards to the Cobras over the final 15 minutes, never allowing them back across the midfield stripe. Lyon is now 7-4.

Crush 27, Red Rocks 6…Joseph Burke three three first-half TD passes to lift the Crush to a 27-6 win over Coos Bay. Burke finished with 261 yards in the contest after completing 23 of his 34 throws in the game. Kevin Sanchez proved to be the most popular target on the night, pulling in 8 passes for 117 yards and one of the scores. Sanchez also had 37 yards along the ground. It was the fifth win in a row for the Crush, who are now 8-3 overall.

Phantoms 40, Riptide 28…Joseph Robidoux, earning a start in place of the injured Harry Knopp, narrowly missed throwing for 400 yards as Parlor City topped San Diego in a wild night offense. The Phantoms’ signal caller completed just 54 percent of his passing attempts, but managed 398 yards on 27 completions, good enough for three TD’s. John Letson had 7 receptions for 108 yards to lead the way in receiving for Parlor City, which vaulted to a 27-7 lead on its first possession of the second half. The Riptide trimmed that gap to 9 points late, thanks in no small part to the receiving efforts of Claudio Chambers, who caught 10 passes, including 2 TD’s, for 150 yards of receiving. Robert Burkett had a 4 TD night passing the ball in the loss for San Diego and finished with 272 yards overall. The Phantoms move to 10-1 overall.

Twisters 24, Coyotes 6…Joshua Allen and Donald Vargo rushed for touchdowns as Arkansas powered its way to a 24-6 victory over Mt. Washington on Friday night. The Twisters’ defense allowed Coyote QB Coy Boyd no opportunities on the night, holding him to 11-for-38 passing and picking him off twice. Rusty Greer had 105 receiving yards in the win for Arkansas, which is now 3-8 on the season.

Stampede 30, Hefty Buffalo 24…Jerry Bradshaw rushed for 128 yards and pulled in 8 passes for 141 yards and a pair of receptions to will St. Louis past Fort Drum in a Parcells Division showdown. Bob Thomas had 285 yards passing overall for the Stampede. Gregory Stallings countered with 253 yards and 2 TD’s through the air for the Hefty Buffalo, who pulled within 6 with more than 11 minutes remaining in the contest, but were unable to add any further points. Stanley Green had 139 yards worth of receptions and a TD for Fort Drum.

Snappers 14, Bulldogs 9…Terry Melvin ran for a score and Jason Rodriguez struck for a 65-yard TD reception off the arm of Jason Rodriguez to lift Nachitoches to a 14-0 lead. From there, the Snappers held on for a 5-point win. Rodriguez’s score represented a turning point in the momentum of the game. Prior to it, the Snappers owned a 229-33 edge in yardage gained. Following the score, Bennington immediately embarked on a 55-yard drive that ended in a field goal and their first points of the night. The Bulldogs would also cap a 73-yard drive with a 16-yard TD reception by Franklin Bonner. The Snappers, meanwhile, managed just 21 yards the rest of the night, but were able to hold out thanks to their early efforts. The Snappers are now 6-5 overall, one game back in the Brown.

Geechee 34, Assassins 14…John Whitney threw a pair of TD passes and the Geechee defense picked off Columbus City twice in a 34-14 win on Friday night that elevated the team to sole possession of the Gibbs Division lead and a 9-2 overall record. Richard Shewmaker rushed for 83 yards and a Geechee score. Dennis Jones added 113 yards and a TD receiving. After falling behind 23-3, the Assassins appeared on the verge of climbing back into the contest with 12 minutes remaining in the game as George Spradlin ran 15 yards for a score. With the conversion, the play cut the Geechee lead to 23-14. The celebration was short-lived though as on its first play of the ensuing series, Charleston’s John Wilson was off to the races for a 75-yard TD reception that officially slammed the door on any momentum boost Columbus City may have had going. The Assassins are 8-3 and very much still in play for the postseason.

Burn 16, Bombers 6…Phillip Ary hauled in a 40-yard scoring pass and Nathan Rizzo kicked a trio of field goals to elevate Boise above Brooklyn in this B Battle. Jose Engelhardt finished with 232 yards passing for the Burn, who held a 307-249 edge in offense in the contest. Boise is now 5-6.

Dragons 28, Wallabies 21…Russell Gargano threw for 293 yards and 4 TD passes as Glendora proved too much for Perth in a 28-21 tussle atop the Knoll Division. With a 3-game lead, the Dragons are now firmly in the driver’s seat in that division. Sean Salerno had 102 yards receiving, despite catching just 2 passes in the contest. Jeffrey Titus added 2 TD receptions as the Dragons air attack burned Perth repeatedly. Kenneth Taylor with 10 tackles for Glendora, now 8-3 overall.

Talons 19, Bandits 13 (OT)…Scott Barr’s 66-yard TD reception in the final minute of overtime elevated Tallahassee to a win against a game Santa Fe squad that needed 10 late points just to force the extra minutes. Jeremy Burnett’s 52-yard TD pass to Robert Farmer began the comeback just before the 2-minute warning. After getting the ball back via an onside kick, After Lonnie Green recovered the onside kick, Christopher Wilson’s 56-yard boot tied the contest. Barr finished with 107 receiving yards for the Talons, who escaped to 10-1 with the win. Jesse Hahn had 216 passing yards and a pair of TD’s for Tallahassee.

Witches 20, Tennessee 12…The Salem Witches used a productive first half to overcome a second-half scoring hex that saw the two teams combine to miss four field goals over the final two quarters. Throw in a turnover on downs and an interception and six of the only nine possessions after halftime ended in some sort of negative juju. Jared Smith and Franklin Ray combined to rush for 176 yards for Salem in the contest. John Benner added 92 receiving yards and a TD. Tommie Shick countered with a 52-yard TD reception for Tennessee. Salem is now 9-2, one game in back of Parlor City in the Shula Division chase.

Wild 40, Event 10…Otic Castillo threw 5 TD passes as Milwaukee erupted for a huge win over the Maine Event. James Wood was the big winner in the offense derby for Milwaukee. Wood hauled in two of the scoring passes and also ran for 168 yards as he finished with 235 yards of offense in the contest. Castillo finished with 322 yards through the air as the Wild amassed 527 yards of offense as a team. Defensively, Milwaukee registered three interceptions as a unit as the Wild improved to 6-5. John Metzger with 15 tackles for the Event.

Just wonderful analyzing.

Week 12 recap – AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME

There are only four weeks left in the regular season. Only one playoff ticket has been punched, leaving 11 others up for grabs still with 21 teams still mathematically capable of laying claim to one of those coveted slots. Here’s how tonight’s action shaped things…

Americans 30, Event 14…Samuel Archibald took the opening kickoff 110 yards to the house for Maine, but things went sideways thereafter as the Americans ripped off 27 consecutive points to leave the Event reeling. Michael Love ran 3 yards for a score in that flurry while Alexander Thomas tossed a pair of TD passes as the Americans improved to 8-4. Maine slips to 5-7 as the Brown Division starts to look like it may become a 3-team race.

Riptide 28, Stampede 6…San Diego improves to a 7-5 mark behind the strength of two Wesley Greenwell runs and another pair of Robert Burkett passes. Greenwell was the workhorse on the night however, carrying the rock 31 times for a total of 129 yards. Burkett was almost perfect, hitting on 13 of his 14 passing attempts. San Diego is tied in record with Milwaukee for the second wild card slot in the Stripes Conference currently.

Assassins 16, Crush 9…speaking of the Stripes Conference, a pair of 8-3 teams locked horns in Canton with Columbus City coming out on top by a touchdown. Michael Hardnett’s 17-yard pass to Clyde Simons accounted for the game’s only touchdown just before the 2-minute warning in the first half and proved the difference. The loss was a painful one for the Crush, who owned a 342-265 advantage in total yardage. Field position was the culprit for much of the second half with 7 of the team’s 8 drives starting at or inside the Crush 27. Four of those possessions began inside the 20. The Assassins also forced a trio of interceptions in the contest.

Phantoms 23, Coyotes 6…Harry Knopp connected with Lawrence Owen for a pair of first-half touchdowns to keep the Coyotes winless on the season. It was not the prettiest of games for the Parlor City signal caller, who finished with an ugly five interceptions to go along with his 255 yards passing and 2 TD’s. The Coyotes never had a chance to cash in on the opportunities however as the Phantoms’ defense responded in-kind with five interceptions of its own. In all, the two teams combined for a sloppy 11 giveaways, prompting Arby’s to hop on it’s Twitter account to post “If you’re enjoying the Phantoms-Coyotes broadcast, we have some #turnovers for you too” early in the fourth quarter.

Witches 31, Bulldogs 7…Salem held Bennington to just 3 first downs and 48 total yards of offense in a 31-7 blowout that keeps them 1 game out in the Shula Division presently. Joe Flynn had 10 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception to pace the defensive charge. Christopher Winger added a safety for Salem, which also saw QB Jonathan Embree throw for 324 yards and a pair of scores.

Snappers 26, Twisters 17…Jason Rodriguez threw for two first-half TD passes and Robert Yorke earned every bit of his paycheck once again by connecting from 47, 59, 57 and a mere 40 yards to help keep Natchitoches in the race for a divisional title 26-17 over Arkansas. Rodriguez finished with 218 yards passing, 102 of that going to Frank Turner on 5 receptions. Turner was the recipient of one of Rodriguez’s two TD throws. Jasper Sheppard had 259 yards through the air for Arkansas, but was harmed by a pair of interception tosses on his half of the field that transformed into 10 Snapper points. Jonathan Raker had 119 yards on 6 receptions with a TD for the Twisters.

Red Rocks 13, Thunder 3…James Johnson hauled in a 7-yard TD reception from Brian Armstrong as Coos Bay leveled its record at 6-6 with a 13-3 win over the Thunder. William McCaffrey added a pair of field goals, including a 46-yarder as time expired in the first half to send Coos Bay into the locker room up 10-0 and deliver some momentum to the home team.

Dragons 34, Burn 6…Russell Gargano threw four TD passes in the first half as Glendora burst to a 31-6 halftime lead and threw it into autopilot in the second half. Gargano finished 23-for-31 with 456 yards as he led the team to touchdowns on its first four possessions. Michael Chery had 9 receptions for 246 yards and 2 of the scores.

Kings 9, Golden Pterodactyls 7…Lyon managed just 155 yards of offense but made it all count thanks to the toe of Tad Jensen. Jensen kicked a trio of field goals, including a 60 yarder in the first quarter, to lift Lyon to a 9-7 win in a critical Stars Conference game. Donald Trujillo ran in for a 7-yard score for the GP’s as Star City capitalized on an early Lyon turnover, but the team couldn’t add to its margin. That was especially the case in the second half when Star City was held to just 107 yards of offense, 82 of which came on 2 drives, one which ended on a missed long-range field goal, the other which ended on downs in the final minute of the contest. Star City slips to 8-3-1, still in position for a wildcard slot, but Lyon improves to 8-4 with the win and, should it matter, now has an important head-to-head tiebreak.

Talons 29, Tennessee 3…Anthony Dunn ran for a score and Jesse Hahn passed for another as the Tallahassee Talons rolled to victory No. 11 this season with a 29-3 win over Tennessee. Timothy Beaver had a pair of sacks for a Talon defense that forced 4 turnovers and held Tennessee to just 170 yards.

Spartans 27, Wampas 10…Toronto lifted its foot in the final quarter but was never in any danger of an upset, winning by 17 over Aspen. All 10 of the Wampas’ points came in the final quarter, well after Toronto had removed doubt from the game’s outcome by scoring touchdowns on three of its first 4 possessions. Nathaniel Finley had 356 yards passing and a trio of TD’s, but also had to overcome 4 interceptions. Mark Dahl hauled in 126 yards worth of passes on 7 receptions and had one of the TD catches.

Islanders 37, Marauders 9…Hawai’I erupted for 34 consecutive second half points to slam the door on any Reno hopes of a possible upset bid and remain firmly in the chase for the divisional title. Christopher Barnes kicked a pair of first-quarter field goals for Reno to give the Marauders a 6-0 lead. Karl Demelo’s 37-yard kick with just 2 minutes to go before the half were the Islanders’ only points as the teams left the field for intermission. The second half was totally different. Kenneth Gonzales threw two TD passes. Greg Wade added a 57-yard punt return for a score and Scott Woodring ran the ball in during the scoring onslaught that lifted Hawai’I to a 7-5 mark.

Wild 47, Hefty Buffalo 13…Milwaukee dominated first-half play, jumping out to a 31-0 halftime lead and never looking back as they beat Fort Drum and improved to 7-5 overall. Otis Castillo threw for 430 yards and 3 TD’s to help power the Wild to victory. Phillip Gordon failed to score, but did haul in 4 passes for a game-high 138 receiving yards in the contest. Scott Phillips had a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD for the only Hefty Buffalo trip to the end zone.

Crusaders 32, Cobras 7…James Vincent threw a pair of TD passes. Duncan Meyer added 179 combined yards of rushing and receiving as California improve to 12-0 in its search for perfection. Lloyd Braun added 6 field goals, the longest coming from 55 yards out, on a whopping 8 attempts. Anthony Ford’s 8-yard TD pass to Jeffrey Simmons in the final minute enabled the Cobras to avert the shutout.

Geechee 65, Bombers 0…The Geechee amassed 658 yards of offense and 65 points as they scrambled the Bombers bigtime on Monday night. John Whitney had 563 passing yards and 6 TDs in a game that could have been much uglier had Charleston not punted on five of its final six possessions. Terry Fields had 208 receiving yards and a pair of scoring catches. Teammate Cody Cook added 9 receptions for 114 yards and another 2 scores. Momma said if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all, so I won’t bring up any Brooklyn stats for the game.

Wallabies 27, Bandits 0…Michael Gee threw for 277 yards and a pair of scores and Van Salazar added a rushing TD as Perth improved to 6-6 overall. For the Wallabies, it was the fifth time in six games holding an opponent to 200 yards of offense or less.

Just a sidenote.... Red spends a lot of time and effort to do the game recaps, it is pretty unique on MFN. Would suggest you use it to help recruit new owners. Let them know about the excellent game recaps and league news by Red. Send a link for one of the posts as an example. Also let potential new owners know that they will get a complete roster review by yours truly, which has been invaluable for over two dozen new owners and existing ones that were struggling with fielding a competitive team. cheers! gdb

quite true. And a fun read. Thank you.

Awe you nailed it buddy. In all honesty I believe that is the ugliest win that I have ever experienced here on MFN. I'm surprised I didnt drop in the power rankings after that one.

I love the analysis, but the Event has gone from 4-1 to 5-7 since headline sports got started. It would be more fun to read if my season weren't sliding into oblivion.