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Thx Red, it’s been a dream season for us thus far. Goal #1 was to clinch the division, but wasn’t the only goal I set at the start of the year. Lots of ball left to be played!

It's great to read suggestions for putting together vids & such, I havnt done any, havnt really had a use for it, just post vids on FB or send them to friends & family attached on emails. Thanks to all who have posted in this thread!

PLAYOFF GAMES SET

Apologies for not having a proper "Playoff Show" but the recording computer decided to go the full Monty on a battery/charging issue and has gone on strike, so you're stuck reading. Congrats to our 12 playoff teams, of which the Wallabies are again not one...thanks a lot for jinxing us you @#$%!! Blind Squirrels (with an assist to the schedule maker who gave me the Crusaders, Talons, Crush and Dragons during a brutal 4-game stretch in the back of the season)

Wildcard Week Games

Salem (10-6) at Rochester (12-4, -7)
A rematch of a 22-20 Americans' victory back in Week 2 of the season in a contest played in Salem. In that game, Rochester had to rally back from a 20-9 halftime shortfall to hang the W. That game saw the Witches miss on a potential lead-taking 54-yard field goal try with less than 4 minutes remaining. Rochester features the league's No. 2 pass defense and No. 3 overall defense and, as an impressive feat, has achieved its success with a payroll more than $57.6 million under the cap. Salem enters with the 1-2 punch of QB Jonathan Embree (4,665 passing yards this season) and RB Jose McCauley (2,278 all-purpose yards). The Witches are a top-6 team in all the major offensive stat categories one would look at, making this a pretty classic case of offense vs. defense.

Lyon (10-6) at Toronto (10-6, -7)
Halas Division rivals Lyon and Toronto prepare for Round 3 after the Spartans collected wins of 19-17 and 21-0 in the regular season. The meeting in Toronto in Week 13 saw the Spartans hold Lyon to just 114 total yards of offense in recording the shutout. The bad news for Spartans fans is that the team limped in down the stretch from there, dropping its last three contests. Nathaniel Finley has thrown for 4,488 yards, but has also raised concerns with 29 interceptions on the season for the Spartans, who enter as the No. 10 offense and No. 2 defense in the league. Lyon counters with an offense ranked 19th and a defense ranked 13th in the league. Keep an eye on Kings QB Brian Williams, the ninth-year signal caller has thrown 24 picks this year against 11 TD's and will be facing a secondary that has averaged nearly 2 interceptions per game.

Mt. Washington (11-5) at Charleston (13-3, -7)
Another Round 3 contest comes when these two Gibbs Division foes face off, but this one will be the rubber game in the series as each team defended its home field. Charleston captured a 29-23 win in Week 6 thanks to 16 fourth-quarter points. Mt. Washington returned the favor in Week 11, using 10 fourth-quarter points to rally for a 20-13 win. If the first two games are any indication, both teams will have to make the most of their chances as each game featured a limited number of offensive possessions by each side. Fred Coleman has had a stellar season for the Coyotes, throwing for 4,448 yards and 41 TD's for a season rating of 112.76. Daniel Olmos is the top target, and why wouldn't he be after hauling down 1,159 yards and 12 TD's worth of passes? Perhaps even more impressive...he catches more than 80 percent of ***** thrown his direction. Of course, the Geechee have their own gunslinger under center. Edward Jackson has put together a 112.03 QB rating for the year while tossing 35 TD's. John Wilson has 1,500+ receiving yards and 17 TD's on the year (and has close to another 600 yards returning the ball on special teams). Earl Grim "Reaper" is at 1,944 all-purpose yards. One final note...these two teams combined are nearly $129 million below the salary cap, or more than half of the league payroll franchise, meaning the Gibbs Division could continue to grow in strength come the off-season.

New Jersey (11-4-1) at Canton (12-4, -9)
Canton took this one 31-10 playing in New Jersey back in Week 11, which probably explains why the oddsmakers installed them as a 9-point favorite. That loss was also the Crusaders' only defeat in their last 10 games. QB Jacob Perez has thrown for 4,407 yards for the Crusaders, who have held six different opponents to fewer than 10 points this season. The Crusaders do it with balance as they have the No. 9 offense and the No. 7 defense in the league. Canton enters having won 6 of their last 7 contests. Willie Coyne has throw for 4,078 yards and a 100+ passing rating this year. Kevin Sanchez has 2,148 all-purpose yards while Mark Robinson topped the 1,000-yard mark receiving.

Chrisbro would have the second seed, if I lost this last week against those Aes Sedai, or if Americans won against the Islanders. Well luckily for the Phantoms the opposite happened in both games.

Yay we got the seed! Um....it won't matter because almost all of my elite players are injured :(

Can I be happy for you that you got the #2 seed AND happy for me that you have the injuries? <Grin>

GS, CBN. Head and shoulders above a tough division. Represent!

HOME SWEET HOME
Host teams sweep Wild Card action

Home teams went 4-for-4 on opening night for the EFL playoffs, but that doesn't mean things weren't without their drama...Rochester, Toronto, Charleston and Canton all advance, but only the Spartans had a relatively worry-free night about things.

For the highlight of the night, we'll head to Charleston, where the Geechee squared off against the Mt. Washington Cougars in a contest that featured a pair of the EFL's top quarterbacks this season. Geechee QB Edward Jackson threw for 407 yards and 5 TD's for Charleston, but was matched almost yard-for-yard by his Coyote counterpart Fred Coleman, who finished with 405 yards and 4 TD's. But it was Coleman's only interception of the night, with 1:16 remaining, that finally enabled the Geechee to breathe a sigh of relief. Carlos Best and Dennis Jones each had a pair of TD receptions for Charleston, which built a 31-17 halftime lead.

Rochester appeared to be off to smooth sailing in its game against Salem, building a 12-0 lead into the second half, but Americans' fans saw their world shook to the core as the Witches conjured a trio of touchdowns in less than 3 minutes to grab a 19-12 lead late in the third quarter. Much like the regular season, when Rochester had to rally for victory in Salem, the Americans went about their business, tying the game early in the fourth. Adding a go-ahead field goal four minutes later and playing solid defense the rest of the way. That defense really deserves the game ball, too. Rochester picked off Salem QB Jonathan Embree four times in the second half, including on 3 straight possessions after falling behind 19-12 to completely change the tone of the contest and wrestle momentum back behind the home side.

In Canton, it was a defensive stand at the 1 that perhaps shifted the tide of the game. Trailing 21-10 and having already watched two field goal attempts miss their mark in the game, the Crusaders opted to go for it on a 4th-and-1 with 13:33 to play. Defensive tackle Buddy Revell shot the gap though and stuffed John Germaine for a 2-yard loss to give the football back to the Crush. Canton promptly embarked on a drive that consumed more than 6 minutes off the clock and ended in a field goal. The Crusaders quickly scored a TD on their next possession, but never saw the football again as Canton ended the contest on a 13-play drive that ate the final 5:51 off the clock and ended at the New Jersey 3. Crusader QB Jacob Perez threw for 370 and 2 TD's in the loss.

That leaves us with Toronto, which completed a 3-game sweep of Halas Division rival Lyon this season with a 27-0 shutout victory. The win marks the second consecutive game that Toronto has blanked the Kings and the second time they've held Lyon to fewer than 200 yards of offense in a contest. Nathaniel Finley threw for 315 and a pair of TD's for the Spartans.

GG Voegma good luck the rest of the way

DIVISIONAL DELIGHT
Will the home cooking continue?

Toronto (11-6) at Tallahassee (16-0, -6)
When they met in Week 3, Toronto scored touchdowns on three of their first four possessions before proceeding to fire six interceptions and add only a field goal the rest of the way in a 28-24 defeat. That game marks one of just three times this season the Talons were played to within a single-digit margin and also displays one of Tallahassee's many secrets -- turnovers. I don't know what soul had to be sold by the Talons' coaching staff, but +39 for the regular season is just insane. Putting that into perspective, Columbus City, the league's second-best takeaway artists, finished at +10. In fact, you could add the next FOUR best EFL teams in takeaways and you're still going to come up short against the Talons' count. Throw that in with a QB like James Herrin (127.85 season rating, 4,877 yds, 54 TDs vs. 11 INT's) and it doesn't take much imagination to see why the defending champs are undefeated.

Rochester (13-4) at Parlor City (12-4, -3)
The first playoff game this season to feature a clash of two teams who did not meet in the regular season. Instead, the Americans and Phantoms last did battle in last season's playoffs when Rochester rallied from a 17-3 shortfall in the first half to eventually prevail 23-20 in overtime and snap the Phantoms' bid for a fourth straight EFL crown. Leroy Rivera has 2,331 all-purpose yards and 14 TD's for a team that has cycled through two QB's and accumulated nearly 5,200 passing yards. Parlor City ranks No. 3 in offense and No. 5 in overall defense in the league.

Canton (13-4) at Coos Bay (14-2, -3)
The last meeting between these two came in Week 15 of last season, a 29-12 Coos Bay victory. The Red Rocks won their first 11 games this season before dropping 2 of their final five contests, both by single digits. The Red Rocks' dominance this season has been a whole-team effort. The stats are good-to-great, but there's not a single eye-popping player who leaps from the page at you. The offense ranks No. 7 in the league, the defense No. 9 (league-best against the run). Vegas obviously has some concerns about that as they've installed the Red Rocks as a mere field goal favorite in this one.

Charleston (14-3) at Glendora (13-3, -7)
How in the sweet **** is this merely a divisional round game? As a testimony to the overall strength of the Elite Football League, we give you a prizefight that went 24-17 to Glendora back in Week 14. The Dragons are the David "Silly" Puddy show. He's thrown the rock for 6,767 yards and 67 TD's to spearhead the league's top passing attack at nearly 423 yards per contest and its No. 1 overall offensive unit, which it managed with John Claypoole shelved for nearly half of the regular season. He's healthy now when it counts, however, and the oddsmakers call this one by the same touchdown margin the Dragons won by on the road not that long ago.

CRUSHED DREAMS
Canton pulls playoffs' first upset, advances to Conference Finals

The Canton Crush traveled to the West Coast and escaped with a 20-17 win over the Coos Bay Red Rocks, becoming the first road team this playoff season to earn a victory. The Crush transformed a pair of first-half interceptions of Red Rock QB Michael Hardnett into six points in opening a 13-3 halftime lead. After struggling for just 106 yards of offense in the first half, the Red Rocks also misfired on a field goal opportunity on their first possession of the second half. Eventually though, Coos Bay started to click, pulling to within 13-9 with just over 5 minutes remaining. Canton appeared to answer with a soul-crushing 55-yard TD reception by Mark Robinson on 3rd-and-12 a minute later to make the margin 11 points, but Hardnett hooked up with James Johnson for 75 yards on the Red Rocks' next play. Adding the 2-point conversion pulled the Rocks with a field goal. Canton ran all by 1:15 off the clock before pinning Coos Bay at its 2 with the Red Rocks fighting to midfield before surrendering the ball and the season on downs.

The Crush will now travel to face Glendora after the Dragons prevailed 30-12 over the Geechee. Dragon QB David Puddy was kept fairly under restraint, managing just 282 yards and a TD passing, but the Dragons added rushing scores from John Claypoole and William Frazier to comfortably defeat Charleston for the second time this season.

In the Stars Conference, Parlor City advanced past Rochester by a 19-12 count thanks to a splendid defensive effort that compensated for an offense that sputtered against the Americans' defense. Rochester led 12-2 at the half on the strength of four Daniel Dehner field goal kicks. The game's first touchdown didn't come until less than 3 minutes remained in the third quarter when the Phantoms' Tony Strait threw a 6-yard pass to Forrest Craig to cap an 80-yard drive that nearly doubled the team's offensive output to that point in the contest. The real blow came with just under 10 minutes to play as Marty Brenneman intercepted Rochester's Robert Alexander and took it 25 yards to the house for the go-ahead TD. Rochester had 4 more possessions after that, but crossed midfield just once, turning the ball over on downs just outside the Phantom 40. Parlor City advances despite just 192 yards of offense in this one.

They'll need better as they travel to Tallahassee where the Talons remain unbeaten after rolling Toronto by a 38-7 count. After trading first-quarter touchdowns with the Spartans, the Talons took over. James Herrin threw for 5 TD's, two apiece to Francis Jimerson and Anthony Dunn. Defensively, the Talons were in form, menacing Spartan QB Nathaniel Finley into five interceptions. Credit Freddie Stillwell with two of those as four different defenders got in on the act.