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If anyone told you they were not at all surprised by who we will be seeing this upcoming Saturday, they are damn dirty liars. NO ONE could have predicted the madness that occurred this week. A #1 seed got knocked out, Matty Ice will only be throwing for 1 team, and Gryffindor won their first real D1 game! The madness! The insanity! The playoffs! Let’s take a look at what went down…

At 10:00 Marketing Mayors were once again Andy Smith-less and took an L against Gryffindor, ending their season in what could only be described as a fall from grace. Burr made his triumphant return and helped to lead his team to a 36-28 victory. While yes, this is definitely an upset I can’t say I’m completely surprised. Last time these teams faced each other, MM squeaked by to steal the win, this time they just couldn’t pull it off. Now I’ve given Joey Batts some shit this season but I’ll give credit when it’s due. He stepped up his game when it counted most. He utilized his WR1 as well as the other threats in his arsenal, namely Jill and Jenn. MM had no answers on defense and Joey dropped dimes when dimes needed to be dropped. Gryffindor lives on to face Eyes Downtown in the semis next week so their moral victory will likely only last a week, but that’s a week longer than MM has.

Slytherin That End Zone was the technical favorite in this game as they were the 4^th seed over Bullet Club at 5. I’m not considering this an upset though. First of all, I heard from many sources Gary would be playing QB for STEZ as Newman had a prior engagement they all knew about back when the schedules first came out. So suffice it to say I was a little shocked to see Newman himself warming up on the sidelines this week ready to go in. I’m not sure if it was because of Gary’s no-so-great performance in his warm up game last week or if it was all an 8 week long head game they were playing but it didn’t matter. Good Ricky showed up and showed up hard. He was out there threading the needle and dropping bombs to his receivers. STEZ kept it close but Ricky but his team on his back and marched them into their spot in the semis.

The No Punt Intended/Puckett All-Stars game was probably the biggest legit upset of the day. NPI finished comfortably in 1^st place in their division with a +/- differential of +101. They allowed the fewest points to be scored and scored the second most. PAS however, had a -53 +/-, scoring the second least and allowing 278 points against. That said, anyone who read my article last week will know that this isn’t entirely surprising either as PAS has been known to tank in the regular season then turn on the jets for the playoffs. They did it last year, apparently they are doing it again. Now maybe they got lucky because NPI was without QB Kyle Coniff so Glenn Bird was in to throw. I have nothing but respect for Glenn but when a team has been playing around a Russell Wilson type QB all season, things aren’t going to go the same when Big Ben steps in. NPI picked the wrong day to have a bad day and it cost them what was very likely to be their championship. Puckett All Stars take on Frodo Swaggins next week in what should be a fairly evenly matched game if everyone has their full teams show up.

At 11:00, A&A took on a shorthanded Dilfs and I’m still trying to figure out WTF happened. A&A had most of their roster. I did notice Jamy was not in attendance along with a couple of their new receivers, but their main core of players was there. The Dilfs were missing Dubey and Tommy Hughes (honestly I’m not real sure who else is on this roster). It started off as a defensive battle which neither team is known for. In the absence of Dubey and Hughes, Travis once again went in at QB. Fortunately for the Dilfs, an entirely different Travis showed up than the one who played last week. The Dilfs kept their plays within 15 yards for the most part and marched down the field. A&A answered back using the same strategy and the game was within a score for its entirety. A&A scored to tie it up with 2 minutes left then got their conversion to take the lead. The Dilfs then got the ball and marched down the field. They scored to go up 5 with less than 10 seconds left. Matty Ice gave the ball to Delaney to attempt to launch it down the field but they were unsuccessful and the Dilfs moved on to face Peachy Platoon in the semis.

End Game went into the playoffs at 5^th seed after what can only be described as a roller coaster of a season. They lost game I feel they should have won and won games they should have lost. Luckily, none of that matters in the playoffs. This past week they took on 4^th seed Jabronies. Jabronies have also had some ups and downs this season but most people would have counted them the favorites. I’m not saying I would have but I know EG to be a vet savvy team with years of experience. If Jabronies slept on them at all, EG would capitalize. That could have been what happened here or EG just decided they were done messing around. Dave took charge of his team and they utilized all their weapons. He used the height of his receivers. I saw Brandon Farr jumped about 3 feet in the air to come down with a TD and their females were lights out. From what I saw, it looked like EG just plain wanted it more and they live on to play Sticky Bandits next week.

Speaking of Sticky Nation, they beat All We Do Is Quinn 33-7. Yes, you read that right, 7. One of the top scoring offenses in the league was held to 7 points by the 6^th seed. AND to top that off, SB were missing two of their main players in Andrew Kicak and Ricky Recckio. So what happened? Well, from what I saw, Vince had a rough day. In the time I was there, he threw multiple picks or overthrew open receivers. Moral was at an all-time low early in the game. Before half time, AWDIQ looked defeated. I’ve heard tell that the Quinns always choke in the playoffs and thought that was a little harsh but after witnessing it firsthand I have to say there’s something to it. Mike Thomas was back in at QB for SB who claimed he was always going to come back for the playoffs. SB rallied around their QB and were clicking on both offense and defense. If they can take that momentum into next week and get their full roster on the field, it will be a close battle next week between them and End Game.

Practice Squad has been quiet this season but came away with a respectable 5-4 record. After moving up from D6 last year, they seem to be fitting in just fine in D5. Hope N Ruin finished just below them after a season plagued with attendance issues. Both teams appeared to be at full strength (but let’s be honest, I haven’t memorized anyone’s roster) and the game stayed close. B was on the sidelines reffing instead of throwing for HNR as their usual QB was back in action. Their game plan doesn’t seem to change much from game to game and it was effective in this game. PS had a couple bounces go their way and made some big plays at key moments. In my humble opinion, Fiegel and McCabe should definitely be in contention for D5 MVPs and Renee should be in the talks for the females. I’m not sure who PS will be playing next week due to a snafu in D5 but whoever it is I don’t envy them.

TMA took on The Replacements, who appeared to be missing the vast majority of their roster. One roster check later and it was confirmed that TR had illegal players. The game continued as usual though because it’s the playoffs and who wouldn’t want to get a game in before the semis next week? Illegal players or not, TMA had the edge all over the fields. TR were missing Swanson and their QB Moon. TMA’s females had no match ups and Ryan was able to use them. Nick had a big game once again as no one on TR came close to matching him in height. So even though they would have won by forfeit regardless, TMA legitimately won 22-21. It looked like they were easing off the accelerator once they found out it didn’t count so hopefully next week they can pick it back up to a level they will need to be at in order to make a game against pAssless Chaps. I didn’t see much of their game against Tater Tots but I heard it was closer than expected. PC gave TMA their first loss of the season this year, so it could be anyone’ game come Saturday.

The En Fuego/Cobblestone game was the snafu I mentioned earlier. I’m not going to get into it but here’s the basics. Cobblestone miraculously got all their guys to show up, including Darryl. They balled out and took it to En Fuego, winning 26-23. EF complained of an illegal female, turned out they had one too. League management decided the best way to solve this conundrum was to replay the game.  So they will play again at 10:00 and the rest of D5 will wait to see who they face after that.

That’s all I have for you this week. To those of you whose games I did not catch I will do my best to take note and make it a point to see some of yours this week. My current weather forecast says it’s going to be cool but fingers crossed we have clear skies. That could change by week’s end though. This week only 22 teams will be making their way to the fields. If your team didn’t make it we would all still appreciate the support if you came out and watched some games. For those of you still in the running, I wish you all a healthy and happy semifinals. Remember, I’ll be watching…

~ courtesy of...The Sentinel

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