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Ladies and gentlemen of the TSL, we have officially made it through the regular season. Looking back on the beginning, there have been some surprises along the way as well as players/teams doing exactly what they were supposed to do. It was a whirlwind session and you all did not disappoint making it exciting to observe. Here’s what I saw this week:

D1

Tight Ends in Motion took on Losing Streak in another game with key personnel not in attendance. There was a lot of airing out the ball and letting receivers make a play from both sides. John Caie from Losing Streak made some nice plays on defense but TEs kept doing what they do best and came away with the win. LS lost Ralph Finney during the game to an injury and picked up Alex Baker. Baby Baker showed his dad some moves but experience trumped youth this time. 

Sticky Bandits finished in 5th place following their loss to Slob Kabobs, who jumped up to the 4th seed. Bandit Nation was working with a skeleton crew, missing QB Mike Thomas, Brian Stevenson, and Andrew Kicak. They tried out Adrian Cannon under center and brought in Tony Sanchez to sub. Sanchez had a pick 6 on Seth Molisani on the first play of the game. SB followed with a big stop and proceeded to score, going up by 2 scores early. SK woke up after that though. SN needed a gender score at the end of the game but a Ben Stack pick sealed the deal. 

Sticky Bandits went on to play Public Enemy late in the day. With even more players missing, Cannon’s receiver options were limited to Jeff Krol, Andrew Kicak and Sal Gandolfo. Then Gandolfo got hurt and had to be taken to Urgent Care so Alex Baker came to save the day again. Public Enemy was reeling from their earlier loss to Eyes Downtown and showed no mercy to the poor, unfortunate SBs. Baker did score a deep TD late to prevent the shut out but a rookie QB and missing WRs1-4 is tough to overcome. Laura Streeter had a great game and had a constant positive attitude, which is tough to do when you're down big. 

As I said, Eyes Downtown pulled out the win over Public Enemy to prevent the undefeated season. I didn’t see a lot of  this game but I heard PE was up most of the game. They were missing Heather Cepuchowski which hurt them. Eyes Downtown capitalized and used their females effectively. Emily Belfield had an incredible sideline catch. Chris Cole went 0-3 on deep balls at the end of the game and a TD pass by Belfield tied it up. ED was able to get the conversion so PE had a chance for one last drive but an offsides call on Mike Boccio was followed by an overthrown ball and ED took the win. 

D2

Speaking of ruining an undefeated season, TopShot took away the perfect record for A&A with a 19-16 win. A&A was missing Matty Ice so Travis Cleavenger stepped in. While he seemed to have chemistry with wife, Val Bernal, he struggled to connect with his other receivers. TS took advantage of A&As mistakes and came away with the win. 

The Notorious BNB took a win over XTC, 44-32. BNB had Jeremy Olson to throw and I think I saw Ben Stack in the game but that can’t be right because he’s a D1 player and not on their roster...Anyway, XTC had Anthony Battaglia throwing in the absence of Brandt Dubey and it did not go well. Joey Batts was playing with an injured finger but defense is what killed them. They could not get a stop and BNB just kept coming.

D3

Cobblestone had a tough week against Grey Hair Don’t Care, who seem to be rolling at the end of the season. Daryl Carr could not connect with his receivers at all and GHDC were not fooled by Sam Lattucca throwing. GH is running on all cylinders now and they have talent top-to-bottom. This game was out of hand early and GH even had someone else try throwing a couple while Dave Eickhof ran some routes.  

Frodo Swaggins shut out Show Me Dem TDs in their last game of the season. Derek Pew played a much cleaner game than the last time I watched him. He found Tammy Buczek in the endzone twice. The SMDTDs QB continued to misread the field. He missed a lot of open receivers. The redhead girl made some really great catches but until they can get consistent attendance and a reliable QB, this team is better off dropping back down. 

Last Dance versus The Untouchaballs was one of my favorite games to watch of the day. Lots of back and forth action made this a close one throughout. The Untouchaballs were missing Melanie Linsmair but they had solid female receivers. They were the fortunate recipients of 2 lucky bounces, one of which coming late to make it an 8 point game. Unfortunately the guy who picked it got greedy and ran it in instead of pitching it or stepping out to take time off the clock. Matt Newman and LD got the ball back and marched down the field. A gender TD was needed so Rachel Parker threw a TD pass to Anthony Barnessi to tie it up. It all came down to the conversion when Justin Garbacz caught the game winner.

D4

Buffalo Vice and Breast Friends was a nail biter throughout. Both teams were missing players but those there came to play. BV’s Steve Lozo made some real nice defensive stops and was a great outlet for Seth Molisani to chunk it up the field. Katie Keller subbed for BF and had a great deep TD catch, taking advantage of broken coverage. BV struggled to communicate on D in the first half, but they were able to put it together in the second. Emma Patterson had a big catch late in the game that sealed the win for the ladies. 

Puckett All Stars beat up on Falconies to pull ahead of them in the standings. Mark Ward made some big plays and was definitely WR1 this game. Joe Miano and Co couldn't get their usual offense rolling and I saw a couple big drops. Jason Neth had some nice touches but Falconies are going to need to come up with some more stops to make it through the first round of playoffs.

Itches & Ohs versus Today’s Feast was about what you’d expect. TFs QB had a lot of misreads. On defense, they couldn’t stop the females of I&Os and this game was never actually close. Steve Moser was smiling so you know they had to be up big most of the game. TF did manage to put up 36 points though so props for that and we hope to see you next season. 

Practice Squad and The Titsburg Feelers Replacements game was a shit show. Scott Keller Jr was in at QB while Scotty Dro played WR. A series of misfortunate events on both sides ended with PS being up for most of the game. The Replacements kept it close but not that close. Ashton Fiegel had a great TD catch against Emily Curry. Kenny Lantz and Joe Ferguson ran great routes. Val Bernal had a pick on B. Scott Keller face planted in the mud then benched himself. It was a mess but everyone looked like they were having fun. 

D5

WoodPeckers and Come From Behind was not a very pretty game as each team made their share of mistakes. Paul LoVullo has had a solid season so far but he missed some throws in this one. Joe Buscaglia and LoVullo traded picks in the first half. Buscaglia took a sack on 5-1 which CFB answered with a TD. Jenn Stachura’s route running was just spot on. WPs have solid guys and females and continue to improve every season.

Not So Sticky beat 716 without Ricky Recckio, Mike Thomas or Kyle Messina. Despite missing players Rags, Paul Scinta, Jeff Krol and Karl Smith balled out. The females on both sides played very well. 716’s #42 was a monster of a receiver. He was there to bail out his team when they needed him but NSS hit their stride and came out with the win. 

D6

TMA and Travis Henry’s Kids played each other back to back in some weird scheduling/make-up snafu. Both games were one sided in TMA’s favor. Ryan Henry played very well using all his receivers. John Langley couldn’t get anything going on offense for his team and tried to force the ball. Rich Turner had a pick after he threw into double coverage. I only watched one of the 2 games but I heard the second went just about the same as the first. Both teams got themselves a first round bye in the playoffs though so this weeks games can easily be forgotten by THKs. 

Victorious Secret lost to Blitzkrieg when they also fell victim to the attendance issues plaguing the league this week. Offensively, Jordan Lawson was able to move the ball around but they struggled on defense. Blitzkrieg was able to capitalize on their height and speed advantage and VS had a lot of trouble defending it. Fortunately for VS, they draw another gender team in the first round so they have time to work things out with, hopefully, their full roster.

That is all for the regular season of Fall 2021. If you are on one of the unfortunate teams who did not grasp an elusive playoff spot (Show Me Dem TDs, Super Freaks, Practice Squad, GUCCI, Today’s Feast), be a good sport and come by to support/hang out next week anyway. If nothing else, you can maybe see the team that knocked you out get knocked out themselves and that’s always fun. I’ll leave you with my Top 5 Notables of Week 8:

1. Zach Jenkins (Not So Sticky)- is the clear “go to” guy for his team whenever they need to make a play on offense. 
2. Bullet Club- got their first win of the season, leaving Super Freaks as the only Defeated team
3. Travis Cleavenger- played QB for the aforementioned team in their first win and overcame a tight game against Buffalo Vice to secure a playoff spot for his ladies
4. Kelly Kane- as far as I know she’s the first full time female QB in our league. This week she subbed for The Angels and made it a true all-female team in a close loss to 4th and Dong
5. The TSL BOD- the group of people who keeps things going smoothly, especially this week when Topper abandoned us all

Until next time, I’ll be watching...

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