Saturday started off with a hugely important game in the standings as the winner’s chances of making the playoffs would be close to guaranteed. Things began with a 4th down gamble by the Sooners 45 deep in their zone that didn’t pay off and the Huskies quickly turned it into 6 points. The game became a defensive struggle after the opening score, with both teams only scoring once more before the end of the half to make the score 12-6 for the Huskies.
The Sooners 45 scored almost immediately on their opening drive with a 32 yard TD pass from Jose Luis Castro Sr to Juan Pablo Castro, knotting things up at 12 a piece. Unfortunately for the Sooners, the quick score seemed to vitalize the Huskies who took over the scoring with 25 unanswered points, including a couple of deep ball touchdown passes from Raphael Levy to Ryan Belam and Brendan Sabloff, and shut down the Sooners offense completely.
With the loss the Sooners only hope for taking the last spot is to win their final game and have the Huskies lose theirs and then to win the points against battle which will be an uphill battle as the Huskies have a 37 point advantage.
The G.O.A.T.S. and Amish Cyborgs matchup saw a first half with long drives by both teams that stalled deep in their opponents territory, eating up much of the game clock with no scoring to speak of. The Cyborgs finally finished off a drive on the last play of the first half, with QB Jon Evans hitting Max Rosenfeld for a 1 yard TD pass, giving a 6-0 score going into the break.
Things opened up in the second half, with Alexandre Bresse breaking tackles on the opening play on his way to a 45 yard TD reception for the Amish. The G.O.A.T.S. answered right back with a 2 play drive and a 39 yard TD pass to Jie OuYang, bringing things right back to a 6 point differential. The ‘Borgs then scored twice unanswered with TD passes to Kevin Kousaie and Max Rosenfeld, with an interception from Benjamin Bergeron in between, giving the Cyborgs what seemed like a comfortable 19 point lead.
Out of nowhere, the G.O.A.T.S scored three straight touchdowns, including two more from Jie OuYang. With 3:44 left in the game, the G.O.A.T.S. were lining up for a convert attempt down 25-26. Stephen Persaud looked for a quick hit to the right sideline, but Kevin Kousaie stepped in front of it to pick off the attempt and hold the lead for the Cyborgs.
After stopping the Cyborgs once again, the G.O.A.T.S. would get two more plays from deep in their territory to try and win the contest and secure their playoff spot, but the Cyborgs defense stiffened and refused to allow Stephen Persaud to beat them with a last play Hail Mary, ending the game with the 25-26 for the Cyborgs.
Both teams look to get the win next week to end the season and bring things down to a points against differential, which the Cyborgs have a slight 10 point lead on.
The day ended with the battle of the top teams, with the Chèvres already having the top spot in their division locked up and the Krakens with a seat at the playoff table in hand and able to confirm their place at the top of their division the a win.
The Krakens scored twice to open things up with Kenneth Boudreau and Daniel Robinson continuing to be lethal weapons in the mid-range passing game for QB Robert Prudhomme, but the Chèvres answered back with Vincent Granata hitting Pascal Nkengue for two touchdown passes, getting things within a single point at 12-13 with a minute left in the half. The Krakens weren’t done yet though, putting together a quick 47 second scoring drive before the half was over bringing their lead back up to 7.
The second half saw no scoring until just under the 13 minute mark with Silvio Ciarrocchi hauling in a 3 yard TD pass and Mathieu-Alexandre Dupuis converting to give squids a 26-12 lead. Vincent Granata bombed another deep ball out to Pascal Nkengue for his third TD of the day to get things within a single score, but a final drive orchestrated by Robert Prudhomme and capped off with a TD reception by Mathieu-Alexandre Dupuis with under a minute left took things out of reach for the Chèvres, who despite the loss put up a solid fight against their leviathan opponent.
Next week is the final week of the season, and half the playoff spots are still up for grabs, so it should be a good one!
