League News Update 3-12

This one is going to be short, but here are the basics. Yukon took on Bar Harbor this week and as most people predicted Yukon did come out on top. Mack Pleasant was named AFC offensive player of the week as well as player of the game for his incredible performance. He had mutiple touchdown receptions and over 250 receiving yards. Bar Harbor's rookie saftys just couldn't cover him and after the first 90 yard bomb the game seemed to be over. Despite this there was still some good play calling on both sides of the ball and it was an interesting game to watch. Bar Harbor also put their new free agent accusition to use and he performed very well, he never dropped a pass. Around the league things went as usual.

League News Update 3-11

Here's the League News Update for week 11. I am sad to announce that I have fallen behind on these, so the next few will probably be brief summeries of the week. First off though let's once again have a look at the Yukon Yeti, who took on the well balanced Carson City Comets this week. Right away I just want to make clear that Carson City is a good team, not an average team, a very good team, probably one of the top 5 best in the NFA right now. Of course remember that the Yeti are also on that list, so I was expecting quite a good game. Well... the stats speak for themselves, Carson City was blown apart, 56 to 14. Yukon's offence in the first quarter was incredible, not normal incredible, but scar incredible. Mathis' first 3 passes all went for touchdowns. Yukon's defence played most of the game because the offence was scoring so quickly, and it put up some good totals on its own. Charlie Joyce was hammered with a constant pass rush and he threw 2 interceptions that both went for touchdowns the other direction. All of this happened in the 1st half, so after the half the score was 49 to 0... oh yeah, and Torry Mathis got injured in the second quarter on the drive after his 3rd touchdown pass. Ben Harris comes in, first passing play goes for another 6. Either something was seriously wrong with Carson City's defence or something was seriously scary with Yukon's offence in the first half, and I'm betting on the latter. The second half saw Carson City's return and they finally played as people expected, but it was a bit too late then. Torry Mathis finished the game with a 158.3 passer rating and 263 pass yards. He also completed 4 touchdowns despite being injured in the second quarter. His passing stats ended up at 10 for 12 with a 83% completion percentage. Ben Harris went 2 for 4 passing, and both his completions were touchdowns, which brings his total to 99 yards passing and 2 touchdowns. On the recieving end of the ball Mack Pleasant and T.J. Oliver led the way with 3 touchdowns for Mack Pleasant on 3 recpetions for 120 yards and T.J. Oliver also had 3 touchdowns on 3 receptions and 165 yards. Overall this game just made Yukon look scary... really scary. Not much else happened this week, Bar Harbor won one to stay within persuit of the Tribe, and that concludes my League News Update for week 11 in the NFA.

One on One with Tim Peterson

The other day, Sportscenter and EPSN the Magazine writer Stuart Scott, had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Yeti halfback Tim Peterson about his devastating injury.

Stu: First of all, when do you expect to get back on the field?

Tim: Well I am definetly missing the whole regular season, might be able to play the playoffs if we get there, and hopefully the Super bowl.

Stu: How does it feel to be watiching your team play from the sidelines?

Tim: Well Stu, I just feel terrible, I really want to be out there helping my team as they go on this undefeated season. I would be out there playing hurt but my doctor and the coach both say that I need to get alot of rest and come back full strength.

Stu: Do you still encourage your teammates and act like a mentor and a coach to the young players out there?

Tim: Oh yeah, I give them tips when they come back from a play, mainly the running backs.

Stu: Well it was great talking to you Tim, I hope that you recover fully and come back full strength.

Tim: Thanks Stu, great talking to you.

League News Update 3-10

Let's take a look at the Yukon game first, since we've been doing that lately. Yukon beat Topeka with a score of 39 to 7. Yukon defenitely got a sell out crowd for this one and I'd say the fans got their money's worth. Torry Mathis led the Yeti with perfect passes and incredible speed and awareness. He finished the game with a passer rating of 90.3, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He also totaled up 324 passing yards and a completion percentage of 54. Mathis ripped Topeka's defence apart on big third down plays where he ended up rushing for a total of 69 yards on 5 attempts. This combination kept Yukon rolling and it is the reason the Yeti didn't punt once in this game. However, the Oilers defence did show itself as one of the better units in the league as they held Yukon in check when they got near the redzone. Yukon's kicker; Ronnie Johnson kicked 6 fieldgoals including a 51 yarder that hit the goal post support. Rushing wise you've already heard about Torry Mathis, but Ki-Jana Carter was also big after finishing with 105 rushing yards and an average rush of 4.3 yards. He's not Tim Peterson, but the combination of running and deadly passing kept Yukon's offence on a roll and defenitely showed it to be one of the best in the league. T.J. Oliver was by far Mathis' favorite target as he had 8 receptions, 146 yards, and a touchdown catch. Richard Cummings totaled up 63 yards on some big plays and Mack Pleasant had an incredible diving catch straight up the field for 43 yards. Once again Yukon did a great job of spreading the ball around and the defence never knew who the ball was coming to. On the defensive side of the ball Yukon put on an ironic performance considering their last game. They held Larry Taylor (the QB for the Oilers) to 37 passing yards and let him leave the field knowing he completed the game with a whopping passer rating of zero. Taylor threw 2 interceptions (one to Francis, one to Harry) and only completed 6 passes out of 21 attempts. However, the Oiler's running game soared with a total of 96 yards, including a big 76 yard break out run by Tre Evans; the starting HB. Yukon's powerful pass defence and dynamo of an offence really hammered the Oilers and near the end they were able to let loose again and finally start scoring touchdowns. Topeka tried hard, but there's only so much you can do against the Yeti it seems. I now believe that Topeka is actually quite a good team. I reported earlier that they were a one year show, but I now believe this to be incorrect after seeing their recent performance against the Yeti. They excell at the run, but they lack at the pass, and usually their good defence makes up for it, but not today. The Oilers are a good team, but they're still not in the same class as Yukon. In other news, it looks like the once powerful Mexico Bulls are falling back as they lost to Tiburon this week as they move their record to 5 and 4. It also seems like Thomas Logan is helping the Lightning as they beat the powerful Wizards this week, 23 to 20. The Atlantic Tide also suffer another loss under their poor QB as they fall to the Hawks 14 to 19. Meanwhile the Liberty keep rolling in the NFC, right on par with the Yeti. The Captains played the Tribe this week in a big game and they lost 19 to 18. With this loss the Captains fall to 5 and 4 as well as lose their spot as number 2 in the AFC North division. It was a good game with the Captains being in control untill a few mistakes on offence and defence led to a big turnover and a long pass play of 92 yards that led to the Tribe's victory. Next week the Captains take on the Dragons and after that they host the Yukon Yeti. Another week in the books.

Middle Linebacker 3-9

Middle Linebacker is a critcal position on the defensive end of the ball. You can pretty much consider him the quarterback of the defence. Personally I'm going to come out and say that I think Terrance Bryant is the best MLB in the NFA right now, and he probably will continue to be for most of carrer. Bryant combines run stuffing defence with incredibly soft hands. He's picked off more passes in his first 3 years then I think that most average corners pick off in 6. He started the franchise as a rookie and has anchored Bar Harbor's defence throughout their seasons. He continues to impress me with incredible run stopping and pass coverage. I expect him to get nominated for at least one award this year and he should defenitely make the Pro Bowl. Now I speak as the person who runs the Yukon Yeti, Bryant has real talent and I should know. I have 2 excellent linebackers who are both above average players and keep my defence in the game; Lionel Nipper and Anthony Moss. Nipper is the starter and is a better cover MLB then Moss, but Moss is usually more useful for clogging lanes and stuffing the run. When run the 3-4 defence I usually get good results, but nothing like just having Terrance Bryant out there on any play. He gets in the action time after time, and makes huge plays regardless of what position he's put in, wether the Captains are running Dime or 4-3 defence, I see this guy making big plays that matter. Terrance Bryant is a game changing player, and one that will certainly give Bar Harbor the advantage against any offence, pass or run.

League News Update 3-9

Week 9 passes in the NFA with some interesting contests and scores. We'll break it down, coming up. First off the Yukon, Portland game. I know you're probably wondering why I'm reporting about this when it probably was a blow out, and it was 61-10, but this is defenitely one of those games where the score does not say it all. Yukon's pass defence looked horrible, and I mean really bad. If they play like they did this game they will lose to any team with a good defence. Portland's QB Brad White was playing the whole game injured and threw for 293 yards and a touchdown with only 1 interception. He had a passer rating of 71.2 and a completion percentage of 51. These stats are phenominal for any QB when playing one of the top overall defences in the NFA. Torry Mathis also threw 2 interceptions in the first quarter, one to rookie Marc Wolford (SS) and one to former Bar Harbor corner Marc Stabler. Despite these somewhat demeaning interceptions, Mathis put on another show with a passer rating of 111 and 6 touchdowns. He also threw for a total of 371 yards with a completion percentage of 55. These stats led to him being awarded the AFC Offensive player of the week award, an award he's no stranger to. After Mathis threw his second interception Yukon's coach pulled him out in favor of Ben Harris. While Harris only threw the ball 5 times, he looked a tad shaky passing today, however his running skills continue to impress as his only run gained a nice 18 yards. Yukon does an excellent job of sharing the ball, and today really showed that. 5 players had rushing yards, both runningbacks, 2 of Yukon's 3 quarterbacks and the fullback and they all rushed for a number at least in double digits. Receiving wise was incredible for spreading the ball. The Yukon Yeti threw to every possible elgible reciever except for the 3rd string running back. All 5 wide recievers, all 3 tight ends, the halfback and the full back, all caught passes. T.J. Oliver once again led Yukon with 129 yards and 3 thouchdowns. Mack Pleasant had some big gains and Richard Cummings was excellent, especially on the first passing play of the game in which Mathis and Cummings improvised a short route to capitalize on the defensive scheme resulting in a 60 yard plus touchdown. Brad White's one interception was thrown to Rich Francis, who's proven himself to be worthy of 3rd string corner and he's defenitely been getting a good number of picks lately. Another thing that seems minor, but really impressed me was Yukon's punter. He punted an average of 54.3 yards and 2 of his 3 were inside the 10 yardline and one of them ended up forcing a safty after Portland's runningback was stuffed in the end zone. His 3rd punt was a touchback. This was still a pretty strong outing for Yukon's offence and run defence, but the pass defence was just plain ugly. When you give up 451 total yards to a team like the Flyers, you know you need to start changing something on defence. Let's see what Yukon does as they've got a Super Bowl rematch next week as they take on the Topeka Oilers. Around the league we have a huge accusition this week. Former Atlantic Tide star QB Thomas Logan was signed by the Hartford Lightning this week. Orland Plummer is now going to start seeing the bench, but this move may save any hopes for the playoffs. Meanwhile the Tide are going to have to live with a bad QB as Cade Lewis has been placed on the IR and is out for the season, but this hasn't slowed them down one bit in their recent game against the tough West Virgina Wizards as they took the victory 40 to 17. The Sante Fe Bandits also clinched their very first win of the season in a South West game versus the Tuscan Kings. Meanwhile let's have a look at the Bar Harbor, Montana game this week. Bar Harbor took this one in a pretty easy win. Montana is defnitely not looking good right now. Darren Poole threw for 253 yards and 4 touchdowns despite his 2 interceptions. He finished the game with a completion percentage of 51 and a passer rating of 91.3. However, Poole didn't play most of the second half, he was injured about midway through the 3rd quarter. I don't know what the Captains' game plan is, but it clearly invloves keeping Adrian Justice on the bench (for what reason I don't know, but there's some weird rumor going around about it being something to do with the way he throws) because they put in 3rd string QB Shawn Warren. Warren had a rating of 39.6 with only one pass completion for 11 yards. He only threw 4 passes though, so he did pretty well with a completion rating of 25. At runningback Bar Harbor has rookie star Luther Hodges who rushed for 60 yards and a total average of 2.8. The passing game once again played a big role with 1st string Antwaan Peterson getting a total of 131 reception yards along with 3 touchdowns. Bar Harbor's other's receivers fared alright with last year's rookie Alex Gilbert following Peterson with a total of 5 receptions for 45 yards. These recent successes in the passing game have ranked Bar Harbor at 5th for passing offence in the NFA. Defensively Bar Harbor did decently considering their recent performance. While Avery Holmes was able to throw for 279 yards and 3 touchdowns, Bar Harbor absolutely put on a dominating performance with their run defence holding Montana to a overall total of 8 rushing yards on 8 attempts. Back on the pass defence front Holmes did throw 3 interceptions. Ryan Diamond picked one of these for a touchdown, he also had 6 tackles on the game. Bar Harbor middle line backer star Terrance Bryant put on an excellent performance once again with 2 interceptions and 5 tackles. Antwaan Peterson was named the player of the game, as Bar Harbor seems to continue their recent stretch of wins. Bar Harbor faces the Tribe next week in what looks to be a very intense and closely matched game. Both teams have the same record and this could be huge for determining the playoff picture in getting a wild card spot assuming Yukon continues their constant success. Week 9 wraps up and there are still 2 undefeated teams around.

League News Update 3-8

The NFA is underway once again and week 7 goes by. First off I'd like to take a look at the Yukon, Montana game this week. Montana got completely destroyed with a final score of 62 to 7. This game also was big for Yukon in 2 aspects, both injury related. Yukon Yeti star running back Tim Peterson is out for at least 10 weeks with a dislocated elbow, this injury took place early on in the game, so now 32 year old HB Ki-Jana Carter is the starter. The other main aspect is that Torry Mathis the star QB for Yukon was also injured early on, his injury took him out for the entire game and possibly a bit of next week's game as well. Ben Harris played most of the game at QB and he put up numbers that are starting to mirror Mathis' during his rise to fame. Despite playing less then half the game Torry Mathis still put up 230 passing yards and a touchdown with a completion percentage of 43. Ben Harris threw for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns with a completion percentage of 66. Ben Harris is looking very good at QB, and plays just seemed to click just as well with him or Torry Mathis as Harris was named the player of the game and also AFC player of the week. Another advantage to having Harris at QB is the incredible speed you get. Harris rushed for 42 yards and one touchdown on 4 attempts. These attempts also came on big 3rd down plays that were key in keeping the Montana defence on the field. Montana's defence simply broke down near the end and Carter was finally able to gain some ground, his total rushing for the game stands at 52 yards on 11 attempts. However the biggest reason for this blowout was probably the large amount of turnovers forced by the Yukon defence. Six takeaways led to a large time of possesion differential and with Yukon's offence on the field throughout it kept feeding the powerful Yukon defence when it did come onto the field. The five interceptions were fed by Lionel Nipper with 2, Rich Francis, Ted Watts, and Antwaan Mason all with 1 each. Montana's poor offence and the overwhelming offense of Yukon contributed to this huge blowout. However it will be very interesting to see how the loss of Tim Peterson affects the Yukon Yeti run at the playoffs. The other powerful team in the NFA kept rolling this week. The Boston Liberty beat the Mexico Bulls (game of the week) with a score of 34 to 14. Another interesting game to look at this week would be the Bar Harbor Captains at the Tiburon Sharks. While the Captains did manage to win this game with a score of 27 to 24, it felt as if the Captains could've pulled ahead by more if they'd tried. I'm not sure if this brinkmanship is intentional or not, but one particular move by the Captains has me suprised. The Captains did not start Adrian Justice, their recent accusition from the Madison Timberwolves. He was slated to be the starter for the Captains and to usher in a new era at the starting QB position, but he's being benched in favor of the Captains second string QB, Darren Poole. Poole has started a few games earlier this season and he does look to be a promising QB... at backup. However, we're going to leave the judgement calls to the Captains' manager and see what works for them, maybe he knows something I don't. We'll see the comparison soon enough as the Captains pay a visit to the Montana Grizzlies next week in what is sure to be an interesting match up after the Grizzlies recent blowout at the hands of the powerful Yeti squad. Meanwhile Yukon comes to Portland to face the 1 and 6 Flyers. Next week's game of the week is the Wyoming Wildcats at the Carson City Comets, both squads have won 6 games, but the Comets have an extra loss due to a bye week for the Wildcats. It should prove to be another interesting week in the NFA.