League News Update 3-17

Here's the league news update for the final week of regular season play. Bar Harbor beat the Mexico Bulls, meaning both teams will advance to the wildcard playoffs. It was a good close game that was heavy on defense. Bar Harbor scored first with a safty shortly followed up by a field goal. Yukon completed the third perfect season in NFA history this week with their win over the Little Rock Crocs this week. Again I have to say Yukon looks sluggish on some of their plays and I'm wondering if their momentum is beginning to slow. However, they still took it to the Crocs and are ready for the playoffs. This week also saw the conclusion of Pro Bowl voting of which I will anounce the results of in a follow up post. Several players also won many awards that will be reported in with the Pro Bowl voting. The 2006 NFA regular season has come to a close, but the playoffs have just started, and this is where it gets interesting...

League News Update 3-16

I'm really behind on this now, but here's what I got for week 16. The Captains took on the Montana Grizzlies this week and kept their playoff hopes alive with a win. Yukon took on Lincoln and did win, but showed some slower pace football as compared to the fast rate of scoring we're used to seeing from Yukon. However, they still preformed well above any other team in the NFA right now as Mathis lit up the score board during the first 3 quarters. Ben Harris was played at QB for the 4th quarter and he preformed good especially on a long connection to Mack Pleasant. Something of positive value to note from Yukon's slower gameplay is their incredible punter; last year's rookie; Richard McCaffery. McCaffery had three striaght punts that pinned Lincoln within their own five yard line, two of these punts were on the one, and one of these punts caused a safty on the ensuing play by Lincoln. Yukon is obviously still a force to be reckoned with. Bar Harbor heads into their last game of the season with their playoff hopes on the line; they must overcome the Mexico Bulls or face elimination from the playoffs alltogether.

League News Update 3-15

Another week in the NFA and I don't have much to report on except for that ever interesting contest between Bar Harbor and Yukon. Yukon kept rolling this week with a win and they show no sign of slowing. The opening drives for the game showed some tough defence by both teams untill Bar Harbor broke open the scoring. On the ensuing drive by Yukon a simple 1 play worked to perfection as it always has seemed to with Mack Pleasant going deep for a 79 yard touchdown reception. The game was still deadlocked after this untill Patrick Andrews picked off a Shawn Warren pass and returned it for a touchdown. After this Yukon continued rolling with toucdown receptions from Derek Pruit and Richard Cummings. The Yeti relied heavily on the pass and Torry Mathis was named the AFC offensive player of the week with 6 passing touchdowns. Bar Harbor continues to struggle passing the ball as Warren also threw a few more picks throughout the game. This game puts Bar Harbor to 8-6 where their record matches that of the division rival Lincoln Tribe. What will also make this next week interesting is the fact that both Bar Harbor and Yukon keep the AFC North interesting in that next weeks matchups pit Bar Harbor at home against the Montana Grizzlies and Yukon at the Lincoln Tribe. This is another big week for Bar Harbor to capitalize on a tough game for the Tribe and maybe still retain hope of a wildcard playoff spot. This week also saw the confirmation of the Boston Liberty and the Yukon Yeti as the two teams currently with home field advantage in the playoffs. Beyond that there is little else going on this week, but as the season starts to come to an end with only two more games left to play things should get intense as teams complete for the playoffs.

Team Feature: Yukon Yeti 3-14

I'm starting a new section here for team feature. Now obviously I've covered Yukon more than enough, but I want to focus on how what they've done in the past has got them here today to one of the most potent offences in the NFA and the number 1 run stopping defense. In 2004 the NFA started and Yukon faired alright in the preseason with nothing really special about them. Something very risky and huge they did during only the third week of 2004 preseason was trade their starting QB; Charlie Joyce. Don't get me wrong, Joyce is a very good QB; he took Carson City to the 2004 Super Bowl, but Yukon coaches wanted a prospect that they could mold to the purpose of the Yeti offensive capability. Thus the former backup for Joyce; Torry Mathis was set to be the starter. Mathis performed quite effectively for the first six weeks of the regular season untill he was injured. Mathis was out for at least 4 to 6 weeks and now we have a rookie QB; Kenny Mansfield starting. I'm not going to sugar coat this; Mansfield was not what the coaches at Yukon wanted. He was slow and had major issues with keeping is head in pressure. He fumbled an average of one time per game, something that Yukon coaches were not very happy about. Yukon was still doing alright though, starting HB Tim Peterson carried more of a load during Mathis' injury and Yukon got by as an average team for that time. Once Mathis returned and played a few more games Yukon was slated for a wild card spot against division rival Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor played a very good close game against the Yeti, yet Torry Mathis and the Yeti offence prevailed and Yukon was set for divisionals. The divisional title game set Yukon on the road against the powerful Atlantic Tide. The Tide under the leadership of Thomas Logan destroyed Yukon's defense. Yukon's offense was not able to reach it's full capability thanks to the tough Atlantic defense that hardly allowed any rushing and forced mutiple turnovers. Atlantic won that game and advanced to the AFC conference championship against the Carson City Comets. The Comets under the leadership of Charlie Joyce won and advanced to the super bowl only to be crushed by the insanely powerful Boston Liberty. The 2004-2005 offseason was huge for Yukon. Without a doubt if Yukon did not get the players they did that offseason they never would've made it to the super bowl. Yukon's first round draft pick was 5 foot 11 QB Ben Harris. Yukon coaches extensively scouted Harris before hand and they very much liked what they saw. Harris was a talented QB who was very fast and had a cannon for and arm. His one weakness was has passing accuracy, which Yukon coaches started working on right away. Other key accusitions included WR Wade Thomas, SS Marc Bever, and of course Mack Pleasant. With their new accusitions Yukon went through an undefeated preseason, but Yukon coaches didn't have what they wanted yet. The receiving core struggled. First string WR Chris Anderson and third string WR Jason Williams both left Yukon. This left the 2004 5 foot 6 rookie TJ Oliver in charge. Oliver and Mathis had a hard time connecting during the first few games, it may've had something to do with the fact that Mathis was exactly a foot taller than Oliver. Despite this Yukon still won their games in the beginning, but the coaches knew that they would never be able to beat the Boston Liberty and Atlantic Tide with what they had then (both the Liberty and the Tide were huge games in Yukon's schedule that year). Upon making this conclusion the coaches and manager orchestrated one of the biggest trades that year with division rival Bar Harbor Captains. During Week 3 Yukon traded 1st string 3 year pro CB Jimmy Wayne, 3rd string 1 year pro WR Rob Gray (an offseason accusition), and 1st string 1 year pro SS Ralph Waller (who at the time was competing with Marc Bever for starter at the Strong Safty position) for Bar Harbor Captains 2nd string 1 year pro WR Richard Cummings, 1st string 3 year pro SS Antwaan Mason, and 5th string 2 year pro CB Devin Rogers. The trade was huge as Yukon's offense made major adjustments. Lamaar Craig (Yukon's 2nd string WR) was moved to 3rd string as Richard Cummings became the 2nd string wideout. Antwaan Mason became the starting Strong Safty with Marc Bever under his tutalege. However, Yukon wasn't put together yet. Yukon coaches realized they still needed something special to jump start their receiving core (now consisting of TJ Oliver, Richard Cummings, Lamaar Craig, Wade Thomas, and Mack Pleasant), but it wasn't untill Wade Thomas was traded that they finally realized the way to form one of the most potent passing attacks in the NFA to date. Wade Thomas was soon traded a few weeks after the huge trade ironiclly to the same team as before; the Bar Harbor Captains. The Captains agreed to trade a few draft picks for the rookie WR. Once this was completed Mack Pleasant was set to be the fourth string WR. Then a few days after the trade deadline Torry Mathis finally discovered the incredible talent that everyone had completely not seen coming. Pleasant was fast, really fast, very really fast. Combined with his towering height and improving catching ability Pleasant looked like everything the Yeti needed and more. Yukon's offensive coordinater then set about making formation subsitutions for individual receivers based on their strengths and the defence's weaknesses and thus one of the most potent passing attacks in the NFA was born. Mathis to Pleasant, Mathis to Oliver, Mathis to Cummings, Mathis to everybody, Yukon's passing attack spread the ball all over the place and had defences wondering if these guys were even stoppable. Yukon's defense also began to grow, however a huge setback rolled around when Antwaan Mason was injured for 12 weeks with a broken jawbone. Still Yukon's offense kept rolling as they beat both the Tide and Liberty. They finished the season with a perfect 16 and 0 closely followed by division rival Bar Harbor who only lost a few games. The Liberty also faired well that season as they only suffered 2 losses; one to Yukon, and their first loss came against the Dover Deer in a game where Boston simply screwed up. Then the playoffs rolled around with Atlantic and Yukon being the 2 teams in the AFC with home field advantage in the playoffs. Bar Harbor went to wild card and beat the Hawaii Warriors on the road. Captains at Tide was a good game, but the Tide were still a very powerful team under 2004's rookie QB; Cade Lewis. Yukon's offense easily swept aside their opponent and the AFC Confrence Championship game of the year was set. Yukon had beat the Tide earlier in the season, but they knew that this wasn't going to be an easy one despite home field advantage. The game quickly turned into a high scoring match up with the team that played mistake free football the leader. Yukon trailed most of the game untill with 1:30 remaining in the game Yukon tied it up with a Mathis to Pleasant combination. On the Tide's ensuing drive Yukon's defense held them to a 4 and out and the Atlantic Tide were forced to punt with a minute left to play and the game tied. Yukon started the next drive calling shotgun 4 wide. The first two plays were both incomplete with the second nearly being an interception, but on the thrid play Yukon struck gold on a Mack Pleasant bomb. Pleasant with reasons still unknown stalled at the Tide 4 yardline and was tackled. Yukon sent their field goal unit on to the field led by rookie draft pick; kicker Ronnie Johnson. The Tide then stopped the clock to prevent Yukon from running it down to a few seconds and then kicking the field goal. Yukon then ran the ball up the middle with FB Charles Burnett to run clock. Finally Yukon called a timeout with 1 second left in the game and the AFC Conference title on the line. They sent Ronnie Johnson out there and he was iced the first time through. With the Atlantic Tide depleted of timeouts and a second left to play Ronnie Johnson was sent out there again to determine wether the Yeti win or the game be sent into overtime. Johnson nailed it and the Yukon Yeti were super bowl bound with a team that had yet to lose a game that year. Mack Pleasant was named player of the game for 6 catches and 283 recieving yards; a phenominal total. Torry Mathis threw for a total of 504 yards. It was probably the turning point that proved to the NFA that the Yeti were a team to be worried about. Although the game was an offensive slug fest the final drive of the Tide showed some excellent defense, especially coverage wise. Antwaan Mason played most of the game with just minor hints of his broken jawbone from earlier in the season, he be 100% for the super bowl. The super bowl turned out to be a mismatch as Yukon defeated the Topeka Oilers 35 to 13. The 2005-2006 offseason wasn't as big as the previous one, but it still strengthened the Yeti as a whole. Roscoe Terrell was added at WR to bring the Yukon passing attack to an all time high. The rookies from 2005 also showed great improvement as they continue to get better. Yukon's defense also gained a lot of strength and now stands as the number one rushing defense in the NFA and 2nd for total defense (just behind Carson City). And here the Yukon Yeti stand; 13-0 with 3 more games to play. It looks like Yeti fans are in for another awesome season, but there's one possibility that I think may be likely. I predict that the Yeti will once again make the super bowl, but this time face the Boston Liberty in what is sure to be an epic game along the the lines of that Atlantic, Yukon conference championship game from 2005. Only time can tell and the Yeti keep on moving.

League News Update 3-14

Another good series of games this week as the playoff picture begins to form. Because I'm behind a bit I'm going to give you this week's scores and records and then do a bit of a breakdown...

West Virginia Wizards (9-4) at Concord Hawks (5-8)
31 to 19
Springfield Knights (7-6) at Edomton Beavers (2-11)
16 to 10
Hawaii Warriors (5-8) at Oklahoma Twisters (9-4)
14 to 21
Boston Liberty (12-1) at Dover Deer (6-6-1)
38 to 7
Bar Harbor Captains (8-5) at Little Rock Crocs (4-9)
21 to 13
Sante Fe Bandits (2-11) at Topeka Oilers (5-8)
3 to 38
Puerto Rico Piranhas (9-4) at Salt Lake Scorpions (3-10)
18 to 17
Yukon Yeti (13-0) at Mexico Bulls (7-6)
41 to 0
Kentucky Stallions (7-5-1) at Iowa Rangers (4-9)
28 to 17
Atlantic Tide (8-5) at Carson City Comets (10-3)
13 to 29
Portland Flyers (3-10) at Wyoming Wildcats (10-3)
10 to 34
Lincoln Tribe (7-6) at Hartford Lightning (4-9)
30 to 35
Montana Grizzlies (5-8) at Spokane Ospreys (5-8)
10 to 3
Jacson Dragons (4-9) at Tiburon Sharks (3-10)
17 to 24
Dakota Vipers (10-3) at Madison Timberwolves (8-5)
10 to 17
Tucson Kings (7-6) at Boise Bison (6-7)
17 to 35

The first thing about this that jumped out at me was the Mexico Bulls. Now yes they did play the Yeti this week so it's not an unexpected loss, but if you follow trades in the NFA you can see what exactly happened to Mexico. Ever since Mexico traded Luther Hodges to Bar Harbor they've hardly won a game. Mexico's entire gameplan is in tatters and just about any team can beat them right now if they come at them with the right strategy in mind. Another interesting trade related trend here is the Hartford Lightning. Ever since they acquired Thomas Logan they've been winning more consistently and this week they were able to beat a pretty tough team in the Lincoln Tribe. This loss combined with Bar Harbor's win this week puts Bar Harbor in position to win wildcard in the AFC North seeing as the Yeti have already secured a playoff spot. Another thing to notice is the Atlantic Tide, man have these guys taken a tumble. Cade Lewis goes in the IR and their whole team starts to breakdown, it just goes to show you how important a good QB really is. That's pretty much it for week 14, but there's one game I want to point out in week 15 that's going to be a good one. Bar Harbor heads to Yukon to face the undefeated Yeti in a very big game. If Bar Harbor can win this they'll knock Yukon off their winning streak and probably secure a playoff spot ahead of Lincoln. If Bar Harbor loses this one they might miss out on the playoffs alltogether depending on how tightly contested the AFC is. I defenitely expect this one to be a close game. That about wraps it up for week 14, see you next week.

League News Update 3-13

I fear I've fallen behind on my weekly updates, but here's what I recall of week 13. The Yeti beat the Tribe 38 to 14 in a fairly interesting game. The Bar Harbor Captains showed some strength this week by overcoming the Topeka Oilers on the road with a final score of 27 to 24; defenitely a good game to watch. Other teams to watch this week are the Dakota Vipers as they push their record to 10-2 with a 10 to 9 victory over the Concord Hawks on the road. The Boston Liberty are still moving well with a 20 to 3 victory over the Madison Timberwolves. This pushes the Liberty record to 11-1 with their victory over the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year, I fully expect the Liberty to get far in the playoffs and they're my favorite for making the Super Bowl in the NFC right now. That's all for this week.