Zero Guarantees: Season 14 Championship

Jett Zero, Ray Bentley
Banner Image by Andy Hamilton

We’ve arrived at the moment we’ve been building to all season: The 14th SFL Championship Game. Two league mainstay teams, but neophyte championship contenders, will vie for the hardware today at 3pm on FTF. A classic battle between the Sioux Falls Sparrows and the Atlanta Swarm is about to unfold, with the victor posed to make league history with their first Championship. Before we get to our pick’em, though, we wanted to quickly thank the league, fans, and community for their enthusiasm and support throughout the season and the year. Now, before the big man himself gets to shout it, it’s time for Jett and Ray to coin their own phrase in regards to Zero Guarantees. The ball is teed up and ready to go. It’s time… to PICK IT!

NOTE: There are no ties in the SFL, except in the Zero Guarantees / Community WhoYaGot race, where we have tied at the end of the postseason, regardless of today’s result. Congratulations to all!

#3 Sioux Falls Sparrows 27 #1 Atlanta Swarm 30 Sunday, April 26 | 3:00pm EST [FTF] It all comes down to this. Of the twenty contenders that started the season, and the ten that stayed through the playoffs, only two remain: the Sioux Falls Sparrows and the Atlanta Swarm. As the sun sets today, only one will stand, as the Simulation Football League's Season 14 Champion. Each team has made the postseason, but this is the first time that either will have played in a game of such import. Make no doubt about it, the Swarm and the Sparrows belong here, facing off for the ultimate glory this afternoon. So what of the game itself? Atlanta, being the number one seed, plays host to the Sparrows at #3, and haven't lost a single home game this season (with two total away losses to their record). Sioux Falls matches the Swarm's 4-2 away record for the season, which puts them in a better position to try and topple the first seed as the visitors. Personnel-wise, the Swarm hold a slight advantage with quarterback Marcus Dunhill being floated as a possible MVP, with running back B.D.G. Hollewood right behind him (literally and figuratively). Sioux Falls, however, has halfback Colin Hart as their dark horse candidate, and his statistics have the edge of Hollewood, with 3 more rushing touchdowns and a slightly better YPC average. If the Swarm aren't able to get B.D.G. going against the fourth-best rushing defense in the league, then they'll have to rely on their receiving corps, specifically Siege Falco, Dave Axis, Jamaal Wooding and Boo Chisholm. While they've been moving the chains all season long, they'll be matched against the Sparrows' self-proclaimed 'INT machine' secondary, including Jay Ringgold, A.J. Levye, John Barnhart and Terrell Davis. The keys to victory for each team lie in their strengths: Can the Swarm get the trinity of Dunhill, Hollewood, and Falco going? Will Sioux Falls be able to effectively maximize their ground game while keeping their air attack precise? We've crunched the numbers, and in the end, Zero Guarantees is siding with the community on this pick. The Sparrows will play a close contest, but fall just short of history by three. To be fair to Sioux Falls, I also said that Queen City was going to their fifth championship appearance before the Sparrows pecked that plan apart wholly. Either way, we're in for a classic bout between two titans fighting to prove they deserve the honor of being crowned Champions this afternoon. I, personally, can't wait.

Zero Guarantees Season 14 Playoffs Record: 6-2
Season 14 WhoYaGot Playoffs Record: 6-2