By Matthew Slinn, Jett Zero, Bryant Dynasty, Jack Brown and Ethan Kye
Images by Jonny Law
(Movement) | Recap |
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1 |  | (-) | Once again. Denver sit atop our Power Rankings as the #1 team in the league. Now, there has been a lot of talk about who the best squad in the SFL is, Denver and Louisiana, and obviously we seem to have come to the collective conclusion that it is Denver. However, history does have a part to play in this. Louisiana, starting as a fresh team this season, have slowly had to prove their credentials and work their way up the Power Rankings compared to the Nightwings, who were already established as firm favourites. Denver have done nothing to dissuade us from this assessment, and the Revolution are still rising. If either team lose a couple in a row, expect the situation to drastically change. On Denver's road victory against Carolina. Basically, it was a tough win against a team they were expected to beat. The same could be said for the Week 8 match up with Charleston. |
2 |  | (-) | Welcome to the Big Leagues, Jack and Mack! The new Baltimore Vultures shone bright in a 47-7 drubbing of the Houston Hyenas to cap off Week 7 in the SFL. QB Jack Wigmore, in his debut replacing Mike Dazzo, went for 29 of 40, 285 yards, 3 TDs and 2 interceptions. LB Alvin Mack, replacing Joe Dazzo, had 4 tackles and a fumble recovery for a score. The Dynamo FS Giovanni Bolt had 3 tackles but was responsible for 3 of the 5 Baltimore interceptions, continuing his past dominance over Houston. The team and Vulture defense will look to repeat their 6 forced turnover performance on the road against the Mexico City Aztecs in Week 8. |
3 |  | (-) | The Sioux Falls Sparrows do what they have been doing and that's getting the job done on the ground. The Sparrows lean heavily upon Halfback Colin Hart and can you blame them, the man is a beast on a mission and that mission is to carry his team to the final game. Hart would have 18 carries for a total of 160 yards on the ground. Lets not forget the shot caller though Julian Tyree as he went 18 for 23 and 223 yards connecting with Wide Receiver Gunner Lewis who had 5 receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown. The defense did a pretty good job of stopping the Glory's run game as the held Ike McBride to 30 yards on 15 carries and forcing 2 fumbles. Those 2 fumbles would be caused by Nick Fargo who also had 7 tackles 1 assist and 2 tackle for losses. The Sparrows take on an inconsistent Queen City team. Will the Sparrows fly high or have their wings clipped? |
| 4 |  | (-) | They just keep doing it! Even after losing their owner, coach, and star defensive back Gerald Smith, you would think the Revolution would stumble and fall off but no, Jeff Mellynishin and company have been able to pick up the pieces and push forward with still only one loss on the season. Their most recent outing involved them taking on the Vancouver Legion right at home in the lovely city of Houma and then proceeded to simply push the Legion to the side by flattening them 20-6. Mainly via not one, not two, but three interceptions. Two from star safety Tank Bennett and one from LB Blake Craize because ya know, 2020. On offense it was all the Reggie Streeter as Jonny 2k only tried to pass 14 times while Streeter rushed nearly 40 times, going for 235 yards and a TD. On the whole, Louisiana had a darn good game for themselves against a formidable Vancouver side, cementing themselves in the playoffs. (THE REST OF THIS WRITE UP HAS BEEN REDACTED AS TO NOT JINX THE LOUISIANA REVOLUTION). |
| 5 |  | (-) | Jacksonville prop up the Top 5 in our rankings, a group that seems to be pulling away from the pack, apart from Mexico City who are clinging on. The Kings are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, and their 40-30 road victory over the Atlanta Swarm proves this. Yes, the defense didn't look all that convincing, but it was enough to secure victory, and that's all you need from any side of the ball. QB, Christiansen seems to be really getting into a nice rhythm down the stretch, which is great news for the Kings. In fact, CC won Player of the Week honours. We're betting he can back that up at home versus Chicago this weekend. |
| 6 |  | (-) | Ramos Lynn seems to be producing another winning season - an even more remarkable feat when you think about the heckling the Aztecs received after what seemed to be a poor draft. What this proves though, is that great coaching can outweigh questionable personnel decisions, especially when it comes to the regular season. The Aztecs stay in #6 position after their home victory over Portland, a game in which you would bet your house on them winning. It wasn't always perfect though, and an improved performance will be needed this weekend if they want to keep pace with the teams above them. |
| 7 |  | (7) | Holy Toledo, Batman! The Charleston Predators defense is looking like their Season 14 self again! Did you see their game against the Chicago Wildcats? They held them to under 200 yards on the day and they grabbed 3 interceptions! With one being a pick six from linebacker Tony Zanardi! A Linebacker Batman! When was the last time you saw that happening!? They only let up one touchdown all day and it was a rushing touchdown! They did not let up a single passing touchdown and they sacked ET King 3 times! They’re really looking dangerous and now they’re sitting just outside the playoff picture and are on the exact same record and with a win next week over Denver they’ll be right in the thick of it! Batman, the Joker must be behind this one! We gotta get on it! |
| 8 |  | (1) | Sheesh, that was bit of a tough one Vancouver. 3 interceptions from Tom Pepper however he got over 250 yards through the air, which is well more than double what Pichler got…on nearly triple the attempts through the sky. He also got sacked 4 times for 19 yards lost. Honestly Pepper just did not have a good time. Meanwhile Redford might as well have not existed, as he didn’t even get 50 yards on the day. Despite all this, Vancouver still managed to crack 300 total yards on the day. Meanwhile the defense was smashed by Reggie Streeter allowing over 200 rushing yards on the day. Now look, Streeter is GOATed, but man, that is not what you would expect from this season. But hey, still gotta get back on the horse at the end of the day. Or well, that doesn’t seem to be the case for VAN as they are now 3 straight on the trot of Ls. They need to turn things around now. Or we may not be seeing any playoff football in the great white north this fall. |
| 9 |  | (1) | This was a big game to lose for Atlanta. A victory would have seen the previous champions hit a positive 4-3 record and a playoff berth as it stands - the loss puts them in a dogfight with half of the league, sitting at 3-4. Offensively, I really like what Atlanta do. They make life easier for rookie Bryant Dynasty by giving him a swing pass option on nearly every play, and both Dynasty and BDG Hollewood are reaping the benefits. Many analysts in the community are commenting about BDG's lack of production, but in my opinion they are missing the point. Hollewood hasn't ran much this season by design, obvious when you look at his receiving stats. BDG Hollewood is having a great season but in a different way, and his contribution extends to Dynasty having an all-time great rookie season too. The Swarm's issues come on defence, something they need to clean up down the stretch. This will be made harder after the recent losses of Dillon Roland and Aaron Lee. |
| 10 |  | (1) | While Louisiana seems to be doing okay without their owner in place, Chicago has been doing…not so well. Going on a tour of sorts of losing to sides from the Carolina's. Taking an L to Carolina 17-9 last week and losing to Charleston this week 19-13. Chicago has, since Shann was yeeted, scored just one touchdown, going over 7 quarters before scoring their first Shannless TD. Everything just seems to have fallen off in the Windy City. In their most recent game, Ethan King threw 3 INTs against Charleston including one to rookie LB Tony Zanardi that was taken back for six… yikes. He also took 3 sacks on the day. Things just are not great in the second biggest city in the country. Hopefully things can turn around in the next few weeks and they can keep themselves at the bare minimum together. They still have a winning record but the way things look, that won’t be a fact for too much longer. |
| 11 |  | (1) | Queen City Corsairs move down 1 spot to 11 with a loss to the Tulsa Desperados. This was not one of their more impressive games. AJ Caswell would throw 3 interceptions and 1 passing touchdown. The Corsairs really need to work on getting halfback Jett Zero going if they wanna get that win. Jett Zero would only get 8 carries for a total of 16 yards. If they can get things figured out in this last stretch of the season i see them make the play offs. Now they move on to face off against a hot Sioux Falls Sparrows team. |
| 12 |  | (1) | A tough loss for the Florida Storm, but not to say they didn't come out looking to snuff the flames of the Fury out. The Fury proved to show that the Storm were just an overcast with light showers as Quarterback Ron Cockren would throw 4 interceptions out of the 53 passes he threw. Cockren would however connect for 34 of those passes 10 of them to Wide Receiver Optimus Cline who would have 131 yards with no pay dirt. Cockren would however connect with E.J. Mincin and Jeff Comeau for the 2 touchdowns he would throw for. The defense young bright star Linebacker Erich Hammer would have 10 tackles 2 assist 2.5 sacks, 1 pass deflection and 5 tackles for loss. Cornerback Ryan Davidson would take 2 away from Tom Ramen and Ryan Tobin, who also had a great game, would help leave devastation where he could with 9 tackles 1 assist and 1 pass deflection. The Storm stay at home this up coming week to take on the Tulsa Desperados. Will Gabriel Manning and the Desperados be able to to defeat the Storm or will the Storm come out and leave devastation and wreckage upon the Desperados? |
| 13 |  | (4) | Fort Worth Toros move up 4 spots to 13 with a win against the St. Louis Gladiators. The Toros managed to shut down the the Gladiators offense picking off rookie quarterback Javier Vasquez 2 times and only allowing him to pass 136 yards and only allowing him to complete 18 of the 35 passes thrown. This was a great win for the Toros as they managed to goose egg the Gladiators at the Gateway Colosseum. Xander gold was able to hook up with Stephen Hacker for a passing touchdown and Ben Stone would pull off a pick six in a very defensive battle. Can the Toros keep it up and try to get a win against their in state rivals the Lone Star Glory who the fell to in the last match up? Lets see if they can pull off the win. |
| 14 |  | (1) | We can never quite figure out where to place Carolina. On one hand, they are a plucky squad that are always difficult to beat and grind out some good victories. On the other, they look like a team destined to get within a whisker of the playoffs, only the miss out by a victory or Strength of Schedule. James Cline, Harish Prasad and RaeRae Colston have assembled a strong roster of players to get them to the Post Season. They just need to gain some consistency, none more than quarterback, Sully Richardson. He is the beating heart of that Skyhawks team and he needs to beat faster. Time is running out. |
| 15 |  | (3) | The Las Vegas Fury prove why its hard to face them at home as the defeated a hot Florida Storm team who was on the road. You would think this would be all on the shoulders of Quarterback Tom Ramen, but it isn't so this time as rookie Halfback Scott Johnson would finally find his mark and tear into the Storm. Johnson would gash the Florida defense for 207 yards on 25 carries and scoring 3 touchdowns. We cannot how ever forget that QB Tom Ramen did do his part going 17 for 28 and 194 yards and a touchdown connection with Wide Receiver John Blades. The Fury defense would play lights out as Linebacker Slinn Shady would have 8 tacklea 1 assist 1 sack and 1 tackle for loss. Rhett Sawyer would do his thing as he is paid to do he would have 5 tackles 3 of them being sacks. The Fury DB's would take turns getting an interception a piece only leaving out Merrick Itera who would not get a present from Ron Cockren. The Fury stay at home to face off against the St. Louis Gladiators will the flames burn brighter or will the St. Louis defense snuff them out? |
| 16 |  | (4) | Continuing a very up and down season the Arizona Scorpions fall to the London Knights, 24-16. On a 3 game losing streak something needs to be shaken up in the desert. Losing HB DJ Moses early hurt the Scorpions offense immensely, turning them very one-dimensional. QB Ashley Jackson finished 18 of 36 with 220 yards with 5 interceptions. The Scorpion defense was able to take down London QB Angus Maclaine 5 times and pick him off 3 times. They'll look to repeat that success at home against the league-leading rookie QB Bryant Dynasty as the defending champion Atlanta Swarm visit Fatality Field to kickoff Sunday of Week 8. |
| 17 |  | (1) | Lone Star Glory lost to the Sparrows in a great game. Lone Star is really showing they have what it takes to move forward into that play-off run, they just have a few minor kinks to work out still. The Glory put up an impressive outing with Ace Fenech going 34 of 44 passes for 372 yards 4 touchdowns and 2 ints. His main target thru the whole game would be the diva himself, Dave Axis who would have 8 receptions for 73 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Glory really utilized their Tight end Adam Williams and Wide Receiver Liam Hammer to move the ball down the field. Adam Williams would have 10 receptions for 163 yards and Liam Hammer would have 5 receptions for 121 yards. The defense really had to rely on their safeties to help stop Colin Hart and the Sparrow's run game as Free Safety Thomas Smith and Strong Safety Lincoln Kingseed Sr. Would have a combined total of 21 tackles and add that in with Linebacker Freddy Tramel and you have a total of 31 combined tackles, so you know this defense was busy. The Glory travel a short distance to Fort Worth in another battle for Texas rematch. Can the Toros shut the Glory down or will the Glory move to 2-0 against their neighbors? |
| 18 |  | (3) | The Houston Hyenas took a whopping 47-7 loss to the Baltimore Vultures in primetime. After holding the Vultures to just one score through most of the first half the Hyenas couldn't wait to get to locker room. WR Leroy Brown hauled in 5 grabs for 91 yards and both Houston scores. His signal caller QB Kentez Johnson went 20 for 40, 260, 2 TDs but tacked on 5 picks. Rookie LB sensation Brody Gulch bounced back from a broken hand injury mid-game to lead the team with 11 tackles. He'll be back to full health this week and will be leaned on to help stop mid-season MVP candidate HB Reggie Streeter and the visiting Louisana Revolution. |
| 19 |  | (1) | Tulsa Desperados move up 1 spot to 19 with a win against the Queen City Corsairs. Quite an impressive win against a tough team. The Desperados are looking to make their move to the playoffs and they are proving that they aren't playing around. Quarterback Deacon Nickens would complete 14 passes for 184 yards 1 touchdown and throw 3 interceptions. He would connect with wide receiver Khoury Jones. Lets not leave out the main reason Tulsa pulled of this win and that would be 2 punt return touchdowns. Manning is definitely a special teams threat. Lets see what happens in the next match up the hot Florida team. |
| 20 |  | (1) | St. Louis Gladiators move down 1 spot to 20 with a loss to the Fort Worth Toros. Not to bad of a drop in the power rankings with all things considered. I mean the Gladiators did get goose egged, but that Gladiator defense still showed up only allowing the Fort Worth Toros to score on them twice. Once through the air to owner/player Stephen Hacker and the other being a Ben Stone interception. The linebacking core of St. Louis seems to be pretty solid as all three Linebackers would combine for 16 tackles 4 assist 5 tackle for losses and 3 pass deflections. The Gladiators face off against the Las Vegas Fury next will the be able to pull off the win or will the Fury scorch them? |
| 21 |  | (1) | Just about everything had to go right for the London Knights to find their first victory this late in Season 15. Just about everything did and the Knights hit their stride beating out the Arizona Scorpions, 24-16. HB Robert Merrill did a whole lot with what little chances he got to help the London offense. Toting the ball only 7 times for 73 yards and 2 scores, albeit most of the yards on a single 66 yard run. SS Jack Russell was Mr. Do-Everything in the defensive side of the ball recording 6 tackles, 3 Pass Deflections and 2 of the Knights 5 interceptions. The Knights will look to see if their luck continues as they face off in the Eggplant Bowl against the Carolina Skyhawks in Week 8. |
| 22 |  | (1) | Oh Portland. For a couple of weeks you managed to stave off the abject nature of the bottom of the Power Rankings, but a typically struggling showing in Mexico City and a win for London sees you back down here. I'm not sure what to say at this point other than things can only get better, and that planning for next season should already have begun. You have some excellent pieces and vast experience in your linebacking room. Keep those three together and make sure to hold on as many of these first season players as possible, especially Connor Weston. That boy is going to be elite very soon. |
