Birds Rising
SUPER 16 – It was a high-flying air show in the halloween weekend Game of the Week in the Super 16 as the AF#11 Birds of Prey, the South Division front runner, took on Geno’s Jaw Breakers, the division leader from the East, with the Birds coming away from the contest with a 199-175 victory that was secured by Sunday night. led by a 31 point performance from their lead halfback LeSean McCoy and a strong showing on defense, Roger Tripp’s Birds advance to a 6-2-0 record to maintain control of the South Division. The win was their 56th of all time, putting them at an amazing .700 all time win percentage, the best in the Association. The Birds now take a 2 game lead – along with a 2 point head to head victory in Week 7 – on division rival Who Dat Saints who were upset this weekend by a winless BEARMINATOR squad who made a 44 point special teams comeback on Monday night in their SimulPlay game to beat the Who Dats 195-173. The Who Dats now sink to 4-4-0 and BEARMINATORS are 1-7-0. In another rivalry match in the South, the second edition of the 2017 Battle of Texas was a close and exciting high scoring affair, with WTF HOUSTON coming out on top of BIGDOGINTEX, 205-199. With the win, Houston moves into 3rd in division with a 4-4-0 record and getting dangerous, now on a 3 game win streak, while the Dallas Dogs fall to 3-5-0 for last in the division.
The AF#4 SF’s BowMen took their second hit in a row, going down 145-190 to an over-performing Eagle has landed who came into the game ranked 14th in the league. BowMen will now drop to a 5-3-0 record after being ranked the #1 team in the Association just two weeks ago. How many hits can they take, and still keep going? The West Division leader, AF#10 1 Eye Til I Die, had a 6-1-0 record going into their Week 8 game against North Division boss, meigzoh’s The Dawg Pound, who was 4-3-0, and were also unable to stem an upset, losing this one 183-212. The S16 West’s other two teams, the AF#7 Arizona Firebirds and the expansion Bucking Broncs were facing each other this week, for the second time this season. The Broncs won the pair’s first meeting in Week 5, but this time around, it wasn’t even close, with the Firebirds coraling the Broncs 173-105. 1 Eye remains first in the division and overall thanks to a Week 1 victory over Arizona, but the Firebirds move into the league #2 spot, followed by the Birds of Prey at #3. BowMen fall all the way to #5.
The Dawg Pound’s upset victory over 1 Eye, gives them a solid 5-3-0 record and moves them into #6 place overall. It also lets them hold on to their single game lead over Motor City after the Kitties beat rival Indy-structibles by the slimmest of margins, 146-143, after a failed Indy comeback attempt on MNF. The Kitties advance to an even 4-4-0 record. Chicago needs to put together at least 2 wins over the next 5 weeks if they don’t want to beat or share the ignominous record of worst season in S16 history, currently shared by Geno’s Jaw Breakers (2-11-0) in 2016 and BIGDOGINTEX (2-11-0) in 2015.
Back in the East Division, the Jaw Breakers’ loss in the Game of the Week, leaves them with a 4-4-0 record and relinqueshes control of the division to the Northern Fins. The defending champion Fins took care of business with a tough 182-170 win over division rival Steel Curtain and climb to a 5-3-0 record, good enough to rank #4 overall. Steel Curtain is left at 3-5-0 and must still play BowMen and 1 Eye before the regular season is out, as well as two matches vs Eagle has landed. Eagle’s upset victory, meanwhile, gives them a 3-5-0 spot on the standings, and if they can put a run together, still have the capability of finishing 8-5-0, likely putting themselves into the thick of it, although the Jaw Breakers still possess a 4-1 division record that would give them a great deal of leverage should the division plunge into any standings ties.