Dragons of Los Angeles
WORLD LEAGUE – The defending 2015 Champion Los Angeles Dragons continue their rampage of devastation in their quest to repeat in the World League, finishing the regular season with their league record 8th straight win to post a 10-3-0 record. Not only did the Dragons get their record breaking win in the finale, but did it against none other than the Eastern Conference #1 and league scoring leader, beating the Scandinavian Stars 106-82 in what may have been a World Bowl preview. Los Angeles is run by AF Registered Coach Joey Drakor and enter the post season with the Western Conference #1 seed and a first round bye, Los Angeles has scored 105 points or more in 7 of 13 contests this year on their record setting streak, despite losing Adrian Peterson to injury in Week 2. They have an excellent chance to be the first World League team to ever repeat a Championship, and with the World Bowl being held in Los Angeles this year, they could be the first team to ever win that Championship in their home city.
It won’t be the easiest road to get there, though with the dominance and firepower stacked up in the West this season. The Conference #2 Dacusville Devils finish the season with just as impressive a win, posting a Week 13 high 112-61 victory against the Eastern Conference #2 Old England Patriots in another game with the chance to be a World Bowl preview. The Devils finish 2016 with a 9-4-0 record, second only to the Dragons who they beat in Week 2, and are also the total points #2. They will play the Western Conference‘s Points Wild Card, the Mexico Aztecs who surpassed Buenos Aires for season points at the very end in the Week 13 finale, defeating Jerusalem 108-84 to punch their ticket into the post season.
Despite their loss to Los Angeles in the season finale, the Scandinavian Stars still managed to capture the Eastern Conference #1 seed and a first round bye. The Stars finished the regular season with an 8-5-0 record as the league’s highest scoring team, averaging 105 points per game, and went into the record books with the highest score in league history with their 177 point Week 3 performance. The Eastern #2 seed, Old England, started the season off winning 7 of their first 9, and topping 100 points in all 7 of those wins, but they limp into the playoffs, not having won a game since Week 9, and scoring over 65 points just once in that final stretch, finishing 2016 with a 7-6-0 record. They will play the Eastern Conference Points Wild Card, the Dublin Bay Prawns in round 1. Dublin finished third in the East by record as well as by points this season, and split their matches vs the Patriots, beating them 104-92 in Week 12.
The 2016 World League Playoffs, has an awful lot of brass in the trophy cases of the teams en route to World Bowl 5. The six teams competing when the playoffs kick off this week include 2 former World Champions, 4 former Conference Champions, and 2 former World Bowl runners-up for what should be a very exciting playoff season.
