World Champion Los Angeles Dragons

WFL – The Los Angeles Dragons took down London Falling 131.49 to 97.58 in World Bowl 4 to hoist the Atlas Trophy.  The Dragons took a 36.86-point lead by Saturday and never looked back.  Los Angeles got red-hot in the playoffs, posting back-to-back 131 point performances as they scorched the WFL playoff competition on their way to earning the title of World Champions.

Los Angeles wrapped up the regular season in fourth place with a mediocre record of 7-6.   They were the #2 seed from the Western Conference where the standings were so tight that the #3 and #4 ranked teams were only 36 and 38 points back from them, with the same 7-6 records, but as the post season began, the Dragons were on fire.   Led by David Johnson and Jordan Reed, the duo topped their season scoring averages by 133% and 126%, respectively.  In the Western Conference Wild Card Game, Los Angeles destroyed City Of Champions, 113.03 to 64.05.  Then, moving on to the conference finals, they redeemed a week 1 trouncing by the conference leader Buenos Aires Blue Dogs, rolling over them 131.84 to 105.26 to claim the western title and punch their ticket for the World Bowl.

This year’s World Bowl, the 4th in league history, was hosted by the 2014 World Champion Jerusalem Cheesheads in Tel Aviv, Isreal, with London, who beat the Cheeseheads by less than 3 points in the Eastern Conference Championship, designated as the home team.  The Falling, winners of World Bowl 1, and host city for World Bowl 2, did not start anyone in the Thursday game, but took the field Saturday night, resplendant in their powder blue and yellow unis, starting RB Alfred Morris to get things rolling.  Morris had plenty of opportunities for London, but could only manage 49 total yards on 17 touches (4.9 points).  Los Angeles, however, had kicked things off on Thursday night football.  After wearing red and white all season, the Dragons may have been aiming for an intimidation factor, debuting their black on black unis with the red numbers and helmets.  They started Derek Carr (204/1/1 for 18.16 points) Thursday, and Reed (129 yards and 2 TDs for 23.60 points) on Saturday.

London was led by Blake Bortles with 28.22 points (368 Pas Yds, 1 2PT, 4 TD/2 Int) and Julio Jones, who scored 20.87 (178 Rec Yds, 1 TD) in their comeback attempt, but it just wasn’t enough.   David Johnson (39/1/88 for 15.77 points) sealed the game for the Dragons on Sunday.

The Championship win means the 2016 World Bowl 5 will be held in the City of Angels, in the Dragons’ home stadium, the Los Angeles Colliseum.