PIT TOUCH and FLAG FOOTBALL in WINNIPEG MANITOBA - FOOTBALL!

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Perhaps the greatest championship night in PIT history? Four overtimes, three other games decided on the final play of the game and some record breaking performances. Winter season will have a lot to live up to! Here is a recap of each of our championship finals:

MASTERS: Rochester Jeffersons defeat Cleveland Tigers 31-27
The Rochester Jeffersons go undefeated during the season, but only held on to victory in the championship game because of a heart stopping finish. Their opponents, the Cleveland Tigers, started the season a bit slow but once the team hit stride they knocked off the heavily favoured Dayton Triangles in the semi-finals and had the lead against Rochester with one play remaining. Cue the veteran leadership of Jim Bell who hit Henry Kornelson on a deep in at the back of the end zone as the rush barrelled down and the clock expiring. This game kicked off a plethora of stunning finishes on this night of football.

ELITE: The Horde defeat LW United 36-25
The Horde take down their second straight Elite division championship besting an upstart LW United team. LW felled every team in the top division except the Horde during the regular season and unfortunately for them there was no revenge in store during the second game. The Horde’s spread offense saw five different players’ score, whereas LW was led by Nick Giesbrecht and Rhys Hansen who each scored two touchdowns. A shout out to Chad Okumura who became only the 4th QB to lead Elite in TD passes and the youngest to do so as well. The Horde have now racked up an impressive five titles in the last six seasons.

DIVISION 1: Guild of Calamitous Intent defeat the Levels! 50-34
In one of the many shootouts of the night, Brayden Bernstein puts up a Division 1 finals record 33 points in Guild victory. Not to be outdone, the Levels were led by Ray St. Mars’ four TD receptions as both defenses had trouble stopping the two offenses from racking up points. The TSN turning point was Keith Bourgeois “kiss” safety on Neil McKernan, which at the time put the Guild up by nine points, a lead they would never relinquish. Congrats to the Guild, the winningest team in PIT history takes down their record 14th divisional championship. The plethora of titles are due in large part to the teams very successful recruitment and training videos:

DIVISION 2: Football Junkies defeat Warriors 34-33 (overtime)
The Warriors were definitive underdogs going into this game as the Junkies ran roughshod over the division during the regular season however the Warriors came out firing on all cylinders and had a 32-28 lead with less than a minute left and the ball. However a costly interception gave the Junkies life and they tied the game with a Hail Mary on the last play of the game. The Warriors and Junkies scored on their first two convert attempts but a big defensive stop allowed Neil McKernan to hit Jordan Fyvie for victory on the third attempt. A tough loss for the Warriors. Hopefully this team take the loss as a learning experience. If they can protect the lead at the end of games they will become that much tougher to beat!

DIVISION 3: Bedtime for Democracy defeat The Slobberknockers 24-7
Division three teams had to run the gauntlet, playing both their semi-finals and finals the same night. Earlier in the night the Slobbers knocked off the Reapers, while Democracy put the Tribe to bed for the second consecutive night. In the finals BFD was hitting on all cylinders led by Tyler Johnston’s four TD passes and sack. While Bedtime for Democracy is the fourth and final studio album released by Dead Kennedys this is the first and hopefully not last championship for this team.

DIVISION 4:Indoor Sports defeat The Butterfingers 42-41 (overtime)
See above as Division 4 also ran the same multi-game gauntlet, which was ultimately won by the heart attack kids of Indoor Sports. Butter gave Wahoo the finger earlier in the night while Indoor Sports barley got by the Filthy Few. In the final another overtime game as the Butterfingers had control up by six on the final play of the game when they sent a Hail Mary up which was answered and sent the game into overtime. Ziggy Haluik scored for the Fingers but both Jake Kennard and Andrew Krichkowski replied for Indoor sports giving them the victory in this high scoring thriller. Two wins by a combined two points!

DIVISION 5: Mapetown defeat MooseKnuckles 2.0 26-18
Mapetown showed why they were undefeated this season, taking the lead early and never relinquishing it. Mapetown was led by12 points from both Harmon Brar and Tyrin Pruden, while Dwhyte Brissett replied with the same for the MooseKnuckles. Mapetown showed what a ‘Marauding’ Maples resident does when it sees a moose, they give it a knuckle sandwich! As a former Maples resident I commend these guys for both winning a championship and to their commitment to living in an area where every ten feet there is a stop sign and every side of a side-by-side house is painted a different color.

DIVISION 6: Ripping and Tearing defeat Nomads 47-20
Ripping and Tearing literally and figuratively rippled and tore the Nomads a new one in this game taking a 20-0 lead less than three minutes into the game (yes you read that right!) and led 35-0 at halftime. Three of the first four Nomads passes were intercepted, one returned for a touchdown and another returned to the one yard line. If it wasn’t for some late heroics by Nomads backup QB Chris Skitteral, Adam Wowryk and company would have probably hit 100 points!

DIVISION 7: The Wiserhood defeat the Men 27-26 (overtime)
Another barnburner as the Wiserhood climbed back from 18 down to tie the game and send it to overtime. In overtime there were some stalwart defensive plays as for the first few rounds left both teams scoreless. The Men finally broke the tie when Braxton McIntosh caught a single point covert. The Wiserhood lived up to their namesake making a gutsy decision to end the game by going for a two-point convert rather than attempt to tie the game. In another bold move the Wiserhood took out their QB Keith Bourgeois and substituted Max Jenson (who had scored 24 points). Max took the snap and threw a dart to Keith who made a diving catch on the sidelines to win the game. Incredible finish. This was the first season for The Men, and if this season is any indication they are definitely a team to watch out for!

DIVISION 8: Ninjas in Paris defeat Venum 30-26
In another great game Ninjas narrowly defeated Venum. Venum held the lead for most of the game however the Brothers Kochan started to take over in the second half. Mathew Kochan scored 18 and Andrew 12 as they built a two score lead with under three minutes to play. At that point the Ninjas tried everything possible to give the game away, throwing an interception, giving up two (yes two!) safeties and allowing Venum another score. In the end Ninjas limped to a championship and the two teams set what has to be a finals record as the last three minutes of game play actually lasted well over 15 minutes with all the scoring, changes of possession and safeties!

DIVISION 9: Barley Broz defeat Rhinos 25-19
The Barley Broz and Rhinos were the top two teams in Division 12 and faced off in another close final. Darren Bishop gored his way to three touchdown passes, all of which found the hands of Kyle Hosein. Not to be outdone Lionel Gauthier got back on the championship winning track in the PIT throwing 4 TD strikes, three of which went to game MVP Brett Thurston. The difference makers were Nate Bach and Mr. Thurston who each had two interceptions that allowed Barley Broz to hang on for victory. The Barley Broz had their traditional post game celebration of flights of beer, spätzle and senf after the game.

DIVISION 10: VG-Unit defeat Nasty Boyz 31-19
The top two teams faced off in the final and the Unit got Nasty in keeping their undefeated streak alive. VG-Unit got touchdowns from four different players as they played ironman in the finals. The Nasty Boyz were led by the 12 points and interception from Dustin Hladkyj. VG-Unit got their offense in gear just in time for the finals. While they struggled early in the season to score they managed to top 30 points in each of their final three games as QB Tyler Krasowski started to come into his own.

DIVISION 11: The Bullet Club defeat Lunch Bunches 22-21 (overtime)
The Bullet Club snatched victory from defeat being down late in the game and in overtime. In both cases veteran QB Travers Cummings was cool under pressure leading his team back for the tie and ultimately victory in overtime when he hit Chris Mackling for the two point convert right after Kevin Collins of the Lunch Bunches had put his team ahead. This game represented a record fourth overtime game in what was a night of incredible finishes. Our referees were also asking for overtime pay due to all the games that ran late, and like the Bullet Club the PIT admin shut the door on that request!

DIVISION 12: The D Experience defeat Team SAC 45-12
The D Experience was went wire-to-wire in the division. The class of the division continued their domination in the playoffs winning both their semi-final and final games by thirty-three points! The D Experience was led by Damian ‘D’ Bialkowski and boasted one of the top offenses and defenses in the league. The D Experience will experience some higher calibre next time they register a team in their quest for their second championship.

DIVISION 13: Danger Zone defeats Chaos 20-14
Chaos was the heavy favorites in this game having gone undefeated in the regular season however costly injuries to some key players earlier in the night meant that they were in for a tough one. Dan Mikolash led Chaos with 2 TD passes and 3 INTs, however Danger Zone pulled the upset with Matt Saville, Garrison Trinder and Cass Wilkins all scoring touchdowns in victory. A shout out to Danger Zone captain Mike McCheyne has had his name engraved on more than a few championship teams in his day however this championship represented his first as a QB. You always remember your first Mike!

DIVISION 14: Mayhem defeat Adrian Peterson School of Discipline 40-6
Mayhem wreaks mayhem over Adrian Peterson who only had four players show up to their school of discipline. While the four players that showed up for APSOD fought hard they were definitely outmatched on numbers and the advanced analytics would suggest that while it is not impossible it is pretty difficult for four players to defeat five! Seven different players scored for Mayhem but a couple of costly injuries would impact several championship games later in the evening.

DIVISION 15: Kiss the Baby defeat the Money Team 33-18
The Money team brought their A game this weekend knocking off the top team in the Division, however their luck ran out when they were hit with Neil Walton’s five touchdown passes, two each to Michael Peltz and Connor Sutherland. The Money team fought valiantly with touchdowns from Marco Valera and Harold Memita but perhaps they should have fought dirty. This might be the only way to take down a baby!

DIVISION 16: Instinct defeat Young Guns 26-8
The Young Guns were at or near the top of the ‘Power Rankings’ for most of the season but that didn’t help them come playoffs as the veterans of Instinct were able to outduel the rookies from Young Guns. Instinct got 13 points from Bo West and Player of the Week Austin Eliuk and avenged their regular season loss to the top-seeded Young Guns.

DIVISION 17: Incredible Bulk defeat Gym Class Heroes 24-14
The Incredible Bulk bulked up for the Fall season and took out the Gym Class Heroes by ten points. The Bulk have had a few rough seasons in the PIT so it was nice to seem them finally grab that elusive championship trophy. The Bulk was led by Clayton Nichols’ 12 points and Braeden Piwniuk’s three TD passes and QB sack. The Heroes replied with touchdowns from Ryan Froud and Jordan Moore but it wasn’t enough to stop the Bulk from getting their names engraved on the Div 17 trophy.

COED: Assassins Legends defeat Flying Squirrels 21-18
The two highest scoring teams in coed fought a surprisingly defensive battle. Tyler Wilcox scores 14 for the Assassins while Max Jenson scores 12 for the Squirrels in the back and forth affair. The Assassins knocked of the previously undefeated Squirrels who are quickly becoming the Buffalo Bills of touch football having lost the past three consecutive coed championship finals. Congratulations to the Squirrels Laurene Bachand who became only the second female player to lead the entire division in scoring during the regular season!

Congratulations to each of our twenty new divisional champions!

The PIT Crew