PIT TOUCH and FLAG FOOTBALL in WINNIPEG MANITOBA - FOOTBALL!

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Congratulations to each of our 2015 Summer champions! It was a great season with even greater parity. The championships brought everything from overtime drama, fights, great plays, and even greater drama. A full recap of each of the games including pictures will be up on the site over the coming days. For now here are your 2015 champions:

Flag: Blitzkrieg
Elite: Iced Earth
Division 1: The Horde
Division 2: Knights
Division 3: Warpigs
Division 4: Sleeveless Monstars
Division 5: Enforcers
Division 6: Mega Powers
Division 7: Necessary Roughness
Division 8: Fat as F**K
Division 9: Law Firm
Division 10: Dammit Donald!
Division 11: Old Skool

Each of the players on these teams will have their names inscribed in perpetuity on the nicest trophies in touch football!

The PIT Crew

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Championship night had something for everyone, stout defensive play, quick strike offenses, overtime battles, worst to first finishes, crazy comebacks and everything in between. This might have been the best day of outdoor finals in PIT history, helped out by the great fall weather fit for championship glory! Here is a rundown of each of the championship finals.

Flag: Blitzkrieg defeat Sports 18-14
It had been a long time between games for Blitzkrieg but they showed no ring rust in moving the ball down the field and scoring on the first drive while applying a quick three and out on defense right after. It looked like this game could turn into a blowout but both defenses dug in from there and what usually is a high is scoring game took a defensive turn. Sports had the ball with under two minutes remaining and were driving for the win when Mike Pries intercepted former Rifles standout Ryan Marsch to quell the comeback and give Blitzkrieg their first flag title, capping an undefeated season in style!

Elite: Iced Earth defeat Polk High 29-12
For the fifth straight season the reigning Elite champions were knocked off setting the table to crown a new champ. Iced Earth came ready to fill those shoes as they picked off Polk High QB Neil McKernan’s first pass of the game and the defense never looked back limiting the Polk High offense to negligible yards throughout the game. The Iced Earth defense finished with four interceptions while Polk High countered with three of their own in an uncharacteristically low scoring Elite Final.

Division 1: The Horde defeat Doggs 51-0
51 points were scored in a half of a football game with the game was downed at that point preventing the Horde from potentially putting up 100. Unfortunately that is what happens when a team can only get six players out to a championship final. The Horde wins their 8th title with little fanfare but in the process became the third winning-est franchise in PIT history behind only the Avengers (2nd) and the Guild of Calamitous Intent (1st).

Division 2: Knights defeat Remember the Titans 33-18
Third time is a charm for the Knights who lost the championship final in 2014 (Polk High) and 2013 (No D). An emotional celebration ensured after a great fourth quarter comeback which saw the Knights trailing 18-15 at one point. If you think that 18 point fourth quarter was impressive the Knights wouldn’t have had the opportunity to win if it wasn’t for coming back from an astonishing 21 points down with only 9 minutes left in the semi-final versus the Titans in what was probably the game of the season. Classy victory for a classy team, the Knights deserved to have their names finally engraved on the PIT trophy.

Division 3: Warpigs defeat Football Junkies 22-19
The Warpigs were not happy with the commissioner after jumping them up multiple divisions to division 3. A slow start to the season also didn’t help the commish’s cause and the Warpigs let him know it however the Warpigs caught fire midway through the schedule and never looked back (the Warpigs were apologetic while receiving the trophy!). A surprise QB change prior to the game by the top-seeded Junkies also factored into the drama, having said that newly promoted Junkies QB Steven Trinder took the reigns and almost led a furious comeback attempt that may have come to fruition if only they had another minute on the clock!

Division 4: Sleeveless Monstars defeat The Ledge 35-6
The fifth seeded Sleeveless Monstars had a division worst 460 points against and were faced with the top-seeded Ledge in the Division 4 tilt. This match shouldn’t have been much of a game on paper, but that is why the games are played on the field! The Sleeveless Monstars reinvented themselves as defensive juggernauts during their playoff run only allowing four TDs in three playoff games. In the championship game Monstar QB Jeff Einarson played like the team namesake, running for two scores, throwing for three and sealing the game with an interception to take home MVP honours. Championship day continued to prove that it was not a good day to be a top-seeded team!

Division 5: Enforcers defeat Rampage 33-13
It took six divisions but finally a top seeded team wins a championship as the Enforcers put an end to the Rampage in decisive fashion. The game was close until the fourth quarter when the Enforcers blew the doors off courtesy of Paul Lucyk’s 12 points and two of the five touchdown passes from Scott Rhodes. One of the hardest drinking teams in the PIT finally breaks through for their first championship trophy! I am pretty sure there were more than a few beers drank from the largest stein in recreational sports after this game.

Division 6: MegaPowers defeat The Aints 17-16
The Aints like the Knights were in their third straight championship final without a victory but unfortunately a pesky rouge stood between them and their chance at championship glory. The MegaPowers went up 9-0 on a touchdown and two-point convert on the first drive and the ensuring kick by Joel Lindgren was misplayed which lead to the ultimate game winning rouge. I have seen more games than I can count won/lost on special teams, a part of the game which most teams don’t dedicate enough attention to. The Cinderella story MegaPowers started the season 1-9 with their only win coming via default, just goes to show you just have to get hot come playoff time and anything can happen!

Division 7: Necessary Roughness defeat Nasty Boyz 15-14 (overtime)
From worst to first! Necessary Roughness went 1-19 last year when you include both a playoff loss and Sacko Bowl defeat, so it would have been tough not to improve on that record. Improve they did as they win Division 7 in an overtime thriller versus the Nasty Boyz. This game had it all, a comeback by the Nasty Boyz to tie it, a fist fight, multiple ejections, and an overtime loss in which a hotly contested pass was ruled (correctly) out of bounds as the receiver had toe-tapped their front foot in bounds but did so with their back foot just touching the line. A great game down to the wire…and a few players will sit out some additional time to contemplate their victory slash defeat during their suspensions.

Division 8: Fat as F**K defeat Cobras 26-14
The Cobras had the longest championship appearance drought in touch football having played 21 years without making it to the show. After finishing first this year they accomplished that goal however they will have to wait at least one more year to inscribe their names on the trophy. Fat as F**k’s ball control offense led by veteran Justin Breen kept the Cobras high octane offense off the field chewing up the clock on route to their first Division 8 championship!

Division 9: Law Firm defeat Gotham Knights 21-1
Always skirting the edge of lawlessness the Gotham Knights fought the law and the law won. The Law Firm led Division 9 from start to finish and came up with a convincing victory in the final. Rookie DB Jordan Moore set an all-time interception record with 30 (yes 30!) in 18 games meaning this first year player averaged 1.66 interceptions per game (which is about how many points per game he scored on my spongee team!). Wiley defensive guru Marcel Swerid comes out of a prolonged retirement to hoist his first PIT trophy and hold Gotham to just a punt single on the game.

Division 10: Dammit Donald defeat Free Agents: The Second Coming 27-19
Dammit Donald build a large first half lead but had real trouble trying to fend off the second-half charge of the veteran leadership of Kerry Surnix who led the Free Agents back to within just a single point with three minutes left to play. After getting the much needed defensive stop and only requiring a rouge to tie the Free Agents were marching until game MVP Lucas Wollmann intercepted an errant pass and took it back 70 yards to seal the victory! Lucas’s stat line: 1 interception, 3 TD passes, 13 points; not a bad finals performance.

Division 11: Old Skool defeat the Fighting Elms 14-6
The last of the numerous upsets on the day occurred when the fifth seeded Old Skool knocked off the top seeded (noticing the parity pattern??) Fighting Elms doing what they do best…playing stout defense. In three playoff games Old Skool only gave up six points, blanking their first two opponents in the process. The Fighting Elms did have a chance to win it however, sitting on the Old Skool 10-yard line on the last play, unfortunately the Elms couldn’t convert and Old Skool takes home the Div 11 championship.

Congratulations to each of our 13 new champions, members of which will have their names enshrined on the championship trophy for all future champions to bear witness too!

The PIT Crew

3774 Posts

Now that Nationals are completed and indoor is in full swing we can finally start to cap off all of the Summer season information. Those of you following us on Twitter @pitfootball got the first glimpses at the championship photos, here they are in all their glory on the website: http://pitfootball.com/albums/771-night-of-champions

The PIT Crew

3774 Posts

Last pics of championship day can be found here: http://pitfootball.com/albums/776-summer-2015-outdoor-finals

A few great pics of the flag championship, hopefully we can grow the division next year! Some information coming shortly regarding how the PIT intends to do just that!

The PIT Crew