PIT TOUCH and FLAG FOOTBALL in WINNIPEG MANITOBA - FOOTBALL!

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In a night of upsets, nine third and fourth place teams won championships and six of the eight undefeated teams were unceremoniously shown the door. Once again the statistics showed that parity reigned in the PIT and as long as you can make it into the playoff rounds anything goes! Listed below are short synopses of how each of our championship games finished.

Elite: The Horde Defeat Polk High 36-20
The Horde struggled through the Fall season with injuries, missed games and alcohol addiction finishing dead last in elite, however when the playoffs rolled around the Horde showed the league why they have been the winningest team in elite over the past three seasons. The Horde shut out the first place LW United 42-0 in the semi-finals and then held a 30-0 lead in the championship game before easing off the gas pedal to cruise to a 16-point victory over Polk High. The Horde have now claimed the Elite title in five out of the last six seasons staking their claim as a dynasty team in the PIT.

Division 1: Guild of Calamitous Intent defeat The Gentlemen 31-26
Keith Bougeois has himself a day scoring 25 points while being thrust into a safety spot on defense for the first time during the season. The Gentlemen had a chance to win this back and forth affair on the last play of the game but a timely defensive play by Chris Krupa and interception by Justin Stewart ended a very competitive game. The Gentlemen act like their namesake and rescheduled the championship final. After the game the two teams drank Crown Royal till the sun came out together reminiscing of the great plays that went down during the game. How top division ball should be played!

Division 2: Mayhem Football defeat Meat’s Pizzeria 29-12
Meat’s Pizzeria, winners of four straight championships across four different divisions had their own dynasty going and looked like they were going to deliver a fifth straight title after going 5-0 in division 2 during the regular season. What they didn’t count on was Todd Rhoden’s return to Winnipeg after a few years of hiatus to continue his own winning ways. Mayhem pulls the upset by virtue of some timely throws by Scott Rhodes and some great rushing by Craig Keyser who is one of the few to hold the ever elusive Jeremy Lomanaco at bay.

Division 3: Mapetown defeat Team West 32-6
Mapetown goes West to capture the Division 3 title in a convincing victory over a team who suffered some injuries going into the finals. Mapetown capitalized as Dharmpal Brar scored a touchdown, threw four TD passes and had a sack in victory. As we shall see this top-seed was one of the few to actually win a championship this Fall. Mapetown has really started to round into shape as Sukhmen Brar has brought some of his knowledge from the top divs…no longer do we see man defense every play from these guys…a little knowledge goes a long way!

Division 4: Dammit Donald defeat Bert Stare 16-7
Bert Stare was our second undefeated team to get knocked off as Dammit Donald pulled off their third championship in four seasons (another dynasty in the making?) The two best defenses in the division squared off both giving up less than two touchdowns a game on average. Dammit Donald was able to keep that trend alive holding the high powered Hoan Mac led offense to just seven points. Brad Karpiak had three interceptions for Bert Stare however Matt Choi did the damage offensively scoring 10 points in Dammit Donald’s victory.

Division 5: The Filthy Few defeat Vikings 27-21
The game of the night on Friday as the Filthy Few and the Vikings combined for 14 points in the final 13 seconds of the game. The Vikings tied the game by scoring a touchdown and hitting the two-point convert leaving the Filthy Few with just 13 ticks on the clock before overtime. However, overtime was not a foregone conclusion as a long pass to midfield following the kickoff meant it was time for a Hail Mary which went into the end zone, bounced off some hands and right to Andrew Barnbrook for the winning touchdown. A crazy ending to a well played game by both teams.

Division 6: Red 21 defeat Beats by Ray 40-20
Both the top two seeds were knocked off in the semis (including the undefeated first place team) and the upsets continued as the bottom seeded Red 21 dropped 40 on Beats by Ray. Red 21 QB Chaanse Fennell threw a season high six touchdowns passes, five to Eddy Nyongwa. The Beats defense just had no answer on this day. Beats by Ray will need to change their name to Beats by Red after this one but we are sure this team will come back stronger after having a great season of their own under their belt.

Division 7: Organized Chaos defeat BFFFFL 35-20
Why did BFFFFL lose this game? Well the fantasy chicken did not make an appearance! Well that and perhaps the tallest team in PIT history used a spread offense that had all five receivers scoring on the night to rack up 35 points. It is difficult to defeat a team that spreads the ball around that well. Reid Buchanan had a nice night for the chickens as he threw for three touchdowns, scored two and had a sack but it wasn’t enough to stop the chaos!

Division 8: Danger Zone defeat Trivial Touchdowns 25-14
Danger Zone wanted to drop divisions even after making it into the playoffs as the fourth seed. But as we have seen it wasn’t a good night for top seeds. First Danger Zone knocked off the undefeated Patalia Island (notice the trend) and then the second seeded Trivial Touchdowns. Mike McCheyne threw for seven touchdowns on the night as the teams entered the holiday season Danger Zone from which there was no way out!

Division 9: Mayhem defeat Young Guns v2 26-6
Another fourth seed another championship! Mayhem knocks off the Free Agents in overtime and then the Young Guns giving up only 14 points all playoffs. In the finals Anthony Chase threw three touchdowns and both Brett Hiebert and Tyrone Oakley hauled in two interceptions and a touchdown a piece. When I wrote earlier that it was a bad day to be a top-seed, well as Mayhem proved is was a great day to be a fourth seed!

Division 10: The Rouge defeat Bad Newz Kennels 27-1
Another division and another top seeded team goes down in flames as the Bad Newz Kennels were held to just one point. The Rouge implemented the dreaded orange peel defense which left no room of the Bad Newz receivers to find open space. The Rouge knocked off the top two seeds, in no small part to the nights MVP Rob Noel who combined for 48 points in two games as the Rouge ran the gauntlet of having to play both their semis and finals the same night!

Division 11: Average Joes defeat Hail Mary Heroes 23-12
You can’t make this up as the undefeated Hail Mary Heroes met defeat for the first time in the championship game courtesy of the Average Joes who also knocked off the top two seeds en route to the division 11 championship. The high powered offense of the Heroes was stymied by the Joes staunch defense led by the four sacks and the safety of game MVP Steven Nikkel. Marshal Desrosiers threw three touchdown passes in victory to three different receivers.

Division 12: Old Skool defeat NWA 31-28
Ripe off their Summer championship victory Old Skool kept the good times rolling as they capture their second consecutive championship via a three-point thriller over NWA. Game MVP Josh Hazelhurst threw for three touchdowns and scored two more while Darrian Stemble countered for NWA with thirteen points of his own. This game came right down to the wire but it was the veteran savvy of Old Skool that won out on this day!

Division 13: The Kings defeat The Filthy Casuals 19-6
The Kings bucked the trend and joined MapeTown as the only teams with perfect 5-0 records that ended up taking home some hardware. In an uncharacteristically low scoring game for this division the Kings eked out a victory. Only one combined interception for the two teams meant that the defenses were forcing turnovers on downs again and again. The Kings broke out for a late touchdown to put this one out of reach at the end.

Division 14: 1 in the Pocket 2 in the Endzone defeat the Sneaky Beavers 48-9
The top-seeded Sneaky Beavers had only given up only 33 points all season, an average of just 6.5 points per game. That was until 1 in the Pocket dropped 48 on them in just one game! MVP Daniel Thurlbeck had a game high 30 points and Jesse Schmidt threw six touchdown passes in victory, the second franchise championship they have put in the end zone.

Division 15: The Free Agents: The Second Coming defeat the Graceful Giraffes 48-12
What do the Graceful Giraffes have in common with most of the other 5-0 teams on this day? There championship aspirations would be squashed as they gave up a remarkable 42 points in just the first half! Kory Stagg took home the second half kickoff for a touchdown breaking the shutout but the Giraffes were put out of their misery by the 24 points of Michael Peter, 12 by Allan Bloomfield and the seven touchdown passes by Todd Hersak. These Free Agents should be signing big off season contracts based on their play in the fall!

Division 16: The Waverley Warriors defeat Santa’s Little Helpers 27-26
Graceful Giraffes QB Kory Stagg dusted himself off from his upset loss earlier in the night to lead his Waverly Warriors team to a nail biting one-point victory on the strength of four touchdown passes. Santa’s Little Helpers scored a touchdown late in the game to pull within one point and went for the two-point convert for victory which fell just short. Santa’s team was lead by the four touchdown passes and an interception by Damian Bialkowski. A great game between two very sportsmanlike teams.

Coed 1: Flying Squirrels defeat the Coed Free Agents 30-19
The Flying Squirrels put an end to the Coed Free Agents Cinderella season. Early pundits predicted the Free Agents to be cellar dwellers but they shocked the division by going 4-1 and taking the regular season crown. The Squirrels had to knock of their arch-nemesis and second seeded Assassins Legends in the semis then the top seeded Coed Free Agents in the final. Jennifer Keith had a great game for the Free Agents scoring two touchdowns but Andrew Barnbrook replied with five touchdowns and all thirty points for the Squirrels who won their third consecutive competitive coed championship.

Coed 2: Dolls and Balls defeat There’s No Crying in Baseball 35-15
First year team Dolls and Balls win the Coed Rec championship in no small part to Reid Buchanan’s four interceptions, four touchdown passes and two points while There’s No Crying was led by the coed power couple of David Noorden and Andrea Tyler who combined for 12 points. These two teams epitomize what the coed division is about, great players who are sportsmanlike, spread the ball around to everyone on their respective teams, and can be found in the lounge after games. The coed division is in good hands if we can continue to get teams like these two newcomers playing.

Thanks to all 100 teams who competed for the 19 divisional titles during the Fall season! Each of those 19 divisional trophies will be engraved “Stanley Cup Style” with each player’s names inscribed on the trophy.

The PIT Crew