4/12 Miami at Palm Beach Punishers
Current mood: bummed
Category: but OK Sports

It was a tough defensive struggle in week 1 for the Palm Beach Punishders.  Last year Palm Beach lost 63-0 in the beginning of the season to Miami.  We were looking to change that this year.  With a high number of new players, both sides of the ball came together quickly to play some solid football against a veteran team.  The first half consisted of both offenses moving the ball but not able to put up any points. PBP's defense stepped up and post a first half shut out, their first against a tier 1 team.  The offense, behind rookie QB Melissa Savage, improved as the game went along having some success in the air and on the ground.

The second half started with a fumble on opening 3rd quarter return by PBP which gave Miami's offense a short field for the first TD of the game but the PBP defense prevented the extra point to make the score 6-0.  Field position became the key for PBP, and still in the third quarter we got the chance to take the lead.  with a 1st and goal instead Miami's 10, the offense began a strong push to get in the endzone.  But with a 4th and 1, we were denied and turned to ball over on downs.  The defense took care of matters then with a safety by Ann Marie Johnson to make it 6-2.  In the 4th, PBP's offense had another chance moving the ball deep into Miami territory, but an interception at the 10 halted the drive with very little time on the clock.  PBP drove down the field again and got down to the Miami 20 but time ran out on the Palm Beach Punishers as they lose 6-2 in a very hard fought game.

On April 26, Palm Beach takes on visiting Carolina Pheonix at Palm Beach Central High School for the first meeting of these two teams.  Game time is at 7pm.  Go to http://www.palmbeachpunishers.com/ for more information.

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Palm Beach Punishers

well, it is getting closer to football season.  Game time is quickly approaching.  here is just a little PBP video

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/mplayer/pbpostsports/79329

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New 2008 Palm Beach Punishers schedule is out

..> ..>

Regular Season
Apr 12	Miami Fury
Apr 19	@ Atlanta Xplosion
Apr 26	Carolina Phoenix
May 3	@ Orlando Mayhem
May 17	Miami Fury
May 31	@ Orlando Mayhem
Jun 7	@ Miami Fury
Jun 14	Orlando Mayhem

The entire IWFL schedule for each team is located at http://www.iwflsports.com/teams.php

7:57 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

time to move out of Orlando!!

I think many of you know that I have been trying to find a job for a very long time now here in Orlando.  Well that search expanded when it seemed the Orlando job market did not want me here.  Part of that expansion was down in the south Florida area.  As of today, that streak is over, but not here in Orlando.  The job is down in Weston, FL near Ft. Lauderdale.  Today it was made official.  I will eventually move down there which means I will be leaving behinds friends in Orlando.  I am sorry to leave the Orlando crew, but I am still in Florida and my cell phone number will be the same for long while, so you can still find me if you need to.   I will be starting the job on Nov 19^th but will be here on the weekends until my place sells.  For those of you who know me from women's football, maybe you will see on the field again since the people who helped me get the job are on the Palm Beach team and they may expect me to return the favor J J.  We shall see what the future holds.

comapany site of where i am going http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/

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NWFA Playoffs 1st round
Current mood: busy
Category: Sports

            It is playoff time in the NWFA!  After a great deal of changes to the playoff format to include the Erie Illusion and the Phoenix Prowlers, finishing 7-1 and 8-0 respectfully.  Both were given a #7 seed. 

Erie had to face one of the best teams in the league, the Pittsburgh Passion.  Erie was given an easier schedule this year than previous years and they walked through most of that schedule.  The playoffs proved to be much different.  Superwoman Lisa Horton and Tonia Henley crushed them in the air and on the ground racking up 63 point on Erie.  Erie did get on the scoreboard in the 4^th but it made little difference in the 63-7 score.  This game was more of a feather Erie's cap in their first winning season and first playoff appearance.  Hopefully this will help in recruiting players for next year.  This was also Pitt's first playoff game and will get another home playoff game for the fans next week against Western Michigan Mayhem who had a tough battle against Baltimore Burn.  Baltimore had the lead at half 6-0, but could not stop the continuous ground game of the Mayhem and wore the Burn down and put the game out of reach for a final of 33-14.

The Phoenix Prowlers were allowed into the playoffs late because the Western Conference was not originally allowed in the playoffs.  The league gave the unscored on Prowlers a chance against the St. Louis Slam.  There was a lot of Pheonix trash talking in the weeks before the game, but the Slam quieted all of that getting out to a 21-0 lead in the first half.  Still in the first half, the Prowlers got on the scoreboard helped by two 4^th down penalties against the Slam on the series to make it 21-7 at half.  St. Louis scored twice and Pheonix scored once in the 3^rd for a score of 33-15.  With 3 minutes left in the game, Pheonix starts closing in on the Slam scoring 2 more TDs making it 33-29.  The Slam get the ball last and just take a knee to end the game at 33-29 ending the Prowlers undefeated season for St. Louis first playoff win.  St. Louis will face the defending conference champs OKC Lightning next week whom they split with during the season.  OKC faced a New Orleans Blaze team that is returning to the playoffs after Hurricane Katrina knocked them out of playing last year.  Illiana Calderon gained 203 yards against N.O. running wild for 3 TDs.  OKC deal a huge blow to the Blaze winning 42-12.

The Connecticut Crush had their first home playoff game ever, but had to face a determined Cleveland Fusion team that has a point to prove that they are the best.  They took all their aggression out on Connecticut scoring 53 unanswered points for a shutout (53-0) with the 2^nd, 3^rd and 6^th leading rushers for the week for 400 yards total.  Mary Dietrick added another 180 yards in the air.  Cleveland will now face the #1 seed Mass Mutiny who has not been really tested like this. 

The last playoff game was a rematch of a playoff game from last year between the Columbus Comets and the Pensacola Power.  Much like last year, the Comets shut down the Power offense keeping them off the scoreboard.  The Comet offense was only able to put up 10 points, but it was all they needed to end Pensacola's season once again 10-0.  Columbus will face an untested Chattanooga Locomotion team.

                    Playoffs Rd. 2 (6/30)

West Michigan Mayhem @ Pittsburgh Passion

Columbus Comets @ Chattanooga Locomotion

Cleveland Fusion @ Mass Mutiny

St. Louis Slam @ Oklahoma City Lightning

For overall team/league stats go to http://www.webgamestats.com/nwfa.aspx

For Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=nwfa

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

11:40 AM - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

IWFL week 9 Summary
Current mood: busy
Category: Sports

IWFL week 9 consisted of everything from blowouts, forfeits to close games and playoff sensitive games.  The biggest playoff related game was the battle for the Northeast Division between the Manchester Freedom and the Montreal Blitz.  This was a must win game for Manchester to remain in the race.  A Montreal win would have given them their first division title and a playoff appearance.  Both teams have won a game each in their previous 2 meetings. There was much to play for for both teams.  Montreal got on the board first with a 2 yard TD run to make it 0-6.  From that point on Manchester took over.  On the kickoff return, Manchester returned it 70 yards to make 7-6.  The Freedom never looked back with a steady stream of running.  Pashkevitch scored a TD for Manchester in each of the next 3 quarters.  Manchester's defense kept Montreal out of the endzone for the rest of the game for a 28-6 win.  This win put an exclamation point on the entire series of games between these 2 teams.  Both teams are 5-2 with Manchester winning the tiebreaker.  The Manchester Freedom must win next week against the New England Intensity to win the division.  Last week New England beat Manchester.  Needless to say, Montreal will be cheering for New England.

            A much improved Palm Beach Punishers team almost had their second win on the season when the Miami Fury came into town.  They were able to keep it very close for the entire game and almost got a win over a local rival that was in the playoffs last year.  Miami won the game 7-0.  This will set up for a great rivalry next year.  The California Quake kept themselves out of the cellar by shutting out Tucson Monsoon 20-0.  They scored 14 in the first quarter to force Tucson into an uphill battle that they could not recover from.  The Carolina Phoenix held their own this year after losing in week 1 to the Shreveport Aftershock.  Carolina went undefeated for the rest of the season, finishing their season this weekend with another win over Cape Fear Thunder 29-6.  This will be a good lead into next year since they should be full members then.  Kansas City Storm added another win to their playoff season by defeating the Iowa Crush again 19-0. The Seattle Majestics continued their success on the Northwest division by dominating the Corvallis Pride 23-0.

            The rest of the games were really large point margin wins I consistantly do not talk about them.  Those scores can be found on the IWFL website:  http://www.iwflsports.com/scores.php

For this weeks Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=iwfl

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

11:35 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

NWFA final regular season summary
Current mood: awake
Category: Sports

The final week of the NWFA season did have its share of drama on the field and some off the field.  All of it related to the playoffs. 

The biggest game this weekend turned out to be the St. Louis Slam and OKC Lightning.  It was also the biggest upset. OKC slammed into a wall in St. Louis ending a regular season win streak that goes back to June 05.  The stingy defense of the Slam kept the high powered OKC offense out of the endzone for the entire game to win 7-0.  That catapulted St. Louis to the #2 playoff seed with a 7-1 record and dropped OKC (7-1) to #3.  Another game with an impact on the playoff seedings was between the Cleveland Fusion and the W. Michigan Mayhem.  The Mayhem's spot was secure, but the number of points they scored determine the seeding fate of Cleveland and the Connecticut Crush.  Shutting out the Mayhem would give the Fusion a home playoff game, but W. Michigan put a damper on that with only 6 points.  They may have lost 22-6, but they send Cleveland on the road for the first round of the playoffs.  The last game that had any chance of impacting the playoffs was Pensacola Power and the New Orleans Blaze.  N.O. just had to keep Pensacola's point total from getting out of control to make the playoffs or N.O. win the game by more than 15 to win the division.  In a very high scoring game by both teams, Pensacola walked out with the win 37-28 and the Blaze kept the score down enough to earn another playoff spot.  This puts them back where they were before Hurricane Katrina. 

Other close, notable games were the Kentucky Karma squeezing out a 14-6 win over the Milwaukee Momentum to go 4-4 for the year.  Nashville Dream get revenge on the Alabama Renegades 6-0 for their earlier loss in the season.  For all of this weekends scores go to http://www.womensfootballassociation.com/Schedule.html

The Playoffs are now set in the NWFA.  Below are the seeds and games for next weekend.  The Conn Crush get their first home playoff game ever against a team they have never faced before.  Erie finishes with their best record ever and get playoff appearance out of it, but must play the powerful Pitt Passion.  Both the Baltimore Burn and the Mayhem had one common opponent during the year, the Fusion.  Now they get to square off against each other to see who the better divisional winner is.  In the South, the Pheonix Prowlers get a chance to prove themselves against the rest of the league in the first playoff opportunity by the Western Conference.  Two very tough defenses in this battle.  The Blaze are back, but must face the defending conference champs in round 1.  Columbus Comets and Pensacola Power game is a remake of a 1^st round match up from last year.  Who will win it this year?

NORTHERN CONFERENCE

Round 1 June 23

Mutiny #1 - Bye

Fusion (#5) @ Crush (#4)

Erie (#7)  @ Passion (#2)

Burn (#6) @ Mayhem (#3)

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE

Round 1 June 23

Locomotion (#1) Bye

Prowlers (#7) @ Slam (#2)

Blaze (#6) @ OKC (#3)

Comets (#5) @ Pensacola (#4)

For overall team/league stats go to http://www.webgamestats.com/nwfa.aspx

For Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=nwfa

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

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IWFL week 8 summary
Current mood: awake
Category: Sports

IWFL week 8.

            Playoff spot were up in the air.  some of the air was cleared up after this weekends games.  Starting in Orlando.  Orlando Mayhem was very close to beating the defending champions Atlanta Xplosion in their first meeting.  The second one meant everything in regards to the playoffs.  Orlando needed to win by 8 to win the division and make the playoffs.  Atlanta planned to make it tough on Orlando on their opening drive.  Atlanta jumped on the board quickly with 7 points forcing Orlando to come from behind to win the game.  After that opening score, both defenses took over keeping the other out of the endzone one series after another.  3 ½ quarters of football were dominated by the both defenses.  By games end, not much had changed to include the score 7-0 Atlanta.  This win sends Atlanta to the playoffs and leaves Orlando as the highest ranking team not in due to there is no wildcard this year in the playoffs.  If the IWFL defending champs can avoid any upsets or additional scores, they will have a home playoff game against the NWFA defending DC Divas.

            As for DC, they had a huge game themselves against the NY Sharks (was on www.ussportsradio.com).  The Sharks had a 14 point lead last time they met before giving up 20 in the 3^rd quarter.  This time DC came out strong scoring on their opening drive making it 8-0.  Much like the Orl-Atl game, the defenses took over.  They both dominated in different ways.  NY never made it deep into DC territory except for one drive that ended on DC's 31 yard line.  DC's defense force 2 fumbles (I think) and 4 INTs.  3 of the INTs came from "Money" Hemlock (as the announcer called her), with one returned for a TD.  NY only had 112 yard of total offense.  NY's was a goal line wall.  5 times DC was in (or close) the redzone and NY stopped them.  NY forced a fumble on the 5 and the 16 yard line, 3 drives were stopped on down on the 1, 20, and 25 yard line.  Shauntey Stewart was a defensive star once again for NY.  These stops kept this game close with a halftime score of 8-0.  DC's offense was able to put up another score in the air to make it 14-0 and then the Hemlock INT made it 22-0.  DC thought they had another score late in the 4^th but it was called back on holding penalty.  The final was 22-0.  I think this may have been the first game this year that DC passed for more yards than they rushed 140 to 103.  These 2 teams have a 50-50 chance of seeing each other again in the Conference championship game.   

            The Manchester Freedom played a very important game against the spoilers of the New England Intensity.  The Intensity has the opportunity to make things very difficult for Manchester to keep pace with the Montreal Blitz for the divisional crown.  And that they did.  New England racked up 24 points to win 24-15 and put Manchester one game behind Montreal.  Manchester plays New England again after they Play Montreal this weekend.

            More than likely the Eastern playoffs will be DC traveling to Atlanta and NY possibly facing Montreal (5-1) or Manchester (4-2).  A Manchester win next weekend against Montreal will give NY a home playoff game.

             Other close Eastern Conference games was the Boston Rampage getting their first win as the 'Rampage' in a 17-7 win over Cape Fear Thunder.  This game helped the Rampage get back on track and they could finish the season with 2 more wins.  The Miami Fury beat the Palm Beach Punishers 22-7.  The big deal about this game is that Miami beat them 63-0 the first time.  This one was much closer and both were played in Miami.  Palm Beach gets another chance, this time in Palm Beach this weekend.

            Out West, the Sacramento Sirens put up a constant flow of points in every quarter along with 362 yards of rushing to fend of the California Quake 39-17.  This win keeps the Sirens ahead of the Santa Rosa Scorchers until they face off in a winner take all between the two on June 30^th.  The other close Western Conference battle was the Iowa Crush holding off the Detroit Predators 14-6 to keep them out of the division cellar.  I do need to mention one huge win by the Detroit Demolition over the Kansas City Storm 63-0.  The reason I am mentioning this game is because these two teams will face off in the first round of the playoffs…

            The rest of the games were really large point margin wins I consistantly do not talk about them.  Those scores can be found on the IWFL website:  http://www.iwflsports.com/scores.php

For this weeks Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=iwfl

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

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NWFA week 9 summary
Current mood: blank
Category: Sports

Week 9 was filled more with possible changes off the field than on.  According to the new playoff scenario, the NWFA has changed from a 6 team playoff per conference to a 7 team.  The reason for doing so was to include the Western conference winner and the Erie Illusion.  IMO, both deserve the opportunity.  Neither was originally included in the playoff race.  The Western Conference was a preseason decision to not include to remain consistent with previous year (and cost I was told).  Erie was due to playing a lighter schedule.  After discussion by the league owners, the playoffs were expanded to include these teams and the usual 6 that would have made it.  This is great.  The Phoenix Prowlers (the Western Conference winners) get to prove themselves against the rest of the league and an opportunity to fight for the crown.  As for Erie, I have always had a soft spot for them considering that their schedule over the past 5 years has been the toughest.  They are in a small market area playing the best teams in the league almost every year which are all around them.  This year they were given a more equal schedule.  They were able to handle that schedule and should finish 7-1 (that is playoff eligible).  Because of that, the league cut them a break and allowed them into the #7 spot.  This will be a great feather in their cap and something to build from, IMO.  To see what the current playoff scenario looks like as of today go to http://www.womensfootballassociation.com/A_NEW_PLAYOFF_SCENARIO.doc

           Now for the games.  Gotta start with the upset of the week.  The Austin Outlaws – Pensacola Power rivalry started last year when Austin gave the Power their first 2 regular season losses ever.  Pensacola got revenge earlier in the season at Pensacola, but this time they met in Austin.  With a win Pensacola would have been sitting pretty in the #2 playoff spot with one game left to play, but Austin has their own limited playoff hopes.  Austin took it to the Power racking up 32 points to win 32-12.  Austin's playoff hopes rely on the same team they just beat to score 59 points on New Orleans Blaze.  I am sure N.O. will have something to say about that.  Pensacola did drop to #3 in the playoffs and must beat N.O. to remain there.  Win or lose, the Blaze are in as the #6 seed as long as they do not lose with Pensacola scoring 59 points (tiebreaker rules).  N.O. may have been looking forward to the Pensacola this past weekend when they played the Gulf Coast Barracudas and Gulf Coast almost took advantage of them.  The Barracudas almost tied the game only down by 1 at the end of the 3^rd quarter 13-12.  N.O. was able to add another TD to help add to their lead for the win 19-12.  The defense was the key for N.O. scoring 2 TDs on fumble recoveries, both by EJ Davenport.  N.O. is now back where they were before Hurricane Katrina, the playoffs. 

            Spoke about Erie earlier.  They had their toughest home game this weekend against the Tree Town Spitfire.  This is the only team they lost to this year (0-6 in week one) and they wanted revenge.  Erie was able to fend off Treetown and win 12-8.  This will be a year to remember for the Erie Illusion.  Congrats to you.

            Ft. Wayne finishes off the list of close games this week.  Ft Wayne Flash went into Milwaukee with a solid rushing attack and defense to just wear down the Milwaukee Momentum.  The attack was led by Heather Anderson with 168 yards rushing.  Ft. Wayne left out of there with a 22-0 win.  They play Treetown next week for second place in the division.  The rest of the scores are below:

For overall team/league stats go to http://www.webgamestats.com/nwfa.aspx

For Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=nwfa

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

7:26 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

IWFL week 7 summary
Current mood: blank
Category: Sports

Week 7.  We will start this week with the biggest upset of the year in the IWFL.  Out west the Sacramento Sirens were aiming for a homefield playoff game, but they would have to go undefeated to do so.  With the rest of their division playing them tough, it was not going to be easy.  In comes Santa Rosa Scorchers.  The first meeting was 13-6 win by Sacramento and Santa Rosa was looking to return the favor.  In an all-out defensive battle, Santa Rosa struck the first and only blow in the 3^rd quarter making it 6-0 and the defense was able to keep the Sirens scoreless to the end for the first time since 2001 (thanks for the info).  On offense, it was the Santa Rosa's running game outrushing the Sirens 196-102.  This was not just a win but it gives new playoff hope to Santa Rosa who is only one game behind Sacramento and both teams will face off again for the divisional crown the last week of the season.  A winner take all contest.  I left Santa Rosa's playoff chances off the mid season review.  Thank you to the person who helped on finding this.  

Another close game with playoff implications was the New England Intensity and the Montreal Blitz.  New England has a chance to play spoiler in the Northeast division with Montreal and Manchester remaining on their schedule.  Montreal was first on the list.  In a close scoring game Montreal was able to stop the spoiler in a 28-21 win and keep their playoff hopes alive for their 3^rd meeting with the Manchester Freedom.

Other close games this weekend were the Palm Beach Punishers ground attack (165 yards) helping them get their first career win, beating the Cape Fear Thunder 13-0.  Congrats to Palm Beach.  After a week one loss, the Carolina Phoenix is sweeping through the rest of their schedule.  This time it was against the Delaware Griffins winning 12-0 to improve their record to 4-1.

       The rest of the games were expected, really large point margin wins I consistantly do not talk about them.  Those scores can be found on the IWFL website:  http://www.iwflsports.com/scores.php

For this weeks Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=iwfl

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

7:21 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment