NEWS AND EVENTS
Week 6 Review
May 26, 2009
Dark Knights 44, Blue Ballers 20
Black raced out to a 19-0 halftime lead, but Blue rallied in the second half to make the game close until the final minute. With the win, Black (5-1) took the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Blue (4-2) is the No. 2 seed.
Black scored on its first possession on a clutch fourth-down TD catch by Marino in the end zone on a pass from Christophe. Black scored its second TD on a 50-yard pass from Christophe to Patrick.
Blue got its first points on its first drive of the second half on a pass from Jim to Brent. They got the ball back and this time Cyd made a nice over-the-shoulder grab to cut the lead to 19-13. Black got its offense back and scored on another pass from Christophe for a 25-13 lead. Blue cut the lead to 25-20 on its next drive on a sideline pass to Jon, who made a nice end zone grab.
Black took the lead, 31-20, with less than 30 seconds to go on a pass to Patrick. The key play on the drive was Christophe’s weaving 25-yard run on second-and-20.
Steelers West 40, Red Stripes 25
White (2-4) clinched the third seed with a hard-fought win over Red (1-5). White led at one point 20-6, but Red cut the lead to 27-25. With the score later 33-25, Red had a chance to tie on a drive but turned the ball over on downs.
Drew hit Christian twice on long passes for TDs, including one on fourth down. For Red, Ross had two TD catches from Juan, while Will added one.
We also had the second conversion attempt run back this season, this time by White. Drew picked off the pass in the end zone and had clear sailing, until Juan put on his track shoes and caught up with him. At the last second, Drew lateraled it back to Toby who ran the rest of the way. All that for one point.
Week 5 Review
May 13, 2009
Dark Knights 33, Red Stripes 12
The Knights jumped out to a 20-6 halftime lead and coasted for their fourth win. The two quarterbacks each used their feet for the first scores of the game. Christophe opened the scoring for the Knights on a 4-yard run, and was matched when Juan ran 3 yards to tie the score at 6-6.
On the next play, Christophe went deep and hit Duffy in stride for a 65-yard TD. After D. Sobel got a pick for Red, the game turned when a pass from Juan to Will was a bit high, caroming off of Will’s hands into the arms of a sliding Pete for an interception. The Knights went to score to take a halftime lead that was never seriously threatened.
Steelers West 46, Blue Ballers 28
The Steelers came into the game winless, while the Ballers were unbeaten, but you wouldn’t know it from the result. The Steelers scored on every possession and got three turnovers in coasting.
Christian had four touchdown catches for the Steelers, Toby added two, while Drew threw for six TDs and ran for one. For the Blue Ballers, Demond scored twice, while Brent led with a bunch of catches.
Week 4 Review
May 5, 2009
Blue Ballers 43, Red Stripes 20
The Blue Ballers scored on its first possession and never looked back, building a 30-0 halftime lead. Demond led Blue with three TDs on offense and one interception on defense. His highlight reel was led by one touchdown where he caught the ball in stride, then stopped on a dime, reversed field and scored.
Blue players made great catches all day, led by Brent (who caught one with the aid of his butt, and another as three sets of hands tried to swipe it away). Jon had a highlight-like catch in the back of the end zone for a one-point conversion. The most heads-up TD came when Michael of The Blue Ballers kept his concentration and grabbed a pass off a deflection.
The Red Stripes settled down on offense in the second half, scoring on three drives, including two running TDs by Juan.
Dark Knights 32, Steelers West 6
This was an odd game. Steelers West was missing its quarterback (Drew) and the result was six interceptions thrown by its backups. They were also down to five people and had to borrow players from Game 1. The game was so odd that there were as many touchdowns on interception returns (three) as by the two offenses combined. There were also seven sacks in the game.
Brad was the Dark Knights defensive star with two interceptions returned for scores. Demond (playing for the Steelers), had an electrifying 65-yard interception return to open the scoring. Marc had one touchdown and several nice catches for the Knights, including a great over-the-shoulder grab on a 20-yard gain with a defender hanging over him. ZS kept readjusting the splint on his busted finger but it did not stop him from getting a touchdown and a couple of sacks.
With the score not in doubt, Brad took over at QB for the Knights. He went 2 for 8 for 24 yards, with 0 TDs and two interceptions. I looked up the NFL QB rating and it comes out to 0 (the lowest possible). Brad was laughing about it on the sideline.
Week 3 Review
April 28, 2009
Red Stripes 40, Steelers West 12
Steelers West, missing a couple of key players, must have collectively gotten up on the wrong side of the bed as they were plagued by dropped passes and other mistakes all day in falling to 0-3. For the Red Stripes, it was their best showing of the season as they got their first win.
Things started fine for the Steelers, which scored on their first two possessions, with Toby catching both TDs and giving him seven in the last two games. After that, though, Red dominated, shutting out the Steelers while scoring almost at will. Juan was dangerous with both his feet (running for three TDs) and arm (passing for two). Ross was the receiving star for the Red Stripes, with two TDs, while D. Sobel got his second interception in as many games.
Blue Ballers 41, Dark Knights 32
In a game of unbeatens, it was back and forth all game before the Blue Ballers were able to put it away late in a thrilling contest. Blue (3-0) trailed, 26-20, then made two defensive stops while scoring three times in the final 12 minutes.
The most dramatic play came at the end of the first half, when Christophe threw up a pass for the Knights (2-1) on the final play that somehow was pulled down in the back of the end zone to tie the score at 20. This followed a 55-yard bomb for a TD from Jim to Brent. On defense, there was a terrific interception by Blue, when Brad and Brent battled for the ball and they knocked it into the air, where Demond was able to make the pick.
In the second half, the key sequence was Blue holding the Knights on four downs, then driving down to take a nine-point lead on Cyd’s third TD of the game (he would have four). After the Knights cut the lead to 35-32 on a deep pass from Christophe to Brad, the Blue Ballers put the game away on a pass from Jim to Cyd for the final margin.
Week 2 Review
April 20, 2009
Blue Ballers 42, Steelers West 40
It was a weird game that became a thriller. Weird in that the Blue Ballers only had seven players, but Steelers West only had five (no one could complain about playing time). Blue opted to play instead of taking the forfeit and the result was a game that came down to the very end. Blue held on when Hector knocked down a tying 2-point conversion try in the end zone with four seconds remaining.
The five Steelers players who played wonderfully well though outmanned were Drew, Toby, Alan, Christian and Chris. Blue was also missing six of its players, and Jim had to play defense, so maybe it was a fair fight after all!
Each team’s offense scored on six of its seven possessions, and the difference in the score was Blue converting two 2-point conversions in the second half. Toby was a fantasy football star with five TD receptions on passes from Drew, including one bomb and a 15-yarder to pull White to within 42-40. For Blue, George and Marco each scored twice.
Dark Knights 39, Red Stripes 26
The Dark Knights scored on its first two possessions in what looked like it was going to be a rout, but the Red Stripes rallied to make it a close game throughout the second half.
Black scored on its first play of the first half and on the its first play of the second half, both 65-yard passes from Christophe to Patrick. The first was a 10-yard pass Patrick took the distance; the second was a beautiful deep ball that Patrick caught in stride. Patrick wound up with four TDs. For Red, Juan scored on a 30-yard run and had three TD passes, two to Sobel. On defense, Brenton had three sacks and Christophe had two interceptions.
The key sequence occurred with the Knights holding a 26-20 lead. On fourth down, Sobel got an interception for the Red Stripes, but on the next play Duffy got the ball back for Black with an interception of his own. Black went in to score and was never threatened.
The coolest play of the season so far came as the Stripes attempted a conversion after its final TD. Patrick for the Knights snagged the attempt and proceeded to race downfield with 13 other players either blocking or trying to make the tackle. There were four laterals near the end, going to Christophe, Duffy, Eugene and back to Patrick. He bobbled the last lateral at Red’s 1 and so the end result of all that running was a failed conversion.
Brenton also rolled over on a bee during the game and got stung and had to pull the stinger out, but as he said, “I don’t blame the bee.”
Rules trivia:
We had an offensive holding downfield during the Red-Black game and spent some time figuring out the spot and what down it is. I wrote a friend of mine who is a high school ref in Georgia and he offered this explanation of how that penalty is judged:
All fouls in football (with very few exceptions) are penalized by the "All But One" principle, which means that all fouls are penalized from the basic spot (the end of the run on a running play or the previous spot on a loose ball play) EXCEPT fouls by the offense that occur BEHIND the basic spot (that's your "But One") -- those are penalized from the spot of the foul.
Let's assume for all of these scenarios that we have 3rd & 10 for Team A from the 20.
If the QB runs forward to the 27, with a hold by A occurring at the 23. The basic spot is the end of the run (the 27), and the holding occurred behind the basic spot, so that one is penalized from the spot of the foul (the 23). If the offense accepts the penalty that it would be 3rd & 17 from the 13. The down is ALWAYS replayed on fouls by A except for illegal forward handing, illegal forward pass, intentional grounding (does not apply in flag football), illegal touching, and offensive pass interference.
If the defense wanted 4th down and declined the penalty, it would be 4th & 3 from the end of the run (27). If a penalty is declined, it is like it never happened, so you would never mark it at the spot of the foul. Basically, that penalty did not occur.
If the runner had gained 12 yards on that play (run to the 32), with the hold happening 11 yards in (at the 31), the penalty would be enforced from the spot of the foul (because the foul was behind the basic spot--the end of the run). So you'd mark off 10 yards from the 31 and repeat 3rd down. So it would be 3rd & 9.
You only get the first down on a penalty if AFTER penalty enforcement the ball is in front of the line to gain. So, if the QB had made a 22-yard run to the 42, with the holding foul at the 41, the 10-yard penalty would have put the ball at the 31, which is one yard in front of the line to gain, so then you'd have 1st & 10.
Week 1 Review
April 7, 2009
The Dark Knights 27, Steelers West 25
The Dark Knights scored on a 5-yard pass from Christophe to Marino with three plays left to pull out a thrilling win over Steelers West.
The importance of making conversions was clear as each team scored three touchdowns. Steelers West, though, was only 1 for 4 on extra points, while Black was 3 for 4 (and deliberately took a knee on its final attempt.)
For the Knights, Christophe threw four touchdowns, three to Brad (once he learned to line up onsides) and one to Marino. For the Steelers, Drew threw four TDs, three to Christian and one to Chris. The Dark Knights led, 14-13, at half, and the Steelers West pulled ahead late before Black’s final drive.
Blue Ballers 40, Red Stripes 1
The Blue Ballers scored on its first six drives against a Red Stripes team that could not get much going. Six players for Blue scored TDs, and the defense recorded three interceptions and three sacks.
A new rule came into effect when Juan returned a Blue Ballers PAT attempt the other way for Red’s only point. A tip of the hat to Gordon, who threw some nice passes for the Red Stripes late, surprising even himself.
Game Day Recap
The day’s funniest moment: When Drew threw a flag on Cyd for saying “Bullshit!” to Christophe over a non-call by the latter. Since this is the “Drew Rule,” his flag flew out of his pocket and must have sailed 10 feet since he was itching to call it. He did not know that Cyd and Christophe were joking the whole time and the flag was picked up, but we now know what’ll draw a quick flag from Drew.
Rules trivia: We flagged a player for spiking the ball as per the rules and a few people asked why. Besides sportsmanship, it’s a time issue. With a running clock, a spike can cause the ball to go outside the field of play and use up valuable time in retrieving it. All our rules try to have some basis in logic.
Attendance: 5 paid (Jeremiah came to watch and his presence counts as three people); no-shows (0).
First Official Team Practices - March 28th, 11:30am
March 25, 2009
The draft has finally ended, and now it's a matter of all registered players to show up this Saturday at their team's first official practice. From 11:30am til 3pm, all four teams will be working together over drills, plays, and familiarizing teammates with one another as they try to find how their team gels on both offense and defense. After about an hour, we will break-up where it will be one team's offense against another team's defense for a few plays, and then switching up with the other teams. This is strictly practice. After this week, it is the responsibility of the teams to make arrangements for their own practices.
Starting April 4th will be first week of the season. The first game will start promptly at 11:30am with the second game starting at 1:15pm. It is the responsibility of each player to show up early and get ready to play as the referees are allowed to call a forfeit if one or both teams are not ready to play at the games official start time.
For those with outstanding dues or paperwork, this must be completed before the practice starts or you will not be allowed to play.
The Spring League Is Back! St. Patrick Day Kick off Party!
March 01, 2009
Come on out and sign-up for the spring season of LA Flag Football!! This Tuesday, March 17th, we'll be at Fubar's to register bothnew recruits as well as seasoned veterans to another exciting season of flag football. We'll have the forms, so just bring your $65 and get signed-up before all of the slots are filled up.
If you can't make it to Fubar's, there are still two more weeks ofpick-up flag football at Penmar on Saturdays from noon til 3pm. See you at Fubar!
Volunteer Referees:
March 01, 2009
As we are trying to have an officiating crew of non-players, there are going to be a couple of times where we are unable to have a squad of three referees. We are asking for volunteers who will be willing to referee games their team is not playing in should an emergency arises. Again, speak to a committee member if you are willing to help us out.
