[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Tempering expectations...
But it's hard not to get overly optimistic.

A road trip to Paris, that was the next order of business. And boy, did we manage to continue our good streak with a closer than it should have been victory.

First quarter, first drive. Paris has the ball first, small gain, no gain, sack by Tony Whiting. Haven't we seen this before this season? First play from our offense: Moe Sheldon to Theodore Bondy for 44 yards, welcome back! Three plays later, they do it again on third and long for a 15-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Defense holds them really short again and our second drive goes slower, but again smoothly. Sheldon finds George Stuckey (promoted to WR2 with Branden Sandlin out) for 17 yards, then finds Francisco Patter for 11 yards and the same Patter converts on third and one. It all ends in a 1-yard touchdown pass to rookie Clarence Gore to make it 14-0, this kid is becoming a phenomenon.

Paris scores back early in the second quarter, set up by most notably a short pass that turned into a 33-yard gain. On their next drive after we get stopped after three runs, they close in, but miss the 54-yard field goal to maintain at a 14-7 lead for is. Moe Sheldon responds with a 17-yard pass to Theodore Bondy and a face mask penalty puts us into field goal range, which we settle for after a sack: Mark Giles for 45 yards and a 17-7 lead. We then give up a couple of 11-yard passes, then a 17-yarder to their rookie running back and eventually can't avoid a short touchdown pass to make it 17-14 shortly before half time. But it isn't just yet over as Santiago Messenger returns the kickoff for 33 yards, Moe Sheldon finds George Stuckey for 13 yards, then Theodore Bondy for 18 yards and Giles converts the 51-yarder for a 20-14 half time lead in a hostile environment.

Second half, we think we continue how we ended the first half, but on the third play, Moe Sheldon's pass gets picked off and returned for 55 yards and a touchdown. Just like that, we're trailing 21-20 in a game that we thought we were dominating. Sheldon respons with a 27-yarder to Theodore Bondy, but we settle with a punt towards their 7-yard line. We can't stop their rookie for a 23-yard run, but still stop them far away from midfield and on our next drive see Sheldon connect with Bondy for 35 yards and Clarence Gore for 21 yards. We close in on retaking the lead, until Reggie Thongchanh fumbles at their 5-yard line: possession lost and momentum as well? Not quite, they go into run heavy mode and fail to get much further than just outside their own red zone. Their defense keeps it short, but then our defense steps up by stripping the ball from that rookie running back and getting possession close to field goal range.

Four quarter, first play. Moe Sheldon finds our rookie Clarence Gore for 16 yards and then George Stuckey for 18 yards. We get our chances from 2 yards away, but all three plays are stopped short and we decide to settle for a 23-21 lead through the 18-yard field goal. Their rookie then runs for 19 yards, but we stop them near midfield. Pinned deep inside our half, we see Howard Humphrey recover a crucial fumble, then see Reggie Thongchanh lift off for a 45-yard run to burst into their half. Thong' then converts on third and one, but after short sack, we decide to punt from their 32-yard line and not kick the 49-yard field goal (contrary to our game plan). Three and out runs some time off the clock and we take some more with strong runs from our running back tandem Francisco Patter and Thongchanh. Arrived at their 31-yard line, we punt with 17 seconds remaining. A dropped and a blocked pass are all that is left and we come away victorious after all: Merchantmen 23, Musketeers 21!

A fine day, as Theodore Bondy makes 7 catches for 164 yards, as Moe Sheldon completed 20 of 30 for 280 yards, with 2 touchdowns and another pick six. Clarence Gore made 6 catches for 51 yards. The running backs ran for 97 and 60 yards, this time with Thong' being the leader. Yes, we relied a bit on big plays, but were overall effective enough to actually have two turnovers in scoring position and twice punt in field goal range.

Elsewhere, the Gothenburg Giants beat San Antonio 31-24 to stay on our tail, while the Bordeaux Vineyards dropped their fourth straight: 34-31 loss at the Houston Mustangs, incidentally our next opponent.

Standings:
1. Maassluis 5-1-1
2. Gothenburg 4-3
3. Paris 2-5
4. Bordeaux 2-5

Whatever the tie-breakers may be, If all remaining game end in a 0-0 tie, the Vineyards will jump ahead of Paris. We're more solidly in the #2 slot, still 1 1/2 wins behind the Tucker Tigers (with 1 game more played) and 1 win and tie-breakers ahead of Atlanta.

Not much I'd like to add for now, it's just a good sign that we continue to win games, as our only loss so far came at the Kansas Creationists, the reigning league champions. Our schedule is slowing improving from easiest to easier than average, as we faced teams that went 20-24 against their other opponents.

But despite all that, it's technically still possible that we'll end up losing all our remaining games and finish the season with a worse record than last season's 6-10 campaign. The road game at Houston will bring us at our mid-season point though, we should have a better feel then about where we stand. So I hope...