This is it! Time for the big dance. I've been waiting for this moment for eight seasons, and at this point I really don't care if we win the Bowl or not. I'm just happy to be here (that's what my PR guy told me to say, anyway).
We're locking horns with the 15-1 Hartford Attack, considered by most to be the pride of the league (Shreveport aside). They had some trouble with their postseason opponents (30-27 over Boston, 31-24 over Durham), but were able to pull off the win both times. Their offense is terriffic, featuring the 1-2 punch of QB James Oberg and RB Alan Spearman. Their defense is also good, but they've struggled against the run a bit more than anyone would've expected given their talent. That's something we might try to exploit, especially considering that their pass D was excellent.
Bah! Why am I wasting words? Let's get on with it: the championship game that pits the league's best team (15-1 Hartford) against the second-best team (14-2 Tucson).
Code:
Box Score: Hartford vs Tucson
Jacksonville, FL.
Front Office Championship, 2011
Attendance: 68,300 (68,300).
Weather: 63 degrees, rain.
1Q: 07:44 HAR - Jeffrey Alonzo 22 pass from James Oberg.
1Q: 07:44 HAR - Rod Farmer extra point.
2Q: 11:05 TUC - Courtney Hodges 5 pass from Kent Goodwin.
2Q: 11:05 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
2Q: 01:32 TUC - Hugo Eckard 33 field goal.
Game MVP: TUC 42 Drew Holliday
Hartford 7 0 0 0 - 7
Tucson 0 10 0 0 - 10
Team Statistics HAR TUC
First Downs 18 16
Total Rushes 24 40
Rushing Yards 120 165
Yards Per Carry 5.0 4.1
Pass Attempts 41 19
Completions 14 11
Passing Yards 197 140
Yards Per Attempt 4.8 7.3
Sacked 0 3
Yards Lost 0 18
Interceptions 1 1
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 2/1
Total Plays 65 62
Total Yards 317 287
Yards Per Play 4.8 4.6
3rd Down Plays 4/15 7/15
Avg. YTG on 3rd 8.8 7.2
4th Down Plays 1/1 0/0
Penalties 2 6
Penalty Yards 15 55
Avg. Drive Start OWN 27 OWN 24
Time Of Possession 25:48 34:12
Hartford Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
34 Spearman 16 84 5.2 18 0
41 Lincoln 5 34 6.8 19 0
26 Cassady 2 0 0.0 0 0
82 Alonzo 1 2 2.0 2 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
3 Oberg 41 14 197 4.8 48 1 1 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
82 Alonzo 6 76 12.6 7 22 1
80 Vandenberg 3 41 13.6 2 24 0
85 Trail 2 52 26.0 24 48 0
41 Lincoln 2 17 8.5 16 12 0
34 Spearman 1 11 11.0 2 11 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
36 Gallegos 1 6 6.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
34 Spearman 2 35 17.5 0
36 Gallegos 1 19 19.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
13 Gilmore 7 244 34.8 43 4
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
10 Farmer 0 1 0 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
27 Lee 13 1 0.0 0 0 0
92 Sawyer 8 3 0.0 0 0 0
93 Poole 6 1 2.0 0 0 0
59 Rea 5 4 0.0 0 0 0
90 Leary 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
95 Ensley 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
46 Dyer 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
97 Russel 2 3 1.0 0 0 0
36 Gallegos 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
38 Caldwell 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
40 Gillette 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
48 Weaver 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
80 Vandenberg 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
76 Earp 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
49 Colston 0 1 0.0 1 6 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
68 Oroumieh 0 0 0 0 3 0
77 Fitzgerald 0 0 0 0 2 0
72 Jefferson 0 0 0 0 2 0
40 Gillette 0 1 0 0 0 0
92 Sawyer 0 1 0 0 0 0
61 Lynn 0 0 0 0 1 0
48 Weaver 0 0 1 0 0 0
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 29 136 4.6 45 0
26 Jeffries 9 13 1.4 6 0
19 Goodwin 2 16 8.0 12 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
19 Goodwin 19 11 140 7.3 24 1 1 3
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
89 Armitage 4 49 12.2 9 14 0
26 Jeffries 2 18 9.0 5 10 0
81 Hodges 2 21 10.5 0 16 1
80 Higginbotham 1 16 16.0 0 16 0
82 Torres 1 24 24.0 0 24 0
84 Joyner 1 12 12.0 0 12 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
81 Hodges 1 28 28.0 0
35 Giles 1 19 19.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 7 287 41.0 52 2
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
12 Eckard 1 1 33 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
31 Enoch 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
45 Stine 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 4 3 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
40 Biggs 4 0 0.0 1 9 0
52 Wash 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
55 Trujillo 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
70 Neubauer 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
35 Giles 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
93 King 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
72 Bernard 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
27 Ellsworth 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
82 Torres 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
54 Reeves 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
21 Stallings 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
87 Emerson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 2 3
60 Poplawski 0 0 0 0 4 0
71 Franck 0 0 1 0 1 0
26 Jeffries 0 0 0 0 2 0
68 Kudrow 0 0 0 0 2 0
42 Holliday 1 0 0 0 0 0
82 Torres 0 0 0 0 1 0
81 Hodges 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hartford Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 12:42 4:58 OWN 36 10 64 Touchdown
1 7:37 1:07 OPP 36 3 1 Punt
1 4:20 2:30 OWN 35 6 18 Punt
2 14:47 0:50 OWN 39 3 2 Punt
2 11:05 2:34 OWN 22 7 35 Punt
2 3:04 0:36 OWN 20 2 0 Interception
2 1:32 1:32 OWN 23 7 62 Half
3 15:00 4:14 OWN 15 8 48 Punt
3 4:03 2:58 OWN 7 6 31 Punt
4 12:56 1:42 OWN 38 5 30 Punt
4 5:36 3:02 OWN 15 7 46 Missed FG
4 0:19 0:19 OWN 20 3 0 Game
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 2:18 OWN 28 3 -6 Punt
1 6:30 2:10 OWN 2 4 19 Punt
1 1:50 2:03 OWN 25 5 19 Interception
2 13:57 2:52 OWN 17 7 83 Touchdown
2 8:31 5:27 OWN 20 9 31 Punt
2 2:28 0:56 OPP 16 3 0 Field Goal
3 10:46 6:43 OWN 1 11 40 Punt
3 1:05 3:09 OWN 21 5 7 Punt
4 11:14 5:38 OWN 5 9 56 Punt
4 2:34 2:15 OWN 46 6 18 Punt
During the regular season Hartford led the league in scoring with 461 points, and we were second with 448. Somehow we managed to produce just 17 points between the two of us today, and thankfully we got 10 of those points to win the championship! WOOHOO!
One very, very ballsy call stands out in this game: with time winding down in the 1st half and the score 10-7, Hartford marched the ball down to our 13 and called their final timeout. With a 3rd and 2 and just :18 left on the clock they sent their FG unit onto the field. However, their FG unit included starting all-world running back and they faked the FG attempt. Spearman was stopped for a loss of 2 yards, and the half ended. Hartford's only other scoring opportunity came late in the 4th quarter, but K Farmer missed a 56-yard attempt. The rest is history.
Hat's off to Masked's Hartford squad. They were in it to the end and gave us a helluva game.
Holliday won the game MVP award, and I'm hard pressed to argue that anyone else would've deserved it more. He was a huge part of our somewhat unique gameplan - we wanted to run the ball and shorten the game as much as possible. I didn't think we'd do well in a shootout with Oberg, so we leaned heavily on our run game and it paid off.
I could make a case for awarding the MVP to our entire defense, who did an excellent job of containing one of the league's best QBs in Oberg. In fact, I'm tempted to award them a collective postseason MVP for the work they did in containing Oberg, Lin, Garibaldi, Philyaw and Spearman. Damn fine work, gentlemen.
Well, that season was quite a roller coaster ride. We snuck in a couple of starts for Goodwin to begin the year, then returned to our usual starter in Hogan. The "Colonel" immediately got hurt and surrendered the reins to Goodwin for the rest of the season, and the kid was absolutely lights out. He led us not only to our best regular season record, but to our first CFL Bowl appearance and victory. Crazy.
Goodwin also appears that he'll be improving beyond what our scouts currently think of him. He's recently begun to max out his potential in some skills, but his now-full red bars keep creeping up with each game he plays. I was so optimistic about his future development that I awarded him a huge contract extension at the end of the season that should keep him locked up at a below-market rate for many more years.
What a wonderful season. I'm looking forward to repeating next year!