[MIJB#19]

2044 Season

Pre-Season
The Merchantmen rolled through the exhibition games with a 4-0 record, although inflating the results by playing with their starters in all four games and barely taking them off. In a way, it caused a bit of a scare, as 4-0 is seen as a jinx.


Week 1
If there were any doubts about the Merchantmen's ambitions, they were perfectly clear after the first home game of the season. After seasons of struggles against them, the Gothenburg Giants were no match this time, as the Merchantmen steamrolled to a convincing 52-6 victory. Perry Coleman ran for a couple of touchdowns, while completing scoring passes to Charles Pomeranz and Terry Haskell. Fullback Greg Brass had a trademarked short yardage touchdown, while Harold Riley scored on 13-yard run. Cornerback Mark Crum made the last touchdown of the game with a 32-yard fumble recovery.

Week 2
As convincing as the week one game was, the Outer Banks Ospreys proved a bigger obstacle. Despite a stellar defensive performance, the Merchantmen struggled themselves, settling for field goals on their first two red zone visits and coming downs short in the final minutes to avoid a 10-6 defeat.

Week 3
Back home, the Merchantmen regrouped against the Fort Wayne Fury. But despite the 23-10 victory, the story of the game was quarterback Perry Coleman's departure from the game with a knee injury. Coleman still received the game MVP honors, throwing touchdown passes to Charles Pomeranz and Terry Haskell. Harry Osborne went into the game as the injury replacement, completing 4 of 6 passes for 25 yards and no turnovers.

Week 4
Despite not playing, the Merchantmen had big news as Perry Coleman was diagnose with a torn MCL in his knee and out for the rest of the season. All hopes on having a championship run immediately dampened and the Merchantmen and fans realized that there were only two possible scenarios: going back to Harry Osborne or giving the reigns to Malik Weaver earlier than hoped. Granted, with the Merchantmen there's always a possibility of a trade, but the Merchantmen decided against that. Osborne was announced the week 5 starter, at home against the Tucker Tigers, of all teams. Hoping that Osborne would show his running speed while proving his knowledge of the play book would make him the obvious choice over the possibly even more athletic Weaver.

Week 5
Boy, was Perry Coleman missed. The Tucker Tigers took full advantage of the absence of the Merchantmen quarterback. Maassluis looked lost at sea and at the end of the night were lucky to lose 38-3, not getting crushed by double the margin. The Tigers already lead 31-3 by half time, with the Merchantmen field goal coming seconds before the break. Tucker scored a field goal on their first drive and touchdowns on each of their next five. In return, the Merchantmen saw Harry Osborne struggling, albeit completing 17 of 26 passes for 220 yards, a couple of interceptions and a lost fumble reminded the fans and management of why Malik Weaver was brought in to challenge Osborne for the backup role.

Week 6
On the road at the Augusta Greenjackets, the Merchantmen went to their third quarterback of the season, giving Malike Weaver his debut. And what a debut. On his first play, Weaver immediately got intercepted, 'Welcome to IHOF, Malik!' But Weaver remarkably recovered from yet another interception, throwing touchdown passes to Terry Haskell and tight end Cary Harriman. After Augusta appeared to have scored the winning touchdown with just a minute left, Weaver guided his team downfield and saw Marvin Creekmur convert a 49-yard field goal to force overtime. However, Weaver copied his first play of the game, which set up the 26-20 overtime loss.

Week 7
At the Paris Musketeers, the Merchantmen decided to switch quarterbacks again, reverting to Harry Osborne. In a traditionally close divisional clash, the Merchantmen kept it close. Down by four points, eventually they had to go for it and failed, resulting in a 31-27 loss. Osborne remarkably stayed turnover free and completed a 70-yard touchdown pass to Charles Pomeranz. Harold Riley ran for a touchdown, while long snapper Troy Lowe returned a fumble for a score.

Week 8
Convinced by the turnover free game, the Merchantmen staff stuck with Harry Osborne against the Snapfinger Jazz. Expectations were low with the fans, for the first time this season not selling out their tickets in Oranje Haven. The Merchantmen responded with a strong defensive performance, holding the Jazz to 196 total yards in a 19-3 victory. Especially the pass rush of the Merchantmen received a lot of praise, breaking up 16 of 51 passing plays. On the offense, Osborne connected with Terry Haskell for the only touchdown of the game.

Week 9
In an unexpected turn of events, the Bordeaux Vineyards were in for a surprise when it turned out the Merchantmen went to Malik Weaver as the quarterback. It paid off as Weaver completed 18 of 25 passes for 335 yards. Weaver threw touchdown passes to Scott Dupuis and Terry Haskell, while running for another, in the 27-14 victory on the road. Especially Haskell looked rejuvenated, gaining 238 yards on 9 catches on the night.

At the mid-season point, the Merchantmen were still hoping to challenge for the division title, knowing a week 17 home game against Paris could become a winner takes all game.

rk	team	w/l
1	Paris	5-3
2	Maassluis	4-4
3	Gothenburg	2-6
4	Bordeaux	2-6

Week 10
At the Orlando Talons, the playoffs hopes in Maassluis took a hit. Malik Weaver opened the game with another first play interception. Although the scoreline remained 0-0 after that pick, the Talons would eventually open on a Weaver pass, as safety Ernie Douglas intercepted him for 59 yards and a touchdown. Maassluis hardly recovered from that mistake, stumbling to a 23-10 loss. Weaver did throw for the only Merchantmen touchdown of the game, completing a 10-yard pass to Terry Haskell.

Week 11
Still believing in Malik Weaver to turn the tide, the Merchantmen went to the Gothenburg Giants. Harold Riley and Scott Fulcher ran for a touchdown each in the first quarter on the first two Merchantmen drives, before the Giants took control of the game. Down by seven, the Merchantmen were stopped 3 yards shy of the tie. A safety with 18 seconds left on the clock gave the Merchantmen another chance, but it was too much to ask to avoid the 27-22 loss. Weaver completed only 13 of 32 passes for 128 yards and 1 interception, surely this would commence the return of Osborne in the lineup?

Week 12
At home against the Capital City Blues, the Merchantmen staff committed to youngster Malik Weaver. Helped by the defense, the Merchantmen kept it close, despite a couple of interceptions thrown by Weaver. In the final four minutes of the game, Weaver orchestrated a couple of touchdown drives to trim the scoreline to a 23-17 deficit, running for a score and throwing for another to his favorite target Terry Haskell.

Week 13
On the road at the Harlem Apollos, the Merchantmen were playing for their last chances to keep even the slimmest of chances for the playoffs alive. Malik Weaver got the start again and once again gelled perfectly with star Terry Haskell. Weaver threw for 339 yards and 2 touchdowns, with Haskell being on the receiving end 11 times for 230 yards and both scores. Harold Riley, Greg Brass and Scott Fulcher all added a running touchdown to complete the 35-10 victory.

Week 14
The Texas Sharks removed any remaining Merchantmen hopes for the post-season. In his typical fashion, Malik Weaver struggled until the fourth quarter, adding more to the running game than the passing game. A 42-yard touchdown pass to Terry Haskell in the dying seconds of the game was far from sufficient to avoid the 27-13 loss.

Week 15
Free of any remaining hopes, the Merchantmen crushed the Bordeaux Vineyards with a 38-7 victory. Harold Riley ran for three touchdowns, while Scott Dupuis scored his first kickoff return touchdown for the Merchantmen and Malik Weaver threw to Terry Haskell in the fourth quarter to finalize the score.

Week 16
Hosting the Moontown Darksiders, the Merchantmen made it back to back victories. A first play of the game interception return touchdown from Wesley Devine gave Maassluis the first lead. After giving up a set of field goals, the Merchantmen saw Malik Weaver respond with a 61-yard touchdown pass to Scott Dupuis to regain the lead. In the final minutes, Scott Fulcher ran for the 24-9 victory clinching touchdown.

Week 17
With nothing on the line anymore, a sold out Oranje Haven crowd was in for a big surprise as Perry Coleman was cleared by the medical staff. The Merchantmen staff decided to stick with Weaver after the recent victories in a game where they could play spoiler for the Paris Musketeers to keep them from a bye week in the playoffs. The Merchantmen fans were in for a disappointing evening, witnessing a 26-7 loss. Despite the loss, the Merchantmen fans were in for a happy moment as well. After a horrible performance, Weaver got replaced in the fourth quarter and Coleman came in to complete 5 of 7 passes for 44 yards and the only Merchantmen touchdown of the day, connecting with Terry Haskell on an 18-yard pass.

After the game, the crowd was divided between emotions of disappointment for missing the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons, and the joy of seeing Perry Coleman wear the orange-white-and-blue at least one more time. Unanimous sources were claiming the knee injury could trigger Coleman's retirement plans...

European Division standings

rk	team	w/l	notes
1	Paris Musketeers	11-5	#2 seed
2	Maassluis Merchantmen	7-9
3	Gothenburg Giants	6-10
4	Bordeaux Vineyards	3-13

Playoffs
The Paris Musketeers followed their bye week with a thriller against the Tucker Tigers. Leading 13-10, the Musketeers thought the had the victory, only to give up a 54-yard field goal in the final seconds of regulation. The Tigers scored a field goal on their first overtime drive, but taking full advantage of the new overtime rules, the Musketeers replied with a strong drive on their own, finishing it with Rosey Hansen's 14-yard touchdown pass to Max Pinner for the 19-16 victory.

In the Atlantic Ocean Conference Championship game, the Musketeers hosted the Augusta Greenjackets, who went 11-5 in the regular season as well. The Greenjackets scored touchdowns on their first two drives and controlled the clock for the remainder of the game, en route to a 33-16 victory.

In IHOF Bowl XVI, the Augusta Greenjackets faced the Chesapeake Chitterlings, who went 13-3 in the regular season. The Chits' quarterback Charlie Grillot threw for 237 yards and 3 touchdowns to a convincing 34-13 victory and the franchise's sixth league title. It was their first league championship since beating the Merchantmen in IHOF Bowl XXXVI.