QFL Football Fever

 

Recap

Cup holders Reds reach semifinals

duffeldoffel's Reds scored on both of their two possessions but had to come from behind to see off independent Niners Sparrows and clinch a berth in the Bill-Walsh-Memorial Cup semifinals.

After a touchback, the Reds started the opening possession from their own 20 and then drove 51 yds with 13 plays and two penalties to a field goal, taking seven minutes from the clock. On their way to the opening score, the Reds converted a 3rd-and-6 with a 14-yd pass and a 3rd-and-4 with a 5-yd run.

They also seemed to have converted a 3rd-and-11 with an 11-yd pass but the receiver had illegally pushed off a defender and got flagged for offensive pass interference. On 3rd-and-21 from the Sparrows' 45-yd line, a 16-yd run got the Reds within field-goal range and their kicker split the uprights from 47 yds out.

It was a well built drive, but the Reds also got away with a very lucky break. With an 11-yd pass on 3rd-and-13, they got themselves into a position to go for it on 4th-and-2 near midfield. Their RB was stopped for a loss in the backfield and lost the football during that process. But somehow, the ball bounced back into his hands and he tried to advance the ball. He never made it past the line of scrimmage but according to the officials, this was due to a tripping by a defender. The 10-yd penalty kept the drive alive.

A poor kickoff that was also not covered very well gave the Sparrows great field position at their own 41. The Reds' defense allowed the Sparrows to convert a 4th-and-1 from midfield with a 4-yd run that was setup by a 7-yd run on 3rd-and-8. Three plays later, again on 3rd-and-8, the Sparrows' RB broke through and romped for 44 yds into the end zone.

The Sparrows had the Cup holders at the brink of a first-round elimination and the Reds who had beaten the Sparrows en route to both of their Cup wins would probably have only one possession left as only 4:24 minutes of the minimum game length were remaining. But again, the Reds caught a lucky break.

A 44-yd kickoff return got the Reds in excellent field position at their own 45 but again, the came away with an incredible fumble situation. On the first play of the drive, the Reds' RB fumbled after a gain of 2 yds and the ball miraculously bounced 20 yds all the way to the Sparrows' 33 where it was recovered by a Red and advanced for a couple of more yards.

After losing 10 yds due to an illegal-use-of-hands call and then gaining 15 yds with three runs, the Reds had to play a 4th-and-5 from the Sparrows' 25. Their RB found a gap to slip through and went all the way down to the 3-yd line where the Reds got a fresh set of downs with goal-to-go.

Again, the Reds seemed to shoot themselves in the foot with yet another illegal-use-of-hands penalty cancelling out a draw play up to the 1-yd line. But on the very next play, the RB slipped through again and ran untouched into the end zone giving the Reds a 10-7 lead with 24 seconds of the minimum game length remaining.

As they had kicked off the game, the Sparrows had one more possession left, anyway, and they had to start from their own 18. This time, the Reds defense held firm allowing only 9 yds with four runs thus forcing a turnover on downs and winning the game.