Season recap: Reds, dieselz & Co. write Football Fever™ history (23 July 2011)
The inaugural QFL season kicked off on 29 September 2009 and ended after almost 22 months of online Football Fever™ action on 23 July 2011 with duffeldoffel's Reds victoriously lifting the Bill Walsh Trophy as the first ever QFL World Champions.
But the Reds were not at all the only team to put their mark on a widely successful premiere QFL season. There were the Prussian Warriors, Gothic Division champions and the top team of the regular season; zugschefz dieselz, favored by many before the season and the only team to beat the Warriors; the Dicey Beasts who terrified opponents with their no-huddle offense and fierce pass rush, to mention just a few.
In a short regular season with only six games per team, any win must be deemed extremely valuable and any loss extremely costly. And yet, everything is possible. Here is proof: three of four playoff teams had a negative record at one stage of the regular season. The fourth playoff team had started the season 2-0 but in the end needed a late tiebreaker to come through at the expense of another 2-0 starter.
The Warriors (5-1) and the Reds (4-2) both lost their season openers but then dominated their respective divisions and clinched their divisional titles even a week before their regular-season finales. The Beasts were 1-2 after the first half of the season and needed to win out the second half to make the playoffs - and they did so.
The dieselz and MoRe's Moles both started the season 2-0 but then got a little off the track before finishing the season 3-3. The dieselz who finished third in the Australian Division claimed the second wild card on the strength-of-victory tiebreaker against the Moles who finished second in the Gothic Division.
frontmodes Kobras had a chance to do it like the Beasts and finish the season above .500 after finishing the first half of the season 1-2. They won their next two games and would have made the playoffs with another win or tie in their regular-season finale against silentsound's Silentknights (3-3) but they failed. The 'Knights would have made the playoffs on the head-to-head tiebreaker against the dieselz had the Moles not won their regular-season finale.
Even the Lübeck Bay Seagulls (2-4) went into their last game holding mathematical postseason hopes leaving igorz malfunxionistz (2-4) and the SimKonville Fraggles (1-5) as the only teams prematurely eliminated from playoff contention.
The Beasts led the league in total offense and rushing after the regular season. The Reds had the no. 1 passing attack while finishing dead last in rushing.
The dieselz finished the regular season as the league's no. 1 defense but had the Reds not gone into overtime in their regular-season finale, their defense would have beaten the dieselz' defense by one single yard.
Ice Bowl I: The Nordics 41, The Alpines 27 (Final)
The first ever QFL all-star game was won by the Nordics consisting of the Moles' offense and the 'Knights' defense from the Gothic Division. They comprehensively beat the Alpines formed by the Malfs' offense and the Fraggles' defense from the Australian Division.
Plus, the Gothic Division outwon the Australian Division 6-4 in the interdivisional games - still, the Australians won both wild cards and occupied three of the four playoff spots.
Season I, Divisional Playoffs: zugschefz dieselz 30, Prussian Warriors 27 (Final)
Season I, Divisional Playoffs: Dicey Beasts 10, duffeldoffel's Reds 29 (Final)
The QFL postseason tournament may have launched some fiery long-term rivalries - both intra- and interdivisional - as revenge was sought but not found.
The Warriors had lost their regular-season opener against the dieselz and were fired up to take revenge in the divisional playoffs. But they never got to take the lead in a hard-fought encounter and the dieselz booked their place at the inaugural QFL Fever Bowl.
The Beasts had fallen behind 24-0 at halftime en route to a 19-point defeat against the Reds in week 3 and were out for revenge. But the outcome was pretty much the same even though this time, the halftime score was "only" 23-0.
Fever Bowl I: zugschefz dieselz 17, duffeldoffel's Reds 45 (Final)
In week 4, the dieselz had been shut out by the Reds and their quest to take revenge at the highest possible stage of Football Fever™ went off to a promising start. They blocked a punt and took an early 3-0 lead and led 10-7 late in the first quarter.
But after that, the Reds scored 38 unanswered points against the league's no. 1 defense and comprehensively beat the dieselz 45-17 to win the inaugural QFL Fever Bowl.