Sauruses Fight off Machine

The Washington Machine made a game of it this time, one to make Toronto and fans sweat after the Sauruses won the regular season matchup handily, but in the end the result was the same and Toronto will advance in only their fourth playoff appearance.

For two and a half quarters, Toronto dominated the way they had previously, opening a 17-0 lead on a 6-yard pass from quarterback Jason Windmills to backup receiver Aaron Knight. In the first quarter Windmills threw to star wide receiver Milo Standards for a 15-yard touchdown, and kicker Lester B. Judged added a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter. The formula was that the Machine, a rushing power, could not play catch-up with the better Toronto passing offense. Three plays after Toronto's third-quarter score, however, Washington struck on a 57-yard pass play from QB Harry Bush to WR Earl Derrick. The Machine then forced a three and out, and drove to score again, on a 5-yard pass to WR Cyril Killur. Toronto returned volley with another drive and 15-yard TD pass play to Standards, but then Washington showed they could be just as explosive both ways, with a 19-yard pass to Killur and a 45-yard run by RB Ernesto Hornets setting up a four-yard TD scamper by Bush. Score: Toronto 24-21. The Machine intercepted Windmills on the next possession, and got a 35-yard pass from Bush to Killur on the next play. But the Sauruses stalled the drive and held on for the win.

While the Machine were more effective shutting down Toronto WR Elvis M. Personhater this time, they still had no answer for Standards, and Windmills was still elusive, finding his running backs to check off to. Windmills passed for even more yads than in the regular season game, 304, with the 3 TDs. Washington's Hornets rushed for 87 yards, and they got the big production from Killur, plus Derrick's 81 yards receiving, to open up their own passing game, but still fell short.

Indiass, Linemen, Outgrind Ghosts

The Linemen completed their reversal of the regular season matchup with the Casper Ghosts, turning Casper's own grind-it-out style against them, but this time coming up with the more characteristic big pass play to clinch it. Wichita quarterback Payne Indiass, who suffered a very uncharacteristic season for the LAF's greatest passer (the eight-time All-West QB will see his five-year streak end this year), took on a role more like Casper running back Jock Kitsch, grinding out 46 yards on 9 carries to lead the Linemen in rushing. The pivotal and definitive drive was in the third quarter: 17 plays consuming half the quarter with only six passes and four Indiass rushes of five yards or less. RB Milo Rider capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown that gave Wichita the lead for the first time since the first quarter and, it would turn, out for good.

After beating Casper at their own game, however, Indiass and his WR corps, who were the brunt of criticism this season, veteran Ringo Fire who has dropped off markedly since his last All-West selection two years ago, and Adolph DeFlore who has taken over the lead role, got to do things their way to deal the decisive blow. In the fourth quarter, the Linemen stalled a Kitsch-led drive and returned the punt 17 yards to their own 46. Indiass threw seven yards to Fire to set up a 47-yard strike to DeFlore for a TD, to open up a 28-17 lead. Casper would drive again methodically to another score, and attempt a 2-point play to cut the gap to a field goal, but the Ghosts failed on that and an onsides kick after, and even on another possession.

Wichita scored first, on their second possession, with an 11-yard run by Rider, again in Ghost fashion. But the Ghosts responded with two straight scoring possessions, a seven-yard TD run by Kitsch and a ten-yard TD pass from QB Peter Andy Woolf to star WR I.B. Long, who did the most damage in the regular season meeting. The Linemen fought back to tie the game in the middle of the second quarter on a 16-yard pass to Fire. Casper took the lead again on a 45-yard Lee Kittysplit field goal on their first drive of the second half, and then came the 17-play Wichita drive.

While Long got some big numbers again, the Linemen held Kitsch and running mate Rip Yanuwan to 54 and 53 yards respectively. Meanwhile, DeFlore had 5 catches for 89 yards and a TD, Fire 7 for 62 and a TD. Indiass's passing stats were hardly the highlights he's used to, but he found another to win and take a step towards the prize that has eluded him, a Hyperbowl win.