Ghosts shut out Panhandlers, lose Long

The good news may be overshadowed by the bad: Casper won their first playoff game, but they lost star WR I.B. Long, MVP of their Hyperbowl win in 2009, for the rest of the playoffs, perhaps for good, and with him perhaps their hopes for a Hyperbowl.

Casper held up their regular season decision over Oklahoma, winning by the same margin, but this time it was a decidedly more defensive game from both teams. The Panhandlers were impressive in minimizing the Casper offense this time, forcing them into the kind of game they've notoriously lost in the playoffs. The trouble was the Ghosts shut Oklahoma down and out. The offense that was so hard to solve in last year's league championship run was taken back to its early 2017 woes and beyond.

The opening drive was classic Ghosts form, as they use 12 plays to go 71 yards and score. Possession and control, mixing up the Jock Kitsch power run, passes to I.B. Long, runs by QB Peter Andy Woolf, and even one by WR Barry Smelly. The drive was capped by a four-yard TD pass to Long. Casper asserted their dominance. The Panhandlers dug in and turned the game into a tussle, until Casper then showed more explosiveness in the 2nd quarter, going 58 yards in six plays. Kitsch had a 15-yard catch and then burst for 28 yards to the Oklahoma 16. Two plays later Woolf hit Long for 14 yards and the TD, and the Ghosts were clear of an Oklahoma strike. It turned out to be all the lead they needed.

Casper's defense took over from there. The only other score in the game emphasized this: a safety when the Ghosts sacked Oklahoma quarterback Lyle de Tyme in his end zone on the fourth quarter. This was on fourth down and Casper had blown up a punt play, forcing De Tyme to improvise. De Tymes numbers tell the story: 9 completions of 21 passes for 82 yards and three interceptions, and 14 carries for -16 yards, including the safety. But Casper also held running backs Orville Kiliu and Eubie Dedd to 43 yards rushing.

Then on the fourth from the last play of the game, Long was injured. A little routine cross timing pattern, a catch for four yards. Long's knee was twisted when he came down on it awkwardly with the defender on him. A torn ACL was confirmed after the game. At this stage -- Long is 16-year veteran -- it likely means the end of his career, let alone these playoffs.

Casper returns to the Western Conference final where they've lost three times since 2009. Perhaps no team has dominated the regular season as the Ghosts have since 2007, but they have only one Hyperbowl, win or appearance, to show for it, in 2009. Casper has made the playoffs 16 times total (second most), nine times since 2007. Despite dominating in regular season, they've been knocked out in all but one of those last nine appearances, often before the conference final. Oklahoma was the upstart last year who took the Western Conference and league by storm, as Casper lost again in the playoffs. The loss of Long now is just another of those terrible playoff blows the Ghosts have suffered.

Gods beat Bad Guys

Olympia continued their stunning 2017 run with a dominating performance over Abilene. While the Gods are the most surprising team in the playoffs, even more so than Abilene or Nashville or East-leading Connecticut, they continue to look like a power in their wins. And while QB Xavier Onassis is given most credit for their success this season, he didn't get here alone and this game showed all there is to reckon with in the Gods.

While All-West TE Luke Filthy was typically dominant, with 12 catches 113 yards and a TD, veteran running back Tim Pest and running mate Fredo Nutten showed that Olympia is not just a passing power. Along with Pest's 89 yards rushing, Nutten had 65, and the Gods had a formidable one-two punch going that kept the Bad Guys on their heels. Onassis threw TD passes to Filthy, WR Carson Trucks and two to rookie WR Landon Jayle, and finished 23/39 for 211 yards. Onassis also ran for 43 yards.

The first quarter saw the teams trade offensive blows but missed field goals, then Olympia finally struck first, finishing a drive on the first play of the second quarter with a 7-yard TD pass to Jayle. The Gods scored again on their next possession and never looked back. They went up 21-0 in the third quarter on a three-play drive after intercepting Abilene quarterback Stu Padasso. Pest covered 26 of of the 35 yards on one run.

Padasso led a lightning drive after that, carrying three times in a row for 30 yards, then Abilene veteran RB Mel Stripper finished with a 46-yard run for the TD. But Olympia responded with a long, clock-eating control drive to finish off the third quarter and go back up 28-7.

Olympia makes their first Western final appearance since 2006 and they will meet conference leader Casper. This time, however, Casper will be without I.B. Long, and suddenly Olympia's surprising 2017 season looks even more promising.

Yankees rout Natives

Connecticut and Columbus traded punches and looked even for about a quarter and a half till an electrifying punt return appeared to break the game open. Yankees WR Wayne Wayne Goaway sidestepped a defender after catching the punt, angled through some more, then found an open sideline to go 78 yards to score. The Yankees intercepted the Natives two plays later, Goaway completed a 40-yard pass play for another score.

To start the second half, Columbus picked off Connecticut rookie All-East QB Phil Anders, then punched it in, too, with an 18-yard run by veteran and All-East RB Dave Rath. It looked like Columbus was still ready to trade blows. But Goaway capped another drive with an 8-yard TD catch and the Yankees would score two more in the fourth quarter.

Goaway was just the latest Yankee to get the spotlight. Anders, the Cretin QB whom Connecticut took with the 20th draft pick, had turned out to be the most significant first-round pick, as he was the Eastern Conference Newcomer of the Year, and after a slow start, has clicked with this offense. RB Jason Tale, who was the fourth pick of the 2014 draft, led the league in rushing this year. Goaway was a large reason Anders did so well.

But the Yankees have also turned into something they were not at the beginning of the season: a good defensive team. Here they intercepted Columbus QB Bug Zappa four times and held him to just 85 yards passing. They limited to All-East players: Rath to just 44 yards rushing, and TE Phil Awful to just 4 catches for 54 yards.

Connecticut advances to their first Eastern final since 2007.

Horrors flip roles back, stun Trash

Nashville was the big surprise of the league this year for about two-thirds of the season. They won their first nine games, but then lost four in a row and had to win their last two to keep their division lead, one of those a last minute thriller. Meanwhile, Connecticut took over as the big surprise to become top see in the East. Amityville started out the season as the Eastern favorite, the heir apparent to Manhattan and the New Jerseys. Then they lost starting QB Houghton Holler in the last game of the season.

Despite misgivings about going into the playoffs with backup Ira Grette at the helm, the Horrors re-asserted themselves in this game. The main reason for their dominance, RB O.J. Didit and WR Hugo Gurl, was in evidence today, but Grette went from getting comfortable to looking like part of the well-oiled machine, and others like TE Ivan Tukacherdikov and RB Lyle Little helped the Horrors sail past the Trash.

While Gurl was the usual problem and Didit rushed for 73 yards and 2 TDs and had 29 yards on 3 catches, Grette was 25/38 for 312 yards and 2 TDs. Tukacherdikov had 7 catches for 79 yards and 2 TDs and upstaged his more illustrious counterpart, Nashville TE Stiggy Bunz, who had 7 catches for only 57 yards and a TD. Amityville's Little added 66 yards rushing.

Perhaps most important in stopping the Trash, Amityville nullified RB Dick Hertz, who had only 21 yards rushing. Nashville picked Hertz 6th in the draft and he was credited as the catalyst, getting most of the talk for Newcomer of the Year during that 9-0 run.

Amityville advances to the Eastern Conference Championship for the first time since 1988, despite 15 overall playoff appearances, ten since then. With veteran backup QB Grette, they'll be facing the player who did become Newcomer of the Year, Connecticut QB Phil Anders.