Flip Flop - Regionals, SCAFL Affect Third Poll

This past weekend in Indianapolis, I was needled a lot for the number of Game of Thrones references I put in the first two poll recaps.  I mean, no one was losing their head or anything, and it’s in Stark contrast to all of the other things I write about the league.  I think it was just a few people deciding to Arya their grievances.

Alright, I’ll stop, promise.

The Austin Crows remained at the top of the USAFL Top 20 Poll for the third consecutive polling round, once again collecting all nine first place votes available.  While a total of 12 teams retained their positions in this poll, the ones that moved did so because of the results from the Central Regional Tournament, as well as the results of the SCAFL metro competition.

Also receiving votes: Baltimore-Washington Eagles 15, San Diego Lions 14, Des Moines Roosters 4, North Carolina Tigers 1, Tulsa Buffaloes 1.

Two of Austin’s three victories in the regionals were hard fought, as they beat Denver by just three points, and came from behind to beat Dallas in the final game to clinch the Regional D-1 title.  They did it while missing some key players including their main ruckman, Harley Nussman.  As the season goes on, it’s looking more and more difficult to knock the Crows off of their premiership tuffet, but there is still a long way to go.

As we reported last week, the Southern California AFL league wrapped up this past weekend; that competition has six teams representing three USAFL clubs.  The Orange County Bombers, who had dominated the competition previously under this format, saw their two teams finish fourth and sixth and are hurting on numbers so far this year.  The pollsters took note, dropping them to third and bumping up the Magpies back into the 2^nd spot.  The Magpies won both games in the round on the road, beating Baltimore-Washington by 96 points and North Carolina by 76.  They have one more road game in Philly before hosting the Eastern Regional Tournament the following week.

Denver, which went 1-1-1 on the weekend, held onto 4^th while Golden Gate stayed in 5^th.  The L.A. Dragons, whose two entries into the SCAFL faced off for that competition’s championship moved up one spot into sixth, just two votes behind the Roos.  The Dragons take on their rivals from Orange County the week before the Western Regionals, which will be a good yardstick for both teams.

The Dallas Magpies slid up one spot along with Los Angeles as a result of their 1-1-1 result in Indy.  Dallas had help from two key members of the USA Revolution National team “on loan” from other clubs in Bryan Dragus (GG) and Ryan McGettigan (Philly), but their core side played some of the best football they’ve had in some time.  They’re still chasing Austin, but they went toe-to-toe with them on Saturday and can hold their heads high.

Calgary fell to eighth place as a result of the ‘Pies and Dragons moving up, but they have a big buffer ahead of ninth place Columbus which should keep them from falling out of D1 contention for Nationals.

Speaking of the Jacks, the Buckeye boys put in a hard 120 minutes of work last Saturday, after getting completely humbled by Austin 62-3 they came back to nearly pick off Dallas and gave Denver everything they could handle.  Remaining chiseled in ninth, they seem to be sitting in the catbird seat for the Nationals Division 2 final.

Or at least they would be, had Houston not made an emphatic statement with three outstanding games at the regionals.  David Restrepo and David Anastas will be a names to watch as they dominated in the forward line all day.   The effort brought them up to 11^th, one point shy of 10^th place Sacramento and sending Quebec down a spot.  It may very well come down to the Lonestars and Jackaroos in the D2 Grand Final when we get to Sarasota, and that should be a fun game to watch.

The next seven slots remained unchanged.  Ohio Valley picked up a massive amount of ground on Chicago, defeating the Swans and going 2-1 at the Regionals.  The River Rats are making a case to be in Division 2 come go time in Sarasota, and are playing some darn good footy in the process.

The 20^th and final position in the poll changed hands for the third consecutive time.  The Nashville Kangaroos, Baltimore Washington Eagles and San Diego Lions all laid claim to it, but it was the Kangas sweep of the Regionals Division 3 round robin that put them into the last seat of the Top 20 bus, and hopefully a bit of impetus as the second half of the season approaches.

WHAT’S ON TAP – NEXT POLL JULY 6^TH

With the exception of the Seattle-Portland game this coming Saturday, it’ll be all East Coast action over the next two weeks leading up to Independence Day weekend.  New York heads to Philly as their hectic month of June continues as the 19^th ranked Hawks try to do something they’ve only done once in fifteen seasons – beat New York.

The Regionals Series continues with the Eastern Regionals from Yonkers, New York on Saturday June 25^th.  The schedule is still to be confirmed as of this writing, but New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore-Washington, and Columbus have confirmed that they are going.  Should be another good day of footy nonetheless.