SoCal Footy Season

While in some parts of the US teams are just awakening from their winter slumber, the Southern California AFL has six solid rounds of football behind it. Add to this, having hosted the Revolution training camp with trial games, an indoor exhibition match before an Arena Football League match and a road trip to Dallas and you can see that these guys are returning to a position of strength not seen for some years. President Corey Irwin tells us “The SCAFL currently stands at the best it’s been in the league’s short three year history. We’ve built a strong core of players and continue to grow talent on each side.”

(PHOTO: LA Swan dives for the mark.)

Reigning premiers Beachside Sharks are in first place, working on an undefeated season. The Sharks have done an outstanding job in recruitment and training and it’s obviously paid off. Their dominant midfield, including players Simon Sweeney and Frederik Schulin, do an excellent job of controlling the play of the ball. At full forward, Paul Lindley leads the league in goals kicked. In second place sits the OC Jets. The past two years has seen the Jets lose in each SCAFL Grand Final. If they can win their last two games, they will find themselves there for a third year in a row. The question is, can they finally win it? If they do it will be largely thanks to two Revolution players who also happen to be brothers – Kelly and KB Nelson.

In third place currently are the LA Swans. After winning the inaugural SCAFL Grand Final in 2006, the Swans have fallen off a bit. A lot of their struggles can be linked to their major turnover of players; still they’ve proven on any given day they can give the top clubs a scare. They have talent in Andy Lindsey (another Revolution player) and Colter Allison, plus first year player Adam Hale has proven to be a real spark for the team. In last place sits the Riverside Raiders. The Riverside club has struggled since the SCAFL started, largely due to being the youngest and most inexperienced team. This year has seen the group take real positive strides. Led by Matt Morgan and Darrin Olsen, the club has played some of its best football in recent weeks. The play of Jason Unmacht has also been a bright spot.

The remaining schedule for the SCAFL league:

June 8 - SCAFL Round 7 - OC vs Beachside, LA vs IE (LA Hosts)

June 14 (Sat.) - SCAFL Round 8 - LA vs OC, Beachside vs IE (OC Hosts)

June 22 - SCAFL Round 9 - Beachside vs LA, OC vs IE (Beachside Hosts)

July 20 - SCAFL Grand Final

Report courtesy of World Footy News Corey Irwin contributed to this report.

- Troy Thompson
(1119)