REG SEASON ENDS- PLAYOFFS SET

2020-21 Regular Season | Week 20

That’s it! Eighteen games over twenty weeks. 144 games in total. This has now finalised the 8 play-off seedings and matchups.

HOW WE GOT THERE

There were head-to-head title deciders matchups in the PFL East and Central. Landor 96ers took the East with a 30-24 victory over New Chester Knights. The Adelphia Phoenix clung on to a 27-24 win against the Oakland Ravens, ensuring at least one home play-off game as no.3 seed.

Caligara Bulldogs already had sewn up the North and needed a late touchdown to beat Iomagh Steelers 19-16. They rested most of their stars in that game. The Ballymore Tigers lost to Harteford Hawks 20-17 in a way that only they can! They always slip up to a losing team late in the season.

The Chakota Wasps restored some pride with a victory over Rochester. The Trojans led early, but Chandler threw two fourth quarter TD passes to bring them back to a 24-17 win.

Hallas wrapped up their regular season with tidy 37-24 win against the St. George Sharks. The Stars are the no.4 seed. At 2-15-1, the Sharks know they need to rebuild. Relocation is also a possibility.

This left two teams fighting over the number eight spot:

San Andreas, knowing they had to better the Bears’ score, stormed out to a 31-13 first half- lead against the Eregon Eagles. The Bears were losing at half-time to the Melboro Giants 21-14, even though the Giants had only three first downs at that stage.

In the second half, the Miners added two more TD’s – Ryan Bruce passed for 413 yards and 5 touchdowns… but it was to no avail.
The Bears rallied to lead 34-31 with a game-tying 45 yard field goal set up for the Giants with just one second left on the clock. Veteran kicker Billy Young hooked the kick wide right.

AND SO, THE BEARS GO THROUGH VIA HEAD-TO-HEAD.

NUMBER ONE DRAFT PICK

The race for the number one draft pick was nearly lost by the Hsrteford Hawks, who only went and beat the play-off bound Ballymore Tigers. The Sharks also finished 2-15-1, with the tie the game between the two.
Following confirmation of the tiebreakers in this case- The Hawks retained the worst record by virtue of conceding more points and worst points- difference.

They have the first pick in June’s draft.

NEXT WEEKS PLAYOFF MATCHUPS:

Hallas Stars	4	vs	5	New Chester Knights
Caligara Bulldogs	2	vs	7	Oakland Ravens
Landor 96ers	1	vs	8	Bristow Bears
Adelphia Phoenix	3	vs	6	Ballymore Tigers

Just seven games remain before we crown the 2020-21 champions. Who will it be standing in the podium at Crystal Bowl 51?

WEEK 19 RECAP- FINAL WEEK PREVIEW

The Professional Football League’s regular season comes to an end this coming weekend. With 17 games played in the 19 weeks to date, Seven of the eight play-off spots are secured, with the final week bringing up some intriguing encounters.

To recap: with the Caligara Bulldogs lost 29-24 to the Ballymore Tigers, they relinquished the number one seed position to the Landor 96ers (as they lost in the head-to-head encounter). Meanwhile, the Hallas Stars secured their PFL West divisional championship with a 37-10 victory at Eregon Eagles. The San Andreas Miners kept in the play-off chase with their shaky 16-9 win over the St George Sharks – they will need to better the Bristow Bears result in the final week.

The New Chester Knights kept up the pressure on the Landor 96ers with their victory over the Melboro Giants. They will win the PFL East division with a win against the 96ers on Sunday and the team from the capital would fill the number 5 seed as the best runner-up!

The Adelphia Phoenix absolutely dismantled and embarrassed the Chakota Wasps in the penultimate game 56-14. Matt Kelly threw for 6 touchdowns and no interceptions in a clinical display. The Wasps defence capitulated in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, leading to calls for the coordinator to lose his job. Chakota will make their decisions after Sunday.

Wins for the Ballymore Tigers and the Oakland Ravens give them good momentum going into the play-offs in the 6th and 7th respectively. In fact, the Ravens could win the PFL Central with a win against Adelphia – so the Phoenix would be on their travels in the play-offs with a loss. This would have been unthinkable about 5 weeks ago!

W2WO4- What to Watch out for! Wk20 Implications

Divisional title deciders: the PFL East comes down to the final confrontation between the Knights and the 96ers. The Knights must win or they will be on the road in the play-offs. Whoever is the runner-up, will be for definite the number 5 seed and will travel to the Hallas Stars.

In the PFL Central: the Oakland Ravens must be the Adelphia Phoenix to win the division on a tiebreaker, otherwise they will be the number 7 seed. Both of these games are great matchups.

Seed jostling Depending on what happens in the Oakland/Adelphia game, the Tigers the 6 or 7 seed, regardless of whether they win or not.

The final play-off spot will be decided by 2 matches: the Bristow Bears at Melboro Giants and the San Andreas Miners hosting the Eregon Eagles. The Bears have the head-to-head advantage, so will automatically go through if they win or if the Miners do not win. In the rare event that the Bears lose and the Miners tie, the Miners would ‘sneak’ in.

The race for the number one draft pick: at the moment the Harteford Hawks have a one-game advantage over the St. George Sharks. If the Hawks however manage to win and the Sharks lose on the final day, were not quite sure of the tiebreaker here because they drew head-to-head and would have the same divisional records! I think it might come down to points conceded, which still heavily favours the Hawks, but this might require further consultation!

Final Week Fixtures:
All games kick off at the same time on Sunday 31st January-

Melboro Giants		vs		Bristow Bears
New Chester Knights		vs		Landor 96ers
Adelphia Phoenix		vs		Oakland Ravens
Rochester Trojans		vs		Chakota Wasps
Harteford Hawks		vs		Ballymore Tigers
Caligara Bulldogs		vs		Iomagh Steelers
San Angelo Miners		vs		Eregon Eagles
Hallas Stars		vs		St. George Sharks