During Week 3 of the Stowe Area Flag Football League, it was evident that the teams and players were finding their rhythm. The play execution was crisp and teams started going to their bag of tricks to turn out big plays!
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| DIVISION 1 |
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49ers 27 - Raiders 16
It was a great fall day for football, as the SAFFL’s 49ers and Raiders battled to a 27 – 16 49ers victory on Sunday afternoon. The 49ers came out strong and took the lead with two long touchdown runs in the first half by Tobey Bellows. Both drives were solid team efforts with several catches by Cooper Provencher, Emmett Lisai, Braden Martens and Izzy Lovell. The second half proved to be more of a running game for the Niners, with two touchdown runs by Hunter Bove, and great running by Eamon Langlais, Luke Hamel, Evie Lovell and Leila Shapiro. The defense worked hard all day trying to keep the powerful Raiders offense in check. It was a team effort with great flag pulling by all and multiple pulls by Lisai, Martens, Jake Bartolomei, Sabin Piatek, Evan Burkhouse and two INT’s by Bellows. All in all a great team victoryThe Raiders came into the week looking for their first win but the 49er offense eluded the tough Raiders defense. On Defense Owen Branch and Drew Zimmerman would have made Al Davis proud as they led the pass rush. Tanner Hackett and Noah Lynch were like a two headed dragon as they both had monster interceptions. Ian "beast mode" Zimmerman also had an interception and two TD's. Another strong performance from RB Maximus Romano as he scored a TD to keep his streak line. Isaiah Thomas looked like he had some coaching from Tom Brady with his precision play at QB. Quentin Lynch, Kason Lang, Cole Dorney and Tighten Fils-Aime owned the hearts of Raiders Nation with their offensive swagger. Gus Wright had a huge grab as he posterized the 49er defense but it was not enough to take the victory. There were questions of "Deflate-gate" revisited during the game however the Raiders just made a mental note for their next game with the 49ers. |
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Steelers 32 - Panthers 24
The Panthers came out strong with an opening kickoff return for a touchdown by Leander Pinkham to take the early lead. On their first possession, the Steelers moved the ball well, with a good run by Eliza Cabot, but were unable to score and turned the ball over on downs. The Panthers capitalized on their next possession to once again score to take a 12-0 lead through Panther team efforts capped by a Dylan Mauro TD. The Steelers answered back with a good run by Noelle Lyden and a QB sneek for a TD by Tucker Buffum. The Steelers defense settled in, and with good plays by Teague Barnett, Cannon Parsons, and Ethan Choularton stopped the Panthers to set up the next Steeler possession that resulted in a touchdown pass to Carter MacDonald to tie the game 12-12 at the half. Panthers brought their best defensive game by quick actions and flags by Grant Powell, Sam Stutz, Parker Guffey, Caku Brown, Fin Clark, and Samson Berlin. For the second week in a row, Austin Welch once again broke a long run to return the second half kickoff for a touchdown. The Panthers answered quickly with their own TD by Jacob McCormick to re-tie the game. In the fourth quarter, QB Alex Mitchell converted a critical 4th down run to keep the drive alive and set up Maxi Hoder for a TD and MacDonald for the PAT. Not to be deterred, the Panthers answered back with another TD to pull withinone, but failed to convert on the PAT. With less than a minute to play in the game, Milla Smith turned a QB sneak into a 60 yard dash for a TD, and the PAT was converted on a run by Tyler Scarlata to hold off the Panthers for a 32-24 victory. |
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| DIVISION 2 |
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Cardinals 37 - Colts 28
The Cardinals-Colts matchup was a high-scoring affair, with the Cardinal passing game trading scores with the Colts rushing attack. The Cardinal offense was powered by wideouts Jules Gershman, Luke Farley and Carson Matckie. Their speed opened up the passing game to tight ends Connor Willett, Sid Cashin and Liam Wheelwright. Max Singer distributed the ball well from the quarterback position to the wide array of targets, benefiting from excellent blocking by Eric Friedrich. His passes included a short connection to Connor Willett that Willett converted into a long gain, a two-point conversion to Matckie and a touchdown to Wheelwright. The Colts started with a long pass from quarterback Alex McNabb to Cam Anderson for a large gain. Alex finished off the opening drive with a rushing TD up the middle. The same duo connected on another pass for the extra point. Hans Huber added to the Colts scoring with a long TD run up the middle avoiding many tacklers along the way. The Colts rushing game was strong all day in big part due to line work by Hayden Peters, Emma Dubie, and Lilly. Parker Davey kept the Colts in the game with a TD reception in the corner of the end zone and later added another score with a dazzling run. The Colts defense was highlighted by a tipped pass by defensive end Cam Anderson that was intercepted by a diving Alex McNabb. The defensive effort was lead by some great flag pulls by Cooper Olney, Ryan Keene, Eames Eiden, and Reese Wheeler. The Cardinals defense sealed the victory becoming stronger as the game went on. Jon Hamel intercepted the Colts on fourth down late in the game by the Cardinal end zone. Due to an inadvertent whistle, the down was re-played, but Jules Gershman intercepted the next pass. Hamel, Alex Chudzik and Alex Lanpher played excellent defense all game. |
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Patriots 25 - Cowboys 20
The rematch between the Cowboys and Patriots hinged on three interceptions in the final minutes of play. The two teams are evenly matched this year and emotions were running high, as the Cowboys stopped the Patriots on their opening drive. Izzie Mitchell ran the ball in for a TD for the Cowboys who kept scoring through the half. The Cowboys scored another energizing touchdown later in the first half with Chace Newhouse connecting for an acrobatic leap by Dylan Haskins in the end zone. Co-quarterback Ben Cabot then proceeded on the Cowboys' next possession to march the team down the field for the team's final score. The Pats responded with a TD pass from Wyatt Reid to Colby Fisher and another from Lewis Clapp to Avery Fish. Down 20 - 13 at the half, the Pats stopped the Cowboys in the Red Zone. Evie Reid had a strong run up the middle before Aidan Robin connected with Charlie Veit on flea flicker for a TD. The Cowboys turned the ball over on downs with strong flagging by Rowan Pinkham and Boone Maher. Clapp then connected with Veit to bring the Pats ahead for the first time in the game. Despite veteran flag pulling by Cailin Apple and Avery Hadik and strong pass rushing by Oliver Branch and rookie Charlie Kimmich, the Cowboys couldn't muster another successful possession. With two minutes remaining, Wyatt Reid foiled the Cowboys drive with an interception. Pats passed on first down and coughed up an inception to Tony White. The Cowboys kept to the air, giving up a final inception to Fish and the Pats ran out the clock to win 25-20. |
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Cardinals 26 - Giants 6
The Cardinals were able to avenge their opening day loss to the Giants and salvage a split of the teams' regular season series. The Cardinals stymied the Giants offense with tackling from Mario Cano, Eric Friedrich, Sid Cashin, Connor Matckie and Jon Hamel. Hamel, the for second game in a row, nearly snared an interception, a feat accomplished by Alex Chudzik and Jules Gershman. The Cardinals offense relied on the sure hands of Liam Wheelright and Cano. Cano turned a short pass into a long gain, streaking for 42 yards, but could not make it into the end zone. Gershman and Luke Farley powered the running game, repeatedly breaking long runs. They received excellent blocking from Connor Willett and Eric Friedrich. The Giants played a heartbreaker against the Cards. There were some great passing plays from QB Emerson Smith connecting to Gabe Wright. Daniel Lyden, Sierra Crist, and James Rosenbloom. In just the first half, the Giants were in the Red Zone three times but the stingy D of the Cards held them scoreless in the first half. The Giants D played with great flag pulls by TJ Guffey, David Gosselin, Isaac Medow, Calvin Kontos and Olivia Gianni. The second half found the Giants again in the red Zone on three occasions. They moved the ball well with a crucial reception by Will Brochhausen. The Giants played strong teamwork with great flag pulling and blocking by Will Fowler, Lucy Genung and Charlie Davidow. Finally in the fourth quarter QB Luca DeRuzza, went “rumbling and stumbling all the way” for a Touch Down! |
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| DIVISION 3 |
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Redskins 50 - Chiefs 28
Unlike last week’s interception-ridden contest, Sunday’s game had one common theme – score, score, score. In the end, the Redskins again prevailed 50-28. For the Redskins, Billy Dixon threw five touchdowns: three to Andres Blanco Pernas and one each to Brenden Rahily and Jack Seivrwight. Dixon also added an interception runback for a touchdown. Alex Nissenbaum had the only running touchdown with a beautiful end-around down the left sideline. For the Chiefs, Colton Cunningham ran for one touch down and passed to Park Crist for another. Sam Wright added two touchdown passes: one to Ty Garon and a beautiful pass that was tipped by Carter Dehlinger and eventually found its way to Morgan Apple for the score. Despite the lopsided score, the highlight of Sunday’s game was Cunningham’s goal-line stance, grabbing two flags just shy of the goal line on two consecutive Redskins scoring attempts. Despite the heroics, the Redskins eventually scored through the air, but stayed away from Cunningham’s direction. The two teams will again have a rematch next week, when the Chiefs hope to start their own winning streak! |
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| Join us on Sunday for Week 3 of games played on the Stowe Polo Fields between 11:00 am to 3:30 pm. |
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| The Stowe Area Flag Football League would like to thank this year’s sponsors: Apple Construction, Bistro At Ten Acres, Black Cap Coffee & Beer, Brook Field Service, CCS Constructors, Darn Tough, Edible Arrangements, Inntopia, Lamoille Valley Ford, Mansfield Orthopaedics, Northern Reliability, Piecasso, Stowe Family Dentistry, Snowflake Mountain Resort & Spa, UPS Store, Weston & Sampson Engineers, and Yellow Turtle. Their generous donations help fund the operating cost of the league and make the game affordable to families. |