PACKERS DROP MANHA DEFENDING CHAMPS

By Nick Akimoto

It was an exciting semifinals Manha Division game between the second place Eagles and the third place Packers. With a trip to the Triple J GNYFF Manha championship on the line, both teams would hold their ground in a defensive slugfest. Here are Sunday’s semifinals scores:

Matua Divison
Outlaws 22, Packers 6

Metgot Division
Outlaws 25, Eagles 18

Manha Division
Packers 7, Eagles 6 (OT)

By the end of regulation in the Manha game, both teams would head into overtime scoreless. With the Sunday summer heat and the playoff pressure beaming down on both teams at the Tiyan Field, it would be the Packers who would emerge victorious over the defending champion Eagles with a 7-6 overtime victory and their own shot at the Manha trophy. 

Defense was the focus throughout the game. The Packers had the daunting task of limiting the Eagles’ bruising running back in Aaron Brub, while the Eagles had to find a way to quiet the Packers’ running committee in quarterback Jayce Hattori and running backs Julian Lane and Connor Hattori. By the end of regulation, both teams fulfilled their win conditions to near perfection. 

The Eagles defensive line put plenty of pressure on the Packers, forcing two fumbles in the backfield for turnovers. Michael Rios and Brub made running tough for the Packers, breaking past blockers and forcing pressure on the handoff. That pressure would allow Jaevin Besong and Daniel Miranda to come up with big fumble recoveries near their own red zone. 

The Packers’ secondary defenders played a big rule, as they had to make sure that they were there immediately as soon as Brub saw even the slightest sliver of daylight. 

“It was super hard. [Aaron] Brub kept hitting us every time,” said Lane, who was crucial at linebacker, filling in the holes left on the line and meeting Brub at the line. 

“We put two people to double team him at the line,” said Packers strong safety Connor Hattori. Hattori provided critical run support to the Packers, meeting and stopping Eagle runners near the line of scrimmage before they could break away for big runs. 

“My job today was to tackle number ninety nine,” said cornerback Jeremiah Kelly. Kelly was a quiet contributor to the game, but was a key piece to their victory, as Kelly had a number of open field tackles as the last line of defense in matching up with Brub. 

OVERTIME 

With both teams executing on defense, the championship contender would be decided in overtime.

GNYFF overtime rules mirror that of Guam high school football and NCAA college football. You must score and get a stop. If you score more points than the other team after you have both gotten a chance to score, then you win. With this rule set, both teams were faced a tremendous amount of pressure on either side of the ball. 

The Eagles had the first chance to score, and on fourth down and everything on the line, the Eagles handed the ball off once again to Brub, who willed his way into the end zone. On the point after attempt, however, the Packers would succeed at holding back the Eagles. 

The Packers now had all the pressure on their backs to score in the next four plays. Handing off the ball to Hattori, the Packers gained an encouraging five yards on their first play, but two more attempts would fail to find pay dirt and would force the Packers to face a fourth down do-or-die situation.

In their biggest moment, the Packers kept the ball in their quarterback’s hands, as they allowed Hattori to flip the field for a reverse QB run and sprint his way into the end zone. The Packers had succeeded at evening things up, but they now had a chance to win it all if they managed to convert their extra point attempt. As the ball was hiked to Hattori, he once again turned the field for another QB reverse run and ran his way into the end zone to secure a Semifinals victory. 

When asked what Jayce thought as his coach told him to take the ball on fourth down and for the extra point attempt, Jayce only had a few words: 

“I was gonna score. And I was gonna score again.” 

The third place Packers now look forward to their final test against the top seeded team in the Manha division in the Hal’s Angels. The Angels beat the Cowboys 31-0 to advance to the championship and look to avenge their championship loss last year. The Angels got the better of the Packers when they met up towards the end of the regular season, but the Packers are determined that they are ready for the final test. 

“Feels good that we made it to the championship,” said Kelly. 

“We’re looking to stop #0 (on the Angels, Brennan Aquiningoc),” said Lane.

In the Metgot Division, Nekhi Freeman did what Nekhi Freeman does, scoring all four touchdowns for the undefeated Outlaws in their 25-18 win over the Eagles. The top-seeded Outlaws advance to play the #2 Southern Cowboys, who beat the Angels on Saturday 24-0.

And in the Matua Division, the Outlaws outlasted the Packers 22-6 as quarterback Kai Flores threw two touchdowns and ran in another.

After a 4-and-out defensive stop on the opening drive, Flores took a Packers punt all the way to the 8-yard line. He pulled off a QB sneak from there to put the Outlaws on the board first. Chase Benavente’s kick made it 8-0. The Packers responded in the very next possession on a Jayson Parr 70-yard bomb to Jude Kelly. The conversion was no good and the score went into halftime 8-6.

The Outlaws defense stood stern in the second half, while Flores added two short scoring passes: a 6-yarder to AJ Dela Cruz in the third quarter and a 9-yarder over the middle to Damion Quinata.

This now sets up the ultimate showdown with the #1 Angels in the championship game next weekend.

Championship Day

Details of the championship location and times will be determined at Monday night’s league meeting.

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