Congratulations

The results are in... here are this past season's winners:

League MVP

Matt Truesdale

Ed Gallagher Sportsmanship Award

James Bekier

Championship Game MVPs

JR Badian
Matt Truesdale

We Are the Champions

Congratulations to Henrietta Hudson on a hard fought victory over Phoenix. In a thrilling back-and-forth final that started in pouring rain and ended as a sunny classic, Henrietta Hudson took home the third NYGFL Title. Great job to both teams!

Recap

All Games Have Been Cancelled Due to the Weather!

Recap

Congrats to the two winless teams that got their first wins this weekend! Both Hot Bamboo and HK got on the board with big wins. They play each other this Sunday at 4pm. Someone's going to have a two-game winning streak!

The Easter holiday was tough on just about everyone, with I believe every team missing at least one player because of the holiday. Plan now, kids: Mother's Day is May 14 this year, which is the first weekend of the playoffs!

How's this for a stat, part 1. Two games ended with the exact same score of 25-12, with Hot Bamboo and Henrietta Hudson winning. Phoenix was up by the same score with 33 seconds left until Posh scored a late TD.

How's this for a stat, part 2. Jagermeister is 4-1, but they have a negative point differential of one point! They've won four close games and suffered one blowout loss to Mustang Sally's. Meanwhile, HK is 1-3-1 with a point differential of plus 15!

Hot Bamboo's Tim Hughes, who has been skiing and sunning himself on the beach for the last few weeks, came back with a roar this week, scoring his team's first two touchdowns that put them up for good in their first win.

Congratulations to XES's Brandon Proctor, who is the first quarterback to get a pass to every one of his receivers since we started keeping receptions as a stat. Posh's Joe Justin is right behind Brandon, missing out on only one player.

Shout out to Jagermeister's Ralph Caruso, who intercepted two passes with his mom cheering him on from the sideline. Of course, we won't mention the two balls that eluded him while she was watching. Did I say that out loud?

From Philip Marie's captain John McGovern: "I still think we're a Cinderella hopeful for the playoffs- we'll be the Syracuse of the Big East flag football tournament." I guess they'll just have to hope they're not the Syracuse choking dogs from the NCAA tournament.

SPECIAL AWARD: JOE NAMATH OF THE WEEK

This is not a good thing. I was going to name it the Betty Ford award, but half the league would qualify. Only Broadway Joe showed up to a game (granted, he wasn't playing) drunk, falling all over ESPN correspondent Suzy Kolber in 2003. This week, a certain defensive stud on HK arrived at the game and told Mark Yates he was drunk, but Mark didn't believe him. One play into the game, Mark realized he wasn't joking and yanked him. Note to captains: When your players show up drunk, let them play! That's entertainment you just can't buy!

SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

Even when you know you did something wrong, it's hard to admit it to a referee. Not the case this past week for Phoenix's Corey Johnson. Corey inadvertently drove a sprinting Joe Justin into the ground on a play, leaving Joe writhing in pain (though without the screams so many of us remember so well in San Diego). Without blinking, Corey knelt with Joe, apologizing for the accident immediately, asking what he could do. Corey also fully acknowledged to the refs that, despite it being an accident, he deserved the penalty. No one plays a clean game 100% of the time. We all get penalties thrown on us, and we all do things, accidentally or intentional, that we wish we hadn't done. Corey demonstrated after that play how a true sportsman conducts himself after a mistake. Kudos to him.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

It's just wonderful to me to see how excited a team gets when a player who generally doesn't get a lot of passes thrown his way makes a big play. Until a couple of weeks ago, Phoenix's Michael Glenn had never gotten to actually run after a catch: It had been some dump passes and a cloud of dust as defenders deflagged him. This week, he took matters into his own hands. With Posh driving for a score, Michael, playing outside linebacker, had one of Posh's passes in his crosshairs. With his eyes wide, he grabbed the interception and, like a pro, immediately started running the other way. Of course, a certain speedy quarterback for Posh nabbed him after about 10 yards, but it really reflected Michael's development as a player.

STUD OF THE WEEK

No, this is not a misprint. You gotta give big props to all of Jagermeister this week, who won their game with only six players! I don't care who you are – that's an accomplishment. Nick Leonard threw three TDs, ran for one more and threw no interceptions. Ralph Caruso, Joe Haines, Kelvin Cabrera, Kyle Smith and Khary Polk rounded out the six ironmen. Congrats to them!

Recap

We had four players join the league this week off the wait-list, and boy did they make a splash (pun intended). Octavio Orozco, the league MVP last spring, joined Splash and caught a long TD in their game against Henrietta Hudson. HH countered with a new addition of their own, Huy Dinh, who also caught a long TD in the game. New Eagle Nick Sacco added two TDs to his team's efforts. And Abdul Isamail contributed to Posh's win. Welcome to the league, gentlemen!

In case you didn't see the dreadlocks flying around the field on Sunday, Jagermeister's Molly Lenore intercepted three passes in her team's win. That's certainly the most picks a woman has had in a game in league history.

Henrietta Hudson set a new record for points scored in a game with 53 on Sunday. The previous record was held by last spring's Jagermeister team, who put up 50. Last season, both Philip Marie and Henrietta Hudson got to 49, but "The Team Formerly Known as the Beavers" finally broke through.

Eagle's Steve Aaronson hasn't thrown an interception in two weeks, completing nine TD passes in that time. A pretty impressive run!

You didn't think it was possible for a quarterback to run around in the backfield more than Joe Justin? Think again. Pheonix QB Corey Johnson set a record for most yards run behind the line of scrimmage in a game with 764, besting Joe's previous record of 682. They play each other this weekend; prepare to be exhausted just watching.

It was fun to see a little trickery this past week. Both Jager's Bryan Wright and HK's Jordan Carpenter took a lateral from the QB, set up and threw the ball this past weekend. One got a TD, the other an INT. I'll let them tell you who threw which.

TEAM PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Both Mustang Sally's Alon Hacohen and XES's Brandon Proctor completed a pass to all but one of their team members this past weekend, with promises of getting the other guys worked in next week. Congratulations, gentlemen! That is definitely something to be celebrated.

PLAYS OF THE WEEK

Two plays coming from two sides of the ball that looked awefully similar. On offense, Splash's Eddie Gorecki took a tipped ball, followed Octavio's block and ran down the right sideline for a touchdown. Later, Posh's Joe Justin, on defense, grabbed a tipped ball and ran down the left sideline for a score; no block needed there.

STUD OF THE WEEK

Mustang Sally's Michael Cotter was the difference-maker in his team's Primetime win over HK Saturday night. He caught both of his team's touchdowns, one a beautiful scamper on the first play of the second half, catching the ball on the left sideline then cutting almost to the right sideline for the seam and the score. He also had two interceptions that sealed a close 14-8 win.

Recap

We now have one untied, undefeated team amongst our ranks, and that's Phoenix. Which means that John Morrison, who was on last season's 11-0 Philip Marie team, has the longest personal untied unbeaten streak in the league at 14 straight games.

Speaking of streaks, there are still two players who have played at least two seasons and who have never lost a game (though they did tie one): Mustang Sally's Tal H. and Anthony Koutsoftas.

Mustang Sally's also set the season high for points scored with 47.

Congratulations go out to Team Phoenix, who saw nine of their players catch a pass this past week. Posh and Mustang Sally's both had eight.

The close calls continued this week with four games coming down to the last play. Eagle, XES, Jagermeister and Gym all pulled out close wins that could have turned on the final play.

STUD OF THE WEEK

We have a tie!

Take notice, people - Alon has Mustang Sally's clicking on all cylinders again. This week, he threw for five TDs and no INTs and ran for another TD. Add another five PATs and the man was on fire.

Our other Stud of the Week would definitely be last week's leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Week. Eagle's QB Steve Aaronson had thrown two TDs and six INTs in the first two weeks. Against Hot Bamboo, he was on fire, throwing six TDs and no picks.

Great games, guys!

PLAY OF THE WEEK

I didn't intend for this to be the Moe, Larry & Curly Award, but that's what it's quickly becoming. And this one just might beat last week's. Cut to the HK-Gym game this week, and Gym's Shawn Day has just caught a beautiful 40-yard pass for a touchdown. Er, scratch that. Thinking he's in the end zone, Shawn stops three yards short of the end zone, looks back at his team and ceremoniously tosses the ball on the ground. It almost beats Paul S's move last season when he spiked a ball three yards short of the end zone and nearly got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Take heart, Shawn - if you're following in Paul's footsteps, that's not a bad thing.

Recap

Another incredible week for the NYGFL. Two games came down to the very end, with Matt Truesdale capping off the night with a 30-yard TD reception on the last play of the game to beat XES.

Phoenix earned their name on Sunday, rising from the ashes of a 21-7 deficit to win their game, 27-21. The smile on Larry Gabbard's face after he caught only the second two-point conversion this season was one to behold.

Philip Marie got in the win column with the season's first shut-out, a 13-0 win over Hot Bamboo. Hot Bamboo was missing their starting QB and Philip Marie took advantage, posting only the fourth shutout in league history.

We also had our fourth safety in league history, with Jagermeister's Adam Jacobs getting Mustang Sally in the end zone for two points.

Manny Urquiza, in his first complete game of his NYGFL career, led Gym to victory with one TD and no INTs. Manny hit for the cycle with a TD pass, a TD run and an INT returned for a TD. Al Torres also got three INTs for his own hat trick.

Joe Justin led Posh like a seasoned vet on Sunday. Don't look now, but Mighty Mouse now has 6 TD passes and no INTs on the season. He's also intercepted four balls.

STUD OF THE WEEK

It was possibly the greatest offensive display by one person in the history of the league. Matt beat double- and triple-coverage all night to grab four TDs and seemed to grab every flag. A stellar performance.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

And finally, the play of the week. It wasn't the prettiest, but it was unique. We'll just say that a certain player from Splash's career stats on forward passes:
0-for-1.

It was an historic kickoff weekend for the NYGFL for lots of reasons:

1. We had our first female captain of a game (Leilani Farol of Jagermeister) and our first victory by a female captain. It was also the first win by a team who had two women on the field at the same time (Molly Lenore joined Leilani).
2. We had only our third safety in league history (Hector Valdes of Philip Marie).
3. We saw our second and third ties in league history.
   
   And most importantly:
4. Six games were decided by a total of 21 points.

Congratulations to everyone who made this week of games so memorable!

Take some time to explore the new season schedule, standings, and roster pages for the league!