Every week we’ll be recapping the week of league games. If you have any positive notes to include in going weeks, please have your captain send them to recap@nygayfootball.org.

Recap

With some strong defense and a couple of bombs to Rich Smith and JR Badian, team Posh was able to outlast their sister team Greco Empire. Sergio Turbay led the team with catches and Big Gay Al (Silverstein) provided the most drama by colliding with Todd Korman and walked away with a killer black eye which he used as man bait at Mr Black that evening. The Posh boys are resourceful.

Phoenix got all it could handle from an under-manned Steel Gym team, but in the end pulled out a 43-30 victory. The offense was stopped on its first drive and was never denied again. The defense played well, considering we were playing against someone who runs a 4.1 40 and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Most significantly, Phoenix continues to convert on fourth down in its own territory, which was the difference in the game.

Thom C. returned this week after an injury, and he didn't miss a beat catching numerous key third- and fourth-down passes and scoring a touchdown.

Jackie Dupree played a great game on offense, grabbing a couple key passes and buying a bunch of time as a blocker. Sideline entertainment for the next two games was courtesy of Ms. Jacqueline Dupree, who was in rare form. Yeeesssss!

Henry H. made some key stops. Brian Conroy, Jordan Carpenter, James Agard and Beth all made big catches to move the chains. And Kyle Smith, who is probably the most underrated linebacker in the league, continued his great play before being sidelined with a foot injury.

Matt W. continued his incredible performance this season, pulling down two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Steel Gym played very well, despite missing a couple people. Wade filled in at quarterback and ran a very smart offense. The whole Steel Gym team contributed on both sides of the ball, and we really commend them on a good, spirited, very clean game.

The entire V2 Vodka Team (all 12 players were there) put on a great display on both sides of the ball for their first victory of the season. V2 took the opening drive down the field for a touchdown and never looked back.

In the battle for GYM Bar bragging rights the Ratz out matched the Bunnies, defeating them by a touchdown. The Ratz saw a key defensive player, Mike Fernandez, go down to injury in the first half and had to play the entire 2nd half with only 6 players. But they stuck together.

Nick Leonard led the Ratz attacks on both ends and had key touchdown passes to Hector Valdez and Stephen Vellecca (sh’outreach). The defense for the Ratz was smothering as Aaron Jusino and Jim (aka Visa Decline) Gardner both had the Bunnies QB scrambling the entire game.

Therapy

The current top two teams of the Kopay conference battled it out in Chelsea. The undefeated Manhunt and the Therapy Nuts traded quick touchdowns at the start of the first game but the evenly matched teams played stellar defense and the score remained the same for much of the half. It wasn¹t until late in the half that Manhunt posted another touchdown to end the first half 14-6.

In the second half, Therapy dug in and played aggressive offense scoring in their first drive but still trailing 14-13. With both teams still playing tough defense, the turning point for Therapy came down to the last 15 minutes of the game when Michael Arlotto intercepted the ball with a diving one-handed catch. This propelled Therapy to score 2 more touchdowns ending the game 26 to 14. It was a total team effort this week for the Therapy Nuts. TDs to Rory Ray, Andrew Clyne, Victor V. and Michael Arlotto and 5 sacks to Monty C..

On a side note, this will be the first time in 4 seasons that no team will go undefeated in the regular season.

Manhunt

The previously undefeated Manhunt team finally showed a weakness, an allergy to Nuts. Therapy (4-2) put the first blemish on Manhunt's (5-1) record with a 25-14 decision over the Hunters, keeping the Nuts in the hunt for the Confrence title. Rory Ray scored for the Nuts and Jon E. scored for the Hunters. John Adams also got his first score of the season in addition to playing great defense.

Team Eagle was more like the mythical phoenix as it rose from the ashes and soared to victory once more under the leadership of Paul S. as quarterback. The team welcomed new player Sean K. who fit like a glove with some nice catches. Javier Sanchez showed some fancy footwork as he spun in for a TD off his blocking assignment. Mikki Cotter and Josh B. also rose to the occasion with some acrobatic touchdowns. Some heavy pressure by Khary Polk and a huge downfield block by Seamus Mallon helped to set up the real story here. Like a fine cheese that only gets better with age, John McLellan lit up the field with a fleet-footed touchdown and three extra points, as well as a stellar defensive performance at cornerback with an interception, four swatted passes, and a corner bone-dry of receptions.

Recap

Posh defeated another of their sister sponsors this time with John Greco himself in attendance. While the sun was setting, Rich Smith caught another bomb, JR Badian caught more TDs and Tad Knier picked up a slew of catches. The games star was Ralph Alquero who put pressure on the QB all game and recorded his first sack of the season. Low light of the game was old man Arnold being chased down by Steven Starling on a QB scramble.

Recap

Phoenix

In another fantastic game this season between two very good teams, in a Tale of Two Halves, it was Posh rising from the dead to overcome 20 points of a 25-point deficit, but falling short against Phoenix, 32-27.

The first half was dominated by Phoenix, who ran off 32 straight points after falling behind 7-0. The entire Phoenix team contributed, with Jordan, Jackie, Cyd, Don and James scoring touchdowns, and Matt W. pulling down a 2-point conversion. The Phoenix defense played out of its mind, ringing in several sacks, a bunch of batted balls, and giving up no points in five straight possessions. Kyle Smith was again everywhere on defense, Brian Conroy shut down everything that came to his area, and Mathew and Henry both kept the yards-after-reception to nearly nothing at the linebacker position.

The two highlights of the game, however, came on special teams. Cyd recorded what is believed to be the first intentional blocked punt, when he jumped up and batted Posh's punt out of the air at the line of scrimmage. And Matt W. had a booming punt that sailed from Phoenix's 10-yard line out the back of the endzone.

The second half belonged to Posh. John Gillespe had a fantastic interception that changed the momentum of the game, and Bryan Bestwick took over at the center position and gave Mark Arnold the extra second he needed. Alas, they fell 10 yards short of victory.

POSH

The Posh team got off to a VERY slow start in the first half and actually had a punt blocked by Phoenix. Their only consolation at halftime was doing something that had never been done in the league before. The jury is still out whether its Mark Arnold's inability to punt or Cyd Zeigler's freakishly long arms.

The second half was a different story as Posh came back with a few interceptions by Tad Knier and John Gillespie and TDs by JR Badian, Todd Korman and Bryan Bestwick. The comeback came up just short but the effort was plenty to build off of in the weeks to come!

League members Prim and Proper were both thrown into the nearby East River during the battle of the undefeateds. In a very VERY physical game turned ugly on the field and on the scoreboard, Manhunt pitched its first shutout of the year against a depleted Eagle team.

Manhunt's defense had answers for everything Eagle threw at them, ending several plays behind the line of scrimmage, taking 3 INTs away from the Eagle offense and creating lots of pressure. On offense, the ball-control offense worked to perfection. Paul marched his offense down the field and put the ball into the end zone four times as Manhunt became the last undefeated team in the league, with a record of 5-0.

Strategy was the word of the day as the Therapy Nuts downed the Henrietta Hudson Demon Beavers. With both teams recovering from a string of injuries, the depth of each team was tested on that warm spring evening. The Nuts sprang off to an early lead, posting three touchdowns to Henrietta Hudson's one in the first half.

The second half was a stellar battle of wills, with the teams trading touchdowns, plays combining skill with instinct and strategy. However the first half lead made all the difference, and the Beavers ran out of time to capitalize on the momentum shift.

V2 Vodka's highlights included 2 touch down passes from Jay Coleman to Davin Rosborough and Co-Captain Dan M. The V2 crew played a tight first half with good de-flagging and nice play calling. A couple of very quick touchdowns from Splash turned the game in their favor and they had a strong second half.

In a 40 to 20 victory, Steel Gym continued to come togehter as a team. With Darin Shaw, Christopher Shay, Hugo Loyola and Joesph Patrick all having monster games. Steel Gym jumped out to an early lead and held off any comeback attempts by Philip Marie.

GYM Ratz defeated the Greco Empire in a game that saw a battle of highly potent offenses. Nick Leonard threw amazing TD passes to Hector Valdez, Ralph Caruso and Robbie Mayer. Even though the Ratz stormed ahead the Empire kept it close with the Tedaldi/Octavio connection.

Recap

Game 2 for the GYM Ratz began in similar fashion as the Ratz jumped all over team Eagle in the first half. It was an all around team effort with highlights being interceptions by Nick Leonard, Chris Tomanelli and Robbie Mayer. Also a huge 10 yard loss on a sack by Mike Fernandez.

Recap

Therapy

After numerous injuries and changes in personnel, Team Therapy finalizes their starting line-up and produces a commanding victory over Team V2 Vodka. In the first half Therapy scored 4 TDs and 1 PAT. The hot play of the half was a 40-yard throw by Therapy QB Victor V. to receiver Rory Ray who scrambled for the ball and just managed a finger-tip-catch in-bounds, before stepping past the sideline. The key to Therapy's success was their defense, run by co-captain Micah Stern, which did not allow V2 to move past their own 35-yard line in the entire first half. They also capitalized on a number of interceptions by Michael Arlotto and Gil E..

In the middle of the second half V2 Vodka came alive on a 30-yard throw by QB Jay Coleman to receiver Dan Maierle who broke away from the defense for a 30-yard run to score their first and only TD of the game. In the end QB Victor V. was able to get the ball to every player on Therapy and rack-up another 25 points in the second-half contributing to a fantastic win.

Shout-outs go to Rory Ray (3 TDs and 3 sacks), Micah Stern (2 TDs and 1 sack), Victor V. (2 TDs), Gil E. (1TD), Michael Arlotto (1PAT), Marty Meekins (1PAT), Monty C. (2 sacks) and great defensive plays by Billy Sickora and David Suk.

V2 Vodka

V2 Co-Captain Dan M scored his 4th touchdown of the season on a really nice pass from Jay Coleman.

Therapy was REALLY good. Their new player Rory will be a star in this League. Good luck to their Captain Derek and the rest of the team down the stretch.

An absolute war broke out on Pier 40 in the first game at Pier 40 Saturday night. Bamboo 52's Alon H., however, played Obi Wan Kenobi to Manhunt's Kelvin Cabrera's Darth Vader, as Manhunt sliced through the Bamboo thickets to get a key divisional victory. (ARGH... so many metaphors!!!)

If you had Eric Hofmann and Jon E. in your fantasy gay flag football league, your investment paid off as Eric had 3 touchdowns and Jon had 2 and an INT. Leilani Farol got an extra point and Jayce Jones got a late interception to ice the victory for the undefeated Hunters.

After a last-minute loss in week 3, Phoenix came out on fire this week, jumping out to a 30-0 halftime lead. Everyone on the team played great, particularly on defense. The flag-grabbing was spot-on, led by Kyle Smith and Mathew Bergman, both of whom seemed to be all over the field. Brian Conroy had another incredibly solid game, catching everything thrown near him and playing some smart defense. Henry H. tore apart the middle on offense. And Ms. Jacqueline Dupree rumbled 30 yards on a beautiful play down the left sideline. Matt W. pulled down a bomb on the last play of the first half for a touchdown; and James Agard poured on tons of pressure rushing on defense.

But really, Jordan Carpenter was the star of the game. He scored one touchdown on a shovel pass that was badly thrown, but Jordan recovered nicely to make the catch and run it in. His second touchdown came on a fly pattern down the left sideline. Jordan's third touchdown was his masterstroke: a beautiful read for an interception that he returned for a touchdown. He would have had a fourth long touchdown, if it weren't for an errant pass.

Greco Empire played well, incorporating two people they picked up in the 24 hours before the game, which is never easy. Floyd Saunders was a star on both sides of the ball; and James Bekier, blocking, often took on two rushers by himself! Shout out to Octavio and Shriene L., who joined Greco Empire this week!

Steel Gym

Team Steel Gym played their best game of the season and in a total team effort and defeated Henrietta Hudson. Team newcomer Kevin Lynch, provided a much needed spark as Steel Gym bounced back with a win big win over Henrietta Hudson.

Defensely, newcomer Kevin Lynch and Antwan Allen both had interceptions, and Chen H. caused multiple in-game team celebrations with his two passes deflections and QB hurries.

Offensively, QB Hugo Loyola and receivers Nick D'Andrea and Darin Shaw were nysc most of the game with great catches and runs.

Special thanks to Chris Shay and Brian Ortiz for playing multiple positions and contributed both offensively and defensively.

Henrietta Hudson

The Beavers' last drive came close to the endzone, but not close enough to reach the final score. The Beavers had one last opportunity to even the score for the half. The Beavers and the Steelers went back and forth, scoring touchdowns in an evenly played second half.

The Beavers steeled their collective will against the Steelers at halftime, vowing to improve on their dismal first half performance. It seemed nothing could stop the Steelers' offense, scoring two unanswered touchdowns late in the first half--a rally that seemed too much to overcome with only one half left. The game began with a whimper, with both teams scoreless for much of the half, trading lost opportunities and sympathy. Team Steel Gym won the coin toss. Beginning score: 0-0, giving Beavers hope that things might go their way if we all continue to travel backwards in time (alas, we go backwards in time just for this summary).

Recap

Steel Gym ran into a blizzard, as the Gym Ratz jumped out to an early 32 - 0 halftime lead. Steel Gym finally showed up in the second half to stop the bleeding. But in the end, Steel Gym was left licking their wounds and embarassed with a 32 - 6 lost.

Seth G. threw 4 touchdowns - 2 long touchdown passes to Joe Scattergood and 2 long touchdown passes to Co-Captain Dan Maierle. V2 as always gave 100% effort as they always do.

If you don't hear from Gym Bunnies their recap was lots and lots and lots of Derek Korbly.

Henrietta Hudson

The early-season powerhouse of Manhunt veered off their typical manhunting course and took aim at the Beavers of Henrietta Hudson. The first half began with a bang, as the Henrietta Hudson Beavers intercepted a Manhunt ball and scored the first touchdown. But Manhunt fired back immediately, scoring a touchdown with just two downs. For the first thirty minutes, impressive plays on office from both squads dominated the action. The rest of the first half went on in this theme, with a fast-paced, high-scoring half that ended with Manhunt leading a tight game at 27-20.

In the second half, things turned gruesome on the field for the Demon Beavers. While Manhunt posted two touchdowns, Henrietta Hudson posted one dislocated thumb and one broken finger.

Manhunt

A back and forth game in the first half, turned into a one-sided affair in the second as Manhunt became the first team to go to 3-0 with a 40-20 win over the Demon Beavers.

Paul Jung passed for 6 TD's to 4 different players and Manhunt's defense picked off 4 passes in a total team effort.

For the third straight week, everyone on the Posh team caught a pass. The team welcomed back JR Badian (3TDs) and Rich Smith (2TDs) while Todd Korman proved he's one of the fastest players in the league (1TD).

On defense, Posh was led by John Gillespie who batted down passes, registered a sack and led the team in flag grabbing.

After the game, team capatin Mark Arnold immediately got the team into their best bar shape as they look to represent when they host the league at their sponsor bar for Friday nights happy hour!!

Phoenix

Phoenix and Eagle matched up in one of the hardest-fought games of the season. It was a seesaw battle with Eagle edging Phoenix, 27-20.

For Phoenix, Matt W. was incredible, pulling down a bunch of tough catches. Don Murray got great pressure on the QB. And Brian Conroy played incredibly well on both sides of the ball.

Special shout out to James Agard, who valiantly filled in at center and did a great job with it! Also, kudos to Eagle for some great tenacity, and to Paul S. for standing out as a receiver and blitzer!

Unfortunately for everyone on both sides of the ball, the game got called several minutes short - you just always hope that a game that good won't end!

Eagle

Another team effort by Eagle as they squeaked by a talented, well disciplined Phoenix team led by a great QB in Cyd.

Josh B. came into his own with a touchdown and a crucial 2 point conversion that put Eagle seven points ahead to stay. It was also his acrobatic interception off of a flip to Jordan C. that was flubbed, kicked, and bobbled before being reigned in, stopping a Phoenix drive near the end zone. Paul S. proved that white men CAN jump as he leaped to grab a high pass for a key conversion. Paul also had two touchdowns, two sacks and a great grab on fourth and fifteen. Javier Sanchez made his debut for the season with an impressive game of blocking.

The whole team pulled it together and came back from an ominous 13-0 deficit to win the game at 27-20. What would have been an undoubtedly dramatic finish as Phoenix was marching toward their goal line was cut short by the game clock.

Stay tuned for the rematch in the playoffs.

For Bamboo 52, Sipin was a star as per usual, coming up with two int's and a TD, but our whole team was there for once and everyone contributed hugely, with 4 td's being caught by 4 different people. Before RW got hurt he had a few great catches that ketp drives alive, and Reggie and Manny made their b-52 debuts with some key grabs.

Defensively we held a very competitive Therapy team to 1 td, so everyone came up big, with special shout outs to Lloyd and Laurence, who played through some serious pain.

TD's were caught by Huy, Sipin, Tal, and Manny and RW had a couple of extra points, all made possible by some serious blocking by John, which gave Alon enough time to throw.

Greco Empire

Greco Empire had a lot of obstacles to overcome in week # 4. Playing on easter sunday, we were limited to only 7 players and we got our starting QB [steven tedaldi] back from injury. In the first half we jumped out to and early 7 - 0 lead and Philip Marie responded with scoring drives of their own to make it 14 - 7. On a punt return in the first half Eric Kuhn caught the kick and when he was de-flagged he landed aukward and had to be carried off the field. Special wishes go out to eric who is scheduled for an MRI to see if he tore his ACL. The rest of the game we played 6 players against 7; and I need to send out big shout-outs to James, Floyd, Brian, Jason & Felipe for never giving up despite the situation.

We actually were able to come out in the second half with a lot of fire and spunk and get a quick touchdown, followed by an interception by Floyd Saunders and another touchdown, and before you know it the under-manned Empire was ahead 21 - 20; but it didn't last long, and the Philip Marie team stormed back and the disadvantage proved to be too much for Greco Empire to overcome.

Shout-out to the Philip Marie team for their sportsmanship, a great game and their help in trying to re-schedule the game for saturday instead of easter sunday. Special thanks to the board too for their efforts.

Philip Marie

Greco Empire played with only 6 men after one of thier players got hurt in the first half. Even with one man down, the Greco team played hard and kept the pressure on defense and tested our skills at offense. Philip Marie started out a bit rough but kept the score close and came together in the second half and took the lead 26-21 and never gave it up!

As has been the case with Philip Marie, there is no one superstar, and each week at each game, another member of the team steps up. This week, Bruce and Dan Baker stepped up with some help from Dan Korn to give us the win.

Our sincere thanks for a game well played by Greco and congratulations to Philip Marie!

Recap

In a back and forth game, Steel Gym defeated Posh. With the return of Hugo Loyola at QB for Steel Gym, their offense came alive with a circus catch and run by Nick D'Andrea to spark a second half comeback for Steel Gym. Defensely, Darin Shaw's two pass deflections and the TD interception return of Doug Morris helped secure the win for Steel Gym.

On Saturday night, Team Splash licked the Beavers good. Jumping to an early start, the Splashies pounded the Beavers again and again, amassing three touchdowns in the first half to Henrietta Hudson's one. The second half was no different, as the Puddle-Jumpers tasted Beaver blood, scoring at will as the Beaver defense yielded to Splash persuasion. At the end of the night, the Beavers were left to lick their gashes and prepare for their next game as Team Splash tasted, for the first time, the big V--victory.

Recap

Matt Bernardo made his return to the league loud and clear with some clutch catches for Philip Marie. Chris Symmes took the last play of the first half 50 yards for a score. And Jason Klatsky is definitely a force to be reckoned with, showing off some great play calling and his strong presence on defense.

The Phoenix offense was clicking on all cylinders as five players scored touchdowns, including the incomparable Ms. Jacqueline Dupree--who scored the team’s first touchdown this season--and rookie Manny Jimenez. Matt W. was also all over the field as he pulled down two scores and had a pick.

Corey Johnson was the man of the hour between Manhunt and Splash. In addition to filling in at quarterback, he had the early favorite for play of the season when he blitzed the quarterback, tipped the pass, went up and pulled the ball down, then raced 20 yards for a touchdown.

Steel Gym played Eagle in a very aggressive, physical game, and in the end Eagle prevailed. In his first gay league game, Steel Gym’s rookie Bryan Ortiz stepped in at quarterback and played his heart out. Darin Shaw had an interception, Ken Barlage had 4 tipped passes and Tim Hughes and Chris Shay provided great pressure all night. For Eagle, John McLellan had a nice scamper for 45 yards and a score.

It was a scene out of a gruesome Bambi sequel for the 7pm game at Riverside State Park as the Gym Bunnies took on the Henrietta Hudson Demon Beavers. This battle of small, furry mammals raced to an action-packed start when a Bunny intercepted a Beaver pass to set up an early touchdown. But the Beavers came back with a vengeance scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the first half.

At halftime, the score was 20-6 in favor of Henrietta Hudson, with the Demon Beavers also set to start the second half with the ball. Their first drive in the second half was fruitless, however, as the Beavers appeared to have lost their composure and organization (when actually they had lost their plays to a bathroom breaking player).

The Bunnies were the first to draw blood in the half, scoring a well-earned touchdown but again failing to convert on the point-after attempt. The Beavers regained their focus and seemed ready to retain a commanding lead when their next offensive drive pushed the ball to within inches of the endzone. But Bunny defense prevailed, and the Beavers were denied what seemed a certain touchdown.

A few short plays later, momentum swung back in a Beaverish direction when the Beavers intercepted a Bunny pass and charged the ball back into the endzone. The Beavers never looked back, scoring one more touchdown before the final whistle blew.

Alon H. and Seth G. matched wits in another close battle, with Alon’s Bamboo 52 team outlasting V2. Mike Sipin, Jay Coleman and Davin Rosborough came up with big catches.

When he wasn’t being thrown out of the game by his captain Mark Arnold, Rich Smith really wowed a lot of people with tons of catches, including a beautiful 40-yard post for a score in Posh’s victory over Gym Ratz. Gym’s Nick Leonard, on his bar’s two-year anniversary, played very well, especially on defense where he snagged a couple beautiful interceptions.

After getting a victory in his first game as a captain, Team Greco’s fearless leader Steve Tedaldi wanted to send a shout out to his whole team. So we’ll indulge him: “Jason's Blocking, Floyd's QBing, Shawn's rushing, James, Joseph, Aaron, Eddie & Floyd on an amazing defense. Eric for the speed he brings and for botching up our pass that led to our go ahead TD and we never looked back. Brian and his sure hands!”

And finally, Team Greco wants to send a heartfelt shout out to Matt Truesdale, who was injured in their game and will not return this season. We all send our thoughts to last spring’s league MVP!!

Recap

Afraid only Miss Beth Israel herself can give the highlights for this week.