On this brisk Sunday morning, the scent of sausages could be smelled all around, as the Silkworth Sausages defeated the Backdoor Bandits in the MFFL championship game.
Going into the day, the Sausages knew it was going to be a tough couple of games, as they would be missing three key players in Caine Zannoni and Justin Sisson due to personal reasons, and Jack Donnelly due to a neck injury sustained in Week 12.
However, an all around dominant effort in the semi-final led to a commanding victory over the Rhinos.
The Sausages got out to a fast start, with wide receiver Karim Ibrahim scoring two touchdowns from quarterback Ryan Johnson in their opening two drives to jump out to an early 13-0 lead.
The Rhinos would bounce back, scoring a touchdown on their next drive to cut the deficit to six, before getting a crucial goal line stop to take back possession.
Two plays later, Ibrahim would pick off the Rhinos, before another late stop would end the half with a score of 13-7.
The Rhinos got the ball to start the second half, but another Ibrahim interception would set up a 25 yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Ibrahim to give the Sausages a 19-7 lead.
After a four and out, Ibrahim would score another touchdown from Johnson, extending the Sausages lead to 18.
Silkworth would put the game away completely with two minutes left, with wide receiver Justin Aldinger scoring a 20 yard touchdown from Johnson, en route to the 32-7 final score.
Johnson would finish the game 18/23 passing with 177 yards and five touchdowns. Aldinger caught the ball five times for 43 yards, Ibrahim five times for 50 yards, center and tight end Nate Fisher four times for 38 yards, and wide receiver Nic Quinones four times for 46 yards.
In the championship, Silkworth would look to defy the odds and defeat the mighty Backdoor Bandits to reclaim the throne of champions.
Once again, the Sausages would jump out to an early lead, with a Quinones touchdown from Johnson starting the game off with a bang.
A Fisher sack on the next drive would put Silkworth in scoring position, but the Bandits defensive backs helped to turn away the Sausages, leading to a 10 yard touchdown to even the score at 6.
The very next drive, the Johnson (Brady) to Aldinger (Moss) Connection proved to be too much for Backdoor’s defense, and Silkworth would retake the lead.
The next Bandits possession would shrink the deficit, but a controversial extra point attempt would help the Sausages maintain a one point lead.
On the last play of the half, the Johnson Aldinger Connection would strike again, and Silkworth would head into the locker room with a 19-12 lead.
The back and forth affair would continue to start the second half, with the Bandit’s scoring a touchdown and converting on the extra point to tie the game at 19.
For the majority of the rest of the half, the teams would reach a stalemate, each going four and out repeatedly. However, in the last two minutes, the excitement would pick up, with the Sausages picking up an extremely timely 4th and goal stop thanks to the quick hands of defensive back Chris Mitchell.
The game would come to a thrilling end, with Johnson finding Ibrahim in the endzone for a 15 yard touchdown with three seconds left, effectively ending the game. A last ditch “schoolyard bs” play from the Bandits failed, and the Silkworth Sausages once again took home the men’s flag football crown.
For the game, Johnson once again put up a stellar effort, throwing for 213 yards and four touchdowns. Aldinger had 73 yards catching, while Ibrahim had 49, Fisher had 48, and Quinones had 43.
Few things in this life are certain, but one thing is for sure. The MFFL runs through the Silkworth Sausages, and the Sausages run through any team that dares to stand in their path to victory.
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