Ultimus Bowl XX
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| Stadium | Burial Grounds, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Offensive MVP | Easton Cole, Quarterback (AUS) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Defensive MVP | Honda Edmond, Linebacker (AUS) | ||||||||||||||||||
Ultimus Bowl XIX was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Simulation Football League (NSFL) for 2035 (S20). The American Simulation Football Conference (ASFC) champion Austin Copperheads defeated the National Simulation Football Conference (NSFC) champion Yellowknife Wraiths, 37-20, to win their first ever Ultimus Bowl championship. The game was played at Burial Grounds in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. This was the third straight Ultimus Bowl game hosted by the Yellowknife Wraiths, who became the first team in NSFL history to lose three straight Utlimus Bowl appearances.
Contents
Background
Teams
The NSFC was represented by the Yellowknife Wraiths, and the ASFC was represented by the Austin Copperheads.
Yellowknife Wraiths
The Yellowknife Wraiths went into Ultimus Bowl XX after posting a league best record of 9-4. The Yellowknife Wraiths were first place in the NSFC for the fourth consecutive season. Cooter Bigsby once again conducted one of the most prolific offences in the NSFL, which led in the entire league in yards and posted conference best totals in points and rushing. The Wraiths slightly improved their defence from a year ago as they posted defensive totals in the upper half of the league. Danny Grithead had yet another stellar season this, time at linebacker, with 11 sacks, and 8 passes defended in coverage. Mathias Hanyadi was the standout on the offensive side of the football as he was awarded the Running Back of the Year award as well as the Offensive Player of the Year designation. The Wraiths were aiming to get to the Ultimus Bowl for the 3rd straight year at Burial Grounds stadium for another shot at that elusive championship ring.
Austin Copperheads
The Austin Copperheads finished the season with an ASFC best 8-5 record. They could owe their success to having a dominate in-conference record of 7-1. They also finished business at home, going 5-1 at Austin Stadium. This was a well balanced team, finishing top 3 in most offensive metrics while the defence held up their end of the bargain posting a league best 20.0 points allowed per game. While their yards allowed were middle of the pack, this Copperheads defence was a masterful in the redzone. Bend but don't break was the motto all season. There was a youthful exuberance surrounding the franchise as the young expansion team looked to make noise in the playoff as the number one seed in the ASFC. Standouts of course included the big three on offence; quarterback Easton Cole, wide receiver Rod Tidwell and running back Mako Mendonca. Cole and Tidwell connected for a league best 12 touchdowns while Mendonca reached the 1000 rushing mark for the second straight season. Xerxes Ridley had a great year at the backend with 22 passes defended which was a league best. Kyle Idlewyld won defensive rookie of the year. Alfredo Crisco took home both the punter and kicker of the year awards on special team.
Playoffs
Yellowknife started off with a drubbing against the Philadelphia Liberty in the Quarterfinals. This was the second straight meeting between the teams in the wild card round. Youngster Brock Phoenix threw 3 interceptions against the Wraiths fantastic defence. Cooter Bigsby put on a clinic with a career best, 5 passing touchdowns in the playoffs. The NSFC Championship featured a matchup between the 7-6 Colorado Yeti and the confident Wraiths. Despite the Yeti’s talented defence who managed to pick off Bigsby two times, the Wraiths won rather handily with a final score of 40-24. This meant that the Wraiths would be hosting the Ultimus Bowl on their home turf for the third straight season.
The Copperheads started their playoff journey against the Arizona Outlaws. It ended up being a tightly contested battle but the Outlaws couldn’t stop Mako Mendonca as he rumbled for over 130 yards. Neither could they stop Rod Tidwell through the air as he also racked up over 130 yards. The ASFC championship game the Copperheads faced off against the dangerous New Orleans Second Line. Mako Mendonca had yet another stellar game on the ground, racking up over 100 total yards and 3 touchdown scores to carry his team all the way to the Ultimus Bowl.
Game summary
First Quarter
The game started off with the Austin Copperheads getting some lucky breaks. The Yellowknife Wraiths pulled off a long slow developing drive, but it was derailed on a missed field goal from Neo Donaldson. After the Wraiths defence got the Copperheads off the field, Bigsby threw a terrible interception in the Wraiths redzone, putting the ball at the four yard line for the Copperheads prolific big three. They capped off the drive with an easy touchdown and it was suddenly 7-0 Copperheads. The next two Copperheads drives ended in turnovers as playoff hero Mako Mendonca fumbled on one drive, and Easton Cole threw an interception in another. The Wraiths couldn't manage to capitalize on either of these turnovers as Neo Donaldson missed yet another oppurtunity to put the Wraiths on the board. The Copperheads took advantage of the mistakes yet again and drove all the way for another touchdown connection between Rod Tidwell and Easton Cole to put the Copperheads up 14-0 at the end of a wild first quarter.
Second Quarter
The Wraiths had another long drive that went all the way down to the Austin two yard line. Keeping up with the theme of the season for the Copperheads, they didn't break and held the Wraiths to a field goal. This would prove costly as the Copperheads would take the next drive all the way down for a touchdown as the prolific tandem of Cole to Tidwell connected yet again to to put the Copperheads up 21-3 at halftime.
Third Quarter
In a relatively calm third quarter the teams exchanged field goals to make the score 24-6. The Wraiths had another long 12 play drive as they managed to get a touchdown as the Wraiths own prolific tandem of Cooter Bigsby and Nate Swift connected for a touchdown. The score would be 24-13 going into the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The Wraiths started off hot, quickly scoring a touchdown with Mathias Hanyadi making up for his 3rd quarter fumble to make it a one score game with 14 minutes to go in the Ultimus. The Otters managed to take the next drive all the way inside the Wraiths 5 yard line, but couldn't put the game away, having to settle for a field goal to make it 23-17. The Wraiths then took the ball and also stalled within the Otters 20, settling for a field goal to make it 23-20. After forcing the Otters to punt, the Wraiths took the next drive all the way for a crucial touchdown, with Drake running it in. This gave the Wraiths the lead with 4 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the Wraiths, Franklin Armstrong made it look easy, needing only 2 minutes to drive down for another Otters touchdown to give the Otters a 30-27 lead. Cooter Bigsby and the Wraiths got the ball back but like last season, couldn't put together the miracle drive. The game ended with the Wraiths still on their end of the field as time expired. The Otters won, 30-27 in a back and forth second half. Franklin Armstrong was named the Ultimus Offensive Player of the Game for the third consecutive season as his second half heroics and three total touchdown performance made him a worthy recipient. Small consolation prize for the Wraiths as defensive stalwart Logan Uchiha was named the Ultimus Bowl Defensive Player of the Game for his 5 tackle, 1 sack, 1 interception and 1 passes defenced performance.
Game statistics
Statistical comparison
| Statistic | Austin Copperheads | Yellowknife Wraiths |
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| First downs | 17 | 18 |
| Third down efficiency | 4/11 | 8/20 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 0/0 | 2/2 |
| Net yards rushing | 152 | 138 |
| Rushing attempts | 32 | 33 |
| Yards per rush | 4.8 | 4.2 |
| Passing – Completions-attempts | 21/31 | 23/48 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 2 |
| Net yards passing | 322 | 278 |
| Total net yards | 474 | 416 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-22 | 1-5 |
| Time of possession | 28:43 | 31:17 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 2 |
Box score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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| Copperheads (ASFC) | 14 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 37 |
| Wraiths (NSFC) | 0 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 20 |
at Burial Grounds, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- Date: 27 January, 2036
- Game time: 8:00 p.m. EST
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