AC Championship Game

Here we had two teams, the Alligators and the Jockstraps, that had been here before and both had gone on to the Thunder Bowl and the Elite League so they both knew what the prize was like though the Jockstraps lost in their Bowl appearance.
The nearly packed house on the banks of the Groody River, rumour of free Guinness kept some in the bars past kick off time, saw the Jockstraps receive the opening kick off and start their first possession of the game on their own 20. Over the next 4:30 they progressed to the Alligators end zone scoring on a 4 yard TD pass, no thanks to old man Grisham's slippery fingers on the Alligators 19.
Alligators 0 Jockstraps 7
The Alligators took over possession, after the kick off, on their own 20 and over the next 4 minutes proceeded to the Jockstraps 19 when QB Medina tried to connect with WR Velichkov on the Jockstraps 11 only for LB Sampieri to intercept it and return the ball to the Alligators 45. 3 minutes later the resulting Jockstraps drive was stopped on the Alligators 4 and the Jockstraps settled for a 21 yard FG.
Alligators 0 Jockstraps 10
The next Alligators drive, after their kick off, started on their own 20 and over the next 3 minutes they had only got to their 43 when they were forced to punt. The Jockstraps returned the punt 11 yards and started their next drive on their on 25. With the final play of the quarter they moved the ball to their 29.
The drive continued to their 33 , as we went into the 2nd quarter, where they were forced to punt. After a 6 yard return of the punt the Alligators returned to the field at their own 35. 4:30 later the had driven the ball all the way to the Jockstraps end zone scoring on a 11 yard run.
Alligators 7 Jockstraps 10
The Jockstraps started their next drive at their own 24, after the kick off, and proceeded to the Alligators end zone over the next 3:30 to score on a 10 yard run.
Alligators 7 Jockstraps 17
After the kick off the Alligators started their next drive on their own 22 and after 3:30 in possession they had reached the Jockstraps 37 where they had to settle for a 54 yard FG.
Alligators 10 Jockstraps 17
The Jockstraps returned to the field at their own 20, after the kick off, and using the remaining 2:17 of the half only managed to move the ball to the Alligators 49.
The 3rd quarter saw the Alligators receive the opening kick off and start their first drive of the half on their own 20, this drive was a 3 and out after only gaining 9 yards before they had to punt. The Jockstraps did not return the punt so their first drive of the half started on the own 21. After nearly 2 minutes and 2 sets of downs the drive was stopped at their 38 and they had to punt. The Alligators returned the punt for 8 yards and returned to the field on their own 20. Another 3 and out with the drive only gaining 6 yards before they punted.The punt was downed at the Jockstraps 20 so back on came the Irishmen. After 5 plays this drive was stopped on their own 40, so they punted again. The Alligators returned the punt 6 yards and the Dutchmen were back on the field at their own 24. Over the next 4 minutes or so they moved the ball to the Jockstraps 24 where they settled for a 41 yard FG.
Alligators 13 Jockstraps 17
From the resulting kick off the Jockstraps started their next drive on their own 20. Once again using 2 sets of downs they only gained 11 yards and had to punt. After returning the punt 9 yards the Alligators were back on the field at their own 35 and during the final 4 minutes of the quarter they had moved the ball to the Jockstraps 12.
In the first 90 seconds of the final quarter the Alligators continued their drive from the Jockstraps 12 into the end zone on a 2 yard TD pass.
Alligators 20 Jockstraps 17
The Jockstraps started their next drive, after the kick off, on their own 23 and went 3 and out by only gaining 9 yards before they had to punt. The Alligators returned the punt 12 yards to commence their next drive at their own 20. 2 plays into the drive QB Medina tried to connect with TE McFall on their own 41 when LB Sampieri took his 2nd interception and returned it 18 yards to the Alligators 23. The resulting Jockstraps drive only 2 plays to get into the end zone with them scoring on a 13 yard run.
Alligators 20 Jockstraps 24
After the kick off the Alligators returned to the field on their own 20 and started a drive that only went 8 yards before punting. The Jockstraps did not return the punt and took over possession at their own 38. Over the next 4 minutes they drove the ball into the Alligators end zone scoring on a 8 yard run.
Alligators 20 Jockstraps 31
The Alligators returned to the field on their own 27 with 5:45 to play and a bit of a hill to climb. The drive took up nearly 5 minutes, but they finally got into the end zone on a 6 yard pass.
Alligators 27 Jockstraps 31
The Jockstraps were back on at their own 20 and proceeded to use up the last 50 odd seconds to go to Thunder Bowl XXIX.

NC Championship Game

Unlike the AC Championship Game neither the Bolts or the Bobble had ever reached the Thunder Bowl, though the Bolts were in this game last season losing to Basterds, so there would be a new name on the NC Championship Trophy. A capacity crowd at Storm Field saw the Bobble receive the opening kick off and start their first possession of the game on their own 20. This drive was a 3 and out having only gained a yard before punting. The Bolts fielded the punt as a Fair Catch and took the field for the first drive on their own 34. After gaining 12 yards on the first play a 9 yard sack and no movement on the rest of the 2nd set of downs saw the Bolts having to punt. The Bobble retook the field after a Fair Catch at their own 24. The Bobble's drive stumbled along through 3 sets of downs before they were halted at their own 49 and were forced to punt. The Bolts did not return the punt so they start there next drive on their own 9. This drive was a 3 and out only gaining 8 yards before they had to punt. The Bobble returned the punt 7 yards and their next possession started at the Bolts 47, the best field position so far in the game. However the drive only gained 8 yards when they opted to punt from the Bolts 39. The Bolts returned the punt 4 yards and were back on the field at their own 9 again. Over the next 3:30, with some hard graft, they got to their own 39 when they were forced to punt. The Bobble did not return the punt so were starting their next drive on their own 19. During the drive QB Whitmire used up 2:30 to get them to their 45, besides being dumped on his backside twice, before they had to punt. The Bolts returned the punt 8 yards and the lads from Maine were back on the field at their own 13. They used up the remaining 1:36 of the quarter to move the ball to their 36.
After this, if you hadn't realised, the score at the end of the first quarter was Bobble 0 Bolts 0.
The Bolts continued their drive, in the 2nd quarter. moving the ball to the Bobble 44 where they punted the ball out of the end zone for a Touchback. So the Bobble's first drive of the quarter would commence at their own 20. Just over 6 minutes later the ball was in the Bolts end zone thanks to a Bobble 7 yard TD pass, but no thanks to RB May's fumble during the drive.
Bobble 7 Bolts 0
From the resulting kick off the Bolts started their next drive from their own 18. The drive petered out on the 3rd set of downs at the Bobble 44. The punt went out of bounds at the Bobble 6 where the Bobble took over. After 2 sets of downs the Bobble had reached their 18 when they were forced to punt. The Bolts returned the punt 6 yards and returned to the field at their own 45 with 2:15 left in the half. With 25 seconds left on the clock the drive was stopped at the Bobble 21 so the Bolts settled for a 38 yard FG.
Bobble 7 Bolts 3
The 3rd quarter started with the Bolts in possession at their own 20 and over 2 sets of downs had only moved to their 30 with the QB getting sacked in the process. The Bobble did not return the punt so they started their first drive of the half from their own 34. They only gained 8 yards on this 3 and out drive before they had to punt. The Bolts did not return the punt and were back on the field at their own 21. Over the next 6:45 they drove the ball to the Bobble end zone scoring on a 5 yard pass.
Bobble 7 Bolts 10
After the resulting kick off the Queenslanders returned to the field at their own 20. This was a 3 and out drive only gaining 7 yards before they had to punt. The Bolts returned the punt 37 yards and took over possession on the Bobble 34. Was the tide turning? On the first play of the Bolts drive QB Uele tried to connect with TE Helvelahti at the Bobble 23 when LB Tarver stepped in and intercepted it returning the ball 42 yards to the Bolts 35. The Bobble's resulting drive only gained 9 yards so they had to settle for a 43 yard FG.
Bobble 10 Bolts 10
After the kick off the Bolts came back on at their own 20 and used the remaining 2:27 of the quarter to their own 39 where they would have to punt at the start of the 4th.
From the punt the Bobble returned it 10 yards to take over possession at their own 23.On this first drive of the final quarter the Bobble used up nearly 5 minutes of the clock and had driven the ball to the Bolts 31 where they had to settle for a 48 yard FG.
Bobble 13 Bolts 10
The Bolts were back on the field at their own 20, after the kick off, where they only gained 9 yards on a 3 and out series before they had to punt. The punt was returned for 9 yards by the Bobble and they took over possession at their own 33. In a drive that included the 3rd sacking of QB Whitmire the Bobble had only got to their 37 when they were forced to punt.There was no return on the punt so the Bolts took over at their own 6. Through 2 sets of downs they managed to get to their 18 before they had to punt. The Bobble did not return the punt so they commenced their next drive on their own 38. This was another 3 and out drive gaining 9 yards then punting. The punt went out of bound at the Bolts 6. The next drive made it through 3 sets of downs and the ball was moved to the Bolts 33 before they punted it back to the Bobble. There was 7 yards on the return of the punt so the Bobble returned to the field at their 27. After gaining 10 yards on the next down QB Whitmie connected with WR Mahidol for a 63 yard TD pass with 2:23 to go in the game.
Bobble 20 Bolts 10
From the resulting kick off the Bolts returned to the field at their own 26 with a mountain to climb. Over the next 6 plays they managed to move the ball to their own 49 where they were forced to punt and the Bobble were going to Thunder Bowl XXIX.

Transfer News
Jockstraps - 4 in for 4M 1 out for 25k
Whitings - 4 out for 6M
Machine - 1 in for 200k 3 out for 3M
Xu Da - 1 out for 500k
Cougars - 1 out for 2.5M (QB Schmollinger)
Juggernaut - 2 in for 60M
Balenghi - 2 in for 5M
Bolts - 1 out for 53.5k
Pamplona - 1 in for 5k
Sultans - 11 out for 7.1M

Well the end of Season 29 is in sight Thunder Bowl XXIX will feature the Jockstraps from Ireland against the Bobble from Australia where oakbark will be seeking revenge for a regular season defeat to krugodam.
Next review will be the Thunder Bowl and transfer news will be reported then.
To close I would like to wish both oakbark and krugodam good luck in the Bowl and in the Elite League next season.