BEAVERS SURVIVE SCARE, ADVANCE WITH FAVOURITES TO FINAL FOUR

The top four teams in the AFFL regular season advanced to the semi-finals this coming Sunday - but for the Golden Beavers it was a lot closer than anticipated.   

Still, the Beavers kept their hopes alive for a potential 4th consecutive finals appearance against the Big Dogs - but the Agents and Untouchables hope to have something to say about that.


Things kicked off last Sunday with wild card games - and both of them were close, hard fought affairs.   In the first match-up,  #9 Team Green was looking to make their first quarter-finals appearance by upsetting the #8 Warriors.   In a back and forth tilt,  Team Green did just that with a close 24-22 win.   In the second game,  the #7 Jokers faced the #10 Bruzers in a rematch of the a game from the last week of the regular season that the Jokers on handily. That was not the case in the wild card game, but in the end the Jokers scored one more TD than the Bruzers to prevail 32-24.

With the wins, Team Green and the Jokers earned quarter-final match ups against the #1 Big Dogs and #2 Golden Beavers respectively. The Big Dogs vs Team Green game was a tale of a well-rested team running into an exhausted one. Team Green was no match for the defending champs as Greg Moore and Ryan Spataro each passed for three touchdowns in a 43-6 win for the Big Dogs.  The Beavers-Jokers game was a much closer affair.
Both offenses struggled to find a rhythm as both defenses were tight. The Jokers intercepted a Chris Graham throw into the end zone after a lateral on the blitz to squash at TD drive, but were penalized twice for delay of game (clock violations) and that proved costly  on two separate drives as the penalties kept them out of field goal range. Trailing 14-10, Jeff Verstraten hit a 50-yarder to pull the Jokers within one point of the Beavers, but that was a close as they could get.  Final score: Beavers 14 Jokers 13.

In other quarter-final action, the Agents ended the Bandits Cinderella title hopes with a sound 35-4 win, while the Untouchables continued to show that sometimes the best defence is a good offence with a 38-28 win over the Redskins.

So, this Sunday's "A" semi-finals will see the Big Dogs vs Untouchables and Beavers vs Agents.  The "B" semi-finals will see the Redskins vs Team Green while the Jokers take on the Bandits.
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