Best Games of the 2011 GFL Season

By Adam Knoll

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The 2011 Season gave us no shortages of fantastic match-ups and endings. Some were just well played while others gave us great insight into how the league was progressing and changing. The outcomes, while important, sometimes took a backseat to the greater backdrop against which they were set, the story-lines were compelling and some games gave us answers to a lot of our questions about the league itself.

Week 1

 

 

The Highest scoring affair of the opening weekend took place in Wilmot, where the Phoenix began their climb toward the playoffs with a 38-33 victory over the Fox Valley Premier. The loss began the Premier on their epic decline from 9-1 and a championship appearance in 2010, to 3-7 and out of the playoffs in 2011. At one point the Premier were down 31-17, yet they were able to turn the game into a close one which the Phoenix would need to sweat out.

 

 

This was the first game of four matches these two teams would play in 2011, and while they were all good matches, this game was an impressive 25 – 19 come from behind win for the Cowboys. The Chaos became instant players in the National Conference playoff race while the Cowboys proved they could come back from a hefty halftime deficit. The Chaos turned the ball over a few times in the second half to aid the comeback effort.

Week 2

 

 

The Racine Rampage were always looked at as the cream of the crop when it came to the new 2011 teams, and they came out to play against the Chicago Chaos in a brutal affair that the Chaos eventually won 34-28. While it moved both teams to 1-1 at the time, this game was more important in showing that the conferences, while still unbalanced, had closed the gap quite a bit.

Week 3

 

 

Shortly before the season started, it was theorized that the Rampage had a better chance at unseating the Cougars than almost any other American Conference team. The Final outcome of 10-0 in favor of the Cougars did nothing to end that speculation, especially with one more game between the two during the season (and another during the playoffs, both Cougars wins). While the Rampage would pose little challenge to the Cougars later in the season, at this point in 2011, it appeared that the American Conference was pretty tight.

Week 5

 

 

The collapse of the Premier continued with a 26-20 loss to the Chicago Chaos, yet what is lost by this point is how hard the premier were fighting with a short supply of men. While only 1-4 by this point, the Premier were still very respected due to their talent level and ability to field a quality team as showed by their continued close losses. By this time, the Chaos were 3-2 and in a fight with the Wilmot Phoenix for the #3 seed in the National Conference that would not be truly resolved until Week 9.

 

 

The Jefferson Scorpions, a 2-8 team in 2010, began their climb toward a possible playoff spot with a 22-16 victory over the Racine Gladiators. This win was made doubly important given the Scorpions troubles winning games outside of Jefferson, and the Gladiators ability to win at home. The win moved the Scorpions to 3-2 on the season, the very first time in their history the team was over .500. Sadly, it would not last, yet they would continue to fight for a playoff berth leading up to a fantastic showdown with the Rage in Week 9.

Week 6

 

 

Most of the time, the Lynx win big and the outcome is hardly in question; not so in Week 6 against the Chicago Chaos, possibly the only game in 2011 in which the Lynx were actually in trouble. Even though the Lynx eventually did win 32-22, it firmly entrenched the Chaos as a GFL championship contender regardless of their 3-3 record. As for the lynx, their reputation to boast a standout roster even with multiple starters on vacation only grew as a few players from years past slipped on the pads and played major roles in the victory.

 

 

The South Milwaukee Rage slipped underneath the GFL radar partly because of the ascension of the Racine Rampage, the new upstart that could upend the establishment in the American Conference. However, the veteran crew of the Rage were able to withstand the Rampage who usually did not travel too well during the 2011 season. This outcome would drop the Rampage to 2-4, yet their ability to play the top teams in the conference tough gave the league little question as to whether the Rampage would vie for a playoff spot.

Week 7

 

 

Even though the Premier fell off a cliff and did not travel well at all during the season, the performance they put on in all the way up in Milton should go down in GFL lore. Eight members of the Fox Valley Premier showed up on that Friday night, and those eight members defeated the Milton Mayhem 25-21, a team with easily three times more players on the sideline. The sheer effort put into that game cannot be understated, and while the Premier may not have had a glorious end, this game will live on for it’s lunacy.

 

 

At this time, the Sabers were undefeated and were enjoying the best season in their long history; a win would put them in a very good place to win the American Conference. Jefferson on the other hand was fading, a loss in this game could doom any shot the young team had at making the playoffs. Then, the game was played, and a 34-26 win later, the Scorpions had ended the Sabers hopes for a Conference crown, and more importantly saved their playoff hopes….

Week 9

 

 

…Only to have it destroyed a week later against one of the GFL’s old guard. The South Milwaukee Rage and the Jefferson Scorpions put on a heck of a show late in the season, and both teams had more than just pride on the line. The Rampage were making a strong push in the conference, and a loss by the Scorpions would end their playoff chances. For the Rage, a win meant they were still alive for the conference championship. After the bombs stopped falling, the Rage pulled out the win by a single point, 39-38, and ended the American Conferences playoff push once and for all.

Week 10

 

 

In week 10, not much was on the line but bragging rights. The Sabers had been the darling of the season, 7-2 and gliding toward the #2 seed in the American Conference. The Phoenix meanwhile were 4-5, beaten up during the year and not looking to be the lone GFL playoff team that finished under .500. On top of that, debate truly raged to whether the American Conference was truly so inferior to the National conference, and this was seen as the perfect match-up to illustrate the point. A 20-13 decision for the Phoenix put the debate to bed, and insured that for the first time in years, the entire GFL playoff core would be comprised of winning teams.

Week 11

 

 

Both of these teams deserve credit off the bat, they both could have chosen to accept their forfeit wins and not played in this game at all, the fact that they did shows that the GFL cares more about good football than about straight wins and losses. That being said, the playoff picture was known, no spots were at risk, even the seeds had been decided. There was much speculation that these teams would not even field starters, yet both did, and with a good amount of GFL players and fans in the stands, the two teams put on a good game that ended 21-14 in favor of the Cougars.

Playoffs

 

 

Coming into this game, the rage were favored and the Sabers were looked at as a team that could not continue regular season success into the playoffs. After a 18-14 victory, the Sabers, in their first postseason in five years, also won their first playoff game in the teams’ history. On the other end, the Rage took an early exit again, making the playoffs three straight years, and finishing their season’s shortly thereafter.

 

 

The Chicago Chaos, after losing all three regular season match-ups with the Cowboys, finally stormed the castle and pulled out a thrilling 21-20 victory against their rivals. The Cowboys, a team that had the Lynx down by 13 points in a game during the season, would not get a chance to play for the National Conference Championship; instead the Chaos would arrive as one of the GFL’s final four teams.