Brazil’s CBFA Superliga Week 3 Features Down to the Wire Finishes
Sao Jose White Sharks-Istepos 18, Curutiba Brown Spiders 13
Colégio Forquilhã – Sao Jose, Santa Catarina
WSI RB, Gustavo Laurentino, works to break a Brown Spiders tackle Photo Credit Gearaldo Takanage and Overtime FA
White Sharks Istepos QB, Igor Clemes, connected WR Marcos Vinicius Almeida for the game winning touchdown pass with 20 seconds remaining in the game. Clemes also forced the ball into the endzone on a QB sneak and connected with WSI’s two way star, TE/DE Vinicius Zanon for a touchdown pass.
For Zanon, time of possession was a big factor in the WSI moving to 2-0. ‘’We had some nice drives that allowed our offense to stay on the field,’’ he said.
Brown Spiders DBs, Lucas Wensceslau and Todd Jordan break up a WSI pass. Photo Credit: Geraldo Takanage and Overtime FA
Brown Spiders quarterback, Anderson Candioto contributed both touchdowns scored by his squad, with a QB sneak of his own, and a strike to speedster receiver, Athos Daniel. The Brown Spiders lost more than just the game this weekend, though, as talented wideout, Bernardo Horevitch, suffered a serious arm injury and didn’t finish the game.
Highlight: See Igor Clemes’ game winning TD pass to Marcos Vinicius Almeida: Video Credit: Salao Oval and Victor Romulado:
Touchdown WSI com o WR #88 Marcos Vinicius! XP no good! Agora 18×13 para WSI, faltam 15 segundos! pic.twitter.com/XOIlkQMUGe
— Salão Oval (@SalaoOval) July 24, 2016
Highlight: WSI Safety, Paulo Torquato, with an unbelievable int return for a touchdown. The play was annulled with a clipping call, but the return was too electric not to share. Video Credit: Salao Oval and Victor Romulado:
AFI’s take: 0-2 is a tough place to be, but even moreso in Conferencia Sul. The Brown Spiders will need some help to get back in the conference title conversation. WSI will need to increase production from other members of its talented defense, to replace dominant linebacker, Gerson Santos, who is off to Aachen, Germany on an engineering internship for the rest of the season.
Lusa Lions (Portuguesa) 26, São Paulo Storm 23
Estadio Quintino de Lima – Sao Roque, Sao Paulo
When Storm running back, Allan Giamas, scampered into the end zone to give his team a 23-19 4th quarter lead, it looked like the Storm would avenge their loss from a few weeks earlier in the Sao Paulo Football League’s state championship game, but Lusa QB Catullo Góes had other plans.
The Storm defense had made it a rough day for Góes, with multiple sacks and pressures, and picking him off twice ( by DBs Anderson Forato and Allan Wallace), but it didn’t rattle him enough.
“I felt like they were respecting our (deep) passing game (on the final drive of the game), so we used short and intermediate passes, and the run. We wanted to score a touchdown, but I didn’t want to give them the ball back with any time left,” said Goes, who took the idea of waiting until the end of the game to score to epic lengths.
On 4th down and 20 yards between him and the end zone, Góes scrambled left, and put up a jump ball in the direction of the long, outstretched arms of TE Jose Laercio Lima Junior. When Lima Junior came to the ground, he was in the end zone with the ball in his hands and (after a PAT by kicker Renan Barbosa) a 26-23 lead. Only 3 seconds were left in the game. The ‘’Catullo Mary’’ was complete and Lusa would hold on by the skin of their teeth for a white knuckle victory.
“I just saw (Lima Junior) and tried to put it up there to give him a chance to make a play,” said Goes.
The game winner was Lima Junior’s second touchdown of the day. He also recovered a fumble in the end zone. Dynamic running back, Johnny Santos scored a rushing touchdown, while Vinicius Seya added a receiving touchdown, in addition to some stellar kick returns.
“Resiliency: I think that’s the word for the game,” said Goes. “We wanted to start fast and make it an easier game to handle, but thats exactly what they did. Then they kept pounding with their run game and good depth at RB. We did a good job of keeping ourselves in the game, even though we didn’t play well the whole game,” He said. “It was a great team effort to keep fighting and finish strong.”For Storm Head Coach, Ale Sagaz, although he say improvement, mistakes were still a factor. ‘’(For the Storm) it was different than the last game (against Lusa). We finished some drives and we had less difficulty playing our game, but mistakes, both offensively and defensively, are still our biggest enemy.’’ he said.
‘’We gave them too many first downs and were negative on first down too many times,’’ added Sagaz.Allan Giamas and Felipe Finex scored on long runs for the Storm, with Malcolm Gasque contributing the other TD by returning the opening kickoff to the endzone. Nick Lobo added a field goal.
Moving forward, Goes and his Lions will look to improve early game performance.
“We must start fast. We know we can finish games, but we really need to start fast,” he said.
Highlight: Lusa RB, Johnny Santos, makes a nifty move to avoid traffic in the backfield, and scampers into the endzone:
TD Jhonny Santos #6 . XP good e tudo igual em São roque 7×7 pic.twitter.com/FYUrp4CVTD
— Salão Oval (@SalaoOval) July 23, 2016
AFI’s take: Lusa remains on a collision course with the Cuiaba Arsenal for control of Conferencia Oeste.
