Chinese National Football League heads into Golden Week break
In China, the term “Golden Week” is the name given to two separate holidays, one of them coinciding with National Day on October 1. With a long break looming before play officially resumes on October 15, several regular season games took place the last weekend of September before most of the country took the week off.
In the North Division, the Beijing Cyclones would take on the Peking Watchers in a matchup brought on by necessity. Originally set to play different teams (Cyclones and Watchers were scheduled to host the Qingdao Conquerors and the Jinan Mammoths, respectively), traveling restrictions prevented both teams from traveling to Beijing. As a result, the schedule was arranged for the two Beijing teams and the two Shangdong province teams (Jinan and Qingdao) to play each other – source mostbet aviator.
Cyclones down Watchers 34-22 in Beijing matchup
Peking Watchers RB being tackled by Bejing Cyclones defender
The Cyclones came away with the pivotal second win in the first rearranged matchup.
After a relatively even first half that saw each team trade touchdowns, the second half belonged to the Cyclones as the Cyclones’ balanced offense and opportunism took over. A fumble and a screw-up on a punt directly led to 2 Cyclones touchdowns as they built a 26-6 lead. The Watchers were able to make it a game as they closed the gap to 26-22 behind touchdowns by running back Li Peiwei (李佩威) and wide receiver Xing Yuhang (邢宇航). Still, they were unable to close the gap any further. A touchdown pass by Cyclones quarterback Wang Jiang (汪江) to wide receiver Zuo Xiang (左翔) would ice the game and make the final score 34-22.
The experience gap in offenses was easy to see in this one. The newcomer Watchers primarily kept the ball on the ground, relying on a steady diet of running back Li Peiwei (李佩威), who ran the ball 16 times for 101 yards and 1 touchdown. In comparison, quarterback Wang Jiang (汪江) only threw the ball seven times in the game. In contrast, the Cyclones were far more balanced. Quarterback Yang Mu (杨木) threw for 198 yards and four touchdowns in a very efficient showing, while the Cyclones took advantage of mistakes by the Watchers which made the difference in this one.
With this win, the Cyclones jump to 2-1, putting themselves in excellent playoff positioning. The Watchers fall to 1-2 and will need to win their last game for any hope of entering the playoffs.
Harbin forfeits to Icebreakers (Changchun automatic 21-0 winners)
Sadly, another game was canceled, as the Harbin Tigers could not make the trip to Changchun to play the Ice Breakers and forfeited. This puts the Icebreakers at 3-0, and they have almost guaranteed themselves a playoff spot, while the Harbin Tigers are almost assuredly eliminated from playoff contention at 0-3.
