The Corsarios captured the Tazón Austral XII (Football Americano Argentina) after beating the Tiburones 33-8, becoming back to back champions, and making the Tiburones a fourth consecutive runner up team.
An a beautiful football afternoon the Corsarios struck early and often in dominating the Tiburones in front of a packed crowd.
Corsarios head coach César Liatti´s team had the ball first, and taking advantage of this, established their ground attack as their main weapon, with Tomas Kouba, Federico Poy, Juan Cruz Elizalde and Gonzalo Musso. Musso finally scored, after a 69 yard drive, leaving the score 7-0, after the PAT of Gonzalo Paredes. The Tiburones tried to respond, and started their drive in the 40 yard after a good kick return of Augusto Bazan.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Tiburones quarterback Fernando Falluca´s first pass was intercepted though by Leandro Bosch, who jumped the receiver’s route, giving his offense a new opportunity to score. The Corsarios could not take advantage, giving the ball up on downs.
After both offenses struggled, the Tiburones tried to tie the game (already in the second quarter) starting from their 21 yard, but a big play by DE Daniel Andreotti caused the turnover: A sack, forced fumble, and recovered fumble, all by Andreotti, one of the best defensive players in the FAA. With the ball on the Tiburones 11 yard line, ran it in increasing the lead to 14-0.
The situation didn’t get better for the Tiburones, when their QB was injured after been tackled while running with the ball. Bazan replaced him, but did not have the resources to make things better, as they tried running the ball on most of the plays, making the job easy for the defense.
To make matters worse, two personal fouls put the team 40 yards away from getting a new first down opportunity. The inexperience of Bazan throwing the ball, let Poy´s experience play a role as Poy intercepted the ball.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Nevertheless, the Tiburones defense responded by intercepting Poy, when they were near the end zone. The afternoon was not going to get better for the Tiburones, as at second and six, a bad snap flew over the head of Bazan into the end zone, and the ball was recovered by the Corsarios, leaving the score 20-0.
The second half remained difficult for the Tiburones, and although they moved the chains sometimes, Bosch intercepted Bazan, giving the Corsarios offense another chance. This drive ended with a new TD by Poy, and after a new PAT, the score was 27-0.
In the last quarter, LB Facundo Mazzini intercepted Bazan, and the Corsarios offense scored again with rookie RB Musso running the ball in for his second touchdown of the game.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The Tiburones finally scored their only touchdown of the game late. Bazan scored on an 11 yard run and rookie TE Jonathan Laurino caught a pass from Bazan for the two-point conversation, leaving the final score 33-8.
With the win, the Corsarios became back to back champion, and winning their 4th title, matching the Cruzados.
AWARDS
Before the cup, MVPs awards were handed out:
- MVP (Most valuable player): Federico Poy – Corsarios
- OPOY (Offensive player of the year): Federico Poy – Corsarios
- DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year): Christian Brangold – Osos Polares
- ROTY (Rookie of the year): Miguel Martín y Herrera – Corsarios