Rain plays the biggest role in Conferencia Sul’s contests, 4th quarter finishes all over the country, and Conferencia Nordeste proves to be as fun as intriguing as anything in Superliga.
Traditional powerhouses were in action and some surprises were lying in wait. Check out our recap of all the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol Americano (CBFA) Superliga action across Brazil last weekend.
Recife Pirates – 21
Vitoria All Saints – 20
Campo do UFRPE – Recife Pernambuco
Above: Vitoria running back, Jose Maximo, runs into Pirate LBs, Norton Aron and Diego Soares.
Photo Credit: facebook.com/blogtouchdown
Conjuring images of the 1984 Orange Bowl, the All Saints opted to go for two and the win for the finale of their contest against the Recife Pirates. Unfortunately for the All Saints, they played the role of Nebraska in this analogy, and fell short, with the Pirates eking out a 1-point victory on their home field.
Diego Fiaes had two rushing touchdowns, and Guilherme Balestra shot a pass to Mike Campbell for a score in the losing effort for the squad from Salvador, Bahia.
For the Pirates, Rayner Araujo continued his noteworthy season, returning a punt for a TD, and the tough-running Sanchez holder once again reached the end-zone on the ground. Andrew Griffin hit Tulius Mota with a TD pass.
This ends a full-calendar run for the Pirates, who played 4 games in 5 weeks, which for teams who can’t practice or do group film each day, presents a variety of game planning challenges. ‘’This probably contributed a little bit to our slow start,’’ said Pirates assistant, Rodrigo Azevedo, ‘’but our OL really improved throughout the game and our defense played with a great tempo,’’ he added.
AFI’s take: With nearly a month to prepare for the Ceara Caçadores, we will find out how for real this Pirates team is.
Cuiaba Arsenal – 31
Portuguesa Lusa Lions – 14
Arenal Pantanal- Cuiaba, Mato Grosso
Above: Arsenal QB Marcelo Roversi.
Photo Credit: futebolamericanobrasil.com
The Brandon Watkins Show plays on. The explosive and elusive Watkins continued to be the CBFA’s version of a human cheat code Saturday night, throwing a 60 yard TD pass to his Head Coach, Ken Joshen, to open the scoring, and adding a TD run and two pick-6s, accounting for every touchdown his team scored and 24 of the Arsenal’s 31 points. The man did everything except take tickets and sell popcorn.
The ever-present Arsenal defense created problems for the Lions offense, with Josemar Teotino and Romaycol Bremn adding interceptions to Watkins two aerial thefts. Coach Joshen cited defensive end Marco Alves as a defensive standout. Alves had two tackles for a loss and a sack. The Arsenal special teams also got into the scoring act, notching two safeties on the Portuguesa punt team.
The highly anticipated contest was never really close, with Lusa QB, Catullo Goes, throwing both of his touchdown passes in the second half, after a halftime score of 25-0.
Although happy with the victory, Joshen says his squad from the Pantanal still has some things to work on. ‘’We hurt ourselves with 100 plus yards in penalties,’’ he said. Joshen doesn’t think that this is the last his Arsenal have seen of Portuguesa.
‘’The Lions have a well coached, all around team. Chances are we will see these guys again in the playoffs. I know they will be ready,’’ he said.
AFI’s take: We agree with Coach Joshen and smell a round two of this matchup down the road.
Goiania Rednecks – 33
Corinthians Steamrollers -27
SESI Ferreira Pacheo- Goiania, Goias
A second half special teams adjustment led to perhaps the biggest win in Goiania franchise history.
‘’We had tried to get to the edge on two earlier returns, but they were covering that part of the field very well. We noticed some lanes opening up in the middle of the field and that worked well for us,’’ said Rednecks Defensive Coordinator Igor Oliveira, of the call that led to Ewan Nunes up-the-gut kickoff return for a TD to open the second half and give the rednecks the 33 points they needed to secure a victory over the Steamrollers.
The Redneck offense started the game well, scoring on every one of their first half possessions, with scoring trots by Tommy Jones and Conan Afonso, and Paulo Paiva TD passes for Carlos Paiva and Ewan Nunes’ brother, Ewander.
The Corinthians hung tough, though, holding the Redneck offense scoreless in the second half, and making some effective offensive adjustments.
‘’We had some mistakes defensively. we didn’t disguise coverages well and (Corinthians WR) Victor Hugo saw our bracket coverage over the top, and beat us by converting his route to a quick slant,’’ said Oliveira. ‘’We have some young safeties and they opened up the middle of the field too much at times. Corinthians did a great job of converting our mistakes into opportunities,’’ Oliveria added.
Corinthians held the redneck offense scoreless in the second half.
Up six with Corinthians were moving the ball late in the game, Redneck DB Diego Henrique stole a Steamroller pass to secure the football and the victory for the Rednecks.
‘’It is an important win for us to get to the next level and realize that we can compete with people,’’ said Oliveria.
AFI’s take: The Rednecks continue to take big strides, only three years into converting from flag football.
Tubaroes do Cerrado – 13
Sao Paulo Storm – 12
Estadio Antonio Fachina- Cajamar, São Paulo
More of the same for both teams, as the Tubaroes do Cerrado (TdC) remain undefeated and the Storm remain winless, in a game that came down to the wire in Cajamar, São Paulo.
‘’They came in very prepared for us,’’ said TdC start DT, Augusto ‘The Bus’ Oliveira, of a Storm team who rolled up an 8 man box at times, with 6 players on the LOS, to combat the TdC wing-T attack.
The Storm opened the scoring with a ten yard trot from RB Allan Giamas, and from there, the Storm dissipated until the 4th quarter. ‘’We were facing one of the best d-lines in the league, and our attack had some trouble scoring,’’ said Storm first year HC Ale Sagaz.
With about a minute remaining in the game, Storm QB Gustavo Campos, connected with Ronnele Stephens for a touchdown to bring the men from Sao Paulo within one point of tying. Sagaz and the Storm opted to try for the win, but did not convert, in part because of penetration by Oliveira.
‘’The game was won in the details,’’ said Oliveira, of a match-up that saw the TdC convert their solitary PAT attempt and two field goals by Vitor Fialho, and the Storm go 0-2 in PAT opportunities.
Bruno ‘Hitman’ Cavalcante scored the TdC touchdown on the ground. Pedro Yoshida and Lucca Michels added TdC interceptions.
AFI’s take: Don’t had the Conferenica Oeste, Grupo E title to the Cuiaba Arsenal just yet. The TdC know how to slow down a game and play defense.
Campo Grande Predadores – 29
Sorocaba Vipers – 13
Facens- Sorocaba, São Paulo
The Predadores finally put together a complete game, and is showed on the scoreboard.
‘’We were able to impose our run game, something that we could not in previous games, this success enabled us to utilize our passing, which created some problems for the opposing defense. Our defense caused many three and outs, and our special teams always put is in a great field position situation,’’ said Campo Grande OC and QB Edson Albuquerque.
Predadores’ DL Andre Felipe and LB Carlos Juliano teamed up to stymie the Viper run game while DB Allan Costa hijacked a Sorocaba pass for a Campo Gradne interception.
Albuquerque ran for a TD and threw for two more, one to Gabriel Carvalho and one to Elvis ‘The King’ Cavalheiro, who also added a field goal.
AFI’s take: A solid win for the Predadores. The step up from Liga Nacional remains a challenge for the Vipers.
White Sharks-Istepos – 9
Foz da Iguaçu Black Sharks – 3
Campo da Vila A- Foz da Iguaçu, Parana
Above: Black Sharks running back, Munir Ahmed, meets a host of White Sharks-Istepos defenders.
Photo credit: Foz da Iguaçu Black Sharks Football Team facebook page
Black Sharks, White Sharks and a torrential downpour did not produce a Sharknado Saturday in Foz da Iguaçu, but it did produce a game that saw only 3 completed passes and no touchdowns until White Sharks-Istepos RB JP Ramos bolted for a long TD run to open the 4th quarter and seal the victory for the WSI.
‘’It took a while for our blocking to get going,’’ said Ramos, whose return to the field and first game of 2016 was a welcome site for the WSI faithful, as the speedster, Ramos, scuttled across the sopping grasses of Foz da Iguaçu for more than 100 yards on the afternoon.
‘’It had been raining here for 3 days and the field was soaked,’’ said Black Sharks LB and HC Helder Ludwig, ‘’so we knew it would be a game of runs. The stars of the game were the WSI running backs, they broke a lot of tackles,’’ he added.
AFI’s take: A tough loss for the Black Sharks. WSI remains in control of their own destiny with an undefeated record in Conferencia Sul.
Curitiba Crocodiles – 21
Juventude – 0
Campo de Uniao Forquetense- Caixas do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul
Above: Juventude and the Curitiba Crocodiles prepare to play on a wet field in Caixas do Sul.
Photo credit: Juventude F.A. facebook page
‘’It was awful. Raining. Cold.’’
This is how Curitiba quarterback Drew Banks described the conditions in Caixas do Sul. The rain and subsequent muddy field that eventually postponed the Brown Spiders – HP match-up in Curitiba the next day created a quagmire for the Crocodiles and Juventude.
‘’We ran the ball pretty much the all game and that worked well for us,’’ said Banks.
Juventude Coach, Wesley Mota, wasn’t scared to load up the line of scrimmage to counter a potent Crocodile run-game.
‘’We basically played with 8 men in the box after their first drive. Our force players did a good jog or setting the edge and bringing their runs to the middle, to our best tacklers,’’ Mota said.
‘’I had to complete a few passes to try to back their guys out of the box a little bit,’’ Banks said.
Lucas Nascimento and Alexandre Oliveira splashed into the end zone for rushing touchdowns and Jhone Santos had a pick for the crocodiles.
For Mota, the game came down to executing at the right time. ‘’Our offense was better this time, but we failed to execute on critical situations and also turned the ball over in our own side of the field. We know what we have to work on for the next game.’’ he said.
Ceará Caçadores -16
Recife Mariners – 15
Presidente Vargas- Recife, Pernambuco
Above: Ceará Caçadores all-purpose athlete, TB Battle finishes a 75 yard run in the end zone.
Conferencia Nordeste remains as unpredictable as a Ryan Lochte police report, as the Ceará Caçadores jumped back into the conversation for a conference title with a well-executed game plan to eat the clock, and escaped with a one point road victory.
‘’(Offensively, we wanted to) stay on the field as long as possible and the running game was working from the start, so we kept doing that,’’ said Caçadores Athletic Director Bruno Rocha, of an offensive game plan that saw the Caçadores run the ball more than 50 times for over 300 yards.
‘’(Mariner QB) Alex (Niznak) is out of the world. He is the best QB that I have seen in Brazil,’’ said Rocha. ‘’We managed to keep Alex and their offense off of the field for long periods of time and dominated the run game and did not commit any turnovers,’’ Rocha said of the offensive game plan.
Rocha used one word to describe the focus of the Ceara defense. ‘’Survive.’’ Their tempo and air raid offense, 100% no huddle and tempo- we had stay alert – we knew we would give up plays, so we just wanted to keep them from scoring it was ‘’bend but don’t break.’’ ‘’
Danilo Arrais opened the scoring for the Caçadores, then Romario Reis linked up with Talon Roggash to make it 9-0 for the boys from Fortaleza to end the first quarter. The Mariners’ matched the Caçadores in the second quarter, with kicker Rafael Bandeira hitting a field goal and running back Lucas Adolfo gallivanting 10 yards for a score.
TB Battle busted a 75 yard TD run in the 3rd quarter with Arrais converting what would prove to be the critical PAT kick. Niznak brought his squad within one point with a 10 yard fourth qarter TD run, but the extra point was not to be.
With the ball at midfield and second remaining, the Caçadores sacked Niznak and his final hailmary attempt landed incomplete.
Luis Maranhao marauded through the Mariner defense for 108 tough yards on 27 carries. Jose Neto added 69 yards on 13 carries. Battle earned 83 yards on two carries and Reis logged 22 yards on 5 carries from the QB position, to round out the brunt of the rushing attack for the Caçadores.
AFI’s take: It’s a good thing that Vegas doesn’t have odds on Conferenica Nordeste – it’s unpredictable.
Joao Pessoa Espectros – 48
UFERSPA Petroleiros – 0
Nogueirão- Mossoro, Rio Grande do Norte
Above Left: Espectros running back Everton Antero had two rushing touchdowns.
Photo Credit: jc.ne10.uol.com.br
The Espectros defense once again proved overwhelming. Newly imported Carlos Cox had appropriated two Petroleiro passes for interceptions, returning one of the for a touchdown. Jesus ‘’of Nazareth’’ Emanuel also forced a fumble on a QB sack that was returned for a TD by Edilson Flavio.
‘’Offensively, we ran the ball a lot and all three of our backs played well. Our O-line came up huge for us,’’ said Espectros HC Kevin Veloso. Everton ‘’Pingo’’ Antero continued his habit of scoring touchdowns, rushing for two, Jonathan Carvalho ran for another, and Rafael Lins caught a Vitor Ramalho TD pass. Diego Aranha added 2 field goals.
AFI’s take: Adding import OL Adolphus Barnes and DB Carlos Cox will help an already talented Espectro team to stay in the Conferencia Nordest title conversation.
Week 6 standings courtesy of futebolamericanobrasil.br
