Mexico’s ONEFA – Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Futbol Americano (National Student Organization of American Football) – heads into the quarterfinal playoffs this weekend.
The ONEFA is the league in Mexico made up of mostly the public university American football teams in the nation. In 2015, the Auténticos Tigres took the title defeating the UNAM Pumas CU 16-7.
The structure of the playoffs in the ONEFA is a little challenging even for some experts. The playoff teams are drawn from two conferences, the Green and the White conferences. The Green conference teams are more heavily weighted with the top two teams ranked #1 and #2 overall. The first two teams from the White conference are ranked #5 and 6 in the ranking.
The first game on tap is the 6-3 UAEM Potros Salvajes (Wild Horses) who finished second in the White conference hosting the 4-5 UACh Toros Salvajes (Wild Bulls) third place finishers in the same conference.
The Potros are riding the momentum of their final regular season game win which gave their offense a boost. The downed the Tepeyac Frailes 49-14 while the Toros dropped their last game to the conference leading Pumas.
In their only meeting of 2016, the Potros defeated the Toros 10-3 in a defensive battle. In that game, the Toros had taken a 3-0 halftime lead, only to watch as UAEM scored a touchdown and then kicked a late field goal to win.
Despite finishing with a 4-5 record, UACh is riding a wave of optimism, making the playoffs in their first season in the White conference.
Action from Potros regular season win over Toros Photo: Salvador Larios Pérez / Terra
The Toros dropped a tough 24-21 decision to the Pumas in that last game which may give them confidence going into this one. Still, the Potros should come away with the win.
