The six team Philippine Tackle Football League (PTFL) just finished its second weekend of play and a couple of clear favorites have emerged. While one game this past weekend was a forfeit, the other two produced contrasting results.
Wolves 77 (2-0) vs Vanguards 0 (0-2)
The second week of the PTFL featured the defending champion Wolves going against the up and coming Vanguards. The Wolves came out of the dressing room storming and blasting. They put on an incredible display of firepower and never held back until the game finished and when the dust settled, the Wolves had handed the Vanguards a 77-0 lesson.
Veteran quarterback Luke “Zman” Zetazate found a rhythm and his two favorite targets, receivers Ivan Klaric and Preston Lynch aka the “Pineapple Express” took full advantage. The Wolves defense was also on full throttle giving up very few yards and smothering the Orangemen on several key plays. The secondary, led by Khalil Tan, had several picks and Tan himself had a pick six. Also notable was kicker DJ Mello who was perfect on the day nailing all 11 converts while adding a fake extra point to put two extra points on the board for the Wolves.
The second game saw the 4-time champions, the Bandits walk away with an early victory due to forfeiture and that improved their record to 2-0 in the second week of Season 6.
Renegades 14 (1-1) v Knights 6 (0-2)
The third game of the week two triple-header was the sleeper game of the day. It had two teams looking for their crucial first win of the season. The Renegades and the Knights went toe-to-toe for almost the whole game. In a game that saw a lot of bad snaps on both sides, each team had to find weaknesses in their opponents’ games.
The Renegades relied heavily on the passing game as both veteran quarterback BJ Padua (who also ran a broken play in to score from less than 5 yards out, showing that he still has the necessary scrambling ability) and junior quarterback Eric Soriano were airing the ball out. Soriano seemed to be on the mark for most of the day although his receivers were having problems holding on to the ball.
Solid efforts were also turned in by Renegades running back, Maica and their defensive vets like Wewe Alvero. The Renegades defense put an end to the Knights hopes in the last 35 seconds by recovering the ball while the Knights were in a serious scoring position with a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. But the Renegades defense held and they walked away with the 14-6 win.