Three comebacks for Mexico City teams in LFA’s 4th week
Mexico’s six team professional league – Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA) – has just passed the midpoint of the season. With only three games to finish the regular campaign, every squad is trying to win in order to obtain a pass to playoffs. This week, Mexico’s City teams won their games against the Raptors, Dinos and Fundidores, clubs from the same division.
Mayas 34 – 31 Raptors
In a rematch of the LFA’s first championship, the Mayas and Raptors faced each other at Jesús ‘Palillo’ Martínez stadium for Sunday’s opening game. With the fans chanting and cheering their teams on, the duel started in the center of the country. Marco García (Mayas) and Bruno Márquez (Raptors) were the initial quarterbacks to lead their teams into the end zone.
At the end of the first two quarters, the Raptors took the lead 14-7, but the best was just coming. At the end of the fourth episode, and with the score 34-23 for Mayas, Bruno Márquez sent a touchdown pass to Enrique Barraza and then they made a two-point conversion in order to be just one field goal away from overtime.
The defense did an excellent job and stopped the Mayas’ offense to give the Raptors offense enough time to march into field goal range. Everything was adjusting perfectly for overtime. The offense put the ball in field goal range, but the kick was blocked by the white and blue special teams in order to seal their third victory of the campaign.
Condors 14 – Fundidores 12
Another outstanding match was the one between Fundidores and Condors, teams that needed a victory in order to keep their postseason aspirations alive. The squad from Monterrey had its first trip outside the north of the country to visit the Condors at ‘Palillo’ stadium in a very difficult game considering Mexico’s City altitude and climate.
The game did not have much activity in the first quarter and ended up 0-0. But before reaching the halftime, both squads managed to score a touchdown. First, the Fundidores with Roberto Vega at quarterback put six points on the board. Unfortunately, their kicker failed the extra point which gave the Condors the chance to score.
Before going to the locker room, Salvador Castañeda, Condors quarterback, found Ulises Tovar in the end zone with zero seconds on the clock. Then, the extra point was good in order to finish the first two quarters with a narrow lead for Mexico’s City team. Fundidores had to change if they wanted to return to Monterrey with a victory.
For the second half, Arturo Sánchez took Salvador Castañeda’s place in the pitch. Although Castañeda did not have a bad game, Enrique Zapata, his coach, decided to change the scheme with another quarterback and try to damage Fundidores’ defense.
Afterwards, Condors’ running back José Antonio Vázquez, broke on a 30 yard run scampering all the way to the end zone to score and give his team the lead. The Fundidores tried to tie the game after their touchdown with a two-point conversion, but the attempt was no good.
Eagles 14 – 10 Dinos
In the north of the country, the Dinos hosted the Eagles for the fourth week. After three games, the team from Saltillo needed a victory to find the right path again after two consecutive losses. In the other team’s case, the situation was a little different. Although Eagles were defeated by the Condors last week, in the first two matches managed to win and be one of the most attractive squads of the league.
The Dinos started with a 10 point advantage, but in the last quarter the Eagles made an epic return in order to win the game. Mateos and Juárez were responsible for the Dinos’ upset with two touchdowns. At the end of the fourth quarter, the locals were knocking on Eagles’ end zone inside the 10 last yards, but the offense was incapable of accomplishing the comeback.
