Sun, Dec 6 - On a foggy December day, the #2 seed Pigskin Hooligans went out on the CUAA football field against the #3 seed Wamp Rats looking to punch their ticket to the next round. The Hooligans were missing many players, but those that showed up fought hard in a back-and-forth battle. The Wamp Rats fought hard in their upset bid, but a 61-38 win would send the Hooligans to the championship game for the 6th time in the last 7 years. The Hooligans would begin the game on defense, and a much improved Wamp Rats team would march straight down the field with Andrew Ripke finding Joel Werner in the endzone for an early lead. The Hooligans would respond early as Virgilio “V Newton” Burgo, receiving the start at quarterback, would connect with Humphrey Ihejirikah for both a touchdown and a 2-point conversion. After forcing a punt on defense the team would once again move down the field as Dana Ford juked her way to a huge gain leading to Virgilio Burgo finding Humphrey Ihejirikah in the endzone for the second time. The Wamp Rats would counter as Dylan Vickers came up with quite possibly the best catch of the entire intramural season, showing great concentration to make a low fingertip catch in the endzone. But the Hooligans would open up a double-digit lead on the next series as Virgilio Burgo looked deep to new signee Jordan Taylor-McLeggan who would haul in the pass for the 9-point score. The teams would trade scores before the half as Andrew Ripke would find Tyler Tweedale for a touchdown and Virgilio Burgo connected with Nick Holshoe who showed great speed on the way to the endzone. At halftime the Hooligans would lead 31-18. The Hooligans began the second half on offense and Humphrey Ihejirikah hauled in his 3rd TD pass of the day to make it a 37-18 game. But the Wamp Rats were resilient and continued to fight hard, racking up two straight touchdowns. Andrew Ripke would find James Haugen in the endzone and then after a goal-line stop on defense Andrew Ripke would connect with Joel Werner making it a 37-32 game. The Hooligans handled the pressure well as Dana Ford took a short pass and made some sensational juke moves for a long touchdown run to push the lead back to double digits. The teams traded touchdowns as Dylan Vickers found the endzone for the second time on the day and the Hooligans answered with Virgilio Burgo firing deep to Nick Holshoe for a touchdown. In the last several minutes the Hooligans defense would force a 4-and-out, essentially securing the game. The team would move down the field one last time as captain Mike Russell took a short screen pass, made a spin move, and ran for a big gain before being dragged down just short of the endzone by Joel Werner. The run would set up one last touchdown catch by Dana Ford, securing a 61-38 playoff victory for the Hooligans and a berth in the championship game. For the Hooligans, Virgilio Burgo performed well as starting QB, passing for 8 TDs in the game which was just shy of the franchise single-game record of 9. Humphrey Ihejirikah showed great hands on the day hauling in 3 TDs and also making many flag grabs. Dana Ford showed good hands and great juke moves scoring 2 TDs and a PAT in the game. Nick Holshoe also notched 2 TDs and showed great speed in the match. Jordan Taylor-McLeggan performed well in her Hooligans debut catching a deep TD pass. Captain Mike Russell showed good hands notching several receptions. For the Wamp Rats, captain Andrew Ripke provided a steady presence at quarterback passing for 6 TDs. Dylan Vickers had 2 TD catches including a sensational finger-tip grab in the first half. Joel Werner notched 2 receiving TDs in the game. Tyler Tweedale hauled in a TD and PAT in the game. James Haugen caught a touchdown in the second half. Brandon Bettcher had a few receptions in the game. Courtney Russell provided a receiving threat and ran solid routes. The win moved the Hooligans’ record to 2-1 on the season and clinched a spot in the championship game against undefeated #1 seed We Love TDs. That recap will follow shortly. The Wamp Rats fell to 0-3 on the season but showed great improvement all throughout the year and gave the Hooligans a great test in attempting to pull off a first-round upset bid. 1st Star - Virgilio Burgo (Pigskin Hooligans) 8 passing TDs (most in a single game by a Hooligans QB in season debut) 2nd star - Humphrey Ihejirikah (Pigskin Hooligans) 3 receiving TDs, many flag grabs 3rd star - Andrew Ripke (Wamp Rats) 6 passing TDs
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Written by Mike Russell
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May 2021
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