PIT Football had an amazing return to outdoor football with teams competing in both 7v7 and 5v5 football.
The summer season was ultra competitive, and the championship finals were legendary with record comebacks, record droughts ended, and statistical records broken!
Check out the highlights of the championship finals: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxrMOLtM5LJ/ Folklore has it that top seeds are cursed in the playoffs. We could not disprove this urban legend as only two top seeds out of the 14 divisions ultimately would win a summer title.
7v7 Division 1
Primetime 35 Jeffery 28
We were guaranteed a new Division 1 champion, as one of these two teams was poised to take home their first outdoor top division prize.
These two teams entered playoffs as the bottom two seeds in the division and had to run the gauntlet to make it to the finals. But once these teams took to the field, nothing was off the table: passing touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, interception return touchdowns, special team’s touchdowns.
You couldn’t look away at any point as anything could happen!
In the end, the Jeffery simply could not stop the backfield of Primetime as three different players threw for touchdowns. On the final play, the Jeffery had a Hail Mary opportunity to potentially win the game, but Primetime was able to put an end to any comeback hopes with an interception.
This game had everything you wanted in a division one game, including Primetime’s first Division 1 crown!
7v7 Division 2
North Bay MennoKnights 33 Gym Class Heroes 19
The North Bay MennoKnights were the only 7v7 team that was able to defeat the PIT curse and win a championship as a top seed.
The MennoKnights swept the season series against the Gym Class Heroes in the process, a very tough feat to accomplish in the football world. Samuel Stewart led the charge for the Heroes, recording two sacks and was a nemesis to MennoKnights quarterback Taylor Buhler all game. While Taylor was forced to stay in the pocket, he showed why he led Division 2 in touchdowns, throwing five touchdown passes, two each to Noah Bergman and James Teschuk in the victory. The MennoKnight army is heading to Division 1 for fall, can they continue their winning ways in the top division?
7v7 Division 3
Fail Mary 27 Enforcers 26
The Enforcers held a comfortable lead heading into the second half — up 26-6 in the third — and were looking like they would win their first championship since 2020, coincidentally also against Fail Mary.
Cue the comeback as Fail Mary scored 21 consecutive points, including a last-minute touchdown pass from Derek Mills to Dantan Santos, shortly after a drive was extended due to an unnecessary roughness penalty. With less than a minute left in the game, the Enforcers moved the ball into Fail Mary territory to try to kick the rouge for the tie. The punt wasn’t quite long enough, however, and it was successfully punted back out of the end zone to preserve victory!
With that, Fail Mary won their first outdoor championship in the PIT!
7v7 Division 4
Cream Machine 28 Bleue’s Clueless 14
Bleue’s Clueless had an opportunity to join the MennoKnights as a top seed to capture a title and avoid the PIT curse.
The game started well for the Clueless ones as they struck on the opening drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Cream Machine started Aaron Wold at quarterback despite not starting a game all season, and that seemed to work out well as he led the Cream Machine on two early scoring drives. Mike Nelson then came in for relief and threw another two touchdowns to secure victory.
The win ended the Cream Machine championship drought at 15 years, when they won a title way back in 2008 in the now defunct UTFL! That year, Twilight was topping the theatres, and Barack Obama was voted in for the first term of his presidency. Obama ended up winning a re-election, perhaps this bodes well for Cream Machine to repeat in 2024 (but if we get another Twilight movie, we know the end is nigh).
7v7 Division 5
Rebels 37 Necessary Roughness 13
Another team snapping a championship drought that was in double digits!
The Rebels last championship came back in 2012, when the Mayan calendar foretold the end of the world as we know it and the Hunger Games was besting the box office. As per the Mayan’s predictions, the Rebels football world looked like it had ended that fateful night, having not come close to championship glory since.
However, the odds were forever in their favour to eventually win bring home another trophy. The Rebels were led by team captain Drew MacKenzie’s two long-bomb touchdown receptions and a huge interception on defence. Drew finished the game with over 200-yards receiving and was the game MVP. Those who started Drew on their fantasy football team championship weekend were very pleased.
7v7 Division 6
Glue Factory 37 Sonic Youth 36 (overtime)
This game featured the biggest comeback in Manitoba touch football history, as the Glue Factory found themselves down 30-0 at halftime and 36-6 five minutes into the third quarter.
From there it was all Glue Factory as they scored 30 consecutive points, including a game tying touchdown with seconds remaining.
Overtime is the best of three converts that can be taken from the five-yard line (one-point) or the ten-yard line (two-points). Both teams were tied at three-points after the best of three, setting up sudden death. Sonic Youth hit their fourth consecutive single-point convert to go up by one. Like a boss, the Glue Factory went for two-points and the win. Quarterback Dan Mikolash hit Chaka “MVP” Newman in the back of the end zone for the win. The crowd was stunned.
The overtime victory proved the Glue Factory is not quite ready for the glue factory!
7v7 Division 7
Razorbacks 33 North End Hawkeyes 13
Seventeen years — That is the amount of time between the Razorbacks 2023 victory and their last championship in 2006. For perspective, 2006 was the year that Blu-Ray discs were introduced for sale to the public and the year that Western Union sent its last telegram!
Wanting to prove that the Razorbacks were not as extinct as those technologies, game MVP Marty Bender threw for five touchdown passes in the victory, to five different receivers.
To celebrate after the game, the Razorbacks released a flock of carrier pigeons to spread the message far and wide that the longest drought in touch football history is over!
7v7 Division 8
Free Agents 40 Mustard Tigers 6
The Mustard Tigers were the final top seed with an opportunity to win a championship, but their tigers unfortunately didn’t cut the mustard.
The Free Agents and Mustard Tigers split their regular season series in two tightly contested games, but a third nail-biter was not in store as the Free Agents scored early and often to cruise to victory.
The Free Agents employed the rarely used, “we will choose the side, and give the Mustard Tigers the ball both halves” strategy which usually results in the team captain being stripped of their captaincy. Instead, the Free Agents pinned the Mustard Tigers deep in their end both halves, made stops, then scored on the short field.
Will this new way of thinking upend the statistical probabilities that say giving your opponents the ball both halves is the worst possible decision to make in the captain’s huddle? I think Vince Lombardi is rolling over in his grave.
5v5 Division 1
Knights 48 MonStars 26
It was way back in the Summer of 2022 that the Knights last won a summer championship. The pandemic had ended, toilet paper was available to the masses, people’s faces were once again seen in public, and we relearned how much we hated our coworkers.
Back in that far-away time, the Knights defeated the Monstars for the Division 1 title, as world history repeats itself. Hall of Famer Jim Bell threw seven touchdowns, six to receivers with the last name Kornelsen. Andrew Gregoire went off for a season high 20-points for the MonStars but that wasn’t enough for them to knock off the defending champs.
5v5 Division 2
MonStars 33 Ricky Spanish 31
The MonStars booked their ticket to the Division 1 title by first winning the Division 2 championship — doing it in style by scoring the winning touchdown on the last play of the game!
MonStars quarterback Matt Nikkel hit Deion Nelson on a goal-line drag route run to perfection as the clock expired in this barnburner! The MonStars led by multiple scores throughout the game, however Ricky Spanish must have upped the saffron quotient in their water bottles as they stormed back with multiple unanswered touchdowns, the final to take the lead with under two minutes left.
The MonStars, however, drove the field, aided by a pass interference penalty, then scored from the one-yard line as time expired. The most exciting game in this years 5v5 championships.
5v5 Division 3
Office Linebackers 37 Gamecocks 12
The Office Linebackers ended a six-year championship drought, winning their last championship in 2017.
For the record, 2017 was the last time we experienced a total eclipse of the sun, people were still paying to see Star Wars in the movie theatres, and the Chainsmokers were topping the charts.
Leading the Office Linebackers out of that darkness was Taylor Allen who threw six touchdown passes, four to game MVP Eric Melo who went full “Terry Tate” on the Gamecocks defence. While the Office Linebackers were understandably pleased they ended their six year championship drought, at least they last won a championship after the Tesla Model 3 and the iPhone X were introduced to the world.
5v5 Division 4
Goofy Goobers 63 MegaPowers 36
No championship drought for the Goofy Goobers as this rookie team took the league by storm, losing only one game en route to the championship.
Speed kills, and the Goobers have that in spades. Ethan Dyrland is a dual threat quarterback who can throw and run, and the receivers all are burners. The MegaPowers scored some of the nicest touchdowns of championship night, but every time they started to close the gap, a Goober receiver was able to get behind coverage for a long touchdown.
On defence, the Goofy ones had no sacks or interceptions, however the all-out offence pressure they put on teams makes their opponents change their game plan to keep up on the scoresheet. It will be interesting to see if that offensive explosion will carry over into the higher divisions.
5v5 Division 5
Banda Makers 42 DV 18
The Banda Makers earned their third PIT championship against a very game DV team that just missed on a few plays that really would have turned this game around.
The Banda Makers averaged 46.5 points per game in the playoffs while giving up only 12.5 points per game. That makes a recipe for Banda success!
Karndeep Gosal threw for five touchdowns, ran for another, and had an interception on defence, earning him MVP honours, while Tarndeep Gosal put on a kicking clinic, scoring a single game record four rouges (which are very hard to come by in 5v5 football!).
Charles Carlos made a triumphant return from retirement to turn the DV season around, throwing three touchdowns in the defeat. If DV keeps this team together going forward, we may see a different result next time these teams play!
5v5 Division 6
Hogs 40 Black Widows 18
The Hogs avenged their regular season loss to the Black Widows and became the second all-rookie team to win a championship this summer.
The Hogs saved one of their highest scoring games for the championship with Pablo Menet-Espina throwing five touchdowns for four different receivers. The Black Widows — a nearly all-female team putting in their first season in PIT Football — were the top seed heading into the Division 6 playoffs. Aleena Kudlacek, Halle Ilagan, and Miya Hanssen all scored touchdowns for the Widows who couldn’t use their venom, voodoo, or black magic skills to fend off the PIT curse of the top seed.
5v5 Redemption Bowl
Summer MVP
Pierre Feng
Congratulations to Pierre Feng who won the Summer Most Valuable Player award as voted by his peers.
After each game, teams pick the MVP from their opponents and the player that accumulates the most votes receives the MVP belt (and an array of prizes from our sponsors) at the end of the season.
Mr. Feng has been runner-up to this award a couple of times, so it was nice to see him get his due as the best in Summer! Rumour has it Pierre will be appearing at local wrestling events to challenge anyone in the building to a tables, ladders, and MVP belts match.
The PIT Football league is the official touch football league of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Registration for the Fall indoor league is now underway. Information can be found here: https://pit.redzoneleagues.com/forums/messages/28742-fall-season-15th-anniversary-registration-opens or by following @PITFootball on Instagram and Twitter.
