TENSE MOMENTS AND SUPRISES CULMINATED 2008 REGULAR SEASON; FINAL BRACKETS/ALL STAR LINE UP SET

Posted: Sunday, June 8, 2008

RMFL – For those who happened to tune in to the Friday night live streaming video action of the Pocatello Predators at the Idaho Falls Mustangs Friday night, you must have thought you’d “seen it all”… unless you also happened to go to the Utah Wolverines vs. Utah Shock game… or the Utah Heat vs. Cache Valley Bears game, that is.

The final playoff positioning for the AAA brackets was incredibly exciting as the Shock/Wolverines contest needed overtime to decide as the Shock did a complete 180 turn from 2007, going from 2^nd to last in the AAA to numero uno heading into the 2008 playoffs. Chris Liddiard scored on a 12-yard Jordan Kjar touchdown pass and the much maligned Utah Shock defense kept the Wolverines out of the end zone to hold on for the victory and #1 seed. Meanwhile, the Bears and Heat played a roller-coaster affair which ultimately swung the Bears way with two unanswered touchdowns in the 4^th quarter to eliminate the Utah Heat in a valiant attempt to elbow their way past the Bears into the 2008 brackets.

The AA saw another nail-biting contest between the Eastern Idaho Lionz and the upstart, expansion Strippling Warriorz. With both the Boise Speed and the Utah Matadors winning their games comfortably as predicted, the Lionz needed the victory to hold on to the #1 seed, and even a 1^st round bye (Lionz would have dropped to #3 had they lost). The game was ultimately decided by a safety on an intentional grounding in the end zone foul and a single extra point as the tense 4^th quarter finished scoreless as the Lionz held on. Great Falls and Magic Valley won big road games against Logan and Morgan. Logan was eliminated based on the Strength of Schedule tie-breaker with Morgan as Morgan back-doored into the #6 seed and earned a trip to Nampa, Idaho to play the Matadors on June 14^th. Magic Valley’s SOS (strength of schedule) rating saw a big jump when the Snake River Sabercats defeated the favored, visiting Glacier Knights, however, it was not enough as the Gladiators benefited by their non-divisional opponents being Boise and Morgan, while the Bulldawgs non-divisional opponents were slightly less successful in Logan and Morgan. Magic Valley earns a trip to Montana and Great Falls.

THE FINAL BRACKETS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Also, the team composition of the 2008 All-Star game was also set by the action Saturday night.

By a Managing Board vote, the line up of teams for the two all-star squads was going to be “mixed” together based on final standings placement, missing the AAA and AA squads together. The Final list is as follows:

HOME TEAM (dark jerseys):

Utah Shock, Boise, Idaho Falls, Great Falls, Cache Valley, Morgan, Utah Heat, Helena, Davis, Glacier, Salt Lake

VISITING TEAM (white jerseys):

Eastern Idaho, Utah Wolverines, Idaho Matadors, Pocatello, Magic Valley, Missoula, Logan, Bitterroot, Strippling, Bear River, Snake River, Uintah Basin.