Shame about the Lumberjacks falling short in the playoffs each year, but at least that means they're good every year!  I'm thinking we are looking at the three-peat for the Knights!

Although the Escalian Royal Stadium has the least capacity in the league at around 45,000, it didn’t stop 55,000 Bulls and Knights fans from cramming in there. On one hand, Augusta is looking to shock the Escalian football world and win over the dynastic Knights with their emerging defensive unit. On the other, is Kierport, looking to win three straight Escalian Cups and prove themselves to be the league’s first true dynasty. The Bulls won the coin toss, and deferred to receive in the second half. Kierport starting driving down the field like most games, but were slowed down by the Bulls D-Line, particularly Defensive MVP DT Gideon Skeates and his cohort in DE Jesse Wechler, who seemed to plug up the holes made by the Knights’ O-Line better than the ‘60-’61 Owls. Although slowed, the Knights still pounded their way to the endzone on a 2-yard RB Robert Underwood run up the gut. The Bulls were faster on their first drive, taking only around 2 minutes on their drive to the endzone compared to the Knights’ 6 minute drive. Their speed quickly died down, as they immediately went 3 and out when they made it into their redzone for the first time today, settling for a field goal to keep the game within one possession. Kierport made their way down to their redzone again, but were stopped on 3rd and goal from the 3 and settled for a field goal themselves. Augusta continued on their quest to quickly get a touchdown, which included a 47 yard run from RB Gabriel Sydney to get into the redzone again. However, this trip was much like their previous, as they settled for a field goal for the last score in the quarter.
END OF Q1: 10-6 KIE
Kierport began their attack once again, but faced continuous trouble smashing through the Bulls front line. They slowly made their way down the field as usual, but were stopped outside of their redzone and took a field goal to extend their lead to 7. The Bulls learned their lesson from the first quarter, and took things more slow on their next drive. QB Christopher Lyon traded off throwing to his hottest target in WR Lloyd Blackman and handing it off to the more experienced player in Sydney. Sydney capped off the drive by scoring Augusta’s first TD of the game, a short 5 yard plunge to tie the game at 13. Kierport tried to quickly get another score before the half ended, but turned up short as both teams left the half tied.
END OF Q2: 13-13 TIE
Augusta almost took the kickoff back to their endzone, but were stopped just short of the endzone. Their momentum on that drive died down as well, scoring a field goal to take the lead for the first time. The Bulls doubled down on their defense that managed to stop the Knights’ run game, forcing them to punt for the first time in the game. The Knights’ next drive though, they did manage to score, with RB Derrick Acker taking the ball up the left hand side for a 39 yard TD. The point after attempt did not succeed, but the Knights still took the lead to end the third.
END OF Q3: 19-16 KIE
The Knights took over after the Bulls punted away their first drive of the quarter. They faced a third down, where the Knights decided on one of their few passing plays. QB Paul Dane stepped back from under center, where DT Gideon Skeates awaited him from his blind side, taking him down and causing Dane to lose the ball, where Skeates recovered it and flew 52 yards down the field before being stopped at the 2 yard line.
(Seen here: Augusta's Gideon Skeates (98) taking down Kierport's Paul Dane (10), resulting in a fumble which he recovered and almost scored)
RB Gabriel Sydney made quick work of the golden opportunity, scoring on the first play of the drive for the Bulls to retake the lead. Still with 6 minutes left in the quarter, the Knights tried to make another drive work, but were stopped and had to punt it away. The Bulls took themselves on another drive, chewing up as much clock as possible to prevent the Knights from getting too much time to work with. Augusta was stopped on their own 30, and played it safe by settling for a field goal to make it a two possession game with only a minute left to go. The Knights did what they did best when the offensive unit took the field once again, and quickly made their way downfield, but ended up at 4th down and 3 at the Bulls’ 40 yard line. Dane handed the ball to Acker to go to the left side, where he was stopped just short of the first down by a combination of Skeates and Wechler. Augusta ran out the rest of the clock, and celebrated as they completed their miracle season by “upsetting” the top two teams to win their first ever Escalian Cup.
FINAL: 26-19 AUG

Taking home the MVP was RB Gabriel Sydney from the Bulls, who concluded the game with an impressive statline of 15 carries for 105 yards and 2 TD. Sydney seemingly redeemed himself in the championship game, after fumbling away the win for the Orcaster Racers in the inaugural Escalian Cup in 1960. “You shouldn’t have traded me away!”, mocking the Racers’ decision to trade him away in the 1960-61 offseason. Sydney’s MVP win was controversial, as some analysts thought that Gideon Skeates deserved the award more than him, with his statblock consisting of a forced fumble and at least 6 solo tackles and 2 sacks in the championship game alone (these were not recorded, as the EFL didn’t record tackles or sacks at this point like the NFL) “Our unit got not respect all season,” Skeates said in the post-game interview, “probably why we held our own against the Knights that were supposed to blow us out of the water.” 

UP NEXT: 1964 Expansion Class revealed and Team Updates. 

I gotta say, I'm a big fan of the special "moment" designs you come up with, as this particular one looks pretty realistic.  Like it's obviously a design, but the body positions look pretty natural here, especially the QB who has that "Aw crap, I'm about to get hurt" body posture.  He looks like he wants to try to escape, but knows it's too late to avoid the hit he's about to take,  Really good job there!

Also, nice to see a new champion!  Can't wait to see what the new expansion teams look like!

1963-64 Offseason Part 1: Identity Changes/Team Additions

Besides the expansion teams, the only other team to make any minor changes were, predictably,  the defending champions in the Bulls. They added a star patch like the Knights and Owls before them, as well as adjusting their logo to remove the “drop shadow” and fix the angle at which it was charging, as some fans complained the bull was more docile than charging.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the expansion class of ‘64!

Ashonta Miners

About the City:
Ashonta (ah-SHONE-tah) is about as much of a blue collar city as you can come across in Escalia. Founded as a mining town in the shadow of the Wyomite Mountains, it has grown in recent years to move past mining and into the manufacturing industry, kicking off a growth of similar industrial growth that spread into the western areas of New Huron and northeast part of Ekwatora. Ashonta is slowly growing into one of the largest cities east of the Wyomites, the de facto divider of east and west in Escalia, and the league’s push into the more eastern regions aligned nicely with Ashonta’s bid for a football team.

About the Identity:
The team decided to choose the obvious nickname of the Miners to honor the city’s heritage of its mining industry, choosing it over other suggested names such as the Mountaineers, Blazers, and Sparks. The color scheme was going to be black and gold, but the Owner’s Council shut down that proposal sent by team owner Michael Warrick, as it was too similar to the Knights’ colors. Instead, he substituted out black for brown, and reasoned it represented the Wyomites that Ashonta sits under and the County the team plays in. Their logo is a tuscan styled A with a pickaxe sticking through the middle of it, and their uniforms are more of the traditional kind, the only unique aspect are the sock stripes, which they are the first team to add stripes to their socks. The Miners will play in Brown County Stadium for the time being, as there are plans to build a new multi-purpose stadium to attract other leagues to expand to the city. 



Homestead Reapers

About the City:
Homestead was one of the largest growing cities on the Great Plains when settlers from the east and west moved towards the flat, barren land of Ekwatora. (which comes from the Indigenous Escalian word roughly meaning “flat land”) Soon enough, people came flocking to Homestead to create a new life on the plains, and agriculture became its primary industry. Homestead isn’t the ever-expanding city it once was, but it is still the largest city in Ekwatora and on the Plains. If the league’s goal was to expand eastward, then landing here is a symbolic spot to begin its push eastward. 

About the Identity:
Owner Terry Stone of local agricultural manufacturing company Stonework Agricultural wanted his team to reflect the farming culture of Homestead and its surrounding area. After a name the team contest was held by a local newspaper,they first reported that the name of the team would be the Shockers, over the more popular suggestion of the Reapers. After some fan backlash, Stone announced that the Shockers name was nothing more than rumors, and that the team name would in fact be the Reapers, with a black and silver scheme to boot. Their logo has two scythes intersecting with the team name above them. The design team came up with a unique jersey to separate themselves from the rest of the league, forgoing shoulder stripes for a shoulder yoke. They will play in Stone's stadium that he financed for the city's soccer team, named Frontier SC, the aptly named Frontier Stadium.



C&C Appreciated!

Love the tradition of the star on the jersey taking shape as time goes on!
Ashonta's look is honestly one of my favourites at the moment, the colour scheme is intriguing and I love that number font. I might finally have a team in the running as a favourite. 
As for Homestead, it is a very different but awesome take on the black and silver colour scheme, very cool!