Naturally, the Mariners let their fans down. I'll be pulling for the Dragons on this one.

12th Escalian Cup: Duvall Dragons @ Ashonta Miners 



Even with their history in the latter part of the 60’s and into the 70’s, the Escalian Cup has never been played within Hadley’s Harbour Coliseum. It may have rustled a few feathers for Gatekeepers fans that the two teams to play in their stadium are the team that overthrew them in the North, and the team they faced the most in the Escalian Cup. Almost no blue was in the stands, instead filled with nearly 60,000 fans clad in brown and gold and red as the Dragons kicked the ball away to the Miners to begin the 12th Escalian Cup. Ashonta did what they were good at doing all year, and that would be scoring on their first possession. QB Daniel Haumann found TE Ben Wheeler in the back of the endzone for 5 yards to take an early 7-0 lead to begin the game. Duvall had some unfortunate luck on their first drive, with OPOY QB Harold Bauer making a rare mistake and threw off target right into the hands of ASH DB Peter Tobias. Ashonta made something off of the turnover, as they sailed one right through the uprights to extend their lead by 3. Duvall didn’t make another mistake on their next drive, with RB Placid Smith taking the helm as he rushed for 40 yards on the drive and snuck into the endzone for a yard to keep the game within 3. The Miners got one last drive together before the end of the quarter, but again were held just short of the redzone as they nailed another 3 in to increase their lead to 6. 
END OF Q1: 13-7 ASH
Duvall got off to a bad start to begin the 2nd, as they punted on back-to-back possessions after going 3 and out on both, and then on their third drive WR Alvin Paul fumbled the ball attempting to extend the play, and the ball ended up in the Miners’ hands. Ashonta didn’t get into range to score a TD, but they did put another 3 on the board on a 47 yard kick by K Melvin Leach. The Dragons still were unable to produce anything on offense, as they were held to a goose egg this quarter. The Miners on the other hand got one last drive in before the end of the half, but were held short of the endzone as Leach kicked another 3 in for Ashonta to end the half.
END OF Q2: 19-7 ASH
After multiple adjustments were made to the Dragons offense during the halftime break, they came out firing, with Bauer finding Paul on a quick slant that ended up going to the house for a 74 yard TD to bring the game within a TD for Duvall. After forcing Ashonta to punt on their first drive of the half, the Dragons got back rolling and found themselves plowing through the Miners defense that held them to only 7 in the first half. Their momentum lasted right up until the goal line, where the Ashonta D-Line made an amazing goal line stand and held the Dragons to 3 and kept the Miners in the lead. They ended up extending their lead on their next drive, as RB Leonard Arts ran it into the endzone on a 32 yarder to increase their lead to 9.
END OF Q3: 26-17 ASH
The game that seemed like it was going to be a blowout just got a lot closer, and a 17 yard pass from Bauer to WR Abram Radcliff made the game even closer, as the Dragons were now within 2 points of the lead. The Miners quickly retaliated with a drive of their own, and they scored the first TD since the first quarter on a 5 yard pass from Haumann to WR Jordan Samson. The Dragons wouldn’t go out with that score, and quickly worked their way down field on their next drive they got the game within 2 points again on a 1 yard sneak by Smith, but not after chewing away almost 7 minutes of clock, leaving the Miners with 2 minutes to chew away to win their second Cup. The Dragons had a chance to stop the Miners on 3rd down and get the ball back to score any points, but Arts parted the defensive line to get the first down, and the clock wound down to allow Ashonta to come away with their second Escalian Cup
FINAL: 33-31 ASH 



Daniel Haumann took home the MVP award, topping NOR QB Nathan Slezak as the youngest player to win at 24 years old, where Slezak was 25 when he took home the award. He finished the game with a modest statline of 2 TD’s and 278 yards passing, although Duvall’s Harold Bauer finished with more passing yards at 289 and had the same amount of TD’s and many argued that he should have been in contention for MVP. “When I was drafted into the Miners family, “ said Haumann in a later interview “I never expected to take home two Cups. I was just happy enough to be taken number 1 overall, and so I had to make my mark to prove that was the right decision. It turns out it was, and I can’t wait to do more with this team!” 



And with that done, the next thing up is the unveiling of the UFL teams! Which probably won't be out for awhile since school started back up for me and the AltBA going as well may limit the amount of time I have. Until then, C&C appreciated!

Entertaining game, and a good win for the Miners. Congrats for a second time Ashonta.

Part 2: UFL

Before the first draft, the UFL seemed to be more experimental in its rules compared to the more traditional NFL-alike EFL. Some of the main differences were the faster pace of play, with a shortened play clock (30 seconds -> 25 seconds) and the 2-point conversion, as well as adding a form of free agency (any player could sign anywhere as long as their contract was up, as all players sign 1 year deals every year). All players signed were also encouraged to join the league’s own player union, the Union of Escalian Professional Football Players (UEPFP), where they would have more of a say in how the league worked compared to the EFL. 

The Inaugural UFL draft took place in Colnica, and was decided upon by a random draw. Great Horn won the first overall pick, and the other teams proceeded to pick players for 10 rounds total. The first round went as such: 
1st - Great Horn: QB Ralph Cuypers (University of New Huron)
2nd - Arcanfall: QB Percy Gapler (Cormarca University)
3rd - Colnica: RB Thomas Amsel (University of Decontro)
4th - Decontro: DL Chris Richards (Cormarca University)
5th - Minola: LB Nathaniel Hunnicutt (Montagrada University
)6th - Montagrada: RB Geoffrey Langenberg (Tallokope University) 

During the draft, each of the 6 teams were revealed. The teams were the: 
Arcanfall Wizards
Colnica Stars
Decontro Roosters
Great Horn Bison
Minola Whales
Montagrada Explorers 

Arcanfall Wizards
About the City:
Arcanfall, once known as Arcan Falls, sits on the bend of the Arcan River, and acts as the gateway between the English and Portuguese parts of Escalia. Its downtown is very much a mix between English and Portuguese cultures and building styles, and it has a mix of those cultures present in the city. The city also acts as a secondary media city out east, second only to Colnica to the north. Eddy Clement is the right-hand man to league owner George Curtis, and Clement’s hometown of Arcanfall was his pick for the league. He went with the Wizards, a play on the city’s nickname of “Magic City”, and chose a purple and orange-gold color because “they looked nice together like on a wizard’s robe.” Their main logo is an old-looking wizard, but only his hat is used on the uniforms, which are fairly traditional. 



Colnica Stars
Colnica has become the media capital of Escalia in recent years, with most of the nation’s top TV and radio stations either having headquarters in the city or having regional offices within the metropolis. It’s currently competing with Montagrada as the largest metropolis on the east coast, but Colnica is currently losing the fight due to its lack of industry specialization and slower rate of suburban sprawl. George Curtis’ hometown was the first location known due to the amount of times he tried to get a team in the city, and he wants to make his team known. Their logo set features a star with red, purple, and white stripes, and their uniform is anything but traditional. Their star logo wraps around the helmet, and their uniform has multicolored stripes on their pants and on their away set. 


Decontro Roosters
Decontro City is one of the oldest continuous settlements in Escalia, and is one the largest Portuguese cities in the world. Decontro City is one of the few major cities in the country that a majority speaks more Portuguese than English. The Portuguese culture bleeds right into the identity, with the name coming from the Rooster of Barcelos, one of the symbols of national pride for the Portuguese culture, and the colors coming straight from the Portuguese flag. Owner Isidoro Fernandes, the owner of regional supermarket chain Izzi’s, made the Roosters very traditional to reflect the traditions of the Portuguese people in Escalia, and he hopes that his team plays the old-school version of football that dragged him into the sport. 



Great Horn Bison
The second-smallest capital city, Great Horn is a small sprawling city in the middle of the Great Plains. It mostly gets overshadowed by the larger Homestead to the east and Talvertia to the north, but it makes its own way through the agricultural business. A booming real estate market is helping its slow growth, and Curtis and league ownership hope that it grows more and becomes a major market instead of a mix between urban and suburban lifestyle. Chris Matheson is one of the real estate moguls that have made it big in the city, and chose the Bison as the team name, after the Bison that migrate across the Great Plains every year. An unconventional red and brown scheme was chosen, as well as forgoing a traditional helmet logo for bison horns instead, like the LA Rams of the NFL. 





Minola Whales
Colnica’s cousin up the Pascoa River, Minola is a fairly traditional city for being one of the largest vacation destinations in the entire country. The city has embraced its fame as the country’s spring break location with the opening of many new tourist attractions, including the state-of-the-art Escalia’s Wonderland set to be completed by 1976, partially financed by Taft Broadcasting who mainly operates King’s Island back in the States. Morgan Cobb is one of the main investors in the amusement park, and looks to add a football team to the city to expand its variety. Cobb chose the Whales as the name, with a simple blue and white color scheme as a reference to the many whales that people see off the coast of the city. 




Montagrada Explorers
Resting at the base of Mount Grata, Montagrada features a mix of Portuguese and English culture like Arcanfall and Decontro City, but leans on its English side more often than not. Most outsiders liken it to a “Montreal but Portuguese”-type city, but it is much more than that. It is one of the most religiously active communities, the surrounding scenery is one of the best in the nation, and is one the most historically relevant places in the nation, with the city being a launching point for many explorers to journey inland and find what was in there. Owner Carlito Escarcega wanted to honor the third, and named his team the Explorers, with a simple red and white color scheme and a simple M on top of a compass. Although the team does look nice, it was given the cold shoulder by Curtis, who focused his efforts on making the other teams up to standard while allowing the Explorers to become an afterthought. 




And that's the offseason! Which team is your favorite? C&C Appreciated!

I am a very big fan of the Stars' look, but the simplicity of the Bison is also very nice. Great work!