It’s all fallen apart for my Royals....

Figures Ontario would be a problem with that O-Line.

This has been a really weird season..I'm not sure if Boston has it in them to go all the way.

Oh man, I haven't been able to keep up with this as much as I like, but oh my god we can make the post season. We finally beat Montreal too! C'mon Tigers, bring her home, Worcester ain't no match for us!

1954 Week 10

Worcester Athletics - 28, Ontario Tigers - 21 - Worcester Stadium - September 18, 1954 - 2 PM ET - CBS
The Athletics and Tigers were both hoping to make their first-ever playoff appearance and they would be playing to decide who has a chance to go on. Athletics would be the first to strike with a field goal, but the lead would not last long with the Tigers getting a touchdown a couple of drives later. QB Duane Logan would find WR Marqués Gardner for the score. The score would remain 3-7 into the second. Worcester would breakthrough next after LB Scotty Williams caused RB Laurent Brazeau to fumble setting up the WR Clyde McIntosh touchdown. Ontario would look to get back on their next possession, but would not be able to, falling behind 10-7 at halftime. In the third, the Athletics would get another huge turnover with S Shawn Jensen picking Logan off which would lead to a touchdown with WR Christian Venegas breaking up the middle for a 39-yard touchdown. The Tigers were getting frustrated, they would get back to the endzone on their next drive with Brazeau to cut the lead to 3. Worcester would get a field goal on their next drive making it 20-14. Duane Logan would lead the Tigers down the field with 6 minutes to go in the game. He would find WR Wilbert Benjamin in the endzone for the score and they would take the lead 20-21. They would try everything to stall the Athletics. They would be successful until the Athletics pulled a trick play that caught the Tigers off guard and left Venegas to break up the field again. The receiver would catch the pass and take it into the endzone to give Worcester the lead. The 2-point attempt made it 28-21. Without much time the Tigers tried to air it out, but they wouldn’t be successful and the Athletics would hold on for the win.  

Boston Independents - 34, Long Island Hawks - 3 - Richardson Stadium - September 18, 1954 - 2 PM ET
With fates of both teams already decided the Independents went with QB Brian Meadows and many more youngsters in the season finale. Meadows would play quite well against the Hawks. He would lead Boston to a pair of touchdowns in the first half. The first would be a score with RB Rahil Boone and then the next would be to WR Ellis Lindholm. The Hawks had nothing going for them. QB Lee Rogers continued to struggle and would throw 2 interceptions in the first half to S Victor Webb and DB Clinton Benton. Boston would add a field goal before the half. Meadows would keep it up in the second half with another touchdown to Lindholm and then a 3rd to WR Lloyd Marshall. Long Island had decided to give second-year RB Pierre LeStrange an opportunity, he would play alright but was not getting the ball moving for the team. Rogers would eventually get Long Island on the board with a long drive ending in a field goal but Boston would easily hold on for a dominant win. 

Providence Gold Stars - 10, Montreal Rouge - 14 - New Providence Stadium - September 18, 1954 - CBS
The Rouge needed a win over the Gold Stars in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. Their defense would get be a factor early on causing a lot of pressure on the Gold Stars rookie QB Connor O’Rourke making his first start. He would eventually throw an interception to LB Rusty McVee. Montreal would take over and score a touchdown with RB Élisée Marchal. The Rouge defense would keep up the pressure and they would keep the game at 0-7 right up to halftime. Montreal would get another touchdown out of the break with Marchal again and would be up 0-14. O’Rourke would show some flashes of his talent with a big play to WR Peter Brooks and which would set up his first career passing touchdown to WR John Osborn. That was all for O’Rourke as they would put Bruce Woodard back in for the 4th being what might be his final game in Providence. The Rouge would keep up the pressure and kept Providence at bay for most of the game. Rookie, RB Corey King was not getting anything going for the Gold Stars as Montreal was controlling the middle of the field. Providence would get a late field goal on Woodard’s final drive, but that was all as the Rouge sneak into the playoffs with Worcester beating Ontario.  

Ottawa Royals - 22, Buffalo Blue Wings - 27 - Lansdowne Park - September 18, 1954 - CBC
The final game of the season would have the Royals and Blue Wings face off for home-field advantage in the Semi-Finals. Ottawa would get an early opportunity to score. Matieau would look to find WR Willard Brooks but the receiver would miss the ball and would leave the game with a minor injury after being tackled by DB Ryan Landry. They would settle for a field goal to make it 3-0. Buffalo would tie it back up with a field goal not long after. They would then take the lead with RB Arthur Conner breaking through the Royals line for a score. Down, 3-10 Jean Matieau would get the Royals rolling down the field and would tie up the game just before the break on a touchdown to WR Allen Atkins. Out of the break, Buffalo would score a field goal to make the score 10-13, before Ottawa would cough up the football. RB Alexei Volkov would lose it to DL Sean Bowen and the Blue Wings would recover. Medina would find WR Joseph Barry for the touchdown and the 10-point lead. Ottawa would not go away easily with their next drive. They would get back to the endzone with WR Eugene Burns, but K Lafayette would miss the extra point and would leave the game at 16-20. Buffalo would score next with a touchdown to RB Arthur Conner once again and would lead by 11. With Buffalo up by 2 scores and time winding down, Ottawa would get a little conservative. RB’s Alexei Volkov and Ellis Love would carry for several plays. The Royals were more focused on the game next week at this point and didn’t want to risk injury. But then WR Allen Atkins would break past the Buffalo defense and Matieau would hit the veteran for the touchdown that would give Ottawa some hope. The 2-point try would be no good on an excellent stop from DB Dylan Alston. Buffalo would hold on from there to capture the North division title for the first time.  

Players of the Week

OFF: WR Christian Venegas WOR - 2 Receiving Touchdowns, 134 Receiving Yards 

DEF: LB Rusty McVee MTL - 1 Interception, 11 Tackles, 1 Knockdown 

Injury Report
OL Jose Whitney BUF - Season
WR Clifford Church BUF - Day-to-Day
S Carl Dawson LI - Long-Term
DB Jontray Cox MTL - Season
WR Willard Brooks OTT - Day-to-Day
DL Bayden Mills WOR - Season 

Standings
NORTH
Buffalo 7-2-1 -y
Ottawa 6-4 -x
Montreal 6-4 -x
Ontario 5-5

NEW ENGLAND
Boston 6-3-1 -y
Worcester 5-5
Providence 4-6
Long Island 0-10

Power Rankings
1 - Buffalo -
2 - Montreal +3
3 - Worcester +1
4 - Ottawa -1
5 - Ontario -3
6 - Boston -
7 - Providence - 
8 - Long Island - 

Playoff Preview
Buffalo Blue Wings VS. Ottawa Royals - Buffalo Civic Stadium - September 25, 1954 - 6 PM ET - CBC/CBS
Previous Meetings: W8 BUF 26-21 OTT, W10 OTT 22-27 BUF
Buffalo was able to top the Royals in both meetings this season. They come into the playoffs at the top of the power rankings, after winning their final 4 games of the season and take that momentum into a home game against the Royals. Ottawa has all the pressure on them in this game, after starting 4-0 the team went 2-4 in the back half of the season and was unable to hold their top spot of the division. They are the only team that has made the playoffs and has been yet to win a game. With home field in the championship available, it would be the prime time for the Royals to win. Expect the Royals to try to light up the Buffalo secondary and stay away from Bowen and the D-Line, they will have to do their best to contain Medina in the backfield as well. Buffalo on the other hand will have to just get Medina going on offense to really challenge the Royals and get pressure on Matieau. 

Boston Independents VS. Montreal Rouge - Richardson Stadium - September 26, 1954 - 6 PM ET - CBS
Previous Meetings: W7 MTL 23-15 BOS
Both Montreal and Boston come into the playoffs as the two weaker teams. Boston has been solid all season but has struggled against the North Division which is a cause for concern with the 3 other playoff teams being from the North. QB Larry Larson might be playing his final football game and so the team will be playing for him. Montreal on the other hand is looking to be the 2nd team to repeat and will have to get past their inter-divisional rivals. Boston will win this game if they can keep control of the field. If their defense can manage Marchal in the backfield and have their offense going at a steady pace they can get back to the McCallister. Montreal on the other hand will have to just get Boston off their game. If their defense can cause some havoc and Marchal can get the offense moving Montreal will have another shot at a title.  

Who's taking home the McCallister this time around?

Last edited by Wallflower (6/19/2020 6:13 pm)