football strategy  

Updated 11/30/2009

 2009 WBC Report  

2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Bert Schoose, IL

2009 Champion

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Event History
1991    Mike Fitzgerald      22
1992    Bill Cleary      30
1993    Paul O'Neil      30
1994    Gordon Rodgers      42
1995    David Terry      36
1996    Bruce Reiff      30
1997    Paul O'Neil      32
1998    Paul O'Neil      24
1999    Bruce Reiff     27
2000    Bruce Reiff     28
2001    Bruce Reiff     25
2002    Bill Cleary     27
2003    Bruce Reiff     32
2004     Kevin Keller     31
2005    Bruce Reiff     28
2006    Ken Whitesell     32
2007     Bruce Reiff     35
2008     Bruce Reiff     23
2009     Bert Schoose     33
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bruce Reiff        OH    09    219
  2.  Bill Cleary        MD    09     99
  3.  Ken Whitesell      MD    06     63
  4.  Bert Schoose       IL    09     44
  5.  Kevin Keller       MD    09     39
  6.  Paul O'Neil        MD    06     33
  7.  Ray Stakenas II    CA    05     30
  8.  Marvin Birnbaum    NY    07     24
  9.  David Rynkowski    NY    06     24
 10.  Arthur Davis       MI    04     21
 11.  Dan Dolan Jr       NJ    08     18
 12.  Jason Levine       NY    04     18
 13.  Stan Buck          MD    01     18
 14.  Joe Powell         VA    07     12
 15.  Stuart Tucker      MD    04     12
 16.  Sumner Clarren     MD    00     12
 17.  Jim Vroom          PA    01     10
 18.  Dave Denton        NY    07      9
 19.  Keith Schoose      CA    03      9
 20.  David Anderson     PA    00      9
 21.  Erik Arneson       PA    09      8
 22.  Ray Stakenas       MI    08      8
 23.  Gordon Rodgers     PA    00      8
 24.  Michael Schoose    IL    09      6
 25.  Tom Shaw           MD    00      6
 26.  Alan Moon          MA    99      6
 27.  Josh Cooper        MD    08      4
 28.  Debbie Bell        MD    03      3
 29.  Pitt Crandlemire   MA    01      3
 30.  Jeremy Billones    VA    00      3
 31.  Harry Flawd        PA    99      2

2009 Laurelists                                           Repeating Laurelists:

Bill Cleary, PA
2nd

Erik Arneson, PA
3rd

Kevin Keller, MD
4th

Michael Schoose, IL
5th

Bruce Reiff, OH
6th


Past Winners

Mike Fitzgerald, CT
1991

Bill Cleary, MD
1992, 2002

Paul O'Neil, MD
1993, 1997-1998

Gordon Rodgers, PA
1994

Dave Terry, MD
1995

Bruce Reiff, OH
96, 99-01, 03, 05, 07-08

Kevin Keller, MD
2004

Ken Whitesell, PA
2006

Bert Schoose, IL
2009


Jason Levine battles Joe Powell in the foreground while Bert Schoose tackles Ken Whitesell's puntless wonders in the background. The old AH Football League hasn't fared very well lately.

Joshua Goittesman, a refuge from the old AH Football League, checks out the home for retired NFL linemen as the "grudge match" comes to its terrible end. Woe is me.

Grudge Match ... Much Ado About Nothing

On Wednesday evening 26 contenders, more than the entire field from 2008, gathered to test their mettle. The much anticipated first round "matched pair" grudge match between perennial champion Bruce Reiff and yesteryear's anti-hero resulted in the CD's defeat 20-17, and immeasurable bragging rights for the Buck Eyes booster. Bruce will tell you that Don scored late and the game wasn't really that close, while Don wailed that the only difference was that "lucky" Bruce made his close field goal while Don missed his. And with that the gauntlet was tossed for Grudge Match II. The distracted Reiff, sated by his latest triumph, didn't have long to savor his win and soon succumbed to the steady play of Bill Cleary.

By the end of the heat Kevin Keller and Bill Cleary, a pair of former champions, faced off for a spot in the Final. Bill was the first to put points on the board completing a Look-In for nine yards with four minutes left in the first. Neither player was able to find paydirt and had to settle for field goals as the half closed with Bill ahead 10 to 3. On Bill's first possession of the second half he went the distance and scored again with another Look In pass. Kevin finally broke the goal line with a Look In pass of his own to open the fourth quarter and with four minutes left in the game, Kevin once again found the endzone to tie the score at 17. However, the last possession was Bill's and he converted a FG for the 20-17 win.

The second heat drew a much smaller field of 12 participants and a correspondingly shorter path to the Final, but the battles were no less intense. The last two standing were Erik Arneson and Bert Schoose. The first quarter was a defensive struggle. In the second, Bert went ahead on a 2 yard End Run with 6:15 left in the half. Erik avoided being shut out for the half only by connecting on a 45 yard field goal with a minute left in the half, bringing the score to 7- 3.Bert drove the distance of the field to open the second half and scored with a 10 yard pass for a 14-3 lead that held until Erik managed his first and only touchdown on a 6 yard run midway through the final stanza, to cut the lead to 14 - 10. But Bert wasn't finished and with 3 minutes left iscored his third touchdown to seal the game and advance to the Final.

The Final pitted two veteran ball-control coaches. After trading punts, Bill capitalized on his superior field position to hit a Stop & Go to the 5, from where he scored to end the quarter up 7-0. Bert's field position problems were not over. A penalty on the kickoff pinned him back to his own 5 yard line. Another exchange of punts followed but this time Bert got the best of it when Bill picked the wrong time to be daring and was dropped for a safety on a fake punt. Bert drove down the field with the ensuing free kick and scored a touchdown on an end run with 6:15 left in the half. Bill was immediately intercepted on a 9G and the Down and In pass once again put Bert in the red zone - scoring on a Button Hook pass to go up 16 to 7 as the half ended.

Bill was having a tough day with the Option pass and threw another 9G interception on his first possession of the second half. Bert, however, was unable to capitalize on the turnover and Bill once again found himself in possession with a little under six minutes left in the quarter. A Stop and Go pass and two end runs moved Bill quickly down field into scoring position, but in the end Bill had to settle for a field goal. As the fourth opened, Bert drove the field and dove for the score with QB Keep to extend his lead to 23 - 10. The kickoff found Bill starting on his own 10. Undaunted, he moved quickly using the Down and Out pass and several End Runs for big gains. A sack of 15 yards seemingly crushed his hopes, but on fourth and long he connected with a Down and In pass to stay alive. The end zone remained beyond his reach though and he had to settle for yet another field goal with 7 minutes left. Bill's defense dug in and managed to get him the ball on his own 45 with five minutes to go. Finally hitting the Option coupled with the Stop and Go pass, Bill found himself on the 10, but he could not crack Bert's tough goal line defense and his last field goal attempt sailed wide, sealing his fate.

Bert Schoose polishes off Bruce's caddy ...

... before toppling two-time champ Cleary for the title.
 GM      Nathaniel Hoam  [6th Year]   NA
    mythoturge@safe-t.net   NA

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