This year's tournament introduced flag football to the Indopaksports theme for the weekend. The highlight teams were the Chicago Bonsai Bandits and Maryland Lights Out. The Texas teams were all adjusting to the new IPF blocking rules and so it was expected that the finals will see two rivals in MD lights Outs and the dominating Chicago Bonsai Bandits in the finals. Close, but not exactly.
Fort Worth All-Stars- Gentlemen whose House is it? Yes, the home team whose students play on that field shocked the IPF world by making two defensive plays that turned the entire Championship game around. Both turnovers resulted in touchdowns and that is all it took for the All-Stars to win their first tournament. This team almost did not make the tournament as they registered late but when Dallas Blitz pulled out of the tournament, Whahaj and the All-Stars jumped at the opportunity and stole the show. Another group of classy guys who brought passion and fun back into Indopak
Chicago Bonsai Bandits- As advertised they bullied every team they played until they got into the playoffs where Blaze, then Playmakers and Finally All-Stars stood up to the challenge. The Bandits have a strong pass rush, great offense and defense and are well coached. However, they made two mistakes at crucial parts of the field that kept them from winning another championship. As I stated during the awards ceremony, this is one of the classiest teams who play hard but are gracious winners and losers which I can't say about many teams in all of Indopaksports.
Dallas Good Show- Someone calls them the Ravens of IPF. Losing their QB (Joshi Joseph) to an ankle injury did not help an already struggling offense. If good Show can make some offensive plays, they will be as good as any of the others in IPF.
Dallas Playmakers- Their semi final game with Chicago came down to one play from the 14 yard line, with 2 seconds left and a chance to not only go for the tie, but with the unusual IPF 3 point conversion rule, an opportunity to win. They matched Chicago play for play but in the end the experience of the bandits paid off. Playing basketball and football for an older team is not as easy as it sounds and the 4 Dallas bandits players who did play represented themselves well.
Maryland Lights Out- Did not win a game in the tournament, but had the biggest offensive line anchored by the DC coordinator himself Irfan Jamil. Maryland's influence on the tournament is based on their presence at the tournament and the introduction of IPF to Texas.
Dallas Blaze- These scrappy kids who walk out of the basketball court and on to the football field, came out swinging as they held their own early against Chicago in the playoffs. Blaze eventually surrendered to the powerful Chicago team but have nothing to be ashamed of.
FC-Dallas- Opening round upset of Playmakers gave them hope but in the playoffs, they got the worst matchup ever with Good Show and their lock down defense. FCD will get better as they get older and they can handle the physical play of IPF.
Shake N Bake- Yacky it Yack and a lot of fluff but not much after that. They are good kids but they need to work on their professionalism and demeanor when playing in National tournaments. They have a great fan base and bring the entire family out which I love, but winning more than 1 game will make it easier to back up the talk. From an IPF perspective, teams like these bring out the best in everyone. Fun team that needs to show they can cash the checks their mouth is writing.
Rowlett Raiders- Poor guys scored only 2 TD's the tournament. They couldn't adjust to the power teams and couldn't keep up with the young fast teams. Rowlett needs to regroup and see how they can do next year.
Overall you can't beat lighted fields with scoreboards and playing football under the lights. This was our first year and with help of people like Irfan and Guatom we have something that can be built upon. The bracket games were an adjustment period for many of the teams and a tune up for the IPF teams. However, when they playoffs started, the gap between the elite and the others closed and we some exciting, passionate, football. We will need to tweak some of the rules and format, but in general for a first year tournament, we did better than expected.
