Season Recap

A great regular season has come to an end and this will recap all of the great stories and terrific season it has truly been as we get ready to take on the playoffs and look for our first CPL title!

12-4...Again!!

Its been a tremendous regular season as we performed really well, broke ALOT of records and continued to perform close to the top of our game. We had an impressive win over Drinkin', defeated the season 4 AAA #2 Champs the JOBC, and walked away with our second straight 12-4 record (tied for club best) with a total combined regular season CPL record of 24-8 and our second straight #4 seed and 5th consecutive playoff spot. The 4 losses this year were against Thunder Bay, North Delta, Yukon (again) and a tough 4th quarter come from behind loss to the Moose Jaw Fighting Hobos. The playoffs are going to be tough this year and here's hoping for a championship ring, finally!

Defense Scores?!

Normally its the offense putting the points on the board but besides stopping the opposition this year, the defense put up a ton of points on the board including a conference high 14 interceptions returned for touchdowns and 7 fumbles returned for touchdowns. Add in the 13 punt returns for touchdowns and our offense hardly had to score. Newcomer Joe Gott led the way with 4 interceptions returned for touchdowns, a new club record.

The defense did its part containing other teams as well with an average of only 217.7 yards passing allowed with 17 touchdowns, an average of 38 yards rushing with only 6 touchdowns, and an enormous amount of turnovers. 34 interceptions and 26 forced fumbles as well as 172 hurries and 99 sacks (both new records) stroke fear in opposing teams everywhere.

Records Fall

It was a season that kept the record keepers busy every game as many single game and individual records got broken throughout the season but in the end, no record was safe as many many season records got smashed. Notable records including scoring (151 touchdowns), passing yards and touchdowns, rushing yards and touchdowns, defensive touchdowns, hurries and sacks and special teams records. It was a very bright year for new records and it may be a while before we see any of these records coming close to being broken.

Khari the Ferrari

Many people were concerned at the start of this season about the loss of Ryan Betesta and the new additions to the receiving corps in Jupp Zupp, Wayne Chrebet and T Bone but the critics were silenced very early as Khari took hold of this offense by the horns and delivered an offensive explosion. For the 4th straight time, Khari has broken his single season passing yards record (by almost 900 yards with 5,716 yards) and passing touchdowns record (by 24 with 61 touchdowns). His QB Rating has improved dramatically to 115 and he just narrowly missed breaking his completion percentage record. This also allowed him to capture 3rd place in the league for passing yards and 2nd place for passing touchdowns for the 2nd consecutive year. While being sacked 39 times, a career high, Khari still managed to throw only 11 interceptions, his lowest since season 1 when he threw 8. The wide receivers are the main reason for this great performance as both Jupp Zupp and Wayne Chrebet broke the 1,000 yard mark with a combined 30 TDs and TE Dirk Illicious narrowly made the 1,000 mark (973) with 10 touchdowns. James Vita (7) and Landon Swifty (5) each posted a career high number of touchdowns as well.

New Kids on the Block

The Ballers welcomed many new players this season and each of them brought their A+ game to the table and had terrific seasons all around.

- As already mentioned, Jupp Zupp and Wayne Chrebet each had terrific receiving seasons with Jupp Zupp breaking Ryan Betesta's receiving yards and touchdowns records with 1,533 yards and 16 touchdowns. Wayne Chrebet was slightly behind with 1324.5 yards and 14 touchdowns.

- Karl Ayotte was a phenom on the ground breaking the rushing yards record with 1,737 yards rushing and 24 touchdowns.

- Guard Topher Scott helped paved the way on the offense line with 48 blocks and rarely (if any) sacks given up.

- TE T Bone alslo had a solid performance with 310.5 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns and he also picked up a fumble and took it for the score in the Barrie Baycats game.

- SS Edward Bellamy had a fine first season with 42 tackles, 2 interceptions (1 for a touchdown) and 1 fumble recovery.

- Kicker Mario Boomer rose to the occassion in the wake of the loss of Troy Westwood. Boomer hit 30 of 36 field goals but the majority of his work was done kicking extra points as he nailed 144 of 151 for a new Ballers record.

- The CBs also shined as well with Jose Foster having 1 interception returned for a touchdown, 4 hurries, 2 sacks, 10 PDs and a fumble recovery. Joe Gott broke the single season record for defensive touchdowns with 4 interceptions returned for a touchdown. Joe had two more interceptions and also 33 PD's and was a huge shutdown corner, rarely giving up passes. Rhys Clennon tied the single season interception record with 10 (with 2 going for the score) as well as adding 36 PD's into the mix.

The newcomers to the Ballers played a tremendous role in this very successful regular season.

Ground Attack

This was the most dominating year on the ground rushing for the Ballers in franchise history and it all started with the acquisition of RB Karl Ayotte. Jesse Lumsden watched his single season rushing yards record get broken not only once, but twice as him and Ayotte both broke it, combining for over 3,000 yards rushing. Ayotte finished the season in the lead with 1,737 yards. Lumsden also saw his rushing touchdowns record get broken but that was by himself who snatched up 27 touchdowns on the ground (plus 4 in the air) while Ayotte had 24 rushing touchdowns. What a year to run the football!

From J to Z

No one would have expected Ryan Betesta's records for receiving yards and touchdowns to get broken so quickly and especially not by a 1st year Baller but that's what happened. Jupp Zupp was the last addition of the Ballers wide receiving year but he proved to make an impact right away and was a favorite target for Khari Jones. Jupp Zupp caught the ball 102 times for 1,533 yards and 16 touchdowns, both new Ballers records. Jupp Zupp was an integral part in leading this offensive receiving team and was a gamebreaker on a number of occassions.

I'm McLovin' It!!

Season 4 was the year of Derek Pacheco but this season was all Speed McLovin' as he returned to form leading the team (and breaking single season records) in tackles, hurries, sacks and forced fumbles. This season there was no defensive player that played a bigger impact than Speed McLovin'. McLovin' finished the season with 103 tackles, 38 sacks, 47 hurries, 5 forced fumbles and a safety!

Ballers Beat Drinkin'

For the first time in the storied rivalry of these two teams, going all the way back to the AA days, the Ballers finally beat Drinkin' in week 10 of the regular season. After losing close contests in previous years including a 17-16 loss in the season 1 playoffs and a 35-31 loss in the 2nd round of the last years playoffs, the Ballers were destined to win this one. The Ballers took an early 13-7 lead into the locker room at the half but two quick scores in the 3rd put the Hellraisers up 20-13 but a Beast Baily interception returned for a touchdown would tie the game up going into the fourth. The two teams would battle for position and with 1:44 left on the clock, Mario Boomer kicked a 48 yard field goal that proved to be decisive as the Ballers beat the Hellraisers.

Shoes Filled

Many people were concerned about the arrival of Mario Boomer, formerly of the Nigerian Nightmares. How would he do compared to former kicker Troy Westwood? Could he do just as well? Westwood holds most of the Ballers kicking records and Mario Boomer did a mighty fine job as his replacement and broke the single season extra points records as the Ballers scored 151 touchdowns and Boomer hit 144 of their extra points. Boomer also hit 30 of 36 field goals and held his own as a member of the Ballers organization.

1 Quarter from Beating Moose Jaw

It was 1 quarter away from being the biggest upset of the year but once again, it wasn't meant to be. The Ballers would take the early lead into the with a 13-3 lead at the half. The Ballers would add a field goal and a touchdown off a Joe Gott interception while the Fightin' Hobos would only add a field goal and it was a 23-6 lead at the end of the third. The Hobos would rally in the 4th with a ferocious defense attack scoring a field goal and 4 touchdowns, 2 of which came in the final two minutes and one off a Khari Jones interception to take a 33-26 victory and edge out the Ballers in the darkest day of the season for the Ballers.

Home for the Playoffs

For the 3rd straight season, the Ballers will get a chance to play host to a home playoff game in the first round. Ironically, the Ballers are also undefeated at home in the first round of the playoffs winning against North Delta last season (also ironically, they beat North Delta earlier in the season such as the same as their opponent today, the JOBC). Unfortunately for the Ballers, it is unlikely that they will see anymore home games in the playoffs since they are the #4 seed and it would take some miracles for the Baller fans to see them at home again but you never know.