2012 Minnesota Rec Footy

The Minnesota Freeze concluded their 2nd annual women's rec footy league on June 25, 2012.  The rec footy league is the 2nd phase of the Minnesota women's footy season. 

Shortly after the new year, Fitnesss through Footy meets to provide free workouts for women of all ages and athletic abilities that incorporate the skills of Australian football.  We are fortunate to have sponsors providing their facilities and trainers so that we can meet 2-3 times per month and escape the cold Minnesota weather.  Additionally we rent a dome so that we can utilize more footy skills in the workouts.

Once the snow melts we move outdoors and start the rec footy season.  We have a few weeks of preseason training and then play a 6 week season.  The players are combined into 4 teams and each week, pairs of teams combine for that match.

Week 1

The 2012 season kicked off a great start with the level of play greatly improved from where we left off last year. Highlight of the week was either: Cathy's atomic wedgie, Wrong Way Jess, or the return of Lisa and her "I will not be denied this goal".

Scrappy Do's/Cashed Up Bogans defeated More-by-Four/Drop Bears

Week 2

This week saw even further improvement with the new women starting to get into the flow of the game, and on one occasion had the coach close to uttering "champagne football". (close, but not yet). Highlight of the week was either: Smuder's "Liverpool handshake" on the point post, Wendy's directional psych, Dr Jones' creative obscenity, or Bri's rocket ball induced back flip.

More-by-More/Cashed Up Bogans defeated Scrappy Do's/Drop Bears.

Week 3

Week 3 was an entertaining contest with lots of improved kicking and some good teamwork being shown. The team of More by Four & Scrappy Do's led all game and cruised to a comfortable win over the Cashed-up-Bogans/Drop Bear Combo.

Week 4

Finally the Drop Bears got a win on the board with the help from the injury riddled, yet new ladder leaders The Scrappy Do's. Final scores:

Scrappy Do's & Drop Bears 7-11-53
Cashed-up-Bogans & More-by-Four. 5-4-34

With the Freedom camp being held the following weekend a few of the women made the most of their final chance to prepare for their tryout by stepping up the intensity. Yet, as we see both veteran and new players improve every week it's still great to see brand new players join us and get right into the game.

Week 5

Played in a warm and humid temps, with various lakes in the middle of the field the trying conditions didn't detract from the quality of the game at all. Even though the low scoring would indicated a scrappy game, with 28 women playing it was a fantastic sight and was probably the most entertaining and well played game of the year. The future of women's footy is alive and well in Minnesota.

Having Drea Casillas; the USAFL Women's Coordinator on the field must have brought out the best in the competition as the highlight reel was chocker-block full of great stuff this week. In close contention for "Highlight of the week" was Carries wrong way run ending with the perfect panic rugby pass, and Cathy's length of the field sprint without bouncing the ball, but the winner this week was clearly Jo's textbook "specky"! One that is a contender for 'Mark-of-the-year'!

The end result saw the competition even up in a big way with the "Four Bears" combo taking out a nail biter with a one point win over the "Scrappy Bogan" combo. This helped move More-by-Four into top spot followed by Scrappy Do's on percentage.

Final scores:
More-by-four & Drop Bears 3-3-21
Cashed-up-Bogans & Scrappy Do's. 3-2-20

Week 6

The last game of the season has the Scappy-Do's and More-by-four playing the Cashed-Up-Bogans and Drop Bears.  Cashed-Up Bogans and Drop Bears can force a 4 way tie on points with a victory and a loss would ensure More-by-four with the title.

The first half started with a dominant performance by the Cashed-Up Bogans/Drop Bears and it looked like they would run out easy victors.  Not going down lightly, Scrappy Do's captain Marie LaVictoire made key adjustments and they started scoring more frequently in the 2nd half.  It wasn't enough to get over the line with the Cashed Up Bogans/Drop Bears holding on for the win.

Final Results

For the 2nd year in a row, all 4 teams were tied on points with 3 wins and 3 losses and the league champion being decided by percentage.  Thanks to the 2nd half mini-comeback in the last game, More-by-four squeaked past Cashed Up Bogans to claim the championship cup!