This was a game against a Run N Gun squad that Farley Printing has gone 1-2 against. On top of that it was a chance for the franchise finish with the first winning record since their legendary season of Fall 2000.

L-Train was injured so JoKer returned to the starting rusher position for the first time in two seasons. Delli was back and The Big Angry was back to halfback. Actually the Big Angry was in bed with his girlfriend but he would join the game shortly into the first quarter. And the Dutchman - with two straight interception fee games under his belt - was ready to take on Goose, The Run N Gun rusher who has haunted him in the past. The stage was set.

Anyone who reads these things knows how FPC likes to start games. Let's just skip the semantics....RNG 12 - FPC 0.

With a few minutes remaining in the half The Dutchman took control. FPC marched up the field with it's patented smash mouth flag football style picking up 3-6 yards a play. It ended with The Dutchman giving us one of his bow leggled wobbling QB scrambles for a TD.

FPC held defensively after a sack by JoKer and then an interception by The Dutchman that was oh so close to being returned for a TD. Nevertheless...

Halftime: FPC 7 - Run N Gun 12.

The Dutchman doesn't have the zip he used to. But he's getting a little more crafty. And when his "Bigguns for Dutchy" fan club shows up in the Krispy Kreme bus, he seems to turn it on. When FPC took the field to start the 2nd half - after opting out of taking the customary 5 minute break because Angry had a tee-time - The Dutchman was getting fired up. First he found Feaster on a slant. Then Delli over the middle for what was one of 5 catches on the day for the erstwhile center. Angry to the outside. Kerr over the middle. With machine-like precision, he guided the team down the field, all to the glee of the Bigguns. And when he dropped back under pressure and fired a ball into traffic that somehow found Mitts in the back of the endzone, it was a fitting end to great drive. Except for one thing - Mitts dropped it. He freaking dropped it. You have to hand it to the kid. It's tough to catch with pig knuckles for fingers. But as the Dutchman says, "You've got to make plays. Sometimes you've got to run a little faster or jump a little higher, but you've got to make plays!" And Mitts didn't make a play. So the Dutchman put the team on his shoulders for one more play and bumbled, stumbled and defied the laws of physics one more time to get into the endzone for his second rushing TD of the game. FPC 14 - RNG 12

After playing some solid D, FPC got caught in a man to man D and Run N Gun audibled into a play with crossing patterns which led to a score. After converting the 2 point conversion, they took the lead 20-14.

FPC took the ball on their own 20 with one quarter to go. They drove to about the RNG 40 but ran out of steam. When Feaster was pulled down on a obvious pass interference play on 3rd and 20 things began to unravel. FPC would turn the ball over on downs on the next play, but not before The Dutchman announce to Run G Gun safety who pulled down Feaster and anyone within 100 yards "He beat you! You know! He knows it! And everyone here knows it!" With only minutes to go, all Run N Gun would need was a first down.

Learning from past mistakes FPC showed a man defense causing Run N Gun to audible. When FPC dropped into zone, the RNG QB looked like Feaster taking a calculus test. Without anyone open he was forced to scramble for a short gain. On the next play from scrimmage, Feaster, Mitts and Brodie faked an audible for the 76th time 4 games. For reasons unbeknownst to those three the RNG QB got rattled and called an audible. A receiver jumped early and RNG was called for a false start. After a failed running play, Brodie batted the 4th down pass to the ground and FPC took over with 7 plays left.

An option to the right brought nothing. But on the second play from scrimmage Brodie threw a screen to Mitts. MPJIII was the primary receiver and he was open on the out. But Geo was open deep. Real open. But real deep. More importantly he was too open to ignore, much to the dismay of everyone on the field. The only question was whether Mitts had the arm strength to get it there. The game went into slow motion as Mitts cocked his arm back...

MPJIII called frantically for the ball.
Delli screamed "Noooooooooo" in the slow motion kind of way.
JoKer was busy running a deep pattern somewhat oblivious
Feaster stopped frozen with fear.
And Geo, startled that Mitt's was going to throw, began cutting back to his short armed friend

Meanwhile The Dutchman stared on....helpless...terrified...and confused.

Mitts let it fly. The safety was beaten, the only question was whether Mitts' knuckleball had the juice to get there. Geo doubled back, made the catch and then juked two defenders to get into the endzone and tie the game. FPC 20 - RNG 20. The Bigguns were going crazy.

The only play more shocking was when Mitts' extra point was blocked. Hero to goat in 3.7 seconds. If the Big Angry hadn't left early to play golf, he would have had a seizure.

At that point, FPC had Run N Gun on the defensive. After stopping their hail mary attempt they went into OT. With a mixture of fake audibles, great rushing from JoKer and good coverage, RNG was unable to score on four attempts.

On the second play from scrimmage The Dutchman checked down and found Mitts in the flat. At this point Delli had been eating up the middle of the field all game. When he went outside, the Run N Gun safety dropped to double him leaving JoKer wide open in the endzone. Much to the bewilderment of everyone on the field, Mitts cocked back and threw again. It was an ugly throw. Actually, it was a horrific throw. But you don't get extra points for pretty TDs and when JoKer made the winning catch it counted just the same as one of the cute little spirals the Dutchman throws.

Farley Printing Company Football Giants 26 - Run N Gun 20 OT.

You really had to see it to believe it.