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Tyndall crowns new champions

  • Published
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Tyndall Air Force Base intramural football double-elimination playoffs began Tuesday with four teams, but ended Thursday with one team crowned "Base Champions."

The four teams finishing the regular season with best records made it to the postseason; 325th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (10-1), 325th Maintenance Squadron (10-1), 325th Medical Group (8-3) and 325th Communication Squadron (7-4).

After losing their first game to the 325th Air Control Squadron 10-7, dating back to Aug. 28, AMXS has not lost since. They continued their winning streak straight into the play-offs, beating CS, 22-3 in the first round.

The Medical Group, last year's base champions, proved not to be a fluke as they beat MXS, 28-14, advancing to the next round.

"The other teams didn't take us serious last season, and they made the same mistake this year," said Tech. Sgt. Mark Estorga, 325th Medical Group coach. "Only three players have returned from last year's championship team because of deployments and permanent change of stations."

With one loss under their belt in the playoffs, CS squared off against MXS; with the losing team being eliminated from the playoffs. In one of the closer games this postseason, CS prevailed beating MXS, 21-19.

In the second round of the winner's bracket, top-ranked AMXS faced MDG Wednesday night. During the regular season, AMXS beat MDG 20-17. It was a different story Wednesday as the MDG advanced to the championship game winning 21-14.

"Mostly, a lack of communication led to our loss to the Medical Group," said Staff Sgt. Tyron Allen, 325th AMXS coach. "We have the tools to win."

Immediately after their game with MDG, AMXS had to play CS in the loser's bracket, with the winner advancing to the championship game to play MDG. CS was not able to pull off a victory and lost by two scores, 35-21.

MDG and AMXS clashed once again Thursday night in the base championship game. For MDG to become back-to-back champions, they only had to win one game; for AMXS to take the title, they had to beat MDG twice.

AMXS was able to force a game two as they were able to bounce back from their first lost to MDG. In the first championship game, both offenses were shaky, but AMXS pulled off the victory, 20-7.

In the decisive game two, both teams put everything on the line. In the regular season, teams may have played one or two games a week, but in the playoffs each team has played at least three games in three days.

Game two proved to be a defensive struggle. At the end of the first half, the game was close with a score of 3-3. But the second half was a different story. AMXS's offense sparked, scoring 27 unanswered points ultimately leading to the win.

"Unfortunately the Medical Group is much smaller than AMXS," said Estorga. "We had only three players on our bench and we just ran out of gas."

Against overwhelming odds, the maintainers and crew chiefs were able to send the doctors and nurses back to the hospital as runner-ups.