In the championship bracket of the WSFL playoffs, Arizona Western downed Glendale, 20-7, and Scottsdale eased past Snow, 43-42. AWC and Scottsdale will face off for the WSFL title on Saturday in the Ensphere Dome in Eager, Arizona. Glendale and Snow will play for third and fourth place immediately before. In the consolation bracket, Pima upset Eastern Arizona, 21-20, and Mesa defeated New Mexico Military, 31-7. Pima will play at Mesa Saturday for fifth and sixth while Eastern Arizona hosts NMMI for seventh and eighth. The following players have been chosen as the WSFL Players of the Week and have been submitted to the NJCAA for consideration as National Players of the Week.
The WSFL Players of the Week for Week 11 of the season are:
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Sophomore quarterback Michael Sanders has had an outstanding season, but produced a season high 582 passing yards along with five touchdowns when the Artichokes needed him most in Scottsdale’s 43-42 comeback win over Snow. Facing a fourth and four at his own 16-yard line, and his team down by six with under three minutes to play, the 6’2”, 207-pound QB out of Pinnacle High School in Phoenix changed the play at the line to throw a check down route to his running back out of the backfield who raced 84 yards for Sanders’ longest completion of the season and send Scottsdale to the WSFL championship game. He completed 25 of 43 passes in the game.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Defensive end Chuks Amaechi is the fourth different Matador to win WSFL Defensive Player of the Week honors this season. The 6’3”, 225-pound sophomore from Avondale, Ariz., was in on 11 tackles, including two sacks for nine yards lost, and forced a fumble in Arizona Western’s 20-7 win over Glendale. Amaechi, who leads the Matadors with six sacks, and his teammates will take the WSFL’s stingiest defense (266.5 yards allowed per game) to face the league’s most prolific offense (Scottsdale’s 491.4 yards per game) in what will surely be a classic matchup for the title.
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Snow safety Eric Takenaka was the WSFL and National Defensive Player of the Week in Week 3, and the 5’10” and 205-pounder from West High School in Salt Lake City earns league honors this week for his Special Teams play. Takenaka returned five kickoffs for 211 yards (17, 40, 91, 30 and 43 yards for an average of 44.2 yards per return) to repeatedly give the Badger offense good field position in their 43-42 shootout loss at Scottsdale. On defense, Takenaka recorded seven tackles on Saturday, and is tied for the national lead in interceptions with eight.
