Playoffs Round 1 Preview: The Path is set

Eugene,Oregon-The Road to the Capital for the South Lane Buzzards starts in the Evergreen State of Washington. After an up-and-down regular season, the Buzzards head into the postseason with a 5-4 overall record (4-4 in GDFL play) and face off against a familiar foe in the Grit City Knights  (5-3). This will be the third time that the Buzzards have played the Knights in their 2023 campaign, with the Knights taking the season opener 25-22 and the Buzzards routing the Knights in their second meeting 41-8. With a roster decimated with injury, which Buzzard squad will show up Saturday night in Spanaway, Washington? 

Offensively, the Dirty Birds must protect the football and limit pre-snap penalties. If they can emulate their most recent performance versus the Knights and establish a strong run game early, it will assist their speedy receivers to get behind the secondary for huge gains. Playing a balanced game and taking advantage of opportunities presented, the Buzzards will be primed to put points on the board.

The Dirty Bird defense will rely on solid performances from their front seven to stop one of the GDFL’s most impressive Running Backs in Stefan “Juice” Branham. Week in and week out, Defensive End Nicholas Steele has been virtually unblockable, with 30 total tackles and 10 sacks. All in concert with Josh Cline’s surge up the middle, he also commands multiple blockers all season, making blocking schemes virtually impossible for opposing teams. At the second level, Linebackers Marco Zamora (34 tackles) and Jason Carter-Varay (36 tackles) have often been able to come free, unblocked on the way to finishing #1 and #2 on the team. 

Everything that has been accomplished up to this very moment no longer matters. The Buzzards must go 1-0 every week for the next four weeks to be crowned Gridiron Developmental Football League Champions, and that all starts with the rubber match this weekend at Art Crate Stadium. Dirty Birds are well aware that their goal is to be crowned National Champions in Washington, DC but first they must focus on the road ahead in Washington state. SeeGameLive will provide live streaming of this week's playoff matchup.