Chiefs complete season of perfection

The Shell Chiefs’ offense was able to put a couple of drives together to pull out a 12-2 victory against the Verizon Nitro to complete their undefeated season, in the sloppiest game of the 2004 Commonwealth Football League’s fourth season.

Both of the defenses dominated the CPA Airport field last Saturday, but while the Chiefs were able to keep their end zone Verizon free, the Nitro surrendered touchdowns in the first and third quarters, that proved to be the difference.

Without the services of quarterbacks Clasley Ngeskebei and Danny Punimata, the Chiefs once again put the offense in the hands of Bryant Moors, while his statistics do not jump off of the page, Moors did what he had to do to get his team the win. On a couple of occasions, Moors found himself in the grasp of multiple Nitro defenders and managed to toss the ball to awaiting receivers.

In on instance he was able to get the ball out to a well-positioned Stanley Iakopo, and the league’s leading rusher was able to scamper to the outside for a 22-yard touchdown that gave them the 12-2 lead.

On the day, Moors went 3-for-13 for 58 yards through in the air, including a 19-yard strike to Luka Tapua’ialupe for a touchdown. Moors also had a pair of interceptions, and while both teams had difficulty with their passing games, the Chiefs relied on their running game to put points on the board and take time off the clock.

The high-octane Chiefs running attack that had averaged just less than 110 yards per game was only able to accumulate 77 yards on the day. Iakopo once again led the Chiefs on the ground, but was held to 35 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown—well below his average. In the absence of Jeff Boyer, running back Paul Guerrero got plenty of touches, as big No. 4 churned out 25 hard yards on 13 carries.

The Nitro also had a receiver at the helm, as George Lieto was tasked to lead his team. Unfortunately for the white and red, Lieto didn’t find much success through the air, completing 2-of-9 passes for -3 yards. Lieto made up for his lack of an air attack with a few scintillating runs. Number 88 ran seven times for 51 yards on the day, including a 41-yarder.

Running back Simon Sebuu ran six times for 23 yards, but go-to-guy James Hargrove was held to-15 yards.

While the Verizon offense had some difficulty putting points on the board, their defense provided some assistance when John Sablan and Juanis King were on the scene to record a safety for the Nitro in the second quarter.

Jesse Sablan and Jack Aldan were wreaking havoc on the Chiefs as well, as Sablan, racked up seven tackles and a sack, while Aldan had five stops and two sacks.

The Shell curtain didn’t do too bad either, as they didn’t allow the Nitro offense a score in the contest.

Whenever Lieto tried to get something going for the offense, a sea of red and gold was waiting. Paul Camacho seemed to be on the other side of the line of scrimmage before Lieto could take his first step away from the center.

Camacho pierced through the Nitro line as if it the big guys weren’t even there. He finished the game with 4.5 tackles, but teammate Chico Reyes led all of the Chiefs with 7.5 on the day.

The playoffs get underway this weekend, as the Miller Barbarians (3-3) host the Verizon Nitro (0-6) on Saturday, Nov. 20, at 10am. The winner earns the right to take on the Shell Chiefs (6-0) in the championship the following weekend on Saturday, Nov. 27, at 10am.