227 days isn’t very long in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like an age since the Andover Sandslashers picked Antonio Brown to kick off the UK Dynasty startup draft. Anyone wanting a hit of nostalgia can go look at the draft board here, but tonight marks the beginning of the end of the inaugural season. The 83rd and final matchup of the UK Dynasty 2016 season: The Brittania Bowl.
Britannia Bowl I will be contested between the North and South title winners. From the South, the Coventry Eagles, shrewdly bossed throughout the season by Phil Aston. As the #1 overall seed, the Eagles had a bye through the wildcard round of the playoffs, and dispatched the Hereford Chargers to claim the South title, with a score of 136.6-104.
The Eagles’ Bowl opposition will be the North regional winners, Chris Copeland’s Gateshead Spartans, who, as the #4 seed and bereft of a bye, had to get through both the Wigan Wombats (97.1-90.2) and the #2 seeded Derby Otters (103.3-77.3) to scoop the North title and claim their place in the inaugural Brittania Bowl.
The current ESPN projections have the Eagles as around 11 point favourites, and, due to the Christmas Eve game schedule, a lot will be decided by the time Santa pumps his reindeer full of PEDs and sets off on his Christmas mission.
The Eagles will need strong performances from the likes of Shady McCoy, Tyrell Williams (who has the Browns at his mercy), and the aforementioned Antonio Brown, acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Sandslashers back in November. The Spartans, on the other hand, will almost certainly roll out a host of Patriots, the formidable David Johnson and Eugene “T.Y.” Hilton, who has been on the receiving end of bouts of both hostile anger and unadulterated love from his manager throughout the season.
One can only imagine the trepidation and anticipation that’s coursing through the bodies of both Bowl owners as we edge ever-closer to the Thursday night kickoff between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants, which will likely see Ryan Mathews as the first point-scorer (he hopes) on the Brittania Bowl board.
Let’s hope for a cracker of a matchup.