Overall, it seems that Eastern teams got just a little better than Western teams over the off-season. Some teams were hit hard, some made very clever improvements. There are two teams that look like good contenders now, but most other teams aren't far behind.
East
Noordrug and the 65ers look most improved. Noordrug did so through depth, adding a few prospects in positions that they're expecting retirements in within the next few years. They now have an O-line that every QB should feel comfortable behind, with some front 7 talent waiting on the reserve team. Also, they have secured their coaching staff long-term, after noticeable improvements year in, year out. The 65ers, meanwhile, focused on their on-field quality more: they now have a pass rush and upgraded on all of their gaps from last year. Aerellen lost their QB to the Wolves, which means they have suffered a huge setback: going from a top-3 QB to an arguably bottom 6 one. Aerellen regressed in more categories, but this one should be the toughest. Aminey and Sterrenwolde kept their squad together, but barely added anything. Sterrenwolde did lose some of their D, which was fairly impossible to keep anyway, but added an offensive coordinator that could take their talented offence to the next level. Lastly, the Admirals had a terrible offseason, but at least managed to keep all of their coaches on board, and then some.
West
In the West, teams haven't really done anything spectacular, other than the Wolves' new QB. The Destroyers finally hired a long-time option for head coach, while Mawrystwyth is going into the season with an interim HC. Eaglebury seems to have lost the trust of their fans, playing most of their practice games for under 5000 spectators, though otherwise Eagleburians should be optimistic about their future. That said, they did lose their biggest receiving threat to injury, while Mawrystwyth lost not only their coach, but also two of their three starting Linebackers.
Season, Stage 1
In the first stage, every team plays every other team once, regardless of their division. Here, the Saints and Astronauts show themselves as early candidates for the Ko-oren Bowl, winning more than any other team and losing two fewer games than any other team, going 7-3-1. Still, even the bottom teams aren't out yet, with four victories each to the Admirals, Wolves, Emperors and the Caspians.
KGL Pld W D L Win % Win %
1 Willowbourne Saints 11 7 1 3 0.682 0.700
2 Noordrug Astronauts 11 7 1 3 0.682 0.700
3 Schemerdrecht 65ers 11 6 0 5 0.545 0.545
4 Greencaster Godspeed 11 6 0 5 0.545 0.545
5 Mayara Destroyers 11 6 0 5 0.545 0.545
6 Sterrenwolde Dragonflies 11 5 1 5 0.500 0.500
7 Aerellen Explosions 11 5 1 5 0.500 0.500
8 Mawryshire Centaurs 11 5 0 6 0.455 0.455
9 Schemerdrecht Admirals 11 4 1 6 0.409 0.400
10 Aminey Caspians 11 4 1 6 0.409 0.400
11 Eaglebury Emperors 11 4 0 7 0.364 0.364
12 Mayara Wolves 11 4 0 7 0.364 0.364
Season, Stage 2
First, the tables for each of the divisions separately:
WEST Pld W D L Win % Win %
1 Mayara Wolves 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
2 Greencaster Godspeed 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
3 Mayara Destroyers 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
4 Eaglebury Emperors 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
5 Mawryshire Centaurs 5 2 0 3 0.400 0.400
6 Willowbourne Saints 5 1 0 4 0.200 0.200
EAST Pld W D L Win % Win %
1 Noordrug Astronauts 5 4 1 0 0.900 1.000
2 Sterrenwolde Dragonflies 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
3 Aminey Caspians 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
4 Aerellen Explosions 5 3 0 2 0.600 0.600
5 Schemerdrecht 65ers 5 1 1 3 0.300 0.250
6 Schemerdrecht Admirals 5 0 0 5 0.000 0.000
And here we see that the Saints, after a brilliant start to the season, might still miss it all by finishing the season 1-4. Noordrug, however, present a clear case for best team of the year with a 4-0-1 finish to an already great set of 11 games. The Admirals bow out of the season with 7 straight losses, but before that they mysteriously shut out the current champions, the Dragonflies, with a 10-0 score.
After all is said and done, this is our table:
Pld W D L Win % Win %
1 Noordrug Astronauts (East) 16 11 2 3 0.750 0.786 East, seed #1
2 Greencaster Godspeed (West) 16 9 0 7 0.562 0.562 West, seed #1
Mayara Destroyers (West) 16 9 0 7 0.562 0.562 West, seed #2
4 Willowbourne Saints (West) 16 8 1 7 0.531 0.533
5 Sterrenwolde Dragonflies (East) 16 8 1 7 0.531 0.533 East, seed #2
6 Aerellen Explosions (East) 16 8 1 7 0.531 0.533
7 Schemerdrecht 65ers (East) 16 7 1 8 0.469 0.467
8 Aminey Caspians (East) 16 7 1 8 0.469 0.467
9 Mayara Wolves (West) 16 7 0 9 0.438 0.438
10 Mawryshire Centaurs (West) 16 7 0 9 0.438 0.438
11 Eaglebury Emperors (West) 16 7 0 9 0.438 0.438
12 Schemerdrecht Admirals (East) 16 4 1 11 0.281 0.267
Godspeed and the Destroyers take the divisional battle all the way to the final game. In the end, it is the 4-point victory in round 1 for Godspeed that sees them take the H2H-record; in the second leg of this clash, the Destroyers won by only 3 points - ladies and gentlemen, 2-point conversions matter.
As with every season, we have some meaningless stats: home teams won 50% of all games, away teams won 45,8% and the remaining 4,2 resulted in draws. This is only slightly better than the soccer league, where there is a clear home disadvantage. 3467 points have been scored in all, so we've seen 36 points per game on average. Another fun fact is that no score occurred more than twice in our 96 games. 16-13, 13-13, 17-27, 23-19, 9-19, 20-27, and 20-10 were the only scored to occur more than once - but none of them thrice.
Derby scores
Schemerdrecht Admirals (East) 13–12 Schemerdrecht 65ers (East)
Schemerdrecht 65ers (East) 27–23 Schemerdrecht Admirals (East) - Series split 1-1
Aerellen Explosions (East) 13–26 Noordrug Astronauts (East)
Noordrug Astronauts (East) 39–20 Aerellen Explosions (East) - Noordrug wins 2-0
Aminey Caspians (East) 6–27 Sterrenwolde Dragonflies (East)
Sterrenwolde Dragonflies (East) 22–20 Aminey Caspians (East) - Sterrenwolde wins 2-0
Mayara Wolves (West) 10–23 Mayara Destroyers (West)
Mayara Destroyers (West) 17–27 Mayara Wolves (West) - Series split 1-1
Eaglebury Emperors (West) 15–16 Mawryshire Centaurs (West)
Mawryshire Centaurs (West) 16–13 Eaglebury Emperors (West) - Series split 1-1
Greencaster Godspeed (West) 20–6 Willowbourne Saints (West)
Willowbourne Saints (West) 16–20 Greencaster Godspeed (West) - Series split 1-1
Playoffs
Greencaster Godspeed (West) 3 0 14 0 17
Mayara Destroyers (West) 6 6 0 3 15
Noordrug Astronauts (East) 0 0 6 7 13
Sterrenwolde Dragonflies (East) 7 13 3 7 30
We were so close to a rematch of last Ko-oren Bowl. The Sterrenwolde Dragonflies make a repeat appearance, but the Mayara Destroyers were stopped by the Greencaster Godspeed. A great 3rd quarter for the Greencaster outfit saw them take a definitive lead in a low-scoring game that had only three points in the entire fourth quarter. Neither team could force a breakthrough in the final 15 minutes, whereas normally those are the times that the greats show up and will their team to a victory. The Astronauts versus the Dragonflies was a far more clear-cut game. Even though the Dragonflies lost some of their defensive stars, they kept the Astronauts to 0 points at half time while scoring 20 themselves, a great mental victory. Then, after halftime, the Astronauts put points on the board but it was too little, too late with just two field goals and a touchdown for 13 points. The Dragonflies slowed down in the last half, which is a bit of a weakness for them this year, but it didn't matter: 30-13 looks like a great performance going into the Ko-oren Bowl.
Sterrenwolde Dragonflies (East) 3 0 10 3 16
Greencaster Godspeed (West) 7 3 0 7 17
The Greencaster Godspeed have won this season's Ko-oren Bowl! A final touchdown in the fourth quarter was enough to win this extremely close game. The Dragonflies came so close to a repeat. The Godspeed kept up with the Dragonflies and outscored them in the first half, then gave up the third quarter entirely, before adding a touchdown in the final quarter to take the lead. A field goal with seven minutes still on the clock for the Dragonflies set the deficit to just one, but that one point was insurmountable. They had plenty of chances, but the Godspeed remained elusive to the league's greatest defence.
Developmental Leagues
D-League Final:
Lamau Bears 6-20 Mayara Mariners
KG2 Finals:
Serevne Polar Stars 22-28 Gehrenna Mountaineers
Eaglebury Dusk 21-14 Aevanna Phoenix
Eaglebury Dusk 12-17 Gehrenna Mountaineers