In one of the most anticipated games of the season, the Paris Musketeers hosted the Madrid Bravos with playoff implications and home-field advantage on the line. Emotions were high as the game began, with an 11-yard rushing touchdown from running back Chris Voumbo putting the only points on the board in the first half. With just under 10 minutes to go in the third quarter, Madrid running back Edu Molina turned on the jets and raced 52 yards to the end zone leading to a 6-6 tie. Five minutes later, Madrid quarterback Steven Duncan led his offense on an 88-yard scoring drive that he capped off with a magnificent 51 yard strike to wide receiver Eduardo Pérez to give the visitors a 12-6 lead.
Thanks to a pair of crucial stops by the Paris defense, Paris quarterback Zach Edwards would get one final chance to perform the two-minute drill to hopefully win the game in regulation, marching his team 69 yards. The drive began with a 15 yard strike from Edwards to wide receiver Austin Mitchell to get the offense to the 50 yard line with a minute and 33 seconds remaining. At this point, Edwards took full control of the game. After an incompletion, he scrambled for 20 yards to get his team to Madrid’s 35 yard line. After another first down, Edwards had his team on the 16 yard line with a 1st and 10 with 18 seconds remaining in the game. He then called his own number once again and scrambled 25 yards up the middle to score despite being met by three Madrid defenders on the goal line. This tied the score at 12-12 giving Dupont a chance to seal the game. Tragedy struck once again for Paris as Dupont’s extra point went wide left, leading to OT.
Madrid won the toss and would have the first opportunity, but snapping woes reared their ugly head as Bravos center Celestin Ngimbi snapped the ball too low and Duncan was not able to get a grip on the ball and fumbled it. Paris recovered the ball giving Dupont a chance at redemption. He did not miss this time, booting a 23 yard field goal clinching a playoff berth for the Musketeers.
