In the final week of the AUDL regular season the Toronto Rush are on a two game road trip, trying to finish the regular season with a 16-0 record. On Saturday they’ll take on the DC Breeze. The last time the Rush played in DC was the home opener, and they won 30-13. The Breeze have improved since then, but even without the likes of Jeff Lindquist, Mark Lloyd, and Adrian Yearwood, who are all inactive this week, it’s hard to see the Breeze walking away with a win. Then on Sunday the Rush play the Phoenix in Philadelphia. This promises to be the most exciting game of the week, in what could be an Eastern Conference Finals preview. The closest the Rush have come to losing was their game in Philadelphia in Week 2, when they only beat the Phoenix 26-25. But even without their Team Canada stars, the Rush are still stacked. Thomson McKnight, Cameron Harris, Isaiah Masek-Kelly are all great players that the Phoenix have a tough time matching up with. And unlike last time the Rush won’t be caught off guard, when they needed a second half comeback to get the win. The Empire will also be playing this weekend, hosting the Hammerheads. The Hammerheads are looking to salvage something from this season, and if they beat the Empire they’ll have split the season series with New York, 2-2. It’s not much to play for, but New Jersey needs to take something positive away from this season. And New York will be without Husayn Carnegie, Jack Marsh, and their player/coach Aaron Bell. So while it isn’t likely, there is a possible window for New Jersey to get their first road win of the year.
In the Midwest the Indianapolis AlleyCats are on a two game road trip having already sewn up a playoff spot. On Sunday they play Madison, who they’ll probably play in the first round of the playoffs as well. Indianapolis has yet to beat Madison, and if the ‘Cats want to on Saturday it’ll have to be done without some of their top handlers, Michael Ford, Luke Broderick and Jared Payne are all inactive this week. A win on the road would send a big statement that Indianapolis is a legitimate threat, and their games so far this season have been close. The Radicals won in Indianapolis 24-22, and in Madison 20-16. The day before the ‘Cats play the Wind Chill, in a game with fewer implications. Minnesota will have some of their Drag’n Thrust players back after the US Open, but will still be missing a quite a few, including Austin Lien, Eric Olson, Schwa Hemmesch, and Brian Schoenrock because they’ll be playing at Sandblast in Chicago. The Wildfire are playing in Chicago themselves tonight, against the Detroit Mechanix. The Mechanix aren’t playing for much, but they could finish 5-11, possibly finishing fourth in the conference. That said, a Detroit win probably isn’t in the cards. In their first game between the two, the Mechanix played well, they only lost by four in Detroit. Since them they’ve gone down 7-19 and 26-34.
Detroit Mechanix
- Marc Huber
- Matt Wilken
- Christo Ferguson
- Johnny Bansfield
- James Highsmith
- Ben Ayres
- Mike Zaagman
Indianapolis AlleyCats
- Josh Botti
- David Hortemiller
- Sajed Dosenbach
- Luke Broderick
- Ben Parris
- Jared Payne
- Michael Ford
- Alex Basham (Active Saturday only)
- Jason Yoder (Active Sunday only)
Madison Radicals
- Kelsen Alexander
- Eric Alexander
- Kevin Brown
- Brian Hart
- Benjy Keren
- David Schleicher
- Nate Volkman
Minnesota Wind Chill
- John Bergen
- Pat Jensen
- Neal Hanke
- John Groess
- Pat Niles
- Brian Schoenrock
- Eric Olson
- Austin Lien
- Schwa Hemmesch
New York Empire
- Sam Ross
- Sean Childers
- Aaron Bell
- Greg Somerville
- Jack Marsh
- Husayn Carnegie
- Porter Bishop
Philadelphia Phoenix
- Ryan Forster
- Charles Harrity
- Chris Pokorney
- Jimmy Zuraw
- Jeff Andrews
- Sam Cocchia
Toronto Rush
- Eamon Pinto
- Mark Lloyd
- Adrian Yearwood
- Jeff Lindquist
- Dan Hassell
- Ryan Keyfitz
Windy City Wildfire
- Brodie Smith
- Kevin Yngve
- Craig Poeppelman
- Jonathan Hatcher
- John Kolb
- Grant Zukowski
The DC Breeze and New Jersey Hammerheads did not provide rosters for the weekend. The Cincinnati Revolution and Rochester Dragons have already completed their seasons.
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