Last Monday night at Hoboken’s JFK Stadium, The Trumps faced off against 10th & Willow Wolverines for the Dick Butkus Divisional Championship.  They'd had two previous regular season matchups, and 10th & Willow Wolverines swept the season series in convincing fashion.  Their opponent, however, really turned it on late in the season.  They took a four game win streak into the championship, finding ways to win both big and with resilience.  They were out to prove that they weren’t that same team from earlier in the season, and 10th & Willow Wolverines wanted to continue to assert their playoff dominance.

            10th & Willow Wolverines received the ball first and set the tone early with their stifling defense.  The offense felt out their opponent began putting up points.  Isai Carrillo hit Marquis Wright for a diving touchdown in the back corner of the endzone for the first score of the game.  After another defensive hold, Carrillo went right back to Wright, connecting with him in stride with the deep ball for his second score of the half.  The defense complimented this effort by giving up just 4 completions and shutting out their opponent in the first half.  This was aided by two sacks, one apiece attributed to Eric Woodruff and Evan Rahey.

            Despite a rough first half, The Trumps found themselves down just 13-0 and getting the ball out of the half.  Again, the 10th & Willow Wolverines defense proved to just be too much.  They were led by Thomas Campbell.  His first half interception wasn’t enough, so he decided to tack on two more in the second half to finish with 3 in the game.  With the defense smothering their opponent’s offense, the 10th & Willow Wolverines offense worked the clock and tacked on to their lead.  Carrillo scrambled for their first touchdown of the second half and threw a strike to Ashley Furman for the final score.  In dominating fashion, 10th & Willow Wolverines took the Dick Butkus Division Championship by a score of 27-0.

            The loss for the Trumps came despite the efforts of Matt Larangera. He finished the night with a game high 9 receptions and picked off their opponent for their only turnover of the game.  10th & Willow Wolverines were led by Isai Carrillo and Thomas Campbell’s 3 interceptions.  Carrillo finished the night 14 of 24 with 4 total touchdowns (3 passing and 1 rushing).  Marquis Wright led the receivers with his team high 6 receptions and 2 touchdowns, with the majority of his damage coming in the first half.  Tim Forgue also added an interception to the defensive statline.

            After a tough first half, The Trumps finished strong and put together a hell of a season.  Congratulations to them for a hard fought season and nearly coming away with the ultimate goal.  10th & Willow Wolverines struggled a bit early as well, but utterly dominated down the stretch.  This was highlighted in their playoff run.  In their two playoff games, they outscored their opponents by an incredible 65-2.  The impressive 32.5 points per game is only surpassed by the 2 total points allowed.  In essence, that’s a playoff shutout by the defense, with the 2 points coming off of an interception returned on an offensive extra point attempt.  They left absolutely no doubt in who the best team in the division was.  Congratulations to the Dick Butkus Division Champs 10th & Willow Wolverines!