PIT Football has wrapped up its 15th year of football administration.
The summer season is our longest season of the year with both 7v7 and 5v5 divisions offered. This summer, the league had a record nine teams win their first league championship!
Additionally, two veteran teams, with nearly a decade between summer titles, stepped back onto the podium. What can be better than getting outside to enjoy Winnipeg summers, then hit up one of our many league sponsors to continue the game day experience.
You can check out some of the top plays from championship weekend here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C41Xf41Lhef/?hl=en
Division 1
Killer Pandas 42 Rebellion 28
For a remarkable sixth consecutive season, Rebellion made it to the Division 1 championship. However, for the second straight season they lost the championship to the Pandas from Peg City.
Drew Hawkins and Dom Horvath each scored twice for the Pandas. However, it was the final play of the first half which changed the complexion of this game. With the game tied, the Pandas had the ball on the 12-yard line when they threw an ill-advised interception. The Rebellion defence promptly lateraled the ball in their own end zone, and Drew Hawkins intercepted the interception. A two-point convert followed, and the Pandas were up by 8 with all the momentum going into the second half and they didn’t look back!
Division 2
Strange Brew 28 Cream Machine 15
Strange Brew and Cream Machine weren’t on the top of the prognostication list as champions to start the season, but both teams played at a high level all summer and deserved their spot in the final.
Division 2 was closely contested all season, with both teams needing overtime victories in the semi-finals just to make it to championship Sunday. Veteran quarterback and former league MVP Nick Jessamine out-duelled fellow long-serving QB Mike Nelson, throwing for three touchdowns, two to his brother, and coincidentally another former MVP, Charlie Jessamine.
Dustin Spiring’s one-handed touchdown catch on a long bomb, with two Cream Machine defenders draped all over him, will go down as one of the greatest championship touchdown receptions on PIT history!
Division 3
Past Our Primetime 31 Fail Mary 8
Ten-years have passed between championships for the aptly-named Past Our Primetime. On this day, the POPs rolled back time to put on their most dominant performance of the season.
David Ernewein threw five touchdown passes, three to game MVP Andrew Sullivan. The POPs scored early and often to put the game out of reach early.
Unfortunately for Fail Mary, their quarterback was late to the game and simply never got on track without the benefit of a warmup. Andrew Sullivan sealed the game with an amazing read on an interception, shutting down any hope of a comeback early in the fourth quarter.
Past Our Primetime was the bottom seed coming into the playoffs, and showed you just need to get hot at the right time of the year if you are to win a ‘ship!
Division 4
Past Our Bedtimes 19 Rebels 14
Past Our Bedtimes wins their first outdoor championship, besting a veteran Rebels squad attempting to replicate their 2023 outdoor title. Past Our Bedtimes scored on their first two drives, building a 13-0 lead before the end of the first quarter. From there, the defenses dug in. Not able to mount much offense, the Rebels replaced their quarterback with the score stuck at 13-0 through three quarters. The QB change worked as the Rebels scored two late touchdowns to take a 14-13 lead. However, Josh Hazelhurst led this team down the field when it counted, finally scoring a third touchdown with only seconds remaining to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The wildest fourth quarter of championship weekend!
Division 5
Necessary Roughness 34 Wickermen 8
Necessary Roughness avenged their 2023 championship loss with a dominating performance. Led by the five touchdown passes of Neal Einarson, Necessary Roughness won their second title in three years.
The Wickermen were the sixth seed, with just three wins on the season. That did not stop them from knocking off some of the top teams in the division, and almost wining as many games in the postseason.
However, the Roughness defence only allowed 14 points all playoffs and continued their dominance in the final. Game MVP Ryan Morton, who only had 19 points all season, broke out for a touchdown and three conversions, saving his best game of the season for last!
Division 6
Tapps Free Agents 38 North End Hawkeyes 13
Our summer free agent team uncharacteristically started out of the gate hot, before cooling off midseason, then hitting their stride come playoffs.
With a team of free agents, typically it takes time for a team to gel, but this team started the season 3-0, ultimately finishing third in the division at 10-6.
Their Hawkeye counterparts, started the season even stronger at 8-0, running wire to wire as the division frontrunners. However, in the final, the North Enders, who boasted one of the highest scoring offences in the league, went dry.
Andrew Phan had two interceptions for the Free Agents ending two promising Hawkeye drives. Ben Shea threw for five touchdown passes to four different receivers, as it was the Free Agent offence that spearheaded them to the championship.
Division 7
Cobras 18 Huddle Buddies 13
The Cobras were in their third championship game of the last four years, and yet they hadn’t won a championship since 2016.
Jamie Wilson took that personally. Jamie proceeded to set a championship record with four interceptions to go along with three touchdown passes to single handedly end the Cobras futility streak.
The Cobras looked ready for their winter brumation (despite being without their leading scorer, towering receiver Sam Calvert), up 18 points in the fourth quarter. However, the Huddle Buddies made this a game, scoring twice to bring the game within a score. Time was against the Huddle Buddies nevertheless, and as the clock clicked to zero, the Cobras had ended their drought, in frenetic fashion.
Redemption Game
Blouses 14 Glue Factory 12
The Blouses defence played lights out football for about 55 minutes in this game.
Three interceptions and a quarterback sack, set the table for the Blouses to build a 14-0 lead. However, the Glue Factory have a strong comeback game, previously setting the record for the largest comeback in outdoor history – 30 points down to win last years championship!
Two late interceptions, and two drives later, the Glue Factor scored 12 points, the last of score coming on the final play of the game. A two-point conversion was attempted, but this time the comeback did fall short, and the Blouses barely escape with their Blouses intact.
If you are a fan of defensive football, this was the game to watch!
Coed Division 1
Bruh 32 Honey Dillo Sauce 0
First year team, Bruh finished first in the regular season and carried their exceptional play over to the championship game wherein they pitched a shutout.
Led by former National flag team member Julian Banaras, Bruh gave up a total of six points in the playoffs! Bruh had a quick start, scoring twice in the first five minutes of the game.
However, the battle-tested Dillos dusted off their armour and went to work. The Dillos drove the field and were first and goal from the five-yard line, when Emilio Garrido picked off an errant pass on the goal line and returned the interception the length of the field for the touchdown. That knocked the dill right out of the dillo sauce. From that point Bruh cruised to their first ever PIT championship.
Coed Division 2
Ball Handlers 26 Mediocre 5 0
Two more rookie teams, with the friendliest rivalry in the league, met up to play for the coed division two title.
The regular season series ended tied at two wins each, so the championship game would break the deadlock. Game MVP Skylar Trudeau had two interceptions and 24 points on the day, powering the Ball Handlers to the championship in their inaugural season.
The Mediocre 5 were led by Hannah Olugbodi, who also had an amazing rookie season in leading the coed division in sacks and winning player of the month for June. However, that wasn’t enough on this day as the Handlers defence handled the Mediocre 5 offence, recording six interceptions and two sacks to keep the shut out intact.
5v5 Division 1
FBM u18 Redeem Team 38 Goobers 32
What a year for the u18s. This team won gold at flag provincials, and then silver and bronze at two national flag football events.
The Redeemers defeated their older provincial champion compatriots for the first time ever in a league game to punch their ticket to the finals. Finally, this team brought home yet another trophy against the formidable first place Goobers.
Nathan Esch and Xander Smith led the Redeemed with three touchdowns each, both coming down with some contested catches on the final drive of the game to put this game out of reach. The Goobers were led by YouTube prognosticator Ethan Dryland who threw five touchdown passes, two to his brother Kye. The youth movement was served, as the u18s cap a season for the ages.
5v5 Division 2
Ignite 48 Bad Company 26
Ignite and Bad Company finished tied at the top of division two during the regular season yet had never played against each other until the championship game.
Bad Company would admit that this was probably for the best! Ignite jumped out to a big lead, due in large part to the four touchdown receptions from former national flag gold medalist Thane Carlos. Not to mention the seven touchdown passes by former MFL champion and patriarch Charles Carlos.
Bad Company battled back in the second half, coming as close as a touchdown, before Ignite ignited their offence once again to push the game out of reach. Yet another first-time champ!
5v5 Division 3
No Soup for You 45 Hogs 24
A very unusual season for the Soup lovers. If you check out their schedule of wins and losses, this team either blew teams out by 20, or were blown out by 20. The ultimate Jekyll and Hyde team.
Unfortunately for the Hogs, the Jekyll version came to play in the final. Three separate players scored in double digits for the soup-erstars, as their offence churned out touchdowns on five of their first six drives.
The Hogs countered with the fine play of Cedric McMaster-Hubner, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth. Despite that MVP performance, the Hogs were butchered for a nice BLT to be eaten alongside with this team’s trademark soup.
Soup that is not intended for you.
5v5 Division 4
Black Widows 41 Los Amigos Del Huddle 40 (overtime)
The Black Widows were the top seed. Los Amigos was 2-0 versus the Black Widows during the regular season.
The result? The best game of championship weekend.
This game didn’t have much defence as four different players were able to score in double digits. The Black Widows scored on the final play of the half to keep the game tied. The Black Widows then scored on the final play of the game, to once again tie the score, but couldn’t convert their convert sending the game into overtime.
Corey Hanssen, who became the first non-contact player to be elected to the Manitoba Football Hall of Fame, hit Ramey Goetz for the go ahead score in overtime, then intercepted the ball on defence to seal victory.
The Widows made widows out of Los Amigos. Absolutely wild game!
Team Captain All-Star Game
Tapps All-Stars 33 Tavern United All-Stars 19
The league all-star game is the official end to the summer season.
Our team captains and league best are invited to play in the game, with various sponsored events and a post-game celebration added to the season ending festivities.
The Tapps all-stars defeated the Tavern United all-stars, by virtue of their seven interceptions on defence, one for a pick six by game MVP Bryce McDonald.
In the events, Jordan Demerchant won the league’s fastest player, Kurtis Hyatt won the field goal accuracy context, Nicholas Ducharme longest throw, and Jordan McPike quarterback accuracy.
Everyone then won at the post-game party. A fun way to give back to the best membership in all of rec sports!
Summer Officiating Award
Brent Sliwiany
Hall of Fame Official Brent Sliwiany led the league in games officiated for the 14th season.
After the summer season that brought his total games officiated to 3,278, a pace that puts him to become the all-time leader in games officiated in Manitoba sometime in 2026.
Brent is a team and fan favourite for his hustle on the field, good-natured attitude, and solid understanding of the rules. Brent has officiated at the provincial level, and in the summer, the league’s most valuable official.
The PIT Football league has the best officiating crew in recreational sports and is home to the two Canadian officials working the world flag football tournament. If you want to get into officiating, contact us to find out how!
Summer Most Valuable Player Award
John Jonker
John, who is already in the touch football hall of fame as a team captain, wins his first league MVP award in his thirtieth year of playing! John led Division 7 in touchdown passes, and was in the top ten in both touchdown passes and interceptions in division five. Amazingly, John was recognized by his peers as the MVP in over 60% of his games this summer! One of the most athletic and sportsmanlike players in the league, it is great to see John get recognized as one of the league’s best!
Start your dynasty today!
Fall registration ends October 18th with the season beginning October 25th. Contact us to register a team, as a free agent, or an official. Be sure to follow us @PITFootball on Instagram and Twitter and check out our website www.pitfootball.com
The PIT Football league is the official touch and flag football league of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.