Zolnier Road to the Championship: Week 11

by Cameron Irvine


Things are heating up on the Road to the Championship presented by Zolnier Championship Rings. This week, we're going to look at our first clinching scenarios we've come across this season with four weeks left on the docket.

DIVISION CLINCHING SCENARIOS

  • Seattle has a 2.5 game lead over Vancouver in the Pacific. A win for Seattle this week will get them to eight wins. A Vancouver loss to San Diego will drop them to five losses. That would clinch a playoff spot and the Pacific Division crown for Seattle, which would make the Nemesis the first team not named Vancouver to win the Pacific since the league went to divisions in Season 16.
  • Florida has a two game lead over Louisiana in the East. A win for Florida this week will get them to eight wins. A Louisiana loss to Charleston will drop them to five losses. That would clinch a playoff spot for Florida and the East Division crown.

PLAYOFF CLINCHING SCENARIOS

  • Fort Worth and Alamo City are at eight wins. With a Vancouver loss, no teams on the outside looking in at a wild card spot would be able to catch Fort Worth or Alamo City in a wild card race, clinching at least a wild card playoff spot for the Toros and the Artillery.  

The biggest movers up and down the standings from Week 10 include Carolina climbing six spots from 15 to 9 after its 28-21 slim win over Florida, Las Vegas falling five spots from 11 to 16 after its loss to Tulsa and Houston gaining three spots from 14 to 11 during its bye week thanks to Portland's loss to Arizona.

Tulsa is a newcomer to the playoff mix, thanks to a Central Division that has all four teams either 3-5 or 3-6. The Desperados currently lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with Minnesota due to division record, but are right in the thick of things. Atlanta is actually the strongest 3-5 wild card chance, with a strength of victory now a whopping .593 after back-to-back wins over No. 4 Florida and No. 8 Louisiana.