ORLANDO, FL - At the 2005 USFTL Nationals, the Blue Devils played more like a veteran team than a team in their first year in the "A" division. After defeating the Scatbacks (McAllen, TX) 17-0 in the opening round of the tournament, the Devils faced the Bruins (Detroit, MI) in hopes of getting revenge from an earlier season loss at the Ref's tournament in August. The Devils' defense proved to be the difference, forcing three INT's in a 16-8 victory. On Saturday, the Devils were matched up with the Young Guns (Beltsville, MD), who defeated the Devils in the championship game at the Steel City Cup in April. This game proved to be much like the last with the Devils' offense struggling to get into a rhythm. The defense played well, holding the Young Guns to one offensive touchdown, but their effort wasn't enough in a 16-0 loss. In their first game in the losers bracket, the Devils faced the Coleman Clan (Washington, DC), who is a veteran team with countless years of experience. Seth Steiner started the scoring with long TD on a lateral from QB AJ Saul. After an interception by the defense, Elliott Giles hauled in a long TD reception to break the game open in route to a 24-8 victory. In the opening game Sunday morning, the Devils met up with Red Zone for the fifth time in the last five tournaments. Once again, the defense proved to be the difference when Dom Bowell picked off a pass in the end zone with little time remaining to preserve an 8-0 victory and send the Devils into the final four. In the losers bracket quarter-final, the Devils faced Dominion, another veteran team from the MD/DC area. After failing to score while inside the 10 yard line twice, the Devils had to had to rely on their defense once again, with Jason Hagerty intercepting two key passes to put our offense in good field position. QB AJ Saul later connected on a short TD strike to Poog Williams, and Jake Stewart added the 2-point conversion to give us an 8-0 lead and take us to the next round. In the losers bracket semi-final, the Devils met up with the OSU Raiders (Columbus, OH), a familiar opponent who the Devils have played well against in their last meetings. Raiders QB Chip Smith led his team to a 16-0 lead going into the half. The second half started out much like the first with the Raiders taking the opening kickoff for a touchdown and giving them a 22-0 lead. With just under two minutes remaining, AJ Saul scrambled into the endzone for the Devils first TD of the game. The Devils then recovered the onside kick and drove down the field to score again to make the score 22-16. Jake Stewart kicked another beautiful kick that was mishandled by the Raiders returner, giving the Devils the ball at the 50 yard line and one last chance to make a comeback. After several attempts, the Devils were only able to drive to the Raiders 30 yard line with enough time left for one play as AJ Saul attempted one last pass in the end zone only to have it deflected out of bounds. Jason Hagerty and AJ Saul were selected to the USFTL All-American team for their ourstanding performances.

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Tournament Bracket
Full Results