
The 2nd seeded Bandits took on the 7th seeded Chargers. The few spectators that stayed witnessed one of the most spectacular games in South Asian Sports History.
From the get go, the Chargers came to play - as they held the Bandits to a three and out on the first possession and proceeded to score on their first drive on a pass to Nadeem followed by a successful conversion. The Bandits did not get into any offensive flow in the first half while the Chargers spread the ball around to all sides and quickly scored again followed by a conversion to surprisingly make it a 14-0 game.
For the next three possessions each, both teams played shut down defense - preventing any further scores before the half. The Chargers twice had a chance to go up by 3 scores but couldn't punch it in from close.
Heading into the second half the Chargers had the ball and momentum; however the Bandits after a fiery halftime speech came to life and forced a quick three and out followed by a nice drive capped off by a TD to Nadir and a conversion run by Jawaid. Razi led the Chargers back with a long TD strike to Mir followed by a successful conversion. That is the way the second half went as both teams kept trading scores until the Bandits Defense had a huge stop with 4 minutes to go. Down by 8 after receiving a punt - Jawaid proceeded to march the bandits all the way to the 10 yard line at the two minute warning. On the next play he connected on a TD strike to Saqib followed by a beautiful 2 point conversion to Abir. Chargers still had 54 seconds to score and managed to get to the one foot line where they were stopped by the Bandits to force OT.
On the very first play of OT Harvey picked off a pass seizing the momentum for the Bandits. The Chargers D than proceeded to step up big time with two successive stops keyed by great plays by Sajeel, Ibrahim, Bobby and Razi. At the start of the third OT - the game was switched to College OT rules. This is when things got really interesting. The Chargers started it off by scoring on a TD to Najeeb but had a failed conversion. Bandits responded with a score but a great play by Razi knocking away conversion attempt forced a 4th OT. In the 4th OT Bandits scored on TD pass to Abir followed by a successful conversion. The Chargers answered with a TD of their own followed by successful conversion to Sajeel. On the first play of OT Sakib scored on a TD pass but Ibrahim distracted receiver just enough on conversion play to drop ball. The Chargers took advantage and scored on a nice rushing TD by Bobby and a beautifully designed conversion toss from Razi to Nadeem.
The final score in this epic battle was 46-45, By far one of the most intense game in SAFL history. The Chargers now face the #6 seed Warriors.
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