By: Andrew Kramer (LFL360.com)
Photo: Joe Petro/LFL PHOTOS
For the majority of this season, many were anticipating a battle between the Philadelphia Passion and Orlando Fantasy to determine who will represent the Eastern Conference in the Lingerie Bowl.
That was a reasonable assumption. The Passion are the defending Eastern Conference Champions who managed to get even better in the offseason, and the Fantasy formed their squad by combining the top talents from last year’s team with stars from the now defunct Miami Caliente.
But Tampa defeated Orlando last month, solidifying their spot in this year’s playoffs, shocking everyone.
Well…almost everyone.
“I’m sorry but there was no surprise,” S/RB Liz Gorman says. “I don’t know why everyone’s acting so shocked that we’re in the [conference] finals. There are so many players on our team that have so many great abilities. As we go on, we gain experience. I’ve never been so confident in a team going into a playoff game.”
While the Breeze were omitted from many preseason predictions, there’s no reason to believe they don’t belong where they are today. They were in the playoffs last season and the nucleus of that team returned this year to go for it all again.
“We knew in the beginning of the season this was where we were going to be at the end of the season,” QB KK Matheny says. “We knew we were going to be in the playoffs with Philly. We knew as soon as the schedule came out we’d be seeing Philly in the playoffs. That’s not cockiness, that’s confidence in ourselves and our teammates.”
They figured they’d return to the playoffs, and they did, but now the Breeze have a whole new challenge ahead of them. Awaiting them in Ontario, California on Sunday will be Philadelphia. The Passion defeated a shorthanded Tampa team earlier this season 48-0. They also knocked the Breeze out of the playoffs last year.
In fact, Tampa has never beaten Philadelphia. They are 0-4 lifetime against Chandler Brown’s squad. History is not on the Breeze’s side, but that appears to be the furthest thing on their minds.
“Every game is different,” Head Coach Yo Murphy says.” You don’t want to live in the past, especially in a game like football. You have to treat every opportunity like it’s your last. If we’re 0-4 against them or 0-20 it doesn’t matter. If we win this game we’re going to the Lingerie Championship. All that it comes down to this Sunday is who plays the better game.”
“I never really reflect back on past games,” Gorman adds. “The only time I do is for me to get better and for me to grow as a person and for our team to look at past mistakes but everybody’s always different, every team dynamic. We have a completely different lineup and were playing a completely different team so I don’t take that into effect.”
Not only is this team different from last year, they’re not even the same group that lost to Philly in September. Matheny, along with a handful of other starters, did not play in that game. The Breeze never used that as an excuse for getting completely blown out. They do, however, view it as a learnig experience.
“Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward. If you’re going to lose a game you just have to lose it at the right time,” Murphy says.
That loss was followed by three straight wins, capped off by their playoff-clinching victory over the Fantasy. Now Philly awaits. History says the Passion should win this game. Looking at regular season performances, Philadelphia has the edge. The Breeze are not favored to win either, but hey, they’ve been told they were going to lose before.
“It gives me extra motivation,” Matheny says,”and I know it drives a lot of players on our team. It is a totally different team and it’s going to be a good challenge.”
The Passion seem to have Tampa’s number, but all that can change this Sunday. A Breeze win not only sends their rivals back to Philadelphia, but they advance to Las Vegas for a long-awaited Lingerie Bowl appearance.
If that happens, maybe more people should be talking about Breeze football.
Tags: KK MATHENY, liz gorman, Tampa Breeze, YO MURPHY
