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Let`s get these boards going today! We`ve got three HUGE games tonight in the A League that will determine who ends up in the A Playoffs and who gets dropped to the B+ Playoffs. Let`s take a look at our first game of the night: Novacaine vs. Storm - This should be a gritty battle between two teams with 3 losses each as they both fight for a spot in the A Playoffs. Novacaine runs a more conventional offense and it has worked for them this season as they`ve averaged just over 17pts per game. Their QB may be the key to victory tonight as they look to rely on that deep ball. Storm on the other hand looks to hit those short routes and then hope for missed flags to get that YAC. Storm must rely on their stellar defense if they hope to pull out the victory in this one. They are surprisingly ranked as the 2nd best defense in the West Division, giving up only 8.6 points per game, and 3rd overall in the entire A League. The key to their defense is their pass rush - small but with lightning speed. Scrambling QB`s have trouble getting away from theses guys. If Novacaine`s QB can get rid of the ball quickly and put it on point he might be able to frustrate those pass rushers. PREDICTION: Storm 17 Novacaine 13 Now on to the second game of the night: CCR NOVAS vs. Magnums - The NOVAS know what`s at stake tonight. Win and their in the A Playoffs....Lose and they drop to B+ and cap off a disappointing season. The Magnums have far less to play for. They have locked up the 2nd Seed out of the West Division regardless of what the outcome is tonight. They only have pride to play for. In looking at the history of this matchup the Magnums have never beaten the NOVAS in 4 tries. Will they finally get this monkey off their back or will it be a situation like the Magnums/Sharks where they just can`t get over that hurdle? The Magnums come into this game with the #1 defense in the West (2nd overall to TC) and the #2 offense in the West. They rely on their aggressive pass rush to create turnovers. The NOVAS offense relies on a lot of misdirection to create mismatches. This may work well against the aggressive magnums defensive front in hopes of taking advantage of their over pursuit. On Offense the Magnums rely heavily on their QB. They are looking to scramble around in the backfield to buy enough time to find somebody open on that homerun ball. Use your speed at on the defensive line to keep their QB in check. NOVAS have had a solid defense this year (1 point away from being the 3rd best in the West). I think with the NOVAS having much more to play for tonight they should come out on top in the end, but in a very close battle. PREDICTION: NOVAS 24 Magnums 21 And our final game of the night: Storm vs. Sharks - After a tough battle in the early game, will the Storm have enough in them to beat the Sharks? Another situation where one team needs to only win and get in and the other team has already locked up their seed. Since they will not beat Novacaine by 24 points, a loss here will knock the Storm out of the A Playoffs and will give the Hokies the 4th seed. Unfortunately for The Storm, they just can`t match up athlete for athlete with the Sharks. I think it could be a close 1st half, but eventually that athleticism and experience will take over for the Sharks. Sharks have one of the top defensive lines and I expect they will give the Storm QB fits all night. The Storm defensive line might do well against the bigger Sharks offensive line, but the Sharks QB does a good job of getting rid of the ball. If they do get into trouble, the Sharks can go with that Wildcate offense to counterattack the Storm`s quick pass rushers. I don`t think this one will end up close in the end. PREDICTION: Sharks 28 Storm 7 That`s all I`ve got here. Looking forward to the matchups tonight. What are your predictions for the games?