The DC Brawlers entered the season as the defending champions, two years running, and having never lost a match. Projections for the 2016 season, however, left the Brawlers feeling disrespected. The Gridmaster predicted that the Boston Iron would win the 2016 Pinnacle Trophy. This left a bad taste in the Brawlers’ mouths and they came out to show the league they are as dominant as ever.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | TOTAL | |
| Brawlers | 2 (2) |
2 (4) |
2 (6) |
2 (8) |
2 (10) |
2 (12) |
3 (15) |
2 (17) |
2 (19) |
2 (21) |
3 (24) |
24 |
| Anthem | 1 (1) |
1 (2) |
1 (3) |
1 (4) |
1 (5) |
0 (5) |
0 (5) |
0 (5) |
1 (6) |
0 (6) |
1 (7) |
7 |
The Brawlers came out and never took their foot off the gas pedal winning the first five races by 12 seconds or more. With a 10-5 lead, the Brawlers put even more pressure on the Anthem as they finished Race 6 in 3:05. The time was fast enough that the Anthem were unable to complete the work within 30 seconds of the Brawlers’ finish, giving them zero points for the race.
Race 7, the Deadlift Ladder, again gave the Anthem zero points after the Brawlers out-lifted the Anthem by over 3,000 pounds for the overall total and 2,500 for the women’s total. The Race 7 victory gave the Brawlers an almost insurmountable lead, 15-5 with only four races left.
Only needing to secure one more point for the win, the Brawlers set out to make a statement and leave nothing on the table. Head Coach Justin Cotler said of the tiebreaker format, “You’re not just playing the other team, you’re playing the restof the league for a spot in the conference finals. I am never going to take my foot off the gas for that reason.” With this in mind, the Brawlers finished the night winning every race and ended with the largest margin of victory (17) in the NPGL’s history.
The Baltimore Anthem will need to regroup and figure out what went wrong in a match that had very few bright spots. One of those bright spots, however, was Jared Enderton who showed his ability to quickly cycle bodyweight movements like handstand push-ups and ring muscle-ups in addition to moving a heavy barbell. Enderton, a former professional weightlifter, joined the Anthem last season and is becoming the star on the team.
Both teams’ next match is on Monday, August 22. The DC Brawlers (1-0) will face the Boston Iron (0-1) at 9:00pm ET while the Baltimore Anthem battle the New York Rhinos at 6:00pm ET.
