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Road to the championship Enforcers defeat CFD to advance to title game
A relentless defense helped the CPD Enforcers defeat CFD to win the 8th Annual First Responder Bowl.
n BY DAN CAMPANA
n PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
One win away from earning a spot in the National Public Safety Football League’s championship game, the CPD Enforcers started the June 2 game against CFD in anything but championship form.
In the first quarter, a CFD Blaze defender picked off an Enforcers pass and returned it for a touchdown to put CPD in an early 7-0 hole. But the 8th Annual First Responder Bowl wouldn’t stay that close for very long.
The Enforcers rattled off 31 consecutive points on their way to a 31-20 victory, which marked CPD’s second consecutive win over CFD. More importantly, the victory secured the Enforcers a spot in the NPSFL title game against perennial powerhouse NYPD Finest.
CPD used its grind-it-out running game to pile up yards on mul- tiple scoring drives, while the defense kept the Blaze in check for most of the afternoon at Brother Rice High School. With the game in the balance in the first half, the Enforcers defense sacked the Blaze quarterback five times, forced four fumbles and intercepted three passes.
“They are a really good team,” Enforcers President Tim Kusinski said of the Blaze, which was battling injuries heading into the con- test. “It’s always a spirited game. Our players definitely knew what was at stake.”
While the Enforcers understood what they were playing for and the Blaze tried to play spoilers, the two teams hit the field with heavy hearts following the loss of Chicago Police Department Com- mander Paul Bauer in a February shooting and the drowning death of Chicago Fire Department diver Juan Bucio less than a week be-
fore the teams met.
“It was just very somber,” Kusinski said, noting that Bucio’s fu-
neral services were to be held in the days following the game.
As part of the Enforcers’ ongoing charitable efforts, the team is offering a challenge coin honoring Bauer to raise money for a schol- arship fund at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. Kusinski praised the team’s work on that initiative, as well as its support for a shelter for women and a connection with city youth through football camps. It’s all part of the total commitment by Enforcers players to repre-
sent the law enforcement profession properly, Kusinski added. Carrying a 5-0 overall record for the season and coming off what Kusinski called “the most important game we’ve played in 13 years,” there’s still business to take care of. The championship game will be played on June 23 at Morton High School in Berwyn, thanks to an NPSFL rule which alternates the host city annually. The title shot is a big moment for the Enforcers, who did win it all in Division II
back in 2011 when the program was still in its infancy.
“That was nice, but now we’re a bigger organization. We’ve been looking at a chance for a national championship,” Kusinski said, noting that years of finishing 3-1 in NPSFL games and tiebreakers
kept the Enforcers from making the championship several times. NYPD won a 21-14 overtime thriller against defending champion FDNY Bravest to clinch its championship game berth. NYPD has captured eight national titles since the league was formed in 1997. Kusinski said that game-planning and film study for the title tilt be-
gan in earnest shortly after the win against CFD.
“We’ll see who’s got the better talent and who’s better prepared,”
he asserted. “It’s a big honor to host the game.” d
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CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2018 49