Final Standings

Playoff Schedule

Regular Season Schedule

Recap

Former NCAA Division III star Idris McClain of Amherst College in Massachusetts received the MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award as Shanghai Titans dominated in a 28-6 triumph over Shanghai Nighthawks to capture the Titans first ever American Football League of China Championship at Luwan Stadium in Shanghai.

The 14-team League was extremely competitive with the teams broken into 3 Divisions: East, with four teams in Shanghai, one in Beijing and one in Hefei; South, with three teams in Hong Kong and two in Guangzhou; and West, with two teams in Chongqing and one in Chengdu.

The East Division was dominated by the Shanghai teams with three of the teams from China’s biggest city reaching the Playoffs: Shanghai Warriors undefeated on 4-0, Shanghai Titans in second on 3-1, and Shanghai Nighthawks winning the head-to-head with Beijing Iron Brothers after both teams finished on 2-2. Rounding out the East Division were Hefei Crocodiles (1-3) and Shanghai Dragoons (0-4).

The South Division, was very close with Hong Kong Warhawks picking up the honours on 3-1. Three teams then tied for second on 2-2, so a three-way tie-breaker was invoked, with Guangzhou Tigers (1-1, +8) and Guangzhou Apaches (1-1, -3) making the playoffs ahead of Hong Kong Cobras (1-1, -5). Hong Kong Combat Orcas finished bottom of the Division on 1-3 but were by no means disgraced having been the only team to have defeated the Warhawks in the Regular Season (10-0 on Week 8).

The West Division was a two-horse race between Chengdu Pandaman and Chongqing Dockers who both finished 3-1. The Pandaman won the tie-breaker having defeated Dockers 56-14 (giving them a 21-point Plus for that game and +17 overall – the differential was capped at 21) in their second game after the Dockers had won the first 16-12.

The Playoffs saw two First Placed seeds go out in the First Round as Shanghai Nighthawks shocked the Previously undefeated Shanghai Warriors 28-14 and Guangzhou Tigers knocked out Hong Kong Warhawks 20-8. In the other two Round 1 games Chengdu Pandaman made sure there would be no third exit for a first placed seed as they defeated Guangzhou Apaches 26-16 and Shanghai Titans made light work of Chongqing Dockers 38-6.

The Semi-Finals saw the two Shanghai teams secure close victories by a touchdown or less, as Shanghai Titans squeaked by Guangzhou Apaches 24-23 and Shanghai Nighthawks came off 20-14 victors over the Pandaman at Chengdu. Both Shanghai teams needed fourth quarter heroics to see them into the Championship Game which was a repeat of the 2014 Final. Nighthawks won 26-24 on that day, but were not to repeat the feat as the Shanghai Titans came hot at the right time entering the playoffs. The 2016 season was the fourth season of the AFLC.

Note: For A Full Report and Scoring Summary for the Championship Game please click on the game itself in the Schedule provided.

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References

[1] AFLC (2018) Standing [Internet] Available from: http://www.aflcfootball.com/index.php/standing [Accessed 20 January 2018]

[2] AFLC Wayback Machine (2016) Standing [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161010092024/http://aflcfootball.com/index.php/standing [Accessed 20 January 2018]

[3] AFLC Wayback Machine (2016) Schedule [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161010074856/http://aflcfootball.com/index.php/schedule [Accessed 20 January 2018]

[4] American Football International / Danny Zhang (2016) Shanghai Warriors, Hong Kong Warhawks lead in early American Football League of China season [Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/american-football-league-china-now-full-swing/ [Accessed 19 November 2021]

[5] American Football International / Danny Zhang (2016) Busy Month for American Football League of China [Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/busy-month-american-football-league-china/  [Accessed 19 November 2021]

[6] American Football International / Danny Zhang (2016) American Football League of China Playoffs Looming [Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/aflc-playoffs-china-looming/ [Accessed 19 November 2021]

[7] AFLC Wayback Machine (2016) Schedule [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161010074856/http://aflcfootball.com/index.php/schedule [Accessed 20 January 2018]

[8] American Football International / Danny Zhang (2016) American Football League of China Down to Final Four [Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/american-football-league-china-final-four/ [Accessed 19 November 2021]

[9] American Football International / Danny Zhang (2016) American Football League of China Semis Filled with Fourth Quarter Drama [Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/aflc-semifinal-recap-nail-biting-fourth-quarter-drama/ [Accessed 19 November 2021]

[10] American Football International / Danny Zhang (2016) Shanghai Titans win first ever American Football League of China Crown in Convincing Fashion[Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/shanghai-titans-win-first-ever-american-football-league-china-crown-convincing-fashion/ [Accessed 19 November 2021]

Logo references

[11] AFLC Wayback Machine (2016) logo [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20161010092024im_/http://aflcfootball.com/themes/default/images/aflcpic/logo.png [Accessed 20 January 2018]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Peter Comerford and Eoin O’Fearghaill.

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American & World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 19 November 2021

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021

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