Fresh Kills and La Famiglia advancing to the semifinals isn’t exactly a surprise.  All three of us picked La Famiglia in our preseason predictions to win the $h0wT!m3 Division, and sure enough, all three of us got it right. Now, I know what you are thinking here…if all three of us got it right, then Intern Nick got it wrong. Well, back in March, Intern Nick as a writer for the website was just a gleam in Richie’s eye.  All three of us also picked Fresh Kills to win the Brown Division, and although we got that wrong, they did finish with the second best record in the league, so our forecasting wasn’t entirely off base.

While much has been made about Math being in uncharted waters here in the semifinals, it should be noted that La Famiglia is also making their maiden semifinal voyage. After knocking on the door with quarterfinal losses the past two seasons, they finally broke through last week with a sparsely watched 2-0 blanking of the Denim Demons. How La Famiglia responds to the bright lights of the semifinals and the bigger crowds that it draws will go a long way to determining if they can advance further. And the crowds will be big, since that Filthy Gorgeous-Happy Little Elves scrimmage isn’t going to be moving the needle.

Fresh Kills, on the other hand, has been here before, as they are in the semifinals for the fourth consecutive season, and the sixth time in the past seven seasons. Considering the one-and-done nature of the postseason, that’s a pretty impressive feat. Of course, not every game is a walk in the park, although it seemed like it would be for Fresh Kills last Sunday, as regular season scoring champion Gabe Chenard staked them to an early lead with two quick goals. However, Cobra Kai wised up and decided that covering Gabe would be a sound and ultimately effective strategy, and fought back to tie the game in the second half. Fresh Kills escaped the Dojo’s upset bid with a late goal from rookie (and Scott Lee replacement) Pete Gordon.

These teams faced off once this season, with Fresh Kills beating La Famiglia 3-1 just over a month ago. Considering Fresh Kills experience and familiarity at this stage of the playoffs, we see a similar result, as Fresh Kills prevails 2-1 and advances to their third championship game appearance in the past four seasons.