Creeperopolis v Rakhman (2003 CIP World Championship)
 The Keegan Center Stadium, where the game was played | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 14 July 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kickoff time | 12:00 (AMT+7) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Keegan Center Stadium, Cork | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Creeperopolis by 35.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Luther Haarmann (Kivu) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 309 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Television | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | DC-TS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Zach Sullivan (play-by-play) Chris MacCaffrey (color analyst) | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV ratings | 0.04 | ||||||||||||||||||
On 14 July 2003, the Creeperopolis and Rakhman national peil teams played against each other in their second game of Group B of the 2003 CIP World Championship, the national-level international professional peil tournament. Both Creeperopolis and Rakhman had lost their first CIP World Championship group stage games, against Paleocacher and Uulgadzar, respectively, and both sought to win their first game of the group in order to avoid elimination from the tournament. Creeperopolis, the previous tournament's runner-up, was favored by over five touchdowns.
During the game, Creeperopolis dominated Rakhman both offensively and defensively. Creeperopolis' offense recorded 7 touchdowns during its 89–0 victory over Rakhman, with quarterback Alfonso Moreno Salinas recording a perfect 158.3 passer rating, 521 passing yards, and a 99-yard touchdown pass, the longest possible play in peil. Meanwhile, the defense recorded 17 sacks and forced 2 of the 3 safeties which occurred. The game has been described as one of the most lopsided peil games in history. Rakhman was eliminated from advancing to the Final as a result of the loss and subsequently lost its final game to Paleocacher by a score of 3–40, resulting in many players and coaches never again being called up to the Rakhman national peil team. Meanwhile, Creeperopolis proceeded to defeat Uulgadzar by a score of 12–10 in its next game and advanced to the Final, where it defeated Kivu by a score of 17–14 and won its first CIP World Championship title.
Creeperopolis' point total of 89 remains a record for the most points scored in a game by a single team, while Rakhman failing to score a single point ties the record for least points scored in a game, which had happened one other time in 1999 when Rakhman lost to Dontalamh by a score of 0–9. Various other records were set during the game, including largest margin of victory; the most points scored in the first, second, and fourth quarters by a single team; most passing touchdowns in a single game; most sacks taken in a single game; among other notable records, many of which still stand.
Contents
Background
Creeperopolis
The Creeperopolis national peil team was formed in 1997 and became affiliated with the International Federation of Peil (CIP) in 1998 prior to the 1999 CIP World Championship, the inaugural edition of the CIP's national-level international professional peil tournament. Peil had already been moderately popular in Creeperopolis since the 1989 establishment of SPG Creeperopolis, a subsidiary of the Gjorkan Peil League, which introduced the sport to Creeperopolis and allowed various peil players to play and develop. As a result of the sport's presence in the country, the Creeperopolis national team had an advantage against many of the other national peil teams.
During the 1999 CIP World Championship hosted in Gjorka, the Creeperopolis national team defeated Dontalamh by a score of 48–3 in its first game, which was followed by a 50–3 victory against Rakhman. Creeperopolis advanced to the final, where it lost by a score of 16–23 to Kivu after Kivu scored a touchdown in overtime. Entering the 2003 CIP World Championship, Creeperopolis was one of the favorites to win the tournament, however, during its first group stage game, Creeperopolis lost by a score of 16–23 to Paleocacher, which was also one of the tournament's favorites to win. Following the loss, Héctor Rivera Tassis, Creeperopolis' head coach, reportedly told his players to "score more points than Rakhman has players" in order to recover from the team's loss.
Rakhman
The Rakhman national peil team was formed in 1997 and became affiliated with the CIP in 1998. Peil became popular in eastern Rakhman in the 1990s after the sport was introduced from Gjorka. The Ligai Millī Peil was established in 1995 and the sport began to become popular nationwide. Similar to Creeperopolis, Rakhman having a domestic peil league prior to the establishment of the CIP World Championship gave the national team a perceived advantage against the other national peil teams.
During the 1999 CIP World Championship, the Rakhman national team, despite being favored to win by 6.5 points, lost its first game to Dontalamh by a score of 0–9. Rakhman then lost its second game to Creeperopolis by a score of 3–48. Rakhman was the worst team during the tournament, scoring only 3 points (the least of any team) and allowing a point differential of –56 (second worst after Uulgadzar's –57). In Rakhman's first game during the 2003 CIP World Championship, Rakhman lost to Uulgadzar by a score of 7–38; during the game, Rakhman scored its first touchdown. Prior to its game against Creeperopolis, Gennadi Levkin, Rakhman's head coach, reportedly told his players that the team "cannot allow Creeperopolis to score more than 30 points" in order to avoid being eliminated and prevent the team suffering another blowout loss.
Game summary
The game was held in the Keegan Center Stadium in Cork, Paleocacher, as was ever other game held during the tournament. Although the stadium had a capacity for over 18,000 spectators, only 309 people attended the game, one of the lowest attendance figures of the tournament. The game was broadcast in Gjorka on DC-TS; Zach Sullivan was the play-by-play commentator and Chris MacCaffrey was the color analyst. In Creeperopolis, the game was broadcast on Channel 4, and in Rakhman, it was broadcast on Kanali Varziş. The game's officiating crew was led by referee Luther Haarmann (51) from the Kivu Peil Association.
First quarter
The game began with a kick-off from Rakhmani placekicker Ilia Samsonov who kicked the ball into the endzone. Instead of allowing a touchback and starting a drive from its 20 yard line, Creeperian running back and returner Enrique Payés Murillo fielded the ball 9 yards deep in the endzone. He managed to avoid all the Rakhmani special teams players en route to a 109-yard kick-off return touchdown, giving Creeperopolis an early 7–0 lead and setting a record for the longest kick-off return touchdown. The kick-off by Creeperian placekicker Felipe Montes León was fielded by Rakhmani running back and returner Aleksandr Ulanov, however, unlike Payés Murillo's kick-off return, Ulanov only managed to return the ball to Rakhman's own 17 yard line. Rakhman's following drive lasted 8 plays until Yuri Fomenkov was forced to punt the ball back to Creeperopolis which resulted in a touchback.
In Creeperopolis' first drive, quarterback Alfonso Moreno Salinas led a 13-play, 80-yard drive which ended in a 39-yard pass to wide receiver Felipe Juárez Piñón to extend Creeperopolis' lead to 14–0. Rakhman started its second drive at its own 14 yard line, but as it crossed Creeperopolis' 40 yard line, a pass by quarterback Maksim Ostrovski was intercepted by cornerback Estefano Linares Castro. Moreno Salinas then led a 10-play, 66-yard drive which ended in a 15-yard touchdown pass to tight-end Nicolás Enríquez Casanova, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 21–0. Rakhman's third drive ended when one of Ostrovski's passes was intercepted by linebacker Antonio Arce Mendoza. Moreno Salinas led Creeperopolis down to the 25 yard line, where Rakhman successfully stopped Payés Murillo 4 yards short of a first down. Montes León kicked a 43-yard field goal to increase Creeperopolis' lead to 24–0 with 18 seconds left in the first quarter. Montes León's kick-off was returned to Rakhman's own 21-yard line; as Ostrovski attempted to pass the ball, he was sacked by defensive end Osmín Yagüe Guerrero for an 8 yard loss, brining the first quarter to an end.
Second quarter
On the first play of the second quarter, Yagüe Guerrero intercepted a pass from Ostrovski and returned it for a 17-yard touchdown only four seconds into the quarter, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 31–0. The subsequent kick-off was returned to the 13 yard line, and on the first play of Rakhman's fifth drive, the pocket around Ostrovski collapsed, and as he ran back to avoid being sacked, Ostrovski accidentally ran out of the back of the endzone, awarding Creeperopolis a safety and extending its lead to 33–0. Rakhman proceeded to kick-off the ball to Creeperopolis, which Payés Murillo returned for a 92-yard kick-off return touchdown, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 40–0; in the first 28 seconds of the second quarter, Creeperopolis scored 16 points.
Ostrovski began Rakhman's sixth drive at the 20 yard line after a touchback. He led a 8-play, 47-yard drive down the field which ended in one of his passes being intercepted by Yagüe Guerrero. Alfonso Salinas led Creeperopolis' fourth drive for 12 plays and 67 yards, culminating in a 1-yard pass to Juárez Piñón after a fake quarterback sneak, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 47–0. Although Rakhman's seventh drive began at the 20 yard line after a touchback, Ostrovski was sacked for a 11-yard loss by defensive lineman Valentín Álvarez Quijano. On the subsequent play, Ostrovski completed a 21-yard pass to wide receiver Dominik Reznikov, however, the play was negated by a holding penalty called on offensive tackle Gavriil Bondarenko which resulted in a safety and extended Creeperopolis' lead to 49–0.
After Samsonov's kick-off resulted in a touchback, Moreno Salinas led an 8-play, 35-yard drive to Rakhman's 45 yard line, where Creeperopolis's drive was stopped after an incomplete pass to Juárez Piñón on third down. Montes León proceeded to kick a 62-yard field goal, then the longest field goal ever made during the CIP World Championship. The field goal extended Creeperopolis' lead to 52–0. Montes León's subsequent kick-off bounced out of bounds, resulting in the ball being placed at Rakhman's 40 yard line. Ostrovski quickly organized an 11-play, 59-yard drive down to Creeperopolis' 1 yard line, when with 5 seconds left in the half on 2nd and goal, Ostrovski's pass was intercepted by line backer Adolfo Líster Ordóñez, who was downed at the 1 yard line. With 5 seconds left in the half, Moreno Salinas sought to get the ball out of the endzone to avoid conceding a safety to Rakhman; he passed the ball to wide receiver Ramón Trejo Hidalgo, who proceeded to run the ball 99 yards to score a touchdown with no time left in the half. The 99-yard touchdown, the longest possible play from scrimmage, extended Creeperopolis' lead to 59–0 at halftime.
Third quarter
Prior to the second half, Levkin considered benching all his starters to rest them for Rakhman's next game against Paleocacher, however, he changed his mind since he knew that a loss to Creeperopolis meant that Rakhman would be eliminated from advancing to the Final. Meanwhile, Rivera Tassis benched most of his starters to let them rest for Creeperopolis' upcoming game against Uulgadzar, but he left Moreno Salinas and a few other starters in the game as they wanted to pad their stats as much as they possibly could.
Montes León's kick-off resulted in a touchback. Rakhman's ninth drive started with Ostrovski being sacked by Álvarez Quijano for a 9-yard loss; the next play, a handoff to Ulanov, resulted in a 3-yard loss, and the third play ended the drive when Ostrovski was sacked in the endzone by linebacker Óscar Valdéz Portillo, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 61–0. After Ostrovski's fifth sack, he was benched in favor of backup quarterback Boris Naumenko. The ensuing kick-off resulted in a touchback, and Creeperopolis' seventh drive began at the 20 yard line. Moreno Salinas led a 12-play, 54-yard drive which culminated in a 43-yard field goal by Montes León. Rakhman's tenth drive ended when a fumbled by Naumenko was recovered by defensive end Julio León Gaitán at the 25 yard line. Moreno Salinas led Creeperopolis on a 9-play, 43-yard drive to Rakhman's 32 yard line; the drive ended in Montes León kicking a 49-yard field goal, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 67–0.
Rakhman's eleventh drive began at the 20 yard line, and Naumenko led Rakhman down the field on a 15-play, 71-yard play down to Creeperopolis' 9 yard line. On 1st and goal, Naumenko completed a pass to wide receiver Luka Tkachenko who run to the endzone, but before breaking the plane of the goal line, Tkachenko fumbled the ball while celebrating what he believed was a touchdown. The officiating crew did not call the play dead, and cornerback Humberto Vides Ureña recovered the ball and ran it back to the 9 yard line when he was forced out by offensive tackle Grigori Petukhov. Replay review confirmed that Tkachenko fumbled the ball and Creeperopolis began its ninth drive, during which, the third quarter came to an end.
Fourth quarter
With the beginning of the fourth quarter, Moreno Salinas began to waste time to bring the game to an end quicker, as Creeperopolis was effectively guaranteed to win the game with its 67–0 lead against Rakhman. He ultimately led a 13-play, 91-yard drive down the field which ended with a 14-yard pass to tight-end Juan Salinas Carpio, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 74–0. Naumenko led Rakhman's twelfth drive for 14 plays and 53 yards. On a 2nd and 9 play, Naumenko completed a pass to Skumin, who proceeded to attempt to lateral the ball to Tkachenko, however, Tkachenko failed to catch the lateral resulting in a pile forming on top of the ball. After removing players from the pile, the officiating crew awarded the ball to Creeperopolis as linebacker Federico León Duarte recovered the ball.
Moreno Salinas proceeded to led a 14-play, 82-yard drive down the field which resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass to Juárez Piñón, extending Creeperopolis' lead to 81–0. By now, Rakhman accepted that it would certainly lose to Creeperopolis, but Levkin wanted to score points to avoid being shutout. Naumenko led a 16-play, 67-yard drive to Creeperopolis' 13 yard line, where, on 4th and 3, Levkin opted to attempt a field goal to decrease Creeperopolis' lead to 81–3. Prior to the ball being snapped, Rivera Tassis called a time out and Samsonov's successful 30-yard field goal was nullified. On his second field goal attempt, the snap was high and Samsonov was forced to recover the ball and attempt to get a first down, however, he was tackled by two defenders at the 22 yard line.
Creeperopolis regained possession of the ball with 4:12 remaining in the game, and Moreno Salinas led a 10-play, 72-yard drive down the field in an effort to score even more points on Rakhman. With 52 seconds left in the game, Moreno Salinas threw his seventh touchdown pass, completing a 2-yard pass to Enríquez Casanova. On the extra point attempt, Montes León's kick was blocked by Rakhman, however, instead of jumping on the ball to prevent Rakhman from recovering, Montes León caught the ball and ran towards the goal line in an attempt to score a two-point conversion. His effort succeeded and Creeperopolis' lead was extended to 89–0. The subsequent kick-off resulted in a touchback, and from his own 20 yard line, Naumenko made one last effort to score points to avoid a shutout. After 6 plays, Naumenko led Rakhman to Creeperopolis' 49 yard line with 3 seconds left in the game. Levkin opted to allow Samsonov to attempt a 66-yard field goal to bring the final score to 89–3 as time expired; Samsonov was able to successfully kick the ball without it being blocked, however, the ball landed short of the goalpost and bounced out of bounds with no time left on the game clock. With the failed field goal attempt, the game ended with a final score of 89–0, the largest margin of victory in CIP World Championship history.
Summary
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Creeperopolis |
24 | 35 | 8 | 22 | 89 |
 Rakhman |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
at Keegan Center Stadium, Cork, Paleocacher
- Date: 14 July
- Game time: 12:00 p.m. (AMT+7)
- Game weather: 69 °F (21 °C), clear, wind 8 mph NE
- Game attendance: 309
- Referee: Luther Haarmann (Kivu)
- TV announcers (DC-TS): Zach Sullivan and Chris MacCaffrey
- Reference: International Federation of Peil
| Game information | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Aftermath
As a result of Rakhman's 0–89 loss, Rakhman was eliminated from advancing to the 2003 CIP World Championship Final. Following the game, the Rakhman Peil Federation fired Levkin as the national peil team's head coach and replaced him with Giorgi Moroshkin, the national team's offensive coordinator. Ostrovski was benched in favor of Naumenko for the team's following game against Paleocacher, which Rakhman eventually lost by a score of 3–40. After the tournament, Moroshkin was fired as interim head coach and Ostrovski never started another game for the Rakhman national peil team. In addition to Ostrovski, Levkin, and Moroshkin, several other players and coaches were never again called up to play for the Rakhman national peil team. Rakhman finished last in Group B having scored 10 points while allowing 167 for a point differential of –157, a record which still stands as the worst finish in CIP World Championship history.
Creeperopolis remained eligible to qualify for the 2003 CIP World Championship Final after the 89–0 victory. In its next game against Uulgadzar, Creeperopolis won by a score of 12–10, with Montes León kicking a 51-yard field goal as time expired. With the victory, Creeperopolis, Paleocacher, and Uulgadzar all shared identical 2–1 records in the group stage. As only one team could advance to the 2003 CIP World Championship Final, the tie was broken determined on point differentials; Creeperopolis, with its +86 point differential, advanced to the Final and played against Kivu, a rematch of the 1999 CIP World Championship Final. Creeperopolis defeated Kivu by a score of 17–14 after blocking a field goal attempt by Kivuian placekicker Johann Fabricius as time expired to prevent the game from going to overtime, where Creeperopolis had lost in 1999. The 2003 tournament was Creeperopolis' first World Championship title, and Moreno Salinas was named as the tournament's Most Valued Player. When the national team returned to Creeperopolis, all of its players and coaching staff were awarded the medal grade of the Imperial Order of Romerism by Emperor Alexander II.
On 15 July 2003, Rakhmani government claimed that the Creeperian government had bribed the officiating crew to rig the game in favor of the Creeperopolis national peil team. The Creeperian government, the Creeperopolis national peil team, the game's officiating crew, Keegan Center Stadium management, and the International Federation of Peil all denied the Rakhmani government's claims and fined the Rakhman Peil Federation CQS₵500,000 for its comments regarding officiating integrity during the game.
Legacy
The game has been described as one of the most lopsided games in peil history, and it remains the largest margin of victory in the CIP World Championship. In 2011, José Luján López, a host for the La'Selección ¡HOY! talk show on Channel 4, listed the game as the fourth most important non-football related national team victory in Creeperian history, stating that it "demonstrates that Creeperopolis can dominate the world in sports other than football". In 2017, Daire Nerney, a writer for the Gjorka Times, listed the game as the eleventh most important peil game of all time, stating that it was a "necessary experiment in testing the limits of scoring in professional peil".
On 20 July 2013, the tenth anniversary of Creeperopolis victory in the 2003 CIP World Championship, the Creeperian Peil League, the successor of SPG Creeperopolis, released a 2-hour documentary, titled La'Selección de Peil de 2003, outlining Creeperopolis' 2003 CIP World Championship campaign, and the documentary gave considerable focus to Creeperopolis' 89–0 victory over Rakhman. On 14 July 2023, the twentieth anniversary of the 89–0 game, the Creeperian Peil League broadcast the entire game on Channel 37 and also made it available for streaming.
Records
Current records
- Team records
- Set by both teams:
- Highest scoring game (89 points)
- Set by Creeperopolis:
- Largest margin of victory (89 points)
- Most points scored by a team in a game (89)
- Most points scored by a team in the first quarter (21)
- Most points scored by a team in the second quarter (35)
- Most points scored by a team in the fourth quarter (22)
- Most points scored in the second quarter (35, since tied)
- Most points scored within a one minute interval (16)
- Most touchdowns scored in a game (10)
- Least turnovers allowed in a game (0, tied)
- Set by Rakhman
- Most sacks allowed in a game (17)
- Most safeties allowed in a game (3, tied)
- Least points scored in a game (0, tied)
- Player records
- Set by Alfonso Moreno Salinas:
- Highest passer rating in a game (158.3, tied)
- Most passing yards in a game (521)
- Most passing touchdowns in a game (7, since tied)
- Longest passing touchdown (99 yards)
- Set by Felipe Juárez Piñón
- Most receiving yards in a game (278)
- Set by Ramón Trejo Hidalgo
- Longest receiving touchdown (99 yards)
- Set by Enrique Payés Murillo
- Longest kick-off touchdown (109 yards)
- Set by Felipe Montes León
- Most extra points made in a game (9)
- Most extra points attempted in a game (10)
- Set by Maksim Ostrovski:
- Most sacks taken in a game (11)
Former records
- Team records
- Set by Creeperopolis:
- Most points scored in the first quarter (24)
- Most points scored in the fourth quarter (22)
- Set by Rakhman:
- Most turnovers allowed in a game (9, tied)
- Player records
- Set by Felipe Montes León
- Longest field-goal made (62 yards)
- Set by Maksim Ostrovski:
- Most interceptions in a game (5)
- Set by Ilia Samsonov
- Longest field-goal attempted (66 yards, tied)
Starting lineups
Officials
- Referee: Luther Haarmann (51) (Kivu)
- Umpire: Ruadhán Lane (81) (Gjorka)
- Down Judge: Tiernan Gleeson (6) (Gjorka)
- Line Judge: Caelan Kerrane (32) (Hapatmitas)
- Back Judge: Hans Denzinger (117) (Kivu)
- Field Judge: Kaiden O'Fogarty (103) (Gjorka)
- Side Judge: Éanna Muldowney (105) (Gjorka)
- Center Judge: Ross O'Colman (7) (Gjorka)
