By Noam Gumerman

The Carolina Flyers dismantled the Philadelphia Phoenix 31-14 at the Carolina home opener this past weekend. It was about as dominant a complete game and team performance as you’ll find in the UFA, with the Flyers taking control of the game early and not relinquishing it for even a second. The key stretch for the Flyers was a dominant middle half of the game, winning the second and third quarters by a combined score of 18-7 (8-2 in the third alone).

The Flyers were able to take control, first and foremost, through their relentless defensive effort. It was a complete effort from everyone on the Carolina D-line, as they routinely put the Phoenix into difficult spots within the first couple of throws of a possession, generating loads of quick-strike breaks off the inevitable turnovers. The Phoenix were never able to adjust. The Flyers held Philadelphia to a paltry 47% hold rate, while not being broken a single time.

Suraj Madiraju led the way with three blocks for the Flyers, but was just one of nine Carolina players with at least one block. Offensively, it’s almost harder to find a Flyer who didn’t light up the stats sheet than one who did. Grayson Sanner is an obvious standout, however, with over 500 yards of offense split nearly evenly between throwing and receiving yards, in addition to three goals and three assists. Jacob Fairfax found the endzone five times and assisted twice to go along with over 450 total yards of offense, and Allan Laviolette had five assists, one goal, and led the team with 304 throwing yards.

The Flyers are humming on both sides of the disc ahead of their critical first matchup (of four total matchups) with Atlanta this weekend on the road.