The fall weather reared up this past weekend in the Portland area, but that didn’t stop the TAFC teams from taking the pitch despite the conditions. With just a few weeks left in the regular Fall season, some of the clubs are jockeying for playoff positions and possible hopes of promotion while others are hoping for better results once the injury bug finally leaves them alone for a while.

FC Portlandia is in the throws of the GPSD Division 2 playoff race, and a win against their long standing rivals the Marmots would move them closer to securing a berth in the championship match. Playing on the turf at Cleveland High School, FC Portlandia was behind for most of the match until Anthony O’Reilly leveled the score at 2 with 15 minutes left. Only some stellar saves by the Marmots goalkeeper kept the boys in purple from securing the full three points, but the 2 all draw keeps FC Portlandia in the driver’s seat for the championship. They will need to deal with the loss of defender James Kinnon, who left the club to return to merry England but he is scheduled to rejoin the team sometime in spring 2012. FC Portlandia faces Por Que No under the lights at Oregon City High School on November 6 at 7:00 PM, and per their crack stats person, a win there would give them their desired berth in the finals.

Coming off their big derby win over TAFC the previous week, the North End United boys were hoping to keep their undefeated campaign going when they met Deacon Blue, a GPSD club with many Timbers Army members but not currently part of the Timbers Army FC initiative. Playing at Delta Park, NEU had an early advantage as Deacon Blue only fielded nine players to start, but reinforcements soon arrived for the opponents. Marcus Nelson scored a brace in the first half and helped set up NEU’s third goal in the first half as they defeated Deacon Blue 5 to 0. NEU hopes to keep their unblemished record in tact as they play the team they are currently tied with in second place on the GPSD Division 4 table, Mayday. The two sides get an early start time on the battle with a noon start time at Delta Park 6 on November 6.

Rose City Athletic, currently floating in the middle of the pack in GPSD Division 4, battled South VN on Sunday, another club within the pack chasing overall Division 4 leaders Ronler Hacres. While Bryan Boen continued his torrid scoring pace in notching his tenth goal of the Fall campaign, RCA struggled in the backline and let South VN control the pace and tempo of the match which they eventually won 3 to 1. RCA goalkeeper Casey McLaughlin made plenty of quality saves to try and keep things close, but RCA struggled with their offensive fast break and missed out on several key scoring opportunities in the loss. RCA hopes to rebound at Glenhaven Park on this Sunday when they face long time GPSD members the Onetouchables also at noon.

TAFC, meanwhile, continues to struggle with numbers as they fielded only 10 healthy players in meeting Ronler Hacres, the top side in GPSD D4. Despite the lack of numbers, TAFC held them scoreless for the first 25 minutes of the match until Ronler Hacres finally broke through off a quick counter. The shower of goals for the next few moments was only amplified with the torrent of rain that turned an already muddy field into a bog in certain areas. TAFC fought valiantly despite the lack of subs and the quickness of Ronler Hacres, but they ended up being held scoreless while the top team put up double digit goals. TAFC hopes to rebound this weekend and secure the return of many of their key players as they meet Sasquatch Gang FC at Columbia Park at 2 PM on November 6. In other TAFC news, manager Jerry Makare has announced that the new team name will be officially released soon just in time for the Winter session.

All TAFC clubs should be aware that this weekend is Daylight Savings Time, so many of us will be moving our clocks back one hour. If you happen to miss out on the fun, well at least you will be incredibly early for this weekend’s games. All clubs will continue regular season play through November 13, 2011, followed by any playoff dates. We’ll then have official announcements about Winter TAFC teams, and news of some new arrivals to the TAFC family very soon as well just in time for Spring session.