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The D.C. Divas dropped from the top seed in the Independent Women's Football League playoffs to the second seed in the span of 24 hours.
Instead of hosting the Eastern Conference Championship on July 11, the Divas will travel to Boston to face the new top seed Milita.
The Divas (9-0) defeated the Pittsburgh Passion, 27-17, on Saturday and the Militia ran past the defending champion Dallas Diamonds, 34-14. According to the Massey Ratings, a computer program used to determine the overall strength of each team in the league and the seeds in the playoffs, the Boston 20-point victory coupled with the Divas' 10-point win allowed the Militia to slip past the Divas.
"I found out Sunday night and I had a long conversation with league president Laurie Frederick on Monday," said Divas' owner Paul Hamlin. "We didn't realize that they would reseed once the playoffs started. We're still determined to travel to Austin for the national championship game on July 25, so in order to do that, we'll have to go to Boston and beat them on their home field."
An officiating error may have affected the home site for the Eastern Conference Championship.
With the Divas facing a third-and-four from their own 9-yard-line and Pittsburgh out of time outs, Divas' quarterback Allyson Hamlin walked to the line slowly as the clock ticked down to 2 minutes. The officials are supposed to stop the game at the 2-minute mark for a timeout, but failed to do so. Instead Hamlin fumbled the snap and Pittsburgh recovered with 1:55 remaining.
After Pittsburgh quarterback Lisa Horton threw three straight incomplete passes, the Passion scored when Amanda Haeg went off left tackle and found the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown run. Lauren Brocco added the extra point to narrow the gap to 27-17.
Divas' tight end Donna Wilkinson recovered the onsides kick to seal the victory.
E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net
