Four teams are out, and four remain. After months of league play and practice, four will become two, as only the winners on Sunday will get the chance to play in the final.

Among them, the number one favorite, the Blue Devils, the biggest surprise of 2009, the Silverhawks, the team with a subscription for the big game, the Vukovi and the biggest underdog and the still reigning champion, the Gladiators.

So who will it be? League realignment prior to the 2009 season didn’t turn out so well, as the team like the Wolves will miss out on the playoffs for the first time, despite playing stronger opponents than most, and recording 4 wins. The Wolves stay home, while the Gladiators, with a 3-5 record, go to Hohenems.

But things are what they are, and the Gladiators are still alive, having bested two of their opponents in the group despite having a bad fall part of the season. Still, that they can beat a team that already beat them 33-0, that has the highest scoring offense and the lowest conceding defense, the best passer, Bradley Guidry, the second best rusher, Tino Muggwyler is doubtful. Their last year’s win in the bowl game was a mild surprise, if at all, but anything but a Blue Devils win would be an epic surprise.

A more interesting game will be played in Ljubljana, where the Silverhawks will host the Vukovi Belgrade. The Vukovi travel to Slovenia, even though they were the league’s longest lasting undefeated team. The loss in their last game, against the Blue Devils, destroyed their chances of a home playoff game — and a possible losing streak would end it, prematurely, at least from their perspective.

A great season would turn into an amazing one for the Silverhawks if that would happen. The first CEFL game in history, Silverhawks at Vukovi in Belgrade in the spring of 2006, saw the Slovenians lose, and it was a loss that describes their tenure in the league well. Until now, even though they never held a lead in that game, it’s a game where they were the closest to maybe get a win — after that, it was mostly like last year in Ljubljana, a 38-6 beating by the Vukovi.

But the Silverhawks are a much different team now, mostly, if not entirely because of adding maybe the most explosive offensive player in the league. They qualified for the playoffs thanks to a win over the Dukes — a win in which they didn’t complete a single pass, but when your running back goes for over 300 yards, like Joseph Moncur did, anything is possible.

The Silverhawks are also the team with the longest winning record in the league currently, going 5-0 since a 0-3 start.