Div C — Only One Undefeated Team Remains
Beer Belly Brigade — Undefeated & New Identity
Beer Belly Brigade has always been a respected name in this league but right now they’re playing like a team that’s found something different. At 6-0 and sitting at #1 in the standings, this isn’t just another Beer Belly season instead this feels like a team that’s genuinely locked in and has figured something out.
A big part of that is the addition of Marc-André Lapointe. Bringing Division 1 and 2 experience into a lineup that was already competitive has given Beer Belly’s offense a different dimension entirely. And Fafard himself? He’s playing some of the best football of his FPF career. The numbers in 6 games speak for themselves:
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28 total touchdowns
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2 interceptions
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70.5% completion rate
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128.2 QB rating
What stands out most is the efficiency. Fafard isn’t forcing anything. He’s taking what the defense gives him and using his legs when he needs to. Having Lapointe as a guy who can be a consistent checkdown option, take a short pass to the house, or stretch the field vertically has freed Fafard up to just play clean, decisive football and clean, decisive football tends to win games.
The duo has connected for a division high 13 touchdowns this season, and Lapointe’s 41 receptions on 47 targets also leads the division. That kind of target efficiency isn’t an accident, it just means Fafard trusts him and Lapointe keeps delivering when it matters. Whether it’s a crucial fourth down conversion having a reliable checkdown that can turn it into more in Lapointe has been the missing piece Beer Belly didn’t know they needed.
The biggest question for the rest of the regular season is simple: can Beer Belly Brigade stay undefeated?
The Commission — Hold Off on the Hype
On paper, The Commission looks terrifying. They’re sitting at #3 in the standings with a +83 point differential, and if you only glanced at the numbers you’d think that they’re scarier than they actually are. In reality, the Peckers forfeited their Week 1 matchup against The Commission and honestly, the reason is hard to argue with. The Montreal Canadiens were playing playoff hockey on May 21st, and apparently the Pecker boys had priorities that night. Fair enough. But the result was an automatic 60-0 win for The Commission, which largely helped their point differential and painted a picture that doesn’t reflect what’s actually happened on the field.
Strip out that forfeit and The Commission’s actual resume is a lot less intimidating. They’re 3-1 in real, played games and that one loss came against Uncle Ricos Ryders, a team currently sitting at 3-3. Doesn’t look that great on the resume. When you dig into the box score from that game, 3 interceptions thrown by Sanders Armand (on 31 attempts) and 131 passing yards with a 48% completion rate.
Meanwhile, Uncle Ricos’ QB Mathew Yanakoulias was 19 of 26, 170 yards, 4 touchdowns, zero interceptions. Peter Abbandonato had 8 catches for 104 yards and 2 scores. The Commission got outscored in both halves and Uncle Ricos just flat out played better football that day and exposed some real issues.
Now here’s the ironic part: The Commission’s upcoming schedule might end up being even more of a gift than that forfeit they got in Week 1. Their next two games are against the two winless teams at the bottom of the standings. They should cruise to 6-1 without breaking a sweat. But then it gets real fast to close out the season they’ll face Jagerbomb, The Hustlers, and Beer Belly Brigade. That final stretch is going to be the true test of who The Commission actually are, and until we see how they handle that, we will hold off on the hype.
The Peckers — Trying to Overcome Collateral Damage
The flip side of that forfeit story belongs entirely to the Peckers. They took a completely unearned 60-0 loss on their record simply because the Habs were still alive in May. Their actual record in played games is 4-1. The Peckers have been quietly putting together one of the most efficient offenses in the entire division. Starter Cory Pecker has been battling an injury, and in his place Noah Lieblein has done far more than just hold things together. The quarterback duo of Cory and Noah combined across 5 games:
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28 touchdowns
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2 interceptions
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70% completion rate
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121.4 QB rating
This is one of the more explosive and efficient offenses in Division C. Lieblein deserves real credit for stepping in and performing at a high level.
Looking ahead, the Peckers’ remaining schedule sets up nicely: Big Fat Bats, Mengoose, Uncle Ricos, and Les Innocents. If they handle their business and there’s no reason to think they won’t — a final regular season record of 8-2 is very realistic. Don’t sleep on the Peckers when the playoffs roll around.
Nut N Run — Struggling With the Division C Jump
Nut N Run are making their debut in Division C this season after climbing through Div 5, Div D, and most recently Div 4 last season. That’s a legitimate climb through the ranks, and credit is due but the jump to C has been a rude awakening — they’re 0-5 on the season and sitting dead last in the standings.
Here’s the thing though: the offense isn’t entirely the problem. QB Nicolas Katerelos was putting up legitimately decent numbers through his first three games — 676 yards, 14 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 62.5% completion rate, and a 124.7 QB rating. For a team making its Div C debut, that’s not something to dismiss. But his most recent outing against Uncle Ricos Ryders was a difficult one with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions bringing his totals to 17 touchdowns and 5 interceptions across 4 games played.
The bigger issue is that even when the offense is performing, it almost doesn’t matter. Whatever Katerelos and the offense manage to build on one side of the ball, the defense gives it right back and then some. The step up in competition has completely exposed a defensive unit that simply isn’t ready for this level yet. The scoring output is mediocre, the defense is a liability, and that combination makes it very hard to compete in Division C.
Katerelos is doing somewhat his part and deserves some credit for that. But football is a two-sided game, and until the defense can hold its own, the wins aren’t going to come. The Nut N Run growing pains are real and hopefully they use this season as a learning curve.