Categories: Division 4ADivision 4BGeneral

2nd Half of the season starts tonight!

Hey Div 4, welcome to April! We made it through a damn hard winter as we’ve had a string of days with decent weather and next week looks like some highs in the double digits. But enough weather talk, after an exhausting report car edition of the Div 4 article, let’s get back to our regularly written content, so welcome to Week 6’s recap/looking forward to Week 7’s edition of the Division 4 article; glad you tuned in!

On tap this week, we’ve got your Division Highlights, a Game Recap, Fantasy Team of the Week (new), Power Rankings and Game Picks. So let’s dive into the week that was!

4A – Pulse of the Division

  • Big Fun got a big win to keep their season alive and currently hold the 6th and final playoff spot in Conference A.
  • TOPSZN vs. The Brotherhood: What a game of the week!! Highlight play, after highlight play. The only thing that was unfortunate of it was that part of the file got corrupted. Damn, now we have to pick between making that sideline catch vs. not hitting Chris Rivest and having a complete GOTW to watch. Also, if not everyone knew the name Brandon Parent, he certainly put the league on notice with that outstanding catch that had the Brotherhood sideline waving “incomplete”. It had high-level concentration and body control that not many can accomplish. SICK catch!
  • Speaking of Chris Rivest, one thing you don’t want to do is go into a score-for-score battle against Takeover. That was a battle that The Stoics lost, 34-40. That said, while Rivest can dissect a defense, I don’t often expect 30+ point from him, so it’s good to know he can put up the points when they find themselves in an offensive game. I’m more used to 21-18 scorelines from The Stoics.
  • Oh I had the chance to see Adam Sinagra throw last week for #NR, and oh boy, he was making some great throws early on against Braves. The questions running through my mind were that “THAT’s the QB level of play that 4A and the Blackouts have???” “Holy crap, 4A is in trouble”. And you wanna talk about consistent QB play? Let the stat speak for themselves:
  • Centaures had a 14 point lead against Small Giants, off of an INCREDIBLE, NASTY one handed INT, returned for a pick 6 by Riley Pincombe, but couldn’t hold off Justin Lerner and Theo Bekelis as they give up the TD and the 1 point convert on the second-to-last play to drop their record to 2-4.
  • Ryan Vanslet is starting to run away as the best statistical receiver, with the most yards (439) and the most TDs (15) in 4A.
  • Rory Semerjian (Centaures) also had a double-take Pick 6. A one-handed INT where he just got his hand under the ball and on top of the turf. No one thought he got the pick, and even he was questioning it, as he ran his way into the endzone with his hands raised in a shrug🤷‍♂️. He now has the most Pick 6’s (3) in the div this season.

4B – Roundtable Discussion

  • Les Montagnards are still undefeated at 7-0. Will Mofos, Finessers or Les Verges Folles be able to stop their road to the perfect 10-0 season?
  • Team Ethnik are lucky they didn’t lose their W by not calling the game after gaining a 1st down with 4 plays remaining. Had they tied instead of won, they would have been tied with Los Locos with 5 points. Instead, they sit in the 5th seed but don’t have much room for errors.
  • Without Evan Frank and Joe Kano in the lineup, The U were shorthanded playing against Vultures, and suffered their first loss of the season.
  • I said it in my mid-season report, but Golden Eagles have the best shot of winning games when Sara Parker is in at QB. They beat Finessers by 3 scores last Saturday in Loyola.
  • I find Bandits are the team that BBB was a couple years back. With that 2-year added experience, Beer Belly beat them 31-18.
  • Ballers need a better mix of short, intermediate and deep plays on offense.
  • Upset of the week: The winless Sphinx and Mathieu Fafard caught Voodoo by surprise, beating them 27-26.
  • As Peeze mentioned on the podcast, he let last week’s game against Los Locos slip away, as HSS was up 2 scores and started the 2nd half with the ball. The season is slipping away from HSS. With upcoming games against Vultures, Sphinx and Finessers, I am preemptively giving them a 2-1 record, so this weeks game against Ethnik might just decide their playoff fate. No pressure.
  • The win for Los Locos saw them jump Eastside Boys, which is huge because Eastside boys have the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of beating Los Locos earlier this season.
  • Speaking of Eastside Boys, their game against Mofos had a 0-0 halftime score. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen that. They end up punching 4 scores on Mofos to stay alive in the playoff picture.
  • Honey Martin snapped a 3-game losing streak. Man, does winning your FPF games change everything!

Game Recap

Centaures 33 – 34 Small Giants

Centaures: 33

vs.

Small Giants: 34

This game started with a sort of strange, confused play on the Small Giants offensive drive. After picking up a 1st down, Lerner threw a pass to a hook route. On the play though, he was actually sacked by Michael Brockwell (even acknowledged by Jordan Rossie on his way to the sideline after converting his extra point attempt), but the refs didn’t have a good angle of it and let the play continue. The pass was very low, but Rory Semerjian was able to get a hand on it. It was so low however, that no one though Rory actually caught that ball, but he definitely outstretch his hand to get underneath the ball to prevent it from touching the turf and scooped it up and ran it back for 6 while no one chased him, and no whistle was blown.

Despite throwing the pick 6, Lerner was not phased. He drove the field in 3 plays, capped by a 20 yard wheel route by Theo Bekelis that was narrowly broken up by both Rory and Riley Pincombe. After a turnover on downs by Centaures, Lerner had a shorter field to work with, but Pincombe put an end to it, picking it off in the endzone, saw a hole, took it, and ended up getting 1 extra yard than if he had taken a knee. Chris Brockwell started getting involved on the 3rd drive for Centaures, as he accumulated 26 yards and a TD.

But once again, Lerner led the Small Giants on a quick 4-play scoring drive, once again connecting with Theo Bekelis, this time a 30-yard strike and run down field for the TD. Bekelis is a big guy, but hasn’t lost his athletic ability, as he was a disruptive force all over the field, and a was a huge playmaker for his team. Daron Migdesyan, a.k.a “The Wrangler” rushed in this one, and while he didn’t have game-changing sacks, the 2 that he had, as well as the constant pressure he put on Rossie made it a difficult one for the Centaures QB to be as effective as he would have liked, completing only 55% of his passes vs. his season average of 67%.

With the score tied 13-13 at halftime, Centaures would score on the first possession in the 2nd half, with Rossie going 5/7 and 40 yards and hitting 3 different receivers. This is when Riley Pincombe took over the game for 2-3 minutes. First he scored an 11-yard TD pass from Rossie and then made an BEAUTY of a pick, one-handed while in the air, travelling away from the ball and towards the defender that had everyone watching go “OHHHHHHH”. Not only that, as he mesmerized the whole field, he spun out of a tackle with all 3 flags still on his belt and took it the distance. What a play to give his team a 2-score lead!

But once again, Justin Lerner was calm, cool and collected, as he led his team on another efficient drive, scoring once again in just 4 plays, capped it off with a no-look bullet to a hook ran by the Wrangler at the front of the left endzone, thrown perfectly to the outside to let his receiver naturally box out any incoming defender. The no-look was so subtle though, that no defenders even picked up Migdesyan I saw that Justin! đź‘€

Okay, but Centaures still had the ball with about 3-4 mins left in the game. All the had to do was drive the field, kill clock, and put up another score. 1st play? An incomplete deep ball to Hugo Allamanno, but a holding penalty by Nick Madimenos gave Centaures an automatic 1st down and took another 40 seconds off the clock. BUT WAIT, Rossie was picked off by none other than Theo Bekelis, and 23 yards later? Bekelis‘ 3rd TD of the night.

With the game tied at 27, the Rossie-Brockwell connection continued, with a 22-yard gain for a big 1st down thanks to his patented spin/tackle-evading hip move. That gain, plus a 12-yard run put Centaures inside the RedZone, which was punched in by Rory Semerjian. Extra point for 1? Unsuccessful. That left 5 plays for Lerner to try and tie and/or win the game.

After consecutive first downs from the Wrangler (11 yards) and Bekelis (15), Rossie could have ended it as he jumped a sideline pass, got his hands on it, but dropped the pick that could have sealed the deal. He immediately had his hands over his head knowing that he could have wrapped up the game right then and there. Instead? Lerner gets another opportunity, and delivers a 14-yard TD strike to Greg Kritselas to tie the game, and DO convert the 1 pt conversion to take the lead 34-33, and leaving Centaures only 1 play left, but to no avail.

The game was a real entertaining one to watch. A back-and-forth game, with unreal highlights. Centaures once again come on the bad side of a close game, but they must be telling themselves that they can hang with the big boys of the division. Remove a few mistakes while leading, and the victory is theirs.

Centaures Player of the Game: Riley Pincombe – 1 reception, 11 yards, 1 TD, 2 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 Def INT.

Small Giants Player of the Game: Theo Bekelis – 5 receptions, 88 yards, 3 TDs, 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Fantasy Team of the Week (4B)

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Sara Parker (Golden Eagles): 17/27, 210 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs

QB2 – David Roaldi (Honey Martin): 19/31, 169 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT, 49 Rushing yards, 1 Rushing TD

Receivers (5):

WR1 – Alex David (Golden Eagles): 7 receptions, 12 targets, 96 yards, 3 TDs, 1x XP1

WR2 – Dylan Catellier (The U): 4 receptions, 6 targets, 91 yards, 3 TDs, 1x XP1

WR3 – Mathieu Fafard (Sphinx): 8 receptions, 8 targets, 90 yards, 3 TDs

WR4 – Bekim Borova (Eastside Boys): 4 receptions, 6 targets, 81 yards, 3 TDs, 2x XP1

WR5 – Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo (Honey Martin): 7 receptions, 8 targets, 72 yards, 3 TDs

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – William Bissonnette (Team Ethnik): 1 tackle, 1 INT, 1 Def INT, 2 sacks

DB – Vincent Gingras (Les Montagnards): 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def INT, 1 PD

DB – Bekim Borova (Eastside Boys): 2 INTs, 1 PD

DB – Guillaume Beland (Les Verges Folles): 4 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs

DB – Anthony Drysdale (Vultures): 1 tackle, 1 INT, 2 PDs

Rusher – Kareem Anthony Chilcott (Honey Martin): 4 sacks, 1 safety

Fantasy Team of the Week (4A)

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Chris Rivest (The Stoics): 19/28, 243 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 16 Rushing yards

QB2 – Ian Einheiber (Takeover): 23/34, 241 yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT

Receivers (5):

WR1 – Ryan Vanslet (Blackouts): 5 receptions, 7 targets, 109 yards, 5 TDs

WR2 – Frederic Dood (Spera’s Cougars): 4 receptions, 6 targets, 107 yards, 4 TDs

WR3 – William Power (Takeover): 8 receptions, 11 targets, 102 yards, 3 TDs, 1x XP2

WR4 – Theo Bekelis (Small Giants): 5 receptions, 7 targets, 88 yards, 3 TDs, 1x XP1

WR5 – Steve Sanner (Backyard Bullies): 10 receptions, 10 targets, 131 yards, 2 TDs

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – Rico Tulino (Big Fun): 1 tackle, 2 INT, 1 PD

DB – Kenny Boutilier (Big Fun): 1 INT, 1 Def INT

DB – Theo Bekelis (Small Giants): 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

DB – Riley Pincombe (Centaures): 2 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 Def INT

DB – Phil Angers (Les Bleus Branleurs): 2 tackles, 1 INT, 3 PDs

Rusher – Zackary Alberts-Gill (Big Fun): 3 sacks,1 tackle

MLS Week 20 Power Rankings: Zlatan delivers, Revs surge continues - Cincinnati Soccer Talk

4A Power Rankings

  1. KGP Ra (6-0) – Last Ranked #1: Still unbeaten. Top Dog in the div until proven otherwise.
  2. The Brotherhood (5-1) – Last Ranked #2: Talent on full display on GOTW. Go watch ’em.
  3. Small Giants (4-1) – Last Ranked #3: Great comeback victory, Lerner was on point going 22/26, always composed.
  4. Blackouts (4-2) – Last Ranked #4: Adam Sinagra alone put them in the Top 5 rankings. Oh and Ryan Vanslet‘s 5 TD performance isn’t bad either đź‘€.
  5. TOPSZN (4-2) – Last Ranked #5: Division passing yards leader Shawn McGrath looks the part, and the team is loaded with talent and flag experience.
  6. Bruins (4-2) – Last Ranked #8: Bruins are on a 3-game win streak, taking down Centaures, Takeover and Hurley & Sons in the process
  7. Takeover (3-3) – Last Ranked #6: They need that win over The Stoics big time after a tough outing against the Bruins for Ian Einheiber. They showed how offensive they can be.
  8. The Stoics (3-3) – Last Ranked #10: They bump up because they’ve 1-1 since the last Power Ranking and have scored 75 points in their last 2 games. That more that their first 3 games combined. Rivest is showing a next level of development to his offense.
  9. Centaures (2-4) – Last Ranked #9: Man, they are close to slipping from the rankings. What’s keeping them inside the Top 10 power ranked teams, is that despite their 4 game losing streak, take the 3 closest games, and they’ve lost by a combined 6 points.
  10. Spera’s Cougars (2-2) – Last Ranked NA: Since the to move to Santino Sparagna, they are 2-1 and now are holding down the final playoff spot in Conference B.

4B Power Rankings

  1. Vultures (6-0) – Last Ranked #1: Until someone can stop this offense, they are the #1 team for me.
  2. Les Montagnards (7-0) – Last Ranked #2: Very, very solid team from top to bottom, from offense to D. Not surprised they are 7-0.
  3. Beer Belly Brigade (5-1 )- Last Ranked #4: Let’s see how far they’ve come when they face Vultures tonight! Sure to be a great game as BBB have risen to the #3 spot.
  4. The U (5-1) – Last Ranked #3: Small tumble since they lost to Vultures. Would have been great to see them with their full lineup against Vultures. I guess it will be a question left for the playoffs…
  5. Honey Martin (3-3) – Last Ranked #6: Got a much needed win after a 3-game losing streak. Kareem Anthony Chilcott is emerging as one of the div’s top rushers.
  6. Team Ethnik (3-3): After 34 team report cards, I can’t remember what I wrote for them EXACTLY, but they didn’t seem to like it. How about a #6 spot in the Power Rankings after 2 wins in a row against Arouch and Les Verges Folles. Just remember, call the game when you can instead of stressing yourselves out 🙂
  7. Les Verges Folles (4-3) – Last Ranked #9: Until this past Wednesday, Les Verges Folles were on a 4 game win streak, outscoring their opponents 101 to 50. That’s definitely worth jumping up 2 spots in the Power Rankings.
  8. Mofos (3-1) – Last Ranked #5: It’s not the 26-6 loss that has them dropping 3 spots. The loss alone would have usually dropped them 1 spot, but it’s that other teams around them have gone on 2, 3 and 4-game win streaks. If they want to be a serious playoff team, they don’t have to beat Les Montagnards, but they have to make it a competitive game.
  9. Bandits (3-4) – Last Ranked NA: Bandits went on a little 2-game win streak, albeit against Golden Eagles (without Parker) and Sphinx, two teams dwelling the cellar. That helped turn their season around though, and despite losing to BBB, they should be competitive and could come away with victories against Eastside Boys and Ballers, so let’s see how they do! Otherwise, welcome to the Power Rankings!
  10. Arouch (2-4) – Last Ranked #8: Staying in their game last week against Les Montagnards is a good sign. So is keeping the game close against BBB…. but then why did they get smashed by Team Ethnik? You see, I can’t easily predict how they will perform from one week to another, so who knows what happens against Golden Eagles tonight in Lachine?

Week 7 Game Picks 

4A Games (My Picks are in Bold Green)

Big Fun vs. Small Giants

Spera’s Cougars vs. TOPSZN

The BrotherHood vs. Blackouts

Backyard Bullies vs. Hurley & Sons

The Stoics vs. Centaures

Mongoose vs. Takeover

Bruins vs. KGP Ra

Nomads vs. Les Blues Branleurs

4B Games (My Picks are in Bold Green)

Voodoo vs. Honey Martin – NA

Los Locos vs. The U

Beer Belly Brigade vs. Vultures

Golden Eagles vs. Arouch

Finessers vs. Ballers

Mofos vs. Les Montagnards

Hot Sauce Sports vs. Team Ethnik

Les Verges Folles vs. Sphinx

Eastside Boys vs. Bandits

Epilogue

Well, that does it for this week! Hope you enjoyed the article! Feel free to reach out to me on socials @iggymanz or Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo on FB messenger. Time to get pumped for Week 7 and leave it all out on the field! LET’S GOOOO!

Want more FPF? Here you go! First, game of the week from Div 4A:

Want even more? Here’s CTA from this past week!