35 + Quarter Finals Recap + Semi-Finals Preview

Playoff Fever is finally here and it’s time for everyone to step up their game or find themselves sitting at home on Thursday nights.  Lot’s of great games expected and with the top 3 teams getting byes there is only 2 games this week in the Quarter Finals, before we get to those games, here are the 35+ Players of the Year and All Stars for FPF 35+ Winter 2018.

 

Quarterback of the Year

Eugene McLaren

Receiver of the Year

Rob Allen

Defensive Player of the Year

Chris Rosen

2-Way Player of the Year

Carmine Pollice

 

FPF 35+ All Star Team

Andrew Carruthers (35ers)

Chris Rosen (Paramount)

Enzo Bellini (Dagwoods)

Eugene McLaren (Polvige)

Jean-Michel Alerte (Oldpack)

Jimmy Coupethwaite (35ers)

Joel Watson (Dagwoods)

Lonnie Johnson (Dagwoods)

Pascal Murray (Oldpack)

Patrice Berard (Oldpack)

Rob Allen (Dagwoods)

Ryan Etinson (Relics)

** FYI Carmine Pollice was named an all star in Div 4A so that’s why he isn’t listed above as you can only be named an all-star once per season.

 

Congrats to all the winners, hopefully some of you will add a Championship to go with your individual recognition!

 

Time for Quarter Final action, here we go.

 

Teams Division

 

Monster Football 32 – Old Goats 6

The Goats came out swinging for this one, they started with ball and drove right into the end zone to take a 6-0, unfortunately that’s where the good news ends.  While they definitely had their chances with 43 offensive plays, a solid outing by Timothy Kaufman (8 catches, 66 yards) and the reliable Scott Binns (6 catches, 27 yards), the overall chemistry wasn’t there as there was at least 15+ dropped balls that hit receivers right in the hands. Not every pass was perfect, but there was a significant amount that were. Old Goats complete their first season in 35+ without a win, but they aren’t far from competing in this division, definitely need a few deeps threats with reliable hands to make the jump to contender. Monster Offence puts together a solid outing as they pretty much had their way with the Old Goats defence requiring only 10 completions on 16 attempts to score 4 TD’s.  Kevin Wilson leading the way with 3 catches and 83 yards, but letting his teammates get the red zone looks as Craig O’Brien cashes in 2 TD’s, Shawn Costello and Dave Richter each login with 1 TD each.  Defence overall was on point as 7 players record defensive stats with 17 tackles, 7 PD’s, 2 INT’s including a Pick 6 by Glen Cooper. Monster Football now gets the chance to take on The Leons next week.

 

Draft Division

 

Aptech 27- Relics 18

Every once and a while Domenic Tosi likes to remind everyone how good he is. Unfortunately for Relics, this game was that day. He has a strong outing with 6 catches, 93 yards and 4 TD’s.  Combine that with an almost perfect Performance from QB Gautama Swaminadhan (12/16 with 4 TD’s) and you have the makings of a blowout, but Relics hang tough to keep this game within reach.  A key safety by Derek Lavoie early in the game gave Aptech an early edge. Relics offence plays a solid game with David Souaid going 14/21, 3 TD’s and 1 INT, in fact if you take away the safety and Jason Stephenson INT which lead to a quick Aptech score, this game could have gone the Relics way.  They spread the ball nicely with 7 players recording receptions, but the performance of Tossi and Gautama was just enough to get the job done in this game.  With some Roster tweaks and a more consistent roster, the Relics can be a contender in this division next season.  Aptech now gets a chance to knock Dagwoods out of the playoffs next week!

 

Playoff Matchups – Draft Division

 

Semi Finals

 

Thurs Mar 29	Aptech	Dagwoods	19h30	Kirkland Dome
Thurs Mar 29	Polvige	Paramount	20h30	Kirkland Dome

 

Playoff Matchups – Teams Division

 

Semi Finals

 

Thurs Mar 29	Monster Football	The Leons	21h30	Kirkland Dome
Thurs Mar 29	OldPack	35ers	22h30	Kirkland Dome

 

 

Semi Finals Preview

 

Aptech @ Dagwoods Preview

 

After a successful quarterfinals outing, Aptech now runs into the juggernaut known as Dagwoods.  Last time they played they forgot to cover Receiver of the year Rob Allen and he found the end zone 5 times, mostly on deep balls.  Aptech is smart enough to not let that happen again.  The Aptech offence is going to find the end zone as they have speedsters Domenic Tosi and Derrick Lavoie who will be tough to cover and always find a way to the end zone but it will entirely up to the Aptech defence to be the deciding factor in this game.  They face the #1 draft offence here and must find a way to prevent Lonnie Johnson and crew from scoring every drive. With Derrick Lavoie rushing for Aptech, they will be able force Lonnie to throw the ball early and hopefully disrupt the timing between him and his receivers. Aptech must slow Rob down and force them to move the ball around the field to Dave Weiss and Enzo Bellini who both are at the top of the receiving charts and don’t drop often. In fact the entire Dagwoods offence is a threat and Aptech must be aggressive and disruptive or they won’t stand a chance. For Dagwoods, they finished first for a reason, their offence is a machine and their defence has been stingy all season long. With either Enzo or Dave Weiss rushing, Gautama won’t have much time but that’s what his specialty is, completing quick short passes and managing the clock with high percentage completions so Dagwoods need to take away the short passes and force them to throw deep and pick the ball off.  Play a hard 4-1 and that will take Aptech out of their comfort zone.  Tosi will score some points but if they can shut down everyone else they should be able to lockdown a victory.

 

Polvige @ Paramount Preview

 

 

Very Simple.  Paramount will win or my 35+ season is over.  Polvige scored too many points in game 8. Eugene will be coming to the field straight from the airport. All signs point to Paramount win. Kidding. These are 2 very evenly matched teams who split the season series, Polvige took the first matchup by 1 point and Paramount won the re-match by 6 points.

You’ve got QB of the year, Eugene McLaren going against Defensive Player of the Year, Chris Rosen which will definitely be a showdown if Eugene choose to throw in Chris’s direction. Keys to win for Paramount will be simple, Kevin Kousaie must contain Eugene and not let him run around all day.  Moodie must keep his offence on the field as a couple sub 20 points performances in the last 2 weeks (most likely due to their missing center!) Polvige must do what they’ve done all year, score a lot.  They have the top offence that had 5 players with 25 catches or more, no other team was even close to spreading the ball around like that.  It’s impossible for Paramount to cover everyone so spread it like Peanut Butter.  Defensively they need a couple guys to step up on defence, it’ll just take 1-2 players with a few key plays on defence to win this game for Polvige. Both teams are going to score a lot of points it’s in their DNA, the main difference will be defence.  Whoever can turn the ball over more will win this game. Yes, that’s true of any game, but these are 2 offensively built teams.  If the defences can’t hold, then the value of converts will be immense.  Plus if Eugene’s flight is delayed, that will be a major turning point!

 

Monster Football @ The Leons Preview

 

If there was a pick for Game of the week, this might be the one to catch. The Leons only lost 1 game all year and it was to Monster Football.  The Leons were able to avenge that loss in week 8.  Both games were settled by 8 and 9 points so you can see how evenly matched these teams are. The trouble in evaluating these teams is that they are both completely balanced on Offence and Defence. Defensively, neither teams have holes, everyone contributes and everyone is dangerous. Glen Cooper and Ryan Payne lead the way Statistically for Monster while Ryan Tereskewitz and Tony Lalla are the leading tacklers for The Leons. The Leons are the more aggressive defensively with 22 Pass Defended vs Monsters 10 Pass Defended. If the Leons play aggressive which the always do they should have a slight edge on Defence this game. On Offence, again both teams have threats everywhere, the slight edge would go to Monster as they have been using Craig O’Brien at halfback, which even if they don’t option to him, it forces a body to leave the defensive backfield to cover him and open up more space for the receivers to work with.  The real advantage for Monster on offence is Andy Peterkin legs.  He should be able to buy time and gain yards by running as we know The Leons are an elite cover team and he’ll have to run in order to keep the yard sticks moving.  Look for this game to be a high scoring affair and come down to the last play of the game. Converts will play a big impact in the outcome of this game.

 

Oldpack @ 35ers Preview

 

Another exciting match-up here with 2 solid offences meeting, the winner of this game will simply be who plays the best D.  We know a lot of points are going up so it’ll be up to the team that can turn the ball over the most.  Their last match-up, 39-33, was an off day for both QB’s, combined there was 10 TD’s scored and 9 INT’s!  Neither Pascal or Carmine want to repeat the INTfest that occurred that day. For the 35ers, Andrew Carruthers (41 Rec, 17 TD’s) and Jimmy Coupethwaite (40 Rec, 13 TD’s) have been the receivers of choice, in order to slow the 35er’s Offence, Oldpack need to limit their receptions.  The Oldpack Defence has the size to cover them, but they need make sure they don’t let them get deep as the deep ball timing between Carmine and Andrew/Jimmy is on point and if they get behind you, they will score. Remy Pare (24 Tackles, 4 INT) and Jean-Michel Alerte (22 Tackles, 5 INT’s) need to make sure they find a way to keep them in front of them.  On the flipside, Oldpack finds the League’s toughest defence in front of them, with 17 INT’s and 26 Pass Defended, but that won’t be enough to slow OldPack, they will score as they have a strong mix of Tall Deep Threats and speedy possession receivers, 35ers won’t be able to cover them all.  Oldpack leading receiver Patrice Bernard will handle most the of the load, but success for Oldpack will come down to avoiding turnovers and making sure to cash in on converts.  With a 10.30 kickoff, this game will be a latenight treat to watch!

 

That’s it for this week, thanks to those have been eliminated for participating in a fun season and good luck to those playing this week in the Semi’s! See you on the field.

 

Dave