35+ Semi-Finals Recap + Finals Preview

The Final 4 for each division has come and gone and it’s a Good Friday for 4 teams as they have punched their ticket to the 35+ Championship Finals. We had 3 games decided by less a score the top 4 teams in each division delivered some outstanding football. Before we get the Final Preview, let’s take a look at the action that went down in the Semi-Finals.

 

Semi Finals Results

 

Dagwoods 34 – Aptech 28

A very competitive game that was as close as the score indicates, Dagwoods overcomes a serious case of the dropsies and an opening drive dropped snap which resulted in a safety in the first half to take the win and head towards the Finals. Aptech plays a very solid game against undefeated Dagwoods, QB Guatama puts in a great offensive game plan and finds the end zone 4 times to 4 different players. Ted Stote has his breakout game on Offence picking up 86 yards on 4 catches and a score.  Defensively, Eric Linkutis put on his playoff pants and brought his A game leading the defence with 3 tackles and an impressive 4 PD’s.  Aptech only issues were 1 INT and a stalled drive in the red zone that end up being the difference in keeping them from going to the Finals. On the other side, Dagwoods QB Lonnie Johnson will be the first to admit he’s probably thrown more INT’s this year than usual, but the one team who hasn’t picked him off this year was Aptech.  He continues that trend and keeps the ball out of Aptech hands with a solid Offensive performance, hitting the end zone 5 times to 4 different receivers. If it wasn’t for at least, 5 -8 drops in the first half, it would have been a flawless performance. On the Defence, they did their usual thing and just enough of it to lock down the 6 point victory, Rob Allen leads in Tackles, Enzo Bellini picks up 2 sacks and Joel Watson is the main difference maker with the games solo Interception.  Dagwoods now has a chance to run the table for the season and take home the Championship next week.

 

Polvige 37 – Paramount 32

This game was an evenly matched as you could find and the main difference was a tipped ball INT for Polvige in the first half that gave them a 19-14 halftime lead.  They tie the second half 18-18 giving Polvige a 5 point victory and the ticket to the Championship final. QB Jon Moodie starts the game showing off his rushing skills with an opening drive sack then leads the Paramount Offence to the the end zone 5 times, 4 by air and 1 rushing TD’s.  35+ Defensive Player of the Year Chris Rosen shows he can play offence as well with 7 catches for 88 yards while Tom Young proves Rosen isn’t the only stud on defence as he leads the team with 6 tackles. Kevin Kousaie keeps Polvige QB Eugene in the backfield keeping him to only 1 rushing attempt while also picking up 2 TD’s on Offence.  Some great performances by Paramount but that 1 INT by Corrado Silvi proves toxic and poisons any chance of a finals appearance.  On the Polvige Defensive side of the ball, Jesse Roberts and Daryl Edwards set the tone with 6 and 4 tackles respectively.  The Polvige Offence which has been deadly all season continues it’s ways putting up 6 TD’s in an almost perfect QB performance by Eugene McLaren who stepped off a plane, rushed to the field and goes 15 for 21, 6 TD’s, 0 INT’s with a 143.7 QB Ratio. He should fly more often before a game. Paramount takes away his leading receiver Brian Martin, but the other receivers step up and ensure the Victory.  Vince Mancini still bitter that he was the only Longhorn not drafted by Paramount, gets his revenge with 5 catches, 109 yards and 3 TD’s.  It’s off the to the finals for Polvige and time for Paramount to enjoy the spring and wonder what went wrong.

 

The Leons 47 – Monster Football 42

The age old question was offered to Monster here, “if you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted, One moment, Would you capture it or just let it slip?”, a barn burner of a game comes down to the last play of the game. Every play of a game can decide the outcome, but none is more important than the last one.  Monster Football drives the field down 47-42, inside the red zone, with 1 play left to knock off the top dawgs, complete a pass to their own Rabbit Craig O’Brien at the 1 yard line, but by the slimmest of margins he can’t get the ball and flag across the line before The Leons Tony Lalla makes his most important play of his season and probably the tackle of the year and sends his squad through to the finals. Monster Football is left to Lose Themselves in cold beer wondering what if? till next season. As for all the plays prior to the last one, this one should have been billed as defence optional as these 2 elite Offences put on a clinic. The best offences are the ones that spread the ball around and keep defences guessing.  That’s what we had here with both teams having 6 players with receptions, 5 players with TD’s for The Leons and 4 players from Monster with TD’s.  JF Leclair steps up big for Monster offence with 5 catches for 94 yards and 2 TD’s while Ryan Tereskewitz has a “monster” 2-way game for The Leons with 5 Catches for 84 yards with a score and registering 5 tackles on defence. Both teams were worthy of earning a finals appearance so it’s only fitting that it did come down to the last play of the game.

 

35ers 51 – Oldpack 26

35+ 2-Way player of the year Carmine Pollice must have woken up hoping for an outstanding performance and unfortunately for Oldpack that’s what he did.  Carmine has his best game of the year at QB going 21 for 30, 260 Yards, 8 TD’s, 0 Int’s and 136.1 QB Ratio. A full Offensive scoresheet with 6 players earning stats, Jimmy Couplethwaite leads with 6 Catches for 79 yards setting up most of the 35ers TD’s for Andrews Carruthers (3 TD’s), Jason Edwards (2 TD’s) and Jeff Brown (3 TD’s). Rob White does most of the heavy lifting on Defence with 6 tackles, 1 INT and 2 PD’s.  Oldpack hurting a bit with a sidelined injured Jean Michel Alerte, manages to put in 4 TD’s lead by Hugo Dupuy’s 6 catches against the league’s toughest defence, but while the offence was ok, the defence wasn’t able to slow down the 35ers who were just too good on this day. Oldpack’s Alexandre Cavanaugh has the nights best defensive performance with 9 tackles, but 1 man can’t do it alone and 35ers are off to the finals next week. Hopefully the 35ers have saved some points for next week!

 

Playoff Matchups – Draft Division

Championship Finals

Thurs Apr 5

Polvige

Dagwoods

20h30

Kirkland Dome

 

Playoff Matchups – Teams Division

Championship Finals

Thurs Apr 5

35ers

The Leons

19h30

Kirkland Dome

 

Finals Preview

35ers @ The Leons Preview

Season Series

Game 2 – 35ers 54 – The Leons 54

Game 6 – The Leons 47 – 35ers 44

 

If you are a fan of defensive football, with 199 Points scored in 2 games, you might want to skip this one. An offensive showdown is guaranteed here. The referees are going to need to stretch as their arms will be raised a lot as both teams are bound to find the end zone often.  35ers are coming off a flawless offensive performance, The Leons coming off an emotional last play victory, both teams have been on a roll and are equaled in every aspect.  Strong QB’s, excellent hands everywhere on offence combined with aggressive defences that don’t have to hide anyone, they mirror themselves everywhere.  The Leons must find a way to slow down Carmine’s top 2 Offensive Threats, Andrew Caruthers (41 Receptions) and Jimmy Coupethewaite (40 Yards) with the 35ers must do the same force the ball away from Cory Peckers leading receivers in Ryan Tereskewitz (32 receptions) and Kevin Wyeth (34 receptions). Defensively, it will be tough for both sides, but someone has to step up and make big plays, a single INT here could be the difference in this one. The bottom line is based on their previous 2 match-ups will come down to whoever has the ball last.  Converts will play a huge factor in deciding the outcome of this game.  A heavyweight battle guaranteed here so don’t miss this one.

 

Polvige @ Dagwoods Preview

Season Series

Game 2 – Dagwoods 33 – Polvige 32

Game 6 – Dagwoods 34 – Polvige 33

 

Yes, you read that correctly, Polvige lost to Dagwoods twice by 1 point.  Both times it took Lonnie Johnson only 11 completions to score 33 & 34 points.  That’s 10 TD’s on only 22 Completions so it clear they were able to score deep on Polvige, so the defensive Game Plan for Polvige is simple, stop the deep ball.  Both offences here are stacked, with Polvige showing a little more balance with 5 receivers with 25 or more receptions this season. The real success of Polvige has been the return of Eugene McLaren to the QB spot. He has simply been outstanding and deserving of the Quarterback of the year award. Dagwoods focuses more on Rob Allen, Dave Weiss and Enzo Bellini offensively and while Dan Gontar and Chris Baird might not get the glory they deserve, they are reliable options when left open.  On Defence for Polvige look for strong games from a couple FPF Rookies Jesse Roberts and Daryl Edwards who seemed to have found their grove recently picking up 15 (Jesse) and 12 (Daryl) tackles in the past 3 games.  While the Polvige Offence is a little more balanced, it’s the other way on defence as Dagwoods has 6 different players with double digit tackles with Mario Choueri leading the pack with 23.  Joel Watson having a career type season right behind Mario with 20 tackles, 4 INT’s and 6 PD’s. This game should continue the trend of the first 2 and be determined within a score. Winning twice by one point probably got Dagwoods worried and the frustration of losing by 2 points now turns to motivation for Polvige knowing they are within a punchers chance of taking down the undefeated Dagwoods.

 

Thanks to the eliminated teams for participating in another great FPF 35+ season, Good Luck to all teams playing in next week’s championships, without a doubt there is 4 great teams who will put on 2 great finals games.  Can the 35ers get their first win against The Leons?  Can Polvige finally get those elusive couple points and take down Dagwoods? Will the 2 #1 seeds continue to dominate and bring home the championships?  Will the losers who play ball hockey next to us continue to yell and scream like the d-bags that they are?  Seriously, you are playing ball hockey, it’s not the NHL. Grab a beer and come watch the excitement next Thursday night @ the Kirkland Dome!

 

And with that Season 2 of FPF 35+ will come to end next week and so will these fancy articles as this is the final article for this season.  Hopefully people actually read and enjoy them and we see everyone on the field for Season 3 in early 2019! 

 

Enjoy your summers and thanks to Rob C for his continued leadership of FPF and giving us all a place to play ball! 

See you on the field.

Dave