Goodbye FPF Cup! Our First Official Fall Season Begins!

It’s finally here – The Fall FPF season is officially upon us! Hello to the new teams who are participating for the first time (or maybe first year) and Welcome back to our seasoned teams looking to get some reps in before the Winter Season. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Zackary Alberts-Gill and I’ll be your guide (once again) through another Co-Ed season! I’ve been in the league since about 2016 and have fallen in love with it ever since. Though most people know me as a rusher, I do enjoy playing my fair share of offence as well. I have played in almost all the divisions FPF has to offer – From Div A to Co-Ed 3 – and consider myself fairly knowledgeable on this beautiful recreation league we call FlagPlusFootball!

Through these articles I hope to shine a light on as many teams as I can, while also giving you a bit of a breakdown / inside scoop on how our Division seems to be shaping up. Despite this being Co-Ed 2 (usually there are 3 Co-Ed divisions), I suspect that there are some new teams this season, so I highly recommend everyone check out the official FPF podcast – Calling The Audible – which will be released every week! This podcast will go into deeper depth regarding rules, updates, changes, players, and playoff pictures than most articles will, so look to get most of the info there. Team pictures are usually done in WEEK 2, so be prepared to have your photo snapped this Sunday!

With 21 teams in the division, it might be difficult to ensure each team gets equal shout outs every week, so please be patient or let me know if you want your team highlighted! I usually promise a whole bunch of content by Week 1 and then slowly realise it is unattainable… SO, this time… I PROMISE NOTHING! Most of the other readers know that I love numbers and will have a few sections every week to highlight player stats, but before we get into that let’s lay down some ground rules!

Unlike the other Fall Cups, this season is an official regular season and will be stated as such. For those who don’t know, the old Fall Cup was an 8 game tournament that went through a lot of iterations. Now, FPF has gotten rid of the 8 game format in favour of an additional 10 game season! (*YIPPIE*) However, this also increases the number of games you’ll need to attend to be Playoff eligible! Usually, in an 8 game FPF cup you need a minimum of 4 games to be able to join the postseason, but in our 10 game regular season format, the minimum is 5 games, so make sure you show up and don’t screw your teammates over in the playoffs! If there are injuries that may prevent you from playing in the postseason, you are able to give your GP (games played) to someone else so your team isn’t a player down (It sucks, but it happens)

FPF has recently introduced a OT rule in hopes of reducing ties in the regular season! If, at the end of the 5-plays of a regular season game, the score is tied both teams will enter SUDDEN DEATH MODE! Both teams will be allowed an Extra Point Attempt. The situations would be as follows:

Team A goes for a 1pt attempt and succeeds – Team B will be forced to go for 2pt attempt

Team A goes for a 1pt attempt and fails – Team B can choose to go for 1pt OR 2pt attempt

Team A goes for a 2pt attempt and succeeds – Team B MUST go for 2pt and tie (despite us trying to avoid them)

Team A goes for a 2pt attempt and fails – Team B can choose to go for 1pt or 2pt attempt

FPF also has an Onside Kick rule that is a bit complicated but a super cool addition to the league (despite my initial scepticism at how it would swing the game). Essentially, after a team has scored a TD they can opt to go for an Onside Kick which will replace their Extra Point attempt. They can only do this if they have a Timeout remaining (both teams have 2 for the ENTIRE game) AND if they have not already attempted an Onside Kick that game (1 per game). The team going for an onside kick will have to make it to Mid-Field if they would like to keep possession of the ball! If they don’t, possession of the ball is turned over to the opposing team at the 5-yard line! Sacks, Safeties, Interceptions, Penalties all count on an Onside Kick as if it was a regular play, so Defence: DONT INTERCEPT THE BALL UNLESS YOU CAN SCORE IT (since having the ball on the 5-yard line is most likely better than where you intercepted the play). Beware though, the offence does not have to stop at Mid-Field and can also score a TD, so be on your toes!

A small update to the Rusher Interference rule that came into effect last Winter I believe: A team can now choose between the 5-Yard loss and redo of downs OR can now opt to have it as a loss of down with no change in yards instead. So make sure you snappers are getting the heck out of the way!

I often make mistakes and need to be corrected as the season continues, so don’t be surprised if I end up contradicting myself as time goes on! But that’s it for my small introduction, the week technically starts on Thursday’s, but odds are, I won’t be getting an article out by Wednesday! So look for them between Friday and Sunday before our games start! Let’s take a quick look at the action of Week 1! This article might be a tad smaller than others since we are just getting into the action.

“WHAT’S THE 411 ‘HUN”:

Guess who’s back!? We haven’t seen AT LEAST WE TRIED since their Winter 2024 perfect season and Finals Performance against THUNDER VILLAINS – where they lost 36-18. They didn’t have any trouble in their first game against THE BLACK WOLF and were able to put up a big 34 points, however, unless the score keeper messed up… I’m only seeing 3 targets on offence, which is a tad worrisome! Defensively, this team will be a powerhouse this season. They are always super competitive and I expect them to be at the top of the division again this season! They take on TONIX this coming week, who also had a great defensive performance, so i’m excited to see which team will come out on top. Darryl Dorcely has been steadily improving as the seasons go on and has the ability to use his legs when needed, so I have no concern that we will be seeing this team rack up the wins!

NO PUNT INTENDED comes out strong for their first game! If their roster is to be believed, this looks to be a new team made up of fairly new players. Sanders Armand, who is definitely not a rookie, is settling behind the QB position to test his mettle against the Co-Ed league. Teams should be happy that Sanders is not playing on Offence because he is a FORCE OF NATURE in the air. He brings along FPF veteran, Jared Buck, as the 2 of them seem to have gone on a recruitment frenzy! Sanders is a big body that will be hard to keep up with if he decides to run, so rushers better be ready to break down and take an angle if they want to stop him! I love to see the breakout performance of Elodie Baulu and hope she can continue the pace! 3 TDs in her first FPF game is HUGE but she also came up with 3 SACKS!? A 2-way threat if I’ve ever seen one! Let’s keep an eye out on this team since they seem to have the potential to shake up the division.

TIGHT ENDS had a double header last week, having played on Thursday AND Sunday! Lucky for them, despite losing to the aforementioned NO PUNT INTENDED, they were able to sneak out a win against HOT WINGS. Eric Carpanzano had a much better game on Sunday and managed to put up 4 TDs and 86 Rushing yards! I like to assume people with last names are related, so I assume that Eric and Jordan are brothers? Cousins? Distant Uncles? Who knows, but 1 thing is for sure – Jordan was Eric’s favorite target this week! Both HOT WINGS and TIGHT ENDS seem to be new teams (I don’t recognize them), so it will be interesting to see either of them play an established team and see how they do. I’ll be looking to see who becomes the playmaker for this team, since it cannot all fall on Eric’s shoulders.

Reach for the sky Cowboys! This Division ain’t big enough for all of us to go to the playoffs, but at least there was enough room to slip in another KISS MY iteration! This time they adopt the moniker of: KISS MY SHERIFF! They did not play a game last week and will kick off this year against SHOW ME YOUR TDZ – a team that I thought had been around in Co-Ed before… but maybe I’m mistaken. KISS MY SHERIFF looks to be another contender for a great season with a roster full of veterans! I assume Frank Kaye will be heading this team as QB since Luis Begin is JUST above the QB rating. They are joined by KISS MY staples: the Dubois’ (Alexis and Erica), Kelly Lalonde, and snapper extraordinaire – Abigail Cockerton. This team has the talent and experience to make any game a nightmare for their opponents, but without Luis or Iggy at QB, will they be able to keep up with the rest of the division? Only time will tell!

Both KAMIKAZE and LA SECTE are familiar with the pressures of Co-Ed, with LA SECTE possibly having the edge in experience! Having played against LA SECTE sometime last year in Co-Ed 3, I am a bit shocked that they were beat by KAMIKAZE, but alas, thus is the nature of a higher division. Both QBs put up about 130 offensive yards combined in their game and threw 1 INT each, but it was Gabriel Lemonde’s 2 extra TDs in the first half that enabled KAMIKAZE to take the win! LA SECTE struggled to move the ball between receivers and heavily favoured Justin Leblanc-Guindon to keep the chains moving. On the other side of the ball KAMIKAZE were able to spread the ball fairly well, which will always be the recipe for success in FPF! Always gotta give a shout out to Rushers when I can, so special focus on Jean-Sebastien St-Arneault, who was able to come out with 2 sacks that game! The race for #1 Rusher is already heating up, will Jean-Sebastien be able to stay close to the top?

I won’t be able to talk about each of the 21 teams EVERY week or my articles will be 5000 words and 10 pages, but I do want to highlight team TONIX, who scored the most points in Week 1 against SHOW ME YOUR TDZ! I have a feeling I’ve seen some of TONIX player’s around, especially since a bunch of them used to be on FITSQUAD, but I don’t recognize many of them by name only! FITSQUAD was a Co-Ed 2 team that has recently graduated into Co-Ed 1, and is playing there this season. They will be one of many teams that are double dipping into the Co-Ed divisions, and should definitely be one of the teams to look out for!

Already there are some teams that have played 2 games, while other teams have played a whopping 0! With the schedule being what it is, especially with the amount of teams in the division, I can foresee a gap happening where some teams are able to get some wins over others based solely on the fact that they will have had more games played/experience! It all should work itself out by the end of the season and in time for Playoffs, but just make sure that everyone is coming out strong and giving it 120% effort (MAXIMUM EFFORT as Deadpool would say)!

TEAM SPOTLIGHT and DEATH BATTLE BREAKDOWN:

In the coming weeks I’ll fill these 2 sections with my highlights of certain teams, as well as a breakdown of my picks for important matches of the week! Didn’t have time this week, and don’t want to just make stuff up, plus, it’s only Week 1, IDK WHO YOU ARE!

ZACK’S FANTASY TEAM OF THE WEEK (WEEK 1):

In this section I build my fantasy team based on the performances of individual players from across the division! I will highlight 1 to 2 QBs, 4 Receivers (reserving at least 1 spot for a female player), 4 Defensive players (reserving at least 1 spot for a female player), and 1 to 2 Rushers. You can only be in 1 spot at a time, so if you are my receiver pick, you cannot be my defensive pick and so on:

QB (1): Louis Brassard (LES GRANDS CHUMS) – 26 Attempts / 14 Completions (58.06%), 175 Yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 0 Sacks

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WR (1): Lucas Quenneville (MICHAEL SCOTT’S TOTS) – 10 Targets / 7 Receptions (70%),100 Yards, 3 TDs

WR (2): Elodie Baulu (NO PUNT INTENDED) – 5 Targets / 4 Receptions (80%), 56 Yards, 3 TDs

WR (3): Eric Namts (LES RANCEURS) – 8 Targets / 7 Receptions (87.5%), 100 Yards, 2 TDs

WR (4): Jimmy-Lee Janvier (AT LEAST WE TRIED AGAIN) – 5 Targets / 5 Receptions (100%), 48 Yards, 3 TDs

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DB (1): David Michaud (TONIX) – 5 Tackles, 2 INT, 1 PD, 2 TDs

DB (2): Jonothan Joseph (MICHAEL SCOTT’S TOTS) – 4 Tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

DB (3): Valentin Chartier (TONIX) – 2 Tackles, 3 INTs

DB (4): Cindy Hardy (LES GRANDS CHUMS) – 3 Tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs

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RUSHER (1): Alexie Galarneau (TONIX) – 0 Tackles, 3 Sacks

GAMES OF THE WEEK:

BALLHARD UNIVERSITY vs CHEFS BANDITS

NO PUNT INTENDED vs MEAN MACHINES

WHO’S GONNA CARRY THE BOATS vs BACK THAT PASS UP

KAMIKAZE vs BALLS AND DOLLS

SHOW ME YOUR TDZ vs KISS MY SHERIFF

LES RANCEURS vs LA SECTE

TONIX vs AT LEAST WE TRIED AGAIN

MICHAEL SCOTT’S TOTS vs THE BLACK WOLF (I’m too biassed to vote on my own game)

LE ROI DE CARTES vs BACK THAT PASS UP

Prediction Record: N/A

That’s it for the Week 1 Recap! We head into Week 2 this Sunday and begin shaking off the rust and getting our sea legs! I always say that Week 1 is a wash and doesn’t count for much, but by Week 3 we should have a better picture of some strong teams. If there are upcoming milestones you want me to cover, don’t be a stranger, let me know! If you want to see more accurate info about your teams, your players, your rivalries/history – send them to me (It helps when I know about you)! Also, check out the new episode of Calling the Audible – the official FPF podcast – available on Youtube and …. Probably somewhere else too. And always keep a look out at FPF’s Official Instagram page for updates and exclusive content!