Big Victories and Upsets – FlagPlus Football League

Welcome to Week 9 of the FlagPlus Football Winter Season.

As the saying goes by the legendary Jim Ross, “Business is picking up”. That couldn’t be truer than in Division 4A and 4B right now.

After losses to The Commission, and TOPSZN, the 69ers, pumped the brakes on a two-game slide, as they took care of business, with a 44-20 win over the Jaguars.

Coming up big for them in the game was Quarterback Shea Harbour, who despite his team’s recent losing streak, has continued his stellar play, as he threw for six touchdowns, and a season-high 255 yards. The biggest beneficiary of Harbour’s performance, was Wide Receiver Darcy Cloherty, who had three catches for a team-high 87 yards, and 3 touchdowns.

The 69ers, will look to extend their winning streak tonight, when they take on the Warhawks, in Brossard at 9PM.

For the Jaguars, who once again got an impressive performance once again out of Wide Receiver Woodly Stephan Appolon, who had 6 receptions, for 134 yards, 2 TDs (has there been a more impressive WR this season in 4A?), it wasn’t enough, as Quarterback Jimmy-Lee Janvier, had his worst game of the season, by throwing 4 interceptions, and completing only 50% of his passes (12 for 24).

After losing to the Backyard Bullies, in Week 7, the loss to the 69ers, makes it two in a row for the Jaguars. The team will try to turn it around Wednesday night, when they take on The Tide, at Stade Hébert.
Some really interesting matchups headline Week 9 for both 4A and 4B, as they will have a huge impact on the playoff standings.

In 4A, The Commission versus The Alpha-T’s, is a game that sees two of the best teams in the division go head-to-head, in what may very likely, be a post-season matchup, down the road.

There are a lot of interesting potential battles in this one, that could play a big part in shaping the outcome of the contest. The biggest of all, could be between the two smallest players in TC’s Domenico Benevento, and TAT’s Bryan Mongeau. Both players are threats on both sides of the ball, who can change the game in a heartbeat, and they play a huge role in their teams success.

Whichever player likely wins the one-on-one matchup, will most likely lead their team to victory.

Another big game that should garner a lot of attention, is Brocassion, versus the Siths, tonight in Brossard. If you ignore the combined four wins between both squads, these are two teams are actually playing pretty well at the moment, as the former has won 3 out of their last 4 contests, and the latter, despite being on a four-game losing streak, came with a point of beating Mutation last week, and lost to the Warhawks, by six points in Week 4.

For the Siths, a victory would be huge, as it would put them back in the thick of the playoff race, and more importantly, one game back of 9th place Brocassion, in the Conference A standings.

For Brocassion, the win would not only put more distance between them and the Siths, but it would also push them into sole possesion of the 8th and final playoff spot, as they are currently tied with Up & Coming, who defeated them (26-12) in Week 7, provided they lose in Lachine, tonight against TOPSZN.

What happened to the scoring in 4B? That was the question I asked myself at Stade Hébert this week, as I watched the Truth Squad, and Grinders game. Not only did the Grinders, not get on the scoreboard but they were one of six teams, who reached the endzone one time or less, in Week 8.

While having teams get blown out isn’t a total shock, as that sometimes happens, the fact that so many teams are struggling to score, so late in the season, is eye-opening to say the least.

Speaking of blowouts, a tip of the hat to the Truth Squad, for their (46-0) win over the Grinders. Standings be and records be dammed, a shout-out is a shut-out, no matter how you look at it.

Props also have to go out to Be Ready, and their defense, as they smoked LV, by a score of (25-2), last Saturday in Brossard. David Daoust, Devin Daoust, and Agustin Perez, combined to pick off veteran Quarterback Gabriel Côté, a total of five times, one of which was run back to the house.

Besides the aforementioned pick-6, David Daoust, had a monster game, as he also threw for two touchdowns, ran for another, and added a second interception.

For LV, who only scored in the game due to a bad snap which led to a safety, this is clearly a lost season, as their record fell to (2-5), and they have lost 5 games in a row. What makes their current situation so perplexing, is the fact that have experienced play-makers, in receivers Laurent Foucault, Vincent Lauzon, redzone threat Johnny Paradis-Wilson, and an above average QB in Côté. Despite all that, the team has been horrible offensively, as they haven’t scored more than 20 points in a game since Week 2, and they have committed a league-high 14 turnovers, in their last four games.

Moving on to a team who has no problems getting in the endzone, the Blue Chips, stay undefeated, as they cruised to a 46-6 victory over Lobster Dinner, aided by the strong performance, of QB of the Year front-runner, Jordan Mitchell, who threw for a season-high 7 touchdowns, with three of them going Wide Receiver Marcus Mitchell, and two to Hennessy Oraye.

The road to a perfect regular season, sees them play Les Studs, tomorrow night, followed by noname©, and Game Changers, in without a doubt, will be the three toughest teams BC, will have to play all year.
The matchup against Les Studs, tomorrow in Lachine, has all the makings of a barn-burner, as each team is the first (Blue Chips) and the third (LS) highest scoring offense in Division 4B.

This contest has a lot of matchups within the game itself, that will bear watching. Namely, Jordan Mitchell versus Félix Laflamme, that pits the leading rusher in 4B, against the man who is currently in second place in the division, with 9 sacks.

Two other games that look like they could potentially go down to the wire, is Martine et le Flag vs Past Our Prime, and Game Changers vs Mean Machine. For an on-depth look at those two matchups, check out the french 4B article, written by Marc-André Désaulniers.

Before I move on, congrats are in order, to the Vikings, for pulling off the massive upset, in their (30-25) win over Norfolk In Chance.

Offensively, the Vikes, got huge outing from receiver Simon Gauthier, who had a game-high 6 catches, for 80 yards, and two touchdowns.

At Quarterback, the team got a solid game from four-year vet Felix Vaillancourt-Tremblay, who in his first extensive action at the position, threw four touchdown passes.
The best performance of all however, was by Rusher Jean-Philippe Lemelin, who collected a jaw-dropping 6 sacks in the game.

The win was huge for the Vikings, as it put them in a tie points-wise with LV for the final playoff spot in Conference A. LV, holds the tie-breaker, after defeating the Vikes (45-36) in Week 1, but the victory over Norfolk In Chance, keeps them in striking distance.

Elite 8

Jagerbomb

Mountain Lions

The Commission

Warhawks

The Alpha-T’s

Keyport Lock

B.D Bandits

TOPSZN

Blue Chips

A-Squad

Truth Squad

Norfolk In Chance

Game Changers

All Hooks

Be Ready

Martine et le Flag

Picks

The Commission vs The Alpha-T’s – N/A

Siths vs Brocassion – Siths (Upset Special # 1)

Warhawks vs 69ers – Warhawks (My pick for Game of the Week # 1)

Backyard Bullies vs B.D Bandits – B.D Bandits

TOPSZN vs Up & Coming – TOPSZN (My pick for Game of the Week #2)

Les Montagnards vs Mutation – Les Montagnards

Keyport Lock vs Gotham – Gotham – (Upset Special #2)

Mountain Lions vs Friends in Low Places – Mountain Lions

The Tide vs Jaguars – The Tide

Show Me Your TDs vs LOB – LOB (Upset Special #3)

Jagerbomb vs Top Secret – Top Secret (Upset Special #4)

39 cent wings vs Tone It Down – Tone It Down

Norfolk In Chance vs LV – Norfolk In Chance

The Manglers vs Past Our Prime – Past Our Prime

Be Ready vs Team Ethnik – Team Ethnik

Vikings vs Le Red Tiger – Vikings (Upset Special #1)

Martine et le Flag vs A-Squad -A-Squad

Les Studs vs Blue Chips – Blue Chips

Lobster Dinner vs Truth Squad – Truth Squad

Game Changers vs Sphinx Game Changers (My pick for Game of the Week)

Grabuge vs Grinders – Grabuge (Upset Special #)

Small Giants vs All Hooks – All Hooks

That’s it for this week. Yes, I know it must feel like a miracle that I got the article out on a Saturday. This is the first time in a while that my other job-related responsibilities didn’t get in the way, so enjoy.

More importantly, the NFL Combine has begun, which means that the new season isn’t that far away. Don’t blink, cause it will be here before you know it.

Take care, I’ll see you next week.

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt like I left something out, feel free to reach me on Twitter @BADNEWSB51, or via e-mail at [email protected]