Week 1: Weekend Recap

Hey FPF community,

 

Let me introduce myself, as a new member of the media team. My name is Ignacio, but I go by Iggy, which is easier on everyone. I started playing in FPF’s Fall Cup 2017, and am now entering my 6th FPF season in Winter 2020 with Honey Martin in Div 5B and as the Average Joe’s QB in Div 6. The articles this year have a different twist and I will be covering Division 6/6D for picks and power rankings, which will appear in articles written by Peeze. Otherwise, my articles will be recapping Weekend and previewing Monday night games across all divisions. I realize it is Wednesday, so Week 1’s edition will obviously not include Monday previews, but I was able to catch some games on Sunday night in Lachine. Feel free to chat me up whenever you see me on the sidelines, and I hope you enjoy you the read and the (non-evident Booger McFarland) analysis!

 

Weekend Recaps

 

Ballin 60’s vs. Believe the Hype (6D) Recap:

An 11pm start time on Sunday that dragged on for an extra 10 minutes for pinny/jersey reasons, I think it put both teams to sleep in the first half. Now entering their 3rd FPF season in the men’s division, Believe The Hype will be better seeded in Div 6D after back to back 1-9 season’s in Div E in Spring 2019 and 4B in Winter 2019. After the first 2 drives for each team didn’t start so smooth, Jacob Soles got more comfortable as the game went along, and threw some darts to the endzone, catching Jackson Roy-Hebert in the back of the right endzone and Matthew Cadogan (this kid is young but you can see he has great hands) down the pipe from the left slot.

 

Ballin 60’s is a new FPF team, and seemed eager to get things started, but were only able to muster a single point in the 1st half; a great pick-1 play by, Mathew Canuel, I believe, their only FPF veteran (65+ games) on the team. He will need to lead and set the example for this team moving forward. Otherwise, in the first half, Ballin 60’s Quarterback, Joseph Crivello, was scrambling in the backfield every 2nd play, throwing off his back foot and tossing errant passes. Although Mahomes make it look easy, throwing on the run is definitely not. To be fair, he did settle a bit in the 2nd half, and used his feet and scrambling ability to his advantage, rushing for a few key first downs. Troy Savain was their main WR in this game; look for his name to be amongst the team leaders in receptions, yards and TD’s by the end of the year.

 

All in all, first half was dull, even though Believe the hype were able to score twice. Second half was more interesting as Ballin 60’s started moving the ball with their designed QB run plays and keeping it simple with the hooks and crosses, and were able to pull off the comeback (is a tie really a comeback though?).  A little disappointing to see a tie on Believe The Hype’s end, as I expected a more FPF experienced, albeit younger group (how does that happen?) to close out the game after being up 12-1 at halftime. 

 

 

Thundercats vs. Leftovers (5B) Recap:

I was only able to catch the 2nd half of this game, but it pretty much confirmed what I remembered about both teams. Leftovers, the Spring 2018 Full Senders squad, is once again led by Joseph Cecere at QB and brother Emilio Cecere at WR. These 2 are a dangerous duo and proved it once again on Sunday night, as Jo completed 66% of his passes for 191 yards and 4 TD’s, no picks, while his brother grabbed 5 of those completions for 94 yards, one of which went for a 31 yard TD over the 4-1 defense played by Thundercats. While you can expect this sort of performance out of the brotherly duo in 2020, I was surprised to see a big man in #11, Anthony Palombo with a nice set of wheels. Look for him to be the check down guy on key downs this season and deceive people with his size and speed combination.

 

As for the Thundercats, they are not the same 1-9 team we saw in the Winter 2019 season, but more of what we saw in the following 2019 Spring season with Xavier Tardif under center. A QB who takes his time to read the defense at the line, calls for motion and audibles, which is okay to do if your team is up, but not when trailing the game. I felt the game was slipping away for this team and the pre-snap reads and calls took too long for the FPF game clock. Otherwise, a team with good hands is what I was reminded of, but letting the clock tick down when your down isn’t a great way to spark a comeback. They did however, get a deep ball connection to Huard for their only score of the game, and were able to make a key 4 down stop at their own 5 yard line with 2.5 minutes left in the game, but overall saw more of a check down offence (hooks, slants, drags). My opinion is that this offence is built to play with the lead, by eating away at the clock and slowly, but sure-handedly driving down the field.

 

We all know how there are a few key moments in every FPF game that make the difference. These were my top 5 key plays in the second half which led The Leftovers to victory:

1. Emilio Cecere (Leftovers) 31-yard TD fly
2. RB option play (Thundercats) went for -5 yards on a key situational down
3. Snap went over the Tardif’s (Thundercats) head for a dead spot “Sack”
4. 34-yard TD to Jeff Emblin (Leftovers)
5. Big sack by Anthony Palombo (Leftovers) to pin the Thundercats at their own 1 and prevent any chance of a comeback.

 

 

Bruins vs. Les Voyous (5A) Recap:

Les Voyous seemed methodical on their first-half offensive drives, taking what the defence gave them (Hooks and drags). Even though they didn’t score on their 1st possession, they were able to body punch in 2 scores on the Bruins (one of which was a 35-yard pick 6). The last few plays of the half were huge for both teams, as the Bruins 1st-half Quarterback (I’ll get to that a little later), Mathieu Ouimet, ran on a 4th and 10, and picked up the key 1st down after realizing he wasn’t deflagged, sliding in between 2 Voyous defenders five yards short of the first down. As is often the case in FPF, not stopping a team on a key 4th down can hurt you, as on the very next play, he threw a strike to Luis Begin for the first Bruins TD of the season. But with just 2 plays left in the half, Les Voyous responded right back with a Hail Mary TD to go up 19-6.

 

The second half was a completely different story, as the Bruins were the team consistently driving down the field, but now with Chris Marchand under center. Digging their way back into the game, after Zack Zwirn caught the ball in the endzone but hips and flag were at outside the goaline, Alex St-Arnaud made a great out-in-out move at the 1-yard line, where Marchand was able to hit him for the tying score. After the Bruins scored their 3rd TD in the second half, Les Voyous had 5 plays to tie the game.  They were able to drive down the field and got the game down to the final play, 15 yards out from the endzone. It was the Bruins focused defense however, that won them the game, as Nelson Pereira came away with the game-saving tackle at the 1-yard line, giving the Bruins the 24-19 win.