Wednesday Night Recap – Week 5 – Laval Edition

Glogang 22 vs. Fightin’ Tigers 18

In a game that pinned athleticism against experience, Glogang almost let this one slip away. It also doesn’t help when your QB gets ejected from the game for leaving the bench during a brawl, but it’s great to see that they have a decent backup plan with Francois Laramee. If not for him, I think that the result would have been different.

Glogang dominated early both on the score board and in the trash talk department. The game was heated from the opening whistle and both teams had a few guys who played with a lot of emotion. In between all of the back and forth, Laramee balled out and got open twice on what looked like the same kind of route Tyreek Hill ran on the turning point in the super bowl. He scored on two wide open looks and Brandon Gourgon looked his way early and often, while he was in the game.

The offense didn’t look as smooth for Fightin’ Tigers who couldn’t find a rhythm early and relied more on their short game to move the ball, turning the ball over 3 times in the first half, two of which came on interceptions by the Glogang defense. Seth Galina calmed down in the second half and checked the ball down to Jamie Ojeaha whenever he was under pressure and it worked well. Jamie was able to break a tackle here and there to extend plays and give the Fightin’ Tigers some life. While they couldn’t connect on the deep ball, they showed a lot of chemistry between the chains.

On the Fightin’ Tigers second touchdown, Benoit Dussault was feeling the adrenaline pumping and he got a little extra physical after making a nice one handed catch in the endzone. The Glogang players took exception and some pushing went back and forth. Brandon Gourgon felt the need to step in off the bench to protect some of his smaller players and it led to the ejection. Glogang had no choice but to show off Francois Laramee’s talents at QB and he led them down the field on his only drive, completing 75% of his passes and throwing a touchdown. Not too shabby.

That touchdown put Glogang up by 10 points and there was simply not enough time for Fightin’ Tigers to come back, even with a nice touchdown to Justin Blackie as time expired. While Glogang was seemingly in control most of the time, I’d love to see a rematch between these two.

Average Joe’s 26 vs. Pension Plan 20

Two teams sitting at 3-1 coming into this game, it’s fair to say it was a big point in the season for both of them. It was a defensive battle on both sides and it was difficult for both teams to get the deep ball working. After all, Vince Pisano only managed 145 yards on 28 completions which is basically 5 yards per completion. No surprise either, the beneficiary of most of them was Anthony Siggia and he provided an excellent sure handed option for Pisano.

Pension Plan got off to a great start and picked off Bellini early, giving them a short field, a chance to score first and the ball to start the second half. A scenario that most teams dream of. They took advantage, too, by running an 11 play drive and ending it with a touchdown. At one point in the drive, Vince Pisano had 7 straight completions for only 26 yards. It allowed Pension Plan to get out ahead and milk a ton of time off the clock. What did Average Joe’s do next? Take just a single play to answer back on a beautiful pass from Mark Bellini to Steven Besner.

Most teams feel like they would need to copy their opponent and score quickly right back, but in this situation, getting the ball back at halftime is so big that you just need to continue to milk the clock and not make mistakes. If you can time it up to score right before half and get the extra possession, you’re in a great spot. Unfortunately for Pension Plan, their drive stalled and they turned the ball over on downs and gave up the upper hand.

For me, that was the turning point in the game. Average Joe’s made up for their earlier mistake and score relatively quickly to take the lead and never look back. Both teams traded scores for the rest of the game and Pension Plan ultimately came up short.

War Pigs 12 vs. Freshmen 25

Freshmen seem to have bad luck getting through a game with all 6 of their players. Last week, I had to help out Emerik Lemieux after he took an elbow above the eye and had a nasty cut. At the time, so that I could continue to score the game, one of the players’ girlfriends came to help him out on the sideline and got him fixed up. You might now recognize her name, Gabrielle Mongrain. I’ve seen three of Freshmen’s games and she’s been a dedicated part of the team every week, either filming or cheering on the guys.

I mention all of this because when Jeremi Thompson-O’Reilly got an OC and had to sit for 10 plays, I didn’t think twice about letting her jump into the game when they asked me. While she didn’t have a huge impact and Freshmen we’re already winning big at the time, it was technically against the rules since she wasn’t officially on the roster at the start of the game. For that reason, I wanted to formally apologize to War Pigs for letting it slide.

That said, if we get back to the game, Freshmen dominated thanks in large part to Thompson-O’Reilly’s work on the ground. He threw the ball well when he needed to, but absolutely torched War Pigs on the ground. It’s been a while since I’ve seen somebody rush for more than 100 yards and he looked incredibly dynamic. It helps Freshmen that they have a capable backup quarterback as well in Jeremie Aerts. He’s much more of a pocket passer but he got the job done when he needed to.

For the War Pigs, it’s a tough loss. Jeremie Gravel-Cofsky did everything he could and tried to use his feet as well, but a lot of his passes were off target and the offense was stagnant if it didn’t run through Guillaume Tremblay. Tremblay did it all for War Pigs on both sides of the ball and it’s a shame that such a good effort came in a losing battle.

Wack Attack 19 vs. Mean Girls 0

Brand new to FPF, Nicky Del Vecchio tried to do his best to make an impact right away. His first hurdle? Covering up his earings. Not too familiar with the rules, he had  to sit out 5 plays early on but when he came back, seemed to be the only thing working for Mean Girls. Anthony Kaltsis was the quarterback for Mean Girls and did his best running the ball, but he couldn’t get much going in the air. He wasn’t wearing a number so his stats won’t show up in the box score, but that may be for the best.

This game was all about Antoine Fortin-Lefebvre yet again as he dominated on both sides of the field. I’m looking forward to seeing him play in a higher division one day soon and seeing how he matches up. He’s big, has good hands and runs like a horse. George Jean Louis didn’t need to do anything spectacular to win this game and the other player that stood out for me was Maxime Joubert.

He dominated on defense more than what it shows on the stat sheet and to top it off, I believe it was his birthday. He single handedly stopped Mean Girls from being able to do anything on offense and is a big part of the Wack Attack trio if you include Fortin-Lefebvre and Jean Louis as well.

It’s a shame for Mean Girls because they seem to have a few playmakers on both sides of the ball but they will need some time to get used to the game and how to win in FPF in general. I think they have a bright future ahead of them and should use this season as a learning experience.