New Coed Season, Same Powerhouses

Welcome back! After nearly a year hiatus, FPF finally kicked back off this week. For many of us, the weekly games are an important part of our routine and being away from the game for that long just felt wrong. Getting out and playing my first game was a great feeling and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. With the games back on, that also means that your weekly articles are back.

Once again, I will be your writer for the coed division this season. However, this will be my first season covering coed without actually playing in the division. My usual team, Kiss My End Zone, was not able to recruit enough women to field a team. Instead, we decided to try our luck in Division D. That being said, we definitely plan on getting back into the coed division next season!

My weekly articles will follow a similar pattern throughout the year. I will cover last week’s games, talk about the top individual performances, and predict the outcomes of the next week’s games. However, nothing is set in stone. I am writing these articles for you so if there anything you would like to see me change or add, please feel free to contact me by email at [email protected] This season I will also be writing for FPF Junior. In those articles, I will be attempting to mix up my content by adding in audio segments or videos into the article. If anyone is interested in seeing that in the coed articles as well, please let me know. I will also be scorekeeping Thursday nights in Laval, so if you rather discuss the articles with me at the field, feel free to approach me then.

Without further ado, lets jump right into our game recaps from week 1.

Week 1 Recaps

Party Mix (25) vs Funtastic 9 (20)

When you look at the box score of a Party Mix game, you are always surprised by how close the score is. No matter who they are playing and whether they win or lose, the score is always relatively close. That is because Party Mix play a conservative, slow paced style of football. They averaged just 6.4 yards per play this this game, which means they were taking six or more plays to score a touchdown on the average drive. On defence, Party Mix will consistently give up the short passes while takin away the deep ball. This forces their opponents to drive the field and increases the likelihood that they make a mistake. When you combine Party Mix’s slow-paced offense with their conservative defence, what you get is a slow drawn-out low scoring game. While this system allows them to compete and even beat the best coed teams like Power Rangers, it also results in much closer games against weaker teams and that is exactly what happened against Funtastic 9.

Even though Funtastic 9, formerly known as Black Mamba, have been around the coed division for a number of years their play book has not significantly evolved. To their credit, they are far less dependant on the run game then they once were, but their passing play still revolves around deep crossing plays and flies. While those tactics will work against the weaker coed 2 teams, they will never beat a coed 1 team with them. If Funtastic 9 want to take the next step, they will need to start diversifying their play calling with some flood and high-low concepts.

Power Rangers (41) vs Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (32)

While the Power Rangers have dominated coed 1 for years, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce have struggled to make the playoffs, however, these teams are more similar than they appear. They both have veteran FPF rosters who have played together for a number of seasons and they both have agile and uber talented quarterbacks who can carry their team on their back. However, there are two key differences between these teams. First, the women on Power Rangers are not only amongst the best in FPF, but amongst the best in Canada. Most of them play either for Team Canada or at an extremely high level outside of FPF. While the women on SHCS are talented, they simply cannot compare to the women on Power Rangers. Secondly, Power Rangers have a gamebreaker in Serge Pilon. Even if every other player on Power Rangers is struggling, Pilon can singlehandedly take over a game and lead his team to victory.

In this week’s game, those two differences are what led Power Rangers to victory. Jasmine Farmer was Power Ranger’s leading receiver with five catches for 58 yards and two scores. On the other hand, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce’s girls did not catch a single pass despite being targeted seven times. The other difference maker, Serge Pilon, was Power Rangers second leading receiver. He caught five of his six targets for 44 yards and two scores. What is perhaps most scary about Power Rangers is I know that they can play even better than they did against SHCS. Constance Millaire only caught one pass out of her seven targets. I have seen Millaire play countless times, and I do not think I have ever seen her drop a ball. She is clearly shaking off the rust from a long layoff, but I am sure she will be back to top form very soon. With Millaire on her A-game, this Power Rangers team is probably the best in the division.

Week 1 Team of the Week:

Every week, I will name 12 players to the team of the week. If you make the offensive team of the week, you cannot be on the defensive one and vice versa. Since this is coed, there will always be a minimum of two women on the offensive and defensive team of the week. When choosing the players for the team of the week, I do not consider the tier that the players are in. I only consider their achievements.

Offence

Quarterback: Sara Parker (3^rd Down for What) 20 completed passes, 90% completion rate, 210 passing yards, 5 passing touchdowns

Receiver: Tristan Mancini (3^rd Down for What) 7 receptions, 113 receiving yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Tommy Roadley Trohatos (Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce) 5 receptions, 107 receiving yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Jasmine Farmer (Power Rangers) 5 receptions, 58 receiving yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Tyler McPherson (Ying & Yang) 3 receptions, 65 receiving yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Laurie St-Pierre (Yin & Yang) 2 receptions, 16 receiving yards, 1 TD

Defence

Rusher: Alexandrine Trottier (Les Semi-Croquants) 1 tackle, 2 sacks

Defensive Back: Joshua Murphy (3^rd Down for What) 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 defensive TD

Defensive Back: Mathieu Felipe (Power Rangers) 1 tackle, 1 INT, 1 defensive TD

Defensive Back: Micky Mensah (Yin & Yang) 2 INTs

Defensive Back: Loic Robidoux (La Secte) 3 tackles, 2 INTs

Defensive Back: Constance Millaire (Power Rangers) 1 tackle, 1 PD

Week 2 Predictions:

Ying & Yang (1-0) vs Funtastic 9 (0-1)

Yin & Yang are clearly the best team in the coed 2 division. Frankly, I believe they would be competitive in coed 1. Instead of searching for easy victories in coed 2, this team should move up to coed 1 and face tougher opponents. That being said, they are in coed 2 for this season and that is bad news for Funtastic 9 and the rest of the division. While Funtastic 9 might be able to beat Y&Y deep a few times, ultimately the talent and experience of Y&Y are going to prevail in this one. Justin Weir is simply a better version of Funtastic’s Edouard Leroux. He runs the ball better, he throws the ball better and he has a much better understanding of the game. Weir will win the quarterback battle and Y&Y will win the game.

Prediction: Yin & Yang

Party Mix (1-0) vs Fightin’ Tigers (0-0)

This matchup is extremely promising and is my early pick for my ‘week two game of the week’. I think these two teams matchup well because they have very similar quarterbacks. Party Mix’s Francois Deslauriers is a master of the short passing game. He will systematically dissect a defence and drive the field. He also has the necessary mobility to escape the pocket and extend a play. On the other hand, Seth Galina plays a very similar style. He does not have the arm talent to stretch the field, but he makes up for it with great play calling and decision making. Ultimately, I think Deslauriers is the superior quarterback and that is why I pick Party Mix to win this one.

Prediction: Party Mix

Power Rangers (1-0) vs Fightin’ Tigers (0-0)

The Fightin’ Tigers do not have an easy start to their season. They are playing a double header against two of the best teams in the division. Ultimately the Fightin’ Tigers’ inexperience will be highlighted in this game. While they a few stars, they do not have the same depth or chemistry that the Power Rangers have. Even if Jamie Ojeaha manages to cover Serge Pilon out of the game, Power Rangers have a plethora of other stars who can carry their team to victory.

Prediction: Power Rangers

La Secte (0-1) vs Les Semi-Croquants (0-1)

Even though Les Semi-Croquants lost big in their first game of the season, I was impressed with their performance. They were facing off against one of the most storied coed teams in 3^rd Down for What and still managed to score twice. If they can score twice against 3^rd Down for What, they should be able to score quite a few on La Secte. While La Secte also showed signs of improvement in week 1, I do not think they have upped their game enough from last season to compete with Les Semi-Croquants.

Prediction: Les Semi-Croquants

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (0-1) vs 3^rd Down for What (1-0)

At first glance, one might expect 3^rd Down for What to run away with this game. However, I think Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce have improved considerably this season. JF Marquis is just as good a quarterback as Sara Parker and the addition of Tommy Roadley Trohatos for SHCS gives them an elite player to matchup against Alexis Gaumont. In the end, I think this game will come down to which team’s women step up. Unfortunately for SHCS, that is their weakness. I believe the likes of Rachel Beaudoin will make the difference in this game and lead 3^rd Down for What to victory.

With that, the first week of coed action is in the books. I know I already mentioned this, but please feel free to share any feedback about the article with me. These articles are for you, so your comments and critiques are always welcome.

Also, be sure to checkout the new stats available on the FPF website. Our tech team was hard at work during the pandemic and that means we now track converts, targets and so much more under the “team stats” icon in the box score.

Good luck to everyone in week 2!