Welcome Back!!!!

Welcome to 2023, all the best to you and yours! With the new year, comes a brand new FlagPlus Football season. As many of you know, we as a writing staff have decided to move away form the division-based articles and are now focusing on a general overview. There will still be some game recaps, but there will also be more themes, in-depth analysis, and eventually interviews too.

For some of you this is will undoubtedly be a welcome change, while for others, not so much. Change can sometimes be good, and it challenges the writing staff be more creative while at the same time giving us more freedom. Will it work out? Who knows? Let’s give this a chance though and see what happens.

I know it is early, but the best team name and jersey in FPF has to go to That’s What She Said. The picture of Michael Scott on their jersey from The Office, is awesome. I must admit I am biased, because I love the show, but even if I didn’t, the name and jerseys really stood out.

My broadcast partner Moe Khan and I have been calling games for McGill university for almost a decade. We have had the luxury of calling numerous football games for the Redbirds over that time frame. So, as you can imagine I was surprised and happy to see that a group of former players had entered a team in Division C called Une Phrase Bien Fournie. The crew joined the endless line of current and former USPORTS players to join the FPF ranks. Football is football, and the best way to stay active is to play.

Div. C is no joke, and the team got a rude awakening from That’s What She Said, as the team led newly minted FOPF Hall of Famer Mike Pierrecin, who recorded eight catches for a team-high 46 yards, a touchdown, and delivered a pick-six on defense, to go along with a game-high three pass deflections, almost single-handedly beat the team by himself.  That’s What She Said, also got INTs from J.M Alerte and Marc-Olivier Beauchamp, as they cruised to a (25-13) victory.

This week was only the first and there are nine more weeks left for teams to find their groove and their identities as well. With Saskatchewan Roughriders Safety Vincent Dethier manning the backend, along with former USPORTS playmaking defenders in Jean Philippe Hudon and Alexandre Paré, along with explosive offense weapons like Donovan Martel, Nathaniel Doyon-Simon, Yvan Desjardins, and Nicolas Baillargeon among others, (Former Defensive End Xavier Bilodeau is throwing for them and he showed a lot of athleticism) this team has talent and loads of football knowledge. It should only be a matter of time before they find some chemistry and more importantly wins.

Moving from a new team to a veteran one, the Beaskins were able to knock off EZW, with a (39-30) win Monday night in St. Laurent. This game featured a ton of highlight plays and big-time performances, but none were bigger than that of Brian Tock of the Bearskins and Jean-Christophe Ferland of EZW. Both players stole the show for their respective teams by making impact plays on both sides of the ball.

This game came down to turnovers, blown coverages, and missed opportunities. Despite having some big-name players in Vince Nardone, Marco Bertoldi, G.M. Kolethras, and Nicolas Blais, among others, both defenses surrendered big plays that went for scores throughout the contest. The 69 combined points was impressive, until you consider the fact that each offense left touchdowns on the field due to errant throws to wide open Receivers, and bad decisions by both Quarterbacks.

Both QBs did make some big time throws in this contest, as Neil Etinson of the Bearskins and Etienne Laurence-Gervais of EZW combined for 10 touchdowns, but it was the latter QB’s over-reliance on the deep-ball that came back to bite his team, as he started throwing balls in coverage instead of taking the deep sideline hooks that were often left wide open. To his credit, he was victimized by a few drops by his receivers as well.

Etinson was far from perfect, as he had at least two questionable throws that resulted in interceptions, which kept EZW in the game.

It was only game one, and both teams and their QBs are definitely talented. They have time to work through the early kinks and gets things straightened out.  

Martine et le Flag locked horns with Friends with Danny Wednesday night in Laval. The game was one-sided, as MELF, strolled to a (40-14) win.

One takeaway I got from this game is that Friends with Danny are more talented the final score indicates. The team has weapons on offense, with Receivers Jordan Allard (he needs to get the ball more), Eric Deschambault, and of course Danny D’Amour. The problem for their team in Week 1 was turnovers, most notably interceptions, as QB Jared Buck, threw three of them, two of which were run back to the house for touchdowns, including an incredible one by Guillaume Ranger, who was a monster on both sides of the ball all night long.

One offensive play that did stick out, was Buck’s completion to D’Amour on a pass made while the QB was falling backwards with his back to his target. If he tried that pass 10 more times, I think it would fall incomplete or get picked off, but on that play, the football Gods were on his side.

When the MELF defense wasn’t giving up what could best be described as a glitch play from Madden, the D also received big plays from Defensive Back Antoine Authier, as the rangy fourth-year player incepted Buck twice and helped limit the Friends with Danny Receivers to 102 yards.

On offense, MELF, was aided by the stud performances of Reginald Prophete and Kevin Finnerty. While their stat line won’t blow you way as they only combined for four catches and 74 yards, the duo’s leaping ability was on full display, as they Moss’ed FWD, defenders more than a few times during the game. Neither WR is 6 foot tall, but they both posses the speed to get deep. Opposing defenses will have to keep an eye on them.

Vengeance took on Blessed Monday night in St. Laurent. This game saw the GOAT Kevin Wyeth take on Stephen Harripersaud, a QB who many are familiar with in FPF. A good guy, who has risen from throwing only in lower divisions, to near the mountain top of FPF.

This game featured a lot of speed and skill at the Receiver position with names like Matt Kirouac, Phil Pharand, James Drysdale, Isiah Allard, Will Power, and both Sean as well as both Rory and Sean Semerjian made several big plays in the passing game for their respective teams.

When you look at the final score and see that Vengeance won (55-34), you might think that it was a walk in the park for them. Despite all the offensive firepower, what really stood out to me was the play of both defenses. For Blessed, Marvin Steinberg, James Langshaw, and rookie Rory Kelly were all over the field, as the trio combined to make 15 tackles. Their speed and athleticism along with that of Rusher Isiah Allard, will help the team get stops down the road. Unfortunately, there weren’t able to make it happen on Monday night, as they couldn’t stop the intermediate passing game of their opponents, as the Wyeth and Kirouac connection on numerous seam routes and quick-hitters in the redzone were unstoppable.

For Vengeance, their defense was aggressive all game long, as the Semerjian brothers, along with both Antonio and Leonardo Lanni, and Michael Khazaka (who had a strong two-way game) baited and forced Harripersaud into turnovers, while taking advantage of the one weakness in his game, his penchant for putting too much air under his deep ball.

One play in particular stood out, as the QB took a deep shot over the middle of the field on a post route to Will Power, Defensive Back Sean Semerjian had enough time to come over from the left side of the defense with the ball hanging in the air forever and cut off the Receiver at the top of his route to make a spectacular one-handed interception.

On Sunday in Lachine, I got to witness a thrilling shootout between Party Mix and The Funny Club. This game featured some big throws, huge catches, multiple QB option plays with William Trottier and Guillaume Béland (speaking of former McGill football players), and a game-winning 2-point conversion on the final play of the game by Stephanie Garey.

This game also saw who many feel is the GOAT of FPF Co-Ed in Catherine Piche record a game-high seven receptions for 55 yards and two touchdowns. She also threw a pass for eight yards as well. Despite coming up short (27-25), the loss was by no means on the shoulders of the veteran, as she made play after play for her squad, including several highlight catches.

For Piche, it was her second game of the night, as she also threw for a TD and recorded a couple of catches with her other team in Co-Ed in Fleur de Lys, who took on Les Bleues.

Speaking of Les Bleues, Kevin Lubin and Alex David, have a heck of a team. They can not only field a full CFL starting offense and defense with their 12-lady roster, but they have a great mix of speed, size, and aggression on their team as well. While it took about 10 minutes to start the game because their team roster wasn’t submitted online, the delay was well worth the wait, as the team played an energetic, exciting, and contagious brand of football. With a bit more experience under their belts, this squad, led so far by Erika Bastien, Annie Lagacé, Chloe Courtemanche, and Emma Racine among others, will be among the best in all of Co-Ed.

I also call games football games for the Champlain Cavaliers. After and sometimes during practice, the flag football team would practice as sell. Occasionally I would stick around to watch for a few minutes. Now that I know they are in FPF, and they have two FPF lifers leading the way, I think I’ll stick around a little longer, because these ladies can play! 

Some other ladies showed off their skills Sunday at Loyola as well. They would be the Badgers’ Ana Karen Rodríguez Valverde and Marisol Pelcastre. Both players used their speed and nose for the ball to come up with several plays in their team’s (26-12) win over Block Party.

Standing no taller than 5 ft 5, Rodríguez Valverde, provided her team with lockdown defense, and came up with some big catches to extend drives, none bigger than a bullet she hauled in over the middle, on a pass from her QB Chris Rivest, that saw her break more than one tackle, before being taken down near the goal-line. The much-taller Pelcastre, used her length and speed to breakup a pass and intercept another.

Both ladies, along with teammates Néstor Nacip Chávez Fayad, Omar Chavez who caught three touchdowns, and Cesar Garcia-Diaz who threw for a TD, all hail from Mexico, and have played flag football there, while Rodríguez Valverde and Nacip Chávez Fayad, have also coached there as well.

This team has a perfect blend of play-making ability, mixed in with experience. The insertion of a veteran FPF QB in Chris Rivest into their lineup makes perfect sense. The more reps they get together, the more dangerous they will become.

As is always the case in FPF, the start of a new season brings out some familiar faces. Jonathan Williams, François Deslauriers, Johnny Wilson, Jordan Allard, Wes Tayeh, Tara Mrakic, and others, it is always nice to get back to football and see some good people. 

I don’t want to spend too much time on it, but the NFL Playoffs are here! We are all football fans, or else what other reason would you have to not only read my article, but play in FPF? The season wasn’t even a week old, and I’ve already heard trash talk from multiple Philadelphia Eagle fans in our league. As annoying as Philly fans can be, they aren’t as nauseating and delusional as Dallas Cowboys fans, or at least that’s what I thought.

We finally had our FPF staff party last Friday night at Hendrix Tapas. Don’t mean to give them a plug, but the food was solid, the DJ was playing old school hip-hop and RnB almost the whole night, the waitresses were friendly, and we were about a group of 30, so it made the night fun. I was sitting at a table sandwiched in between two friends and Cowboy fans in Bruce Hogan and Rehan Sarwar. Usually neither, especially Bruce (who hosts a podcast devoted to the team) is shy to talk about their squad, and show you how much they’re drinking the Cowboys juice. Friday night though, both were eerily quiet.     

For those of you that know me, you know that I am a 9ers fan, so as you can imagine, they couldn’t say anything to me after last year’s playoffs, but the fact that both didn’t seem all that confident in their team, and weren’t spouting their usual Cowboys nonsense, got me thinking, could this be the year Dallas actually wins a playoff game?

Betting against Tom Brady usually isn’t the smartest idea, but anyone that watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year can see that the team is not that good. The defense is average, The Offensive Line can’t protect TB12, and even when they do, he hasn’t looked that great. The team needed a second half collapse by Sam Darnold and the Carolina Panthers reluctance to play zone defense or at least double team Mike Evans, two weeks ago, to get to the playoffs.

I am still picking Tampa because I still have faith that Dallas will do Dallas things Monday night (how weird is it that we will have a playoff game during the week? I am not complaining, but it just feels off) but I am not as confident as I usually would be.

Beating a team three times in a season is tough, but I think my 9ers will handle business once again against Seattle. They can’t stop the run, and they can’t run on us.

I am sure I am not the only one disappointed that the Baltimore vs Cincinnati and Miami vs Buffalo games are shaping up to be duds. Even if Lamar Jackson pulls a Willis Reed and gets wheeled out to play in the game (he’s not), he hasn’t played or practiced in almost two months.

Skylar Thompson against the Bills, who are obviously going to be motivated by Damar Hamlin, will be a slaughter. I can’t be the only person who would rather see the Fins’ start Dan Marino right now instead. I somehow hope I am wrong about both games.

Giants vs Vikings, I am picking the G-Men. They have no one at WR, but it’s Kirk Cousins, and the Giants’ defense is better than you think.

Chargers vs Jaguars. I don’t trust Brandon Staley, and the Jags are frisky, and have a rapidly improving defense, but Justin Herbert is a stud, and I can’t see the Jags keeping pace, although WR Mike Williams missing the game (good job Staley!!!!) is huge. I am not confidently going with the Chargers.

Flags…Rob gave me a bag of flags this past Sunday before my shift at Loyola. I didn’t count how many were in there, but I know that there were more than 50, as the bag was annoyingly heavy as I had to drag it back to my car at the end of the night. I sold four flags total that night. The next night in St. Laurent, I sold nine.

As I arrived to the field in Laval on Thursday, I decided to leave the giant bag in my trunk. I packed 27 flags in my school bag, thinking that would be more than enough. Boy, was I wrong. My shift was 9PM to 11PM. Before I started my first game, I had already sold 10. Before halftime, the other 17 were gone. I ran back to my car to get the bag, prior to the start of the 10PM games, I sold out in five minutes, and I didn’t have enough to go around, so some players had to resort to one-hand touch football. Rob and I were both shocked, thinking that the bag would last to at least mid-season. You know what they say about assumptions. Be rest-assured, more flags are on the way.

If you’re wondering why I chose the trophies as the feature image for my article, it’s simple. Every team is trying to get to get there. The journey has already begun. Good luck!

Before I go, I would like to say thanks to all those who reached out in person, text, and Messenger with kind messages on my Hall-of-Fame induction. I appreciate it! I have been writing for a long time, and it along with playing in FPF, have always been a passion of mine, because like many of you, I LOVE football.

Good luck to everybody in their games this week, enjoy the NFL playoff games. It feels great to be back!

See you next Week!

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt like there was something I left out, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or on Instagram @ brent_b51