Categories: Division 5ADivision 5BWinter

Teams Struggling out the Gate and What Could Have Been a better Beer

Welcome back Division 5 players and readers. Time to get caught up on what went down in both divs 5A and 5B in Week 3 and what’s to come in Week 4. Which teams are riding high and which teams are struggling to get their first win. I’m not much of an intro guy, so let’s dive in right away!

Division 5A

Week 3 rumblings

  • Last week we had 6 undefeated teams left, and nothing has changed since: Ice up, Red “Not” Skins, Ballers, Save The Turftles, Big Fat Bats and The Process still have 0 losses to their name, although The Process had a stalemate against Practice Squad (5) in Week 3, a 13-13 tie.
  • Without their Quarterback, Glory Boyz’ Massimo Moniz, Jordan Le and Lucas Crivello quickly realized how tough Micheal Hiotis has it under centre. It’s an extremely tough position to replace, but they should have reached out to the FPF community on FPF’s FB page, especially for a QB in Div 5B. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see anything come through asking for a QB sub. They were down 18-0 at halftime to Clinkers and couldn’t come back. They did however, put up a decent 12-12 outing in the 2nd half, but fall to an early 0-2 hole. Luckily their points against is lower than both Le Speakeasy and Backwoods.
  • My comment from last week’s article: Not because it’s my team, but Week 3’s game to watch is West Island Boys vs. No Friend Zone. This should be an offensive, close showdown between two highly skilled teams. I was pretty spot on as No Friend Zone and West Island Boys had a fun, explosive and offensive game on Wednesday night during the snowstorm at Baie d’Urfe. Both defenses came up with key redzone interceptions to prevent either team from taking a significant advantage in the game. Skylar Bayliff was a menace all night for WIB and Zack Stacey was connecting on the deep ball to Bayliff, Di Maulo and Weiss, yours truly had an answer with his trio of Jerome Hovington, Lucas Quenneville and Felix Boutet. While the offenses were on full display, and the game came down to converts, a key sack from Sebastian Dufour on the final WIB drive was a major reason why NFZ came out with the 41-38 victory. It was both offensive and close!
  • As a team, Ballers and Save The Turftles have intercepted quarterback’s the most often (11 times each)
  • In 2 weeks, Big Fat Bats have put up 99 points. Defenses beware!
  • Danick Coulombe (Ballers) and Luis Begin (Clinkers) are tied with the most INT’s (5).
  • In a game where both teams contested the officiating, The Tokyo Sandblasters came away with the surprising 20-18 victory of Him University.
  • Despite a few seasons off from FPF, Max Marini and Ice Up look like they haven’t lost a step, beating up Menace II Sobriety 32-12 last Saturday night.
  • Antoine Roger and the Ballers are Ballin on both sides of the ball. Jacob Gagné had a ridiculous 176 receiving yards and 4 TDs while Danick Coulombe shined with 3 INTs. Ummmm… easy candidates for Week 3 Players of the Week. See below if Gagné made it as the WR1.
  • Zack Stacey is your passing leader in Yards (685) and is Tied for 1st in completions with Sébastien Noël, both with 57 completions after 3 games and those two, plus Mathew Zeppetelli are in a 3-way tie for the passing TD leader, all three with 15.
  • 3 teams have scored over 100 points in 3 Weeks: Big Fat Bats (3-0), No Friend Zone (2-1) and West Island Boys (1-2). I’m surprised that WIB have a losing record, but they’ve had a tough schedule so far and it doesn’t get any easier with the 3-0 Save The Turftles next.
  • While WIB’s next game is against STT, they are also the next opponent of Glory Boyz. While Glory Boyz can afford the loss, no one wants to start their season 0-3. That’s when the “uh oh’s” and the jitters start coming into play the following weeks.
  • Time for 5A teams to take notice: Sam Mashtoub has converted FOUR 2-point converts 👀
  • Red “Not” Skins look to go 3-0 against Rico Ryders and are looking to increase their defensive INT numbers against the 2nd highest QB to throw interceptions in Mathew Yanakoulias.
  • While Yanakoulias has 10 INTs on the year, at least he has 13 TDs. Vincent Richard has thrown 8 INTs and has 0 passing TD’s 😱👀. That… is…. not good.
  • West Island Boys have 2 receivers in the Top 2 in receiving yards: Skylar Bayliff (Rank: 1, 312 yards) and Nick Di Maulo (Rank: 7, 164 yards).
  • 3 QB’s have over 100 rushing yards so far: Alex Papineau (Practice Squad – 219), Liam Gilmore (Backwoods -150) and Noah Groper (The Process – 121).
  • There are 3 Quarterbacks completing over 74% of their passes: Mathieu Kieljan (Red “Not” Skins, 77.3%), Iggy Magnets (No Friend Zone, 74.5%), and Mathew Zeppetelli (Big Fat Bats, 74.3%). That’s a combined 40 incompletions on 161 passing attempts!
  • The first day of February starts with 2 great 5A matchups: No Friend Zone vs. Ice Up and Les Petites Carottes vs. The Process
  • Red “Not” Skins have the best 3rd down conversion percentage so far this season, converting a whopping 75% of their 3rd downs and are #1 in the percentage of possessions that result in a touchdown: 78.6%.

Game Preview

Buffalo Wild Wings vs. Him University

**Written on Saturday Jan 28th, prior to the game being played**

It’s been 3 weeks since Buffalo Wild Wings last suited up in an FPF game, last playing Ballers in a 20-19 loss in Brossard. Since then, they’ve been ice cold at home but surely getting an itch to play their next game. Up next, they have the tremendously athletic Him University who took a gut-wrenching loss to The Tokyo Sandblasters last Sunday. Compared to BWW, Him University is playing their 4th game of the season and will be looking to avoid a 3-game losing streak and get back to .500.

Vincent Guillette, QB of BWW is not a menace running the football, so Joey Notaro isn’t obliged to rush in this game for Him University. Guillette also did not see much success passing the football last Winter season, as he threw 21 TD passes and 27 interceptions. Against an athletic and rangy defense like Him University’s, he will need to take care of the rock and simply stay away from throwing in Travis Moses‘ direction. Matteo Callari is another player making a name for himself with Him University, as he is leading the team in both the major defensive and offensive categories. He’s the team’s leading receiver with 148 yards and 4 TD’s, in addition to his 2 INTs (one of which was returned to the house). This is another defender Guillette will want to avoid. Alexis Marcotte was Guillette‘s main target, hauling in all 5 targets thrown his way. That said, being the leading receiver with 43 yards is not an impressive accomplishment.

If the Wild Wings will want to come out victorious, they will need to score at least 4 touchdowns, and will have to convert more extra point attempts than they did in Week 1 (0). A lot of FPF games come down to converts, and going 0/3 on converts doesn’t help get you in the win column. BWW should lean on Fred Mallette‘s experience at QB to help Guillette in his reads and plays and get Mallette more involved in the offense.

Prediction: Buffalo Wild Wings: 19 – 32 Him University

Editors Note: Nope, totally wrong from Buffalo Wild Wings. Guillette was able to shred apart the Him University defense. But hey, I was right about needing to get Fred Mallette more involved. He had 9 receptions for 124 yards and 3 TDs!

Week 3 Players of the Week

QBs of the Week (2)

QB1 – Mathew Zeppetelli (Big Fat Bats): 18/21 (85.7% completion), 233 Passing Yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 Rushing Attempts, 14 Rushing Yards. **Back to Back QB1!**

QB2 – Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo (No Friend Zone): 22/31, 284 Passing Yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT, 3 Rush Attempts, 25 Rushing Yards.

Receivers of the Week (3)

WR1 – Jacob Gagné (Ballers): 6 receptions, 9 targets, 176 yards, 4 TDs

WR2 – Skylar Bayliff (West Island Boys): 7 receptions, 10 targets, 133 yards, 2 TDs

WR3 – Thomas Chaussé (Save The Turftles): 7 receptions, 7 targets, 94 yards, 3 TDs

Defensive Players of the Week (3) + 1 Rusher

DB1 – Luis Begin (Clinkers): 8 tackles, 1 sack, 3 INTs, 1 PD, 1 Def INT

DB2 – Danick Coulombe (Ballers): 3 INTs, 1 PD

DB3 – Vincent Cheung (Save The Turftles): 5 tackles, 2 INTs

Rusher – Nathan Lequin (Practice Squad): 2 sacks

Division 5B

Week 3 roundtable discussions:

  • Vick in a Box took care of Warriors in Week 3, who were without QB Mitch Fergenbaum. Dylan Dayan found out just how hard Mitch‘s job is and how good Fergenbaum really is.
  • Blues are a feisty bunch, but look the loss in Week 3 to Team Sexy
  • The Penetrators are quietly averaging 30 points a game. A week 1 loss can easily put you in the shadows, but don’t forget they are coming off a Tier 4 Championship. That goes a long way in FPF.
  • Cover 3 are struggling to put up points.
  • Red Dragons are scoring at a high-FPF level. They scored 41 in Week 3 against Primetime and then 43 on Saturday Jan 28th against No Punt Intended. They lead all of Div 5 with 144 points for after 4 games for an average of 36 points per game 👀
  • No Punt Intended have had to face off against very tough opponents to start the year. They have a chance to right the ship as they have another game on Sunday Jan 29th against Cover 3. Both these teams have only been able to put up 18 points in 2 games. Carter Soles is having a tough time against non-Div 6 defenses. Hopefully both teams can let it rip tonight!
  • Not sure why Green Monster started Jason De Souza at Quarterback, as he completed 50% of his passes for 77 yards, 1 TD and 3 INTs and down 18-6. Once Pat Jazon came in at QB half-way through the 2nd half, he led two consecutive drives into the endzone for the 20-18 comeback and the notoriously strong GM defense stopped Primal 10 yards away from the endzone to secure the win and stay undefeated at 3-0.
  • Primetime need the win against Bulldogs on Wednesday, as they want to start their February schedule on the right foot.
  • Whether it’s because he’s coaching FPF Jr, or also playing in Division 4, or a combination of the 2 things, but Guillaume Boulanger‘s rapid QB improvement is impressive. He took his licks early in his FPF career, but it’s starting to click: what works and what doesn’t in FPF. While he doesn’t look like your prototypical QB, that’s the beauty of FPF. If you have a good understanding of the concepts with a good playbook, it almost doesn’t matter how you “look” throwing the ball. Smart decision with a decent arm will take you a long way. We’ve got another QB that has developed from Div 6! Awesome to see!
  • Timoté Nehma-Lacasse of Red Dragons has been a great addition to the team. He’s got 7 TD’s in 4 games plays while racking up 181 yards on 19 receptions.
  • While Jeffrey Lefebvre (Brewers) has the most passing yards, he also leads 5B with 12 INTs.
  • Expect Max Burah to win 2-way player of the year. Calling it in Week 3/4.
  • Your Top 3 teams converting on 3rd down: 1. Les Bleus Dry (55.6%), 2. Primal (54.6%), Green Monster (52.9%)
  • Your Top 3 teams converting on 4th down: 1. Killer Rays (100%), T-2. The Penetrators (66.7%), T-2. Wolf (66.7%).
  • Your Top 3 teams in sacks: 1. Red Dragons (14), 2. Blues (13), 3. Stormers (9).
  • Game of the Week in 5B in Week 4 is Les Bleue Dry vs. What Could Have Beens …. let’s preview it

Game Preview

Les Bleue Dry vs. What Could Have Beens

Les Bleue Dry are led by Fred Juneau at QB, who is coming off a season where he was catching passes from the great Jo Maheu of the Braves. While he’s no Maheu (Who is?), he is a Top 5 QB throwing in 5B and will be going against one of the better defenses in What Could Have Beens. While LBD haven’t been racking up the yards offensively, it’s partly due to their defenses having created 2 turnovers via INT in each game that have likely given the offenses a short field to work with, where they were able to punch it in for 6. So far, rookie Eric Namts has been the leading receiver after 2 games, and has a pick 6 to his name as well.

On the other side, you’ve got Sean Brown leading the Could Have Beens offense with some of the more ridiculous receivers in 5B. Kaylem Ferdinand and Randolph Kodua are both big bodies with great range and great hands while captain Adam Leroy is your shorter, but speedier receiver with very sure hands and great body control. The offense is spread so dangerously, that they make a case to have the best receiving set in all of 5B.

Les Bleue Dry haven’t face stiff competition just yet, while WCHB have faced off against a strong Primal team that will look to make a deep playoff push. That said, I like WCHB already having faced some adversity. Both offenses generally are used to putting up 30+ points, but these 2 defenses will look to put a stop to that. I think the game will be a close one, but the offenses won’t be flying. Instead, I see a close, mid-range scoring game.

Prediction: Les Bleue Dry 26 – 27 What Could Have Beens

Week 2 Players of the Week

QBs of the Week (2)

QB1 – Guillaume Boulanger (Red Dragons): 20/28 (71.4%), 231 Passing Yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs

QB2 – Tylar Bianchi (Killer Rays): 16/25 (64%), 200 Passing Yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT,3 Rushing Attempt, 66 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD

Receivers of the Week (3)

WR1 – Curtis Ryan (Killer Rays): 6 receptions, 9 targets, 110 yards, 3 TDs

WR2 – Antoine Chabot (Primal): 7 receptions, 8 targets, 112 yards, 2 TDs

WR3 – Timoté Nehma-Lacasse (Red Dragons): 7 receptions, 9 targets, 72 yards, 3 TDs

Defensive Players of the Week (3) + 1 Rusher

DB1 – Max Burah (Vick in a Box): 3 tackle, 3 INTs, 1 PD

DB2 – Tylar Bianchi (Killer Rays): 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 Def TD

DB3 – Gabriel Barbeau (Primal): 1 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD

Rusher – Keenan Alleyne (Blues): 3 sacks

Epilogue

Alright Div 5, that does it to recap Week 3 (and talk a bit about Week 4’s Saturday games, be sure to come back for Week 4 and see what’s happening in the division. If you want more content, there’s always more! Here’s our podcast, Calling The Audible from this past Friday, starting here: