A Day Late and A Dollar Short: Who Falls short in the Semi Finals?

The playoffs are well underway! We are rapidly approaching the Semi-Finals after a magnificent showing in the Quarter Finals! I want to give a GIANT SHOUT OUT to my man Brent Bodkin for taking over the article while I was away on vacation! Croatia was a beautiful destination and although I could have spent another few days in Venice, FPF was calling me! (and I also can’t afford to be out of the country that long… lol) Unfortunately for me, upon my return I busted up my shoulder and now will have to miss the playoff action!!

For those of you who are still in it: KISS MY INLAWS, ONESTOP, EZW, and THE INFANTRY, congratulations; You are 2 games away from winning the Championship! Brent gave some awesome break-downs and previews for the Quarter Finals, so I’ll be checking in to see if he was right and try to give a break-down of these heavy Semi Finals! As Li Shang says in the Classic Film “Mulan” – Let’s Get Down to Business!

MATCHUP REVIEWS:

ONESTOP vs HEAVENLY SONS

Brent checked this matchup out and deduced that HEAVENLY SONS would come away the victors, and honestly, I would have agreed! Despite coming out on top in their first game, I thought ONESTOP were going to take the L here. Both me and Brent were wrong on this part and ONESTOP got the win again, 44-40! Both Ben McMahon and Michael Caparelli came out swinging and were able to put up 6 TDs and 200+ yards! Unfortunately for Mr. McMahon, he threw 2 INTs in the first half and found him and his team down 15-20 in the first half.

HEAVENLY SONS were able to rally in the second half and outscore ONESTOP, but a critical interception that was returned for a TD was the biggest difference between these 2 teams that both went for 6 offensive TDs. With James Drysale being back in the mix, I expected him to have a ball out game with 100+ yards, and was a bit surprised to see him at 66 yards and only 4 catches. This is not to say that Ben should be feeding him the ball, Kevin Donnet had an amazing game and is a big part of this offence, but James is a dangerous weapon that can turn any game around! On the flip side, ONESTOP’s defence was on point! 3 INTs, 3 PDs, and a defensive TD, is definitely enough to win most games, and still despite that, HEAVENLY SONS almost won – showing just how dangerous this team is!

It’s always hard to lose a playoff game, especially by less than 1 TD, but when AJ Zeppetelli, Charles Cossette, and Michael Caparelli are on their A-game, they are incredibly difficult to stop! I’d also like to give a shout out to Luca Leccese for being able to stop Ben from running as much as he probably would have liked! It is not an easy task to shut Ben down, and only allowing 2 runs for 10 yards is definitely an incredible feat! Good luck to ONESTOP as they take on THE INFANTRY and good luck to HEAVENLY SONS next season!

KISS MY INLAWS vs BEER BELLY BRIGADE

Here are MY INLAWS (and let’s be honest, I would KISS most of them), going up against my favourite named team: BEER BELLY BRIGADE! It hurt my soul to miss this game, but I was happy that my INLAWS were able to pull out a win. They say that lightning never strikes twice, but it seems that the INLAWS were determined to make it strike 3 times! Leading 34-7 in the first half, I had assumed KISS MY INLAWS would continue to run away with this game, but BEER BELLIES were not going to take it lying down and were able to outscore their opponents in the second half.

Alas, like we saw in the previous game – a QB who throws 3 INTs will have a very difficult time winning, which is what we saw here. Despite Alexandre Fafard running for his life for 67 yards and a TD, his 3 INTs were just too much for the BRIGADE to hold the line. They were only able to make one defensive stop against the INLAWS which, paired with a few turnovers, is giving Iggy Magnets way too many chances to score! Jerome Hovington popped off as the player of the game and brought in 3 offensive TDs AND the PICK-6.

I think both teams played their hearts out and despite the score being 52-32 for the INLAWS, I’ll always secretly cheer on the BEER BELLIES, not only because of their BELLIES, but also because of their HEART! KISS MY INLAWS move on to the Semi Finals without me, I’ll be looking forward to them taking on EZW this sunday!

BRUINS vs EZW

Speaking of EZW, let’s take a look at their game against BRUINS, who I and Brent both had as the favourites for this match! As Brent pointed out in his article, BRUINS were able to take the win away from EZW during the regular season but might have had a different outcome if they were able to keep up in the first half. EZW were determined to not repeat the mistakes of their first encounter and came out of the gate like a Bat Out of Hell! EZW was able to score 7 TDs to the BRUINS’ 6, and were able to keep up with the BRUINS in the first half only being down 26-20!

Both teams looked fairly even throughout this whole matchup: Jeremy White threw an INT in the first half, while Rocco threw his INT in the 2nd half. Despite Gabriel Wiseman keeping Jeremy to only 20 rushing yards and getting his team 2 additional points due to a safety, Mr. White (heh heh, Reservoir Dogs) was still able to score a rushing TD. Jean-Christophe Ferland looks to me to be the MVP for EZW (probably behind Jeremy White) having tallied 154 yards and 2 TDs and a sack, while Marvin Steinberg would probably be my vote for BRUINS MVP with 92 yards, 3 TDs, and an INT!

I’d definitely like to double down on one of the points that I’ve made throughout this season – EXTRA POINTS MATTER! Despite the score of 47-38 for EZW and an extra TD, let’s take a look at the score without these converts: BRUINS were not able to convert any of their Extra Points and had to rely on Gabe Wiseman’s safety to propel them a bit, while EZW scored 5 extra points on converts (almost a whole extra TD through extra points). Without 5 convert points EZW is left at 42 points, which, if BRUINS had scored the same amount (5 extra points through converts) they would have actually tied and gone to O.T.! Now obviously, this isn’t what happened, and EZW was able to win their matchup without their extra TD, but I just wanted to highlight just how powerful Converts can be and encourage teams not to take them lightly!

An unfortunate loss for my BRUINS friends, but also a gigantic win for EZW, who have been working hard to stay in the top of the pack in Division B. Good luck to them next week against my INLAWS!

THE INFANTRY vs SILENT TICKLERS

When both teams met last time, as Brent highlighted, neither of these teams had their starting QB. However, in this match up both Jordan Panetta and the settled QB of William Power were in attendance. Brent voted for SILENT TICKLERS to win this match up and I think this might be the only game that I disagree with him with. If William Power does indeed show up for THE INFANTRY, then I expect him to ball out like he has been doing all season. I’m always impressed at how good Will is at pretty much ALL positions in FPF, but especially so at QB, which he continued to do by putting up an almost 100% completion rate and 6 TDs! Unfortunately for Jordan Panetta, the INFANTRY were hungry on defence and forced 3 INTs, while keeping him to about 50% completion rate.

SILENT TICKLERS were outscored by 3x their score (49-16), so I won’t harp too much on what they didn’t do, but rather what I felt they did well: Mike Zenobi getting 2 sacks against Will Powers and keeping him to 6 yards rushing is a great success even if Will didn’t run this season – Spoiler Alert: he can. 3 receivers, Jack Antaki, Vincent Dagenais, and Andrew Blevings were able to put up 50+ receiving yards, which is a pretty good match to the INFANTRY, who also had 3 receivers at 50+ yards. Finally, Jordan Panetta, despite his 3 INTs, was able to accumulate almost 200 yards on offence! A great showing from a normally high scoring team but unfortunately it would not be enough.

THE INFANTRY did what they needed to do in this game and came away with a blow out win, while scoring an extra TD worth of points in Converts. Despite having 0 TDs, Marc-André Lapointe was the #1 target for Will and went 9/9, while Charles Olivier Vachon came down with 2 INTS – 1 of which was for a PICK-6! THE INFANTRY will have to face off against ONE STOP in what I would dub the Semi Final Game of the Week!

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE:

Due to the limited number of games and half of the teams no longer in contention, I won’t be spreading my usual rumours and fun facts. However, I would like to give a shout out to all AWARD WINNERS and ALL-STAR winners this season! It was a hell of a race, but for those of you who came out as victors: CONGRATULATIONS! Here are your winners in case you missed it:

QB of the Year
Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo – Kiss My Inlaws
2225 Yards // 54 TDs // 7 INTs // 73.5% // 130.1 QBR

Receiver of the Year
Anthony Drysdale – Heavenly Sons
45 Rec // 707 Yards // 15 TDs

Defensive Player of the Year
Ethan Adrian – The Infantry
3 Tackles // 14 Sacks // 1 PD

Two-Way Player of the Year
Jerome Hovington – Kiss My Inlaws
37 Rec // 579 Yards // 17 TDs | 11 Tackles // 3 INTs // 3 PDs // 1 TD

AND YOUR ALL-STARS:

Michael Caparelli

Jordan Panetta

Anthony Drysdale

Marc-André Lapointe

Vincent Benjamin

Brady Ohanessian

Fritzgerald Cenatus

Rocco Christiano

Ethan Adrian

Jerome Hovington

Charles Olivier Vachon

Luca Leccese

GAME PREVIEWS:

Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s take a look at Zack’s predictions for the Semi Final games:

THE INFANTRY vs ONESTOP

Previous Matchup: ONESTOP (37-31) Week 3 and THE INFANTRY (46-32) Week 10

BOY OH’ BOY! It’s a Clash of the Titans: The #2 and the #3 seed are facing off against each other for the 3rd time this season! In their first meeting, the difference between the 2 came down to a Rushing TD by Michael Caparelli late in the game! Tyler Stewart was at the helm of THE INFANTRY in their first encounter and was able to match Michael’s 5 TDs in the air, while keeping up score for score in the 2nd half. Both teams threw INTs, but despite ONESTOP giving up an additional INT, THE INFANTRY was unable to capitalise and is one of the main reasons they fell short in that game.

Fast Forward to Week 10 and Will Power had finally settled into his role of QB. Michael was once again able to put up 5 TDs, but Willy was able to put up a whopping 7! What started as a close game in the first half (20-20) had THE INFANTRY pull away in the 2nd half outscoring ONESTOP 26-12! AJ Zapatelli showed off his skill and just how dangerous he could be by bringing his team 135 Yards and 4 TDS!! Alas, it wouldn’t be enough! Despite picking up an INT on defence, ONESTOP needed much more than just one stop to put away this game.

Now, in the Semi Finals, these 2 teams meet again to decide once and for all who is the better team! On THE INFANTRY side, Will Power has been a force to be reckoned with and paired with Division B’s #1 Rusher – Ethan Adrian (14 Sacks) – they have stand out athletes in core positions! Marc-André Lapointe and Charles Olivier Vachon are 2 of the top 5 Receivers in Division B and have not scored less than 30 points in a game.

Heavyweight Contenders – ONESTOP – might not be able to boast as much star power as the INFANTRY, but have definitely given every team a run for their money! Michael Caparelli finished the #4 QB this year and do have Luca Leccese, an 8th season FPFer who finished 2nd in sacks this season! With the same record as INFANTRY (7-3), the only thing that really separates these 2 teams is 30-ish points ONESTOP has allowed on defence. Relying heavily on AJ Zeppetelli, ONESTOP may not have as many targets as INFANTRY, but do still have a great core of Jahnai Lewis and Charles Cossette to pick up any slack!

Like the other games this season, I think this is going to be a shoot out. 5 TDs will not be enough to win this time around and Michael will need to put up a minimum of 6 TDs, preferably 7, if he wants to give his team the best chance of winning! Both teams have the potential to put up a lot of points, but I think INFANTRY has the edge/advantage in defensive power. ONESTOP will need to be nearly perfect to be able to stop the INFANTRY and despite their name, one stop may not be enough. If they can force Will Power off his game and get 2 turnovers, I think that momentum will push ONESTOP ahead. THE INFANTRY will be able to win this game by simply playing their game. As the stronger team (in my opinion), it is their game to lose!

PREDICTION: THE INFANTRY 42 – 38 ONESTOP

KISS MY INLAWS vs EZW

Previous Matchup: KISS MY INLAWS (49-40) Week 10

Ok! Despite my inability to play in this upcoming game, the INLAWS are my boys and it would be incredibly difficult to Preview this game unbiasedly. That being the case, I won’t make a prediction of the winner, but rather, talk briefly about what I think both teams may need to do to win!

For EZW to win this matchup the first thing they should focus on is their Converts! In their Week 10 matchup they fell short not only by 1 TD, but also 3 Extra Points, which accounts for 30% of the point difference! Jeremy White also threw 2 INTs in their last meeting, so will absolutely need to keep that to only 1 if he wants to keep up with Iggy who has only thrown 7 INTs this season. Offensively, EZW has had great success in spreading the ball to multiple receivers and usually can rely on Jeremy White running the ball for key first downs when necessary. In their last matchup, Jeremy was kept to a low 9 rushing Yards! He will need to find a way to get around Manu Allard-Roy, who I assume will be rushing Jeremy in my stead! EZW has all the necessary tools to get a win over the INLAWS, but will need to coordinate well on defence to stop Jerome and Sanders and get at least 2 stops, while also finding a way to get Jeremy some room to run if they want to pull out a win!

On the KISS MY INLAWS side of the ball, their last match up showed that they should be able to outscore EZW when given the chance (even without me as a Rusher), but that their defence struggles to hold EZW back. Jerome Hovington has been and will continue to be a key player on the offence, so Iggy should definitely lean on him whenever possible! However, in case EZW becomes wise to his ways, he will still have Sanders Armand and Vincent Benjamin as dual threats! The only drawback here is that Iggy, unlike Jeremy White, does not run! Not to say that Rushers will have an easy time getting those sacks, but it does allow a Rusher to rush full steam without necessarily worrying that Iggy will “take off”. Defensively, the INLAWS can sometimes let their foot off the pedal and will allow teams to remain competitive. This cannot happen with EZW who are able to capitalise on close games and have great playmakers. Manu will need to once again contain Jeremy White and force him to make some bad throws if the INLAWS want to stay ahead in this game!

In the end, I think this game will be closer than the previous 49-40 score of Week 10, and will come down to conversions! Whoever wins this game, should be winning by less than a TD! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! (But a special good luck to the INLAWS!)

ZACK’S FANTASY TEAM OF THE WEEK (QUARTER FINALS):

QB (1): Jeremy White (EZW) – 25 Attempts / 15 Completions (60%), 238 Yards, 6 TDs, 1 INTs, 2 Sacks // 4 Rushing Attempts, 20 Rushing Yards, 1 TD

—————————————————————————————————————————

WR (1): Marvin Steinberg (BRUINS) – 9 Targets / 7 Receptions (77.78%), 92 Yards, 3 TDs

WR (2): Jerome Hovington (KISS MY INLAWS) – 8 Targets / 6 Receptions (75%), 68 Yards, 3 TDs

WR (3): Jean-Christophe Ferland (EZW) – 7 Targets / 7 Receptions (100%), 154 Yards, 2 TDs

WR (4): Michael Khazaka (THE INFANTRY) – 6 Targets / 4 Receptions (66.67%), 50 Yards, 2 TDs

—————————————————————————————————————————

DB (1): Felix Daoust (BEER BELLY BRIGADE) – 1 Tackles, 1 INT, 2 PD, 1 TD

DB (2): AJ Zeppetelli (ONE STOP) – 3 Tackles, 2 INT, 1 TD

DB (3): Charles Olivier Vachon (THE INFANTRY) – 2 INTs, 1 TD

DB (4): Charles Cossette (ONE STOP ) – 3 Tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD

—————————————————————————————————————————

RUSHER (1): Gabriel Wiseman (BRUINS) – 0 Tackle, 2 Sacks

Quarter Finals are in the bag and Semi’s are around the corner! For those of you who are out of the playoffs – Great effort, and those of you who are still in – Great Job! If there are upcoming milestones you want me to cover, don’t be a stranger, let me know! If you want to see more accurate info about your teams, your players, your rivalries/history – send them to me! Also, check out the new episode of Calling the Audible – the official FPF podcast – available on Youtube and …. Probably somewhere else too. And always keep a look out at FPF’s Official Instagram page for updates and exclusive content!