And then there were two: Championship Sunday

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is it. FlagPlus Football’s Championship Sunday is upon us. After 13 long weeks, we are down to the final two teams who will battle to see who are the kings of Division E.

Representing Conference A will be the Smokin Axolotls, and repping Conference B will be Trinity.

Before I get into the Finals’ preview, let me take a quick look at how each team got here.

For the Smokin Axolotls, after easily knocking off the Tigers 39-18 in the Divisional Round, they used a strong defensive effort to get past TDs and Beer in the Quarter-Finals.

The Conference A champs took away the deep ball from TDs and Beer QB Brad Evans, and forced him to throw check down passes almost all afternoon. The Smokin Axolotls defense, even made completing those passes hard, as they constantly got in the face of their oppponents’ receiver, causing them to drop numerous passes. S.A rusher Chris Brockwell had a solid game, as his pass rush not only generated 2 sacks, but also caused Evans to have to get rid of the ball early.

That pressure led to points, when Brockwell forced Evans into a bad pass that was picked off by Quarterback/Defensive Back Jordan Rossie, and ran it back to the house. It was the second TD of the game for Rossie in less than 5 minutes (he also scored on a 10-yard TD run on the game’s first drive) and gave his team a 12-0 lead. That play set the tone for the afternoon.

To TDs and Beer’s credit, they came to play on the defensive side as well. Rusher Alex Torres kept the heat on Smokin Axolotls QB Jordan Rossie throughout the game, and after allowing a few easy completions to their opponents, they settled down and made it hard for S.A to extend drives.

Despite struggling to find their rhythm on offense, TDs and Beer were able to get on the board before the first half was done, as Evans was able to find the aforementioned Torres for a 3-yard TD, to make the score  12-6 for the Smokin Axolotls.

The Smokin Axolotls defense struck again to open the second stanza, as Will Power picked off Evans, but unfortunately for S.A, they weren’t able to turn the turnover into points.

TDs and Beer were able to tie the game up when Evans found his number one receiver Myles Keiller for a 10-yard TD.

After forcing a TDs and Beer punt, the Smokin Axolotls marched down the field and found themselves in the redzone, as Rossie was able to find to his brother Jason Rossie, and snapper Martin Geary for chunks of yardage.

After another Alex Torres sack, a 6-yard completion to Geary, and a pass to Power that resulted in a loss of a yard, the Smokin Axolotls were now facing a do-or-die 4th down with 5 plays remaining in the game.

With Torres coming down fast on him, Rossie lofted a pass to the left back corner that Wide Receiver Jason Kokolakis was able to haul in over the ball over the out-stretched hands of his defender Thomas Mascarenhas, and give his team an 18-12 lead.

With momentum and the lead on their side, the Smokin Axolotls defense turned up the intensity once again, and forced 4 straight incompletions to end the game.

Taking on the Smoikn Axolots was Beastmode. The number 5 seed in Conference A, got there by knocking off the number 1 seed in Les Bonhommes Jaunes in dominating fashion 44-19 Sunday night.

LBJ who have been hands down the best team in Div. E all season, simply had no answer for the Beastmode offense, as Quarterback Charles-Olivier Lavigne attacked them with the deep balls all night long.

When he wasn’t beating LBJ through the air, he was shredding them on the ground, as he picked up 64 yards on just 6 carries. I’m not a math major, but that is just over 10 yards a carry. (10.7). His legs gave the number 1 seed fits all night, as he not only scrambled, but also gave extra time for his receivers to get open.

Beastmode two-way threat Jean-Christophe Ferland also had a monster game. The 4th-year vet, caught 7 passes for 116 yards (both game highs) and 2 touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, he knocked down 2 passes, and more importantly, recorded a pick 6.

That was the type of night it was for LBJ, as they got dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage. For all intent and purposes, this game was done by halftime, as Beastmode was up 31-7.

Mercifully, the game was cut short with about 5 minutes left to go, as LBJ’s Marc-Antoine Douillard appeared to blowout his right knee as he was attempting to sack Beastmode QB Charles-Olivier Lavigne. Although I am not a doctor, the injury looked really bad, as Douillard remained down on the field for at least 10 minutes and was in obvious pain. He had to be helped out of the Soccerplex by his teammates, as he was unable to put any weight on his knee.

It wasn’t a pretty sight to see. Hopefully the injury isn’t as bad as it looked. I wish the tough Douillard all the best, and a speedy recovery. I hope to seehim again down the road.

This past Tuesday night in Brossard, the Smokin Axolotls rode that momentum from their last minute victory over TDs and Beer, as they took on Beastmode. The game looked like it might be a blowout, as S.A were in control early. On offense, Jason Kokolakis was shredding the Beastmode defense with both intermediate and long routes.

Rusher/WR Chris Brockwell, did a lot of damage too, as he repeatedly found the soft spot in the Beastmode zone by continually running 8 to 10 yard hooks on the sideline. It was actually ridiculous how often that play was open, as the Beastmode D simply chose not to adjust their coverage at all.

On the other side of the ball, the Smokin Axolotls were without their best defender in Will Power. That didn’t stop them from playing solid D in the first half, as they held the potent Beastmode offense to just two first half TDs.

For the Beastmode offense, one of the reasons they were struggling was because of the inabilty of their QB Lavigne to look downfield. I counted at least 4 plays where his WRs were wide open on deep routes, but Lavinge, partly due to Brockwell’s pressure, and partly his own choosing, decided to check the ball down. There were honestly two to three plays where the Smokin Axolotls had their Safety Jason Rossie covering two receivers, but Lavigne didn’t throw it to either WR.   

At the break, the Smoking Axolotls were up 20-13. On the sideline, you had a feeling that business would start to pick up in the second half however, and that’s exactly what happened, as both teams turned up the intensity on offensive.

After the Smokin Axolotls extended their lead to 26-13 on a 14-yard touchdown grab by Jason Rossie, on the team’s first possesion of the half, Beastmosde found some of the offense they appeared to have left behind at Lachine Sunday night, as they were able to get two quick scores, highlighted by a 40-yard TD bomb to Wide Receiver Jeremy White, who burned past his defender.

With Beastmode now only down 32-26, the Smokin Axolotls appeared to take back control of the game when WR Jason Kokolakis scored on a 1-yard TD grab that was set up the play before, on a 14-yard run by QB Jordan Rossie.

In keeping with the theme of the second half, one play later, Beastmode answered right back, as Nicolas Blais scored a 40-yard TD on a beautiful pass from Lavigne. With the TD, the Smokin Axolots were clinging to a 5-point lead, as they were up 38-33.

In what felt like the first defensive stand of the game, Beastmode forced an S.A punt on their next possesion, as they stopped Jason Rossie for a 1 yard loss on a run (a curious play call considering they were deep in their own territory). The next play Nicholas Roy sacked Jordan Rossie, and then on 3rd down Rossie hit Snapper Martin Geary for a 6-yard gain.

As you can imagine, Beastmode scored on the next play once again, as Lavigne hit you guessed it…Blais for another 40-yard TD. The socre was HUGE, as not only was it a momentum changer, but it was Beastmode’s had first lead of the game 39-38…and oh yeah, there were only 5 plays left.

On the final drive of the game, the intensity was full tilt. The pressure was on, and the Beastmode players on the bench, as well as their fans were chanting DEFENSE as loud as they could. It gave the moment a genuine tackle football feel, which was awesome. (I’m surprised more teams don’ do this. Hopefully we’ll see it on Sunday)

The noise and pressure seemed to rattle Jordan Rossie, as he dropped the snap on 1st down. now facing second and long, he threw an 8-yard pass to Koklakis. On 3rd, he hit Joseph Sifakis for a 14-yard gain and a first down.

With two plays left he found Chris Brockwell for 9 yards on a hook on the sidelines (I wasn’t kidding when I said Beastmode refused to cover it) 5 yards were added on to the play after a holding call on Beastmode, setting up the ball on the 1 yardline with one play left in the game.

Earlier in the contest, I was talking to team captain Stefan Fennes, and he made a comment saying that it’s do or die, no second chances, when he was describing how his team was playing. The same situation was happening right there with the season on the line.

Coming out of the huddle, Brockwell moved from right wide to right slot, and Jason Rossie moved from the left side to the right taking Brockwell’s spot. With arguably his best Receiver to his right, Jordan threw a bullet and hit his brother Jason at the front right pylon, and he made the catch with a defender drapped all over him as he was falling out of bounds. Beautiful catch. Final score 44-39 Smokin Axolotls.

Trinity captured Conference B in dramatic fashion as well, as they took out the SPARTANS in the the Quarter-Finals on Sunday. Quarterback Jean-Felix Marquis spread the ball around to 6 different receivers, and kept his opponent’s guessing on defense. The team also got a really good performance out of Vincent Marquis. The brother combination was working in full effect, as the Marquis bros connected 5 times for 84 yards and a TD.

Also contributing to the team success on offense with TDs were Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc, Erik Scattolin, and Alexandre Jubinville.

Jubenville scored a nice TD, as he caught a hook pass, and shook his defender Daniel Hernandez, and ran 18 yards for the score.

The team also got some solid plays on offense out of Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc and Alexandre Samson, both who play big defensive roles for their team. (I wonder why those two aren’t used more on O. They have the tons of speed, have pretty good hands, and are the perfect size for flag.)

On defense, Trinity was aggressive as usual, getting in the faces of their opponents, and making it hard for WRs to come up with catches. Rusher Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc’s constant pressure on SPARTANS QB James D’Andrea was key. Dansereau-Leclerc may have only gotten 1 sack, but he made D’Andrea deliver the ball a little quicker than he wanted to on more than a few plays.

Helping out the Trinity defense was the insane amount of drops that the SPARTANS’ receivers had. Charles-David Martel, Alexis Bessette, and Dale Messi aka the Braylon Edwards of the team, dropped at least 4 TD passes between them. Messi also dropped a sure interception in the endzone. While the bright lights are on and the intensity gets amped up in the playoffs, those types of mistakes shouldn’t be happening at this point of the season.

The SPARTANS’ Alexis Bessette, would redeem himself with the TD drop, by providing his team with the majority of their offense the entire game, as he put up a game-high 8 catches for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns (one of them came on a beautiful textbook swing pass out the backfield from D’Andrea). He kept his team in the game, and besides from some nice grabs from Daniel Hernandez and Tommy Colombo who scored on a short TD, the offense couldn’t move the ball due to the numerous drops.

Unfortunately for the SPARTANS, they couldn’t overcome their mistakes, and time ran out on their season. Final score, Trinity 27-24.

In the Semi-Finals, Trinity took on a Gyr team, who got there by knocking off The RoadRunners in the Quarter-Finals.

For teams who were meeting for the first time, there was a lot of jawing and trash-talking going on. Gyr WR Fred Casgrain and Trinity defenders Alexandre Samson and Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc were exchanging pleasantries all game long. All three players made big catches and plays for their teams, so all 3 were allowed to talk.

Trinity opened the scoring, as Quarterback Jean-Felix Marquis hit his brother Vincent for a 16-yard score on the team’s opening drive.

Gyr tied it up at 6-6, when their QB PJ Belec found Jesse Galganov for a 3-yard score.

Samson was the next to score, with a little help from the Marquis brothers, as Jean-Felix threw a 40-yard bomb to his borther Vincent, who tipped the ball twice and Samson came down with it in the back of the endozone to give his team a 12-6 lead. It honestly looked and felt like a play that would only happen in Madden.

After an interception by Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc was called back due to a contact to the QB penalty, Gyr, was able to tie the game up at 12 apiece, when Belec hit Galganov for his second TD of the game on a 6-yard grab.

With 4 plays left before the half, Trinity was able to take the lead once again, as Vincent Marquis scored on a 19-yard catch.

Gyr got the momentum back right away however, as they quickly marched down the field and Belec was able to throw a 4-yard TD pass to Casgrain on a sharp out route at the goaline.

The score was 18-18 as the first half came to an end.

Unlike the first half, both defenses showed up in the second stanza, as both teams punted and turned over the ball on downs.

Trinity was finally able to get on the board, as the Marquis brothers connected on a 30-yard TD on a sweet post route by Vincent.  

The Trinity had the perfect game plan for this contest, as they used bracket coverage all game long on stud receiver Nathanael Niedermann. Whether it was Jubenville, Samson, Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc, or the Marquis bros, Niedermann was had someone shadowing him all night long, as they held the WR to an astonishing 1 catch for 15 yards.

The Gyr offense which had been lethal throughout the season, and in the playoffs as well, couldn’t get it going Tuesday night. Part of it was the solid Trinity defense, but the other part was Gyr QB PJ Belec continuously rolling out to his right. While that enables him to buy time, it also cuts down half the field, as he virtually ignored the left side almost all game long, despite the fact that there were plays to be had on that side. He would constantly throw either to his right, or decide to release passes accross his body over the middle of the field into tight coverage. That’s usually a recipe for disaster.

With 4 plays left, all Trinity had to do was kill the clock and the game was theirs. Perhaps wanting to add to the excitemen that has been the Div E playoffs, QB Jean-Felix Marquis decided to throw a pass into coverage, and into the waiting arms of Gyr DB Nathanael Niederamann, who proceded to run the ball back to the Trinity 10 yard line. This was the first big play for Niedermann all night long, and it came at the perfect time.

With 3 plays left, just like, the Smokin Axolotls/Beastmode game, the contest came down to the final drive. Two straight Belec incompletions set up the stage for the final play of the game.

Much to the shock of everybody including yours truly, Belec rolled out to the left and launched a pass to the vback of the endzone that just missed the out-stretched hands of receiver Julien Miller. Final score 24-18 Trinity.

Gyr’s play calling, decision making by their QB, and inability to take advantage of matchups killed them (Only once in the entire game did they choose to have Niedermann 6 foot 2 plus lineup on offense in front of the much smaller Samson.

No disrespect to Smason whatsoever as he has had a phenomenal rookie season (he was his team’s best Defensive Back), but sometimes football comes down to matchups. You need to take advantage of them when they are there.

Championship Game Preview

Throw out the regular season records, these are the two best teams, and they both have chemistry, and big play ability on their side.

For Trinity, I get the feel of a young team, who has no fear.  For some they may be a little cocky, but in sports, especially football, a little confidence isn’t a bad thing.

With the Smokin Axolotls, they are a veteran team who has gone through the losing seasons,  and has gotten their first real taste of winning. They have a quiet confidence about them, and are ready to take the next step.

Both teams have playmakers on offense that are capable of changing the game on a dime, and the same is true on the other side of the ball as well.

There are a ton of matchups in this one that will be exciting to see. Jason Kokolakis versus Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc, Jason Rossie versus Vincent Marquis, Jordan Rossie versus Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc, Chris Brockwell versus Alexandre Jubenville, Joseph Sifakis versus Erik Scattolin, Guillaume Focault versus Martin Geary, and the captains, Jean-Felix Marquis versus Stefan Fennes (the only player on either squad who has won a championship).

Out of all the potential matchups, (outside of the one between the Quaterbacks) I think the biggest one will be between Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc and Chris Brockwell. I feel that both rushers will play a huge role in determining who will walk away with the trophy.

Both players bring a different stlye of rushing to the position. Brockwell, has height, length, and a non-stop motor on his side, and he uses all 3 attributes to hunt down QBs. The much smaller Dansereau-Leclerc, brings speed and quick feet that allow him to make cuts on a dime to the equation. For player who didn’t want to rush at the begining of the season (Has there ever been a rusherwho loves to rush?) He has proven to be the MVP of a really impressive defense.

So far this post-season, Brockwell and Dansereau-Leclerc are the leaders in sacks with 5 and 6 apiece. Like I said, besides the QBs, this should be the most important matchup.

If I have to choose one positive and one negative for each team, for the Smokin Axolotls, I would go with experience for the plus column, and speed for the other. For Trinity, I would go with the complete opposite for both columns.

The loss of Will Power for the Smokin Axolotls will be HUGE. His two-way play this season, is a big reason why the team was so successful. His ability to blanket Wide Receivers on defense, and come up with big plays for his offense will be missed.  He is also the one S.A defender who can match speed with the dangerous combination of Vincent Marquis and Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc.

I think Jason Koklakis who has routinely put up his best numbers in the spring (20 TDs combined the last two spring seasons) and who has been a terror so far this post-season, will make his pressence felt Sunday afternoon, as will Jason Rossie, who will be amped up to get his first FPF championship.

I feel the same way about Vincent Marquis and Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc, who have combined for 18 TDs this post-season.

As for x-factors in the game, look out for Trinity’s Erik Scattolin. The big man and the team’s best rusher (I’m joking Benjamin) might not be the fastest guy on the team, but he has good hands, and he knows how to use his size to get separation at the line of scrimmage. Look out for him in the redzone. 

For the Smokin Axolotls, I’ll go with Joseph Sifakis. while only putting up modest regular season numbers on offense, her has stepped up his game last week vs Beastmode, as he had 4 catches for 36 yards and 2 TDs. He has the speed and route running abilities to create mismatches for defenses. He is also capable of stepping in on defense and making a play.

Prediction

So far, the playoffs have treated us to a ton of close games that have come down to the wire. I don’t expect this one to be any different. If Trinity is able to continue to not let the big stage distract them, I think their speed and big-play ability will be the difference in this one, especially with the Smokin Axolotls missing Will Power.

Final Score: Trinity 26-24.

That’s it for this week I will be back next Friday with my final article, which will be a re-cap of the Finals, and I also include my End of the Year All-Star selections.

Even if you don’t play for Trinity or the Smokin Axolotls, you should come down to Bell Sports Complex in Brossard this Sunday at 5 PM to check out not only the Division E Final, but the Championship Sunday braodcast itself, as every game for every division will be covered. The experience is honestly worth it. Paolo Della Rocca, Moe Khan, and yours truly, will be doing the commentary for the game. Come check us out.

Enjoy your weekend, and good luck to both teams, I’ll see you on Sunday in Brossard!

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt like I left something out, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].