Back from the Holiday Break: Week 4 Preview

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my name is Brent Bodkin, and I would like to welcome you to FlagPlus Football Jr. For the first time in the history of FPF, we have expanded to include minors. With the growth in popularity of the beautiful and amazing game of football, having a league where not only adults, but now kids and teenagers can go to play, sharpen their skills, or simply get an introduction to the sport, is a great idea for everybody.

As is always the case every season and in each division in FPF, we have a weekly article for the players, as well as for their teammates, family, and friends to read. So as you can imagine, FPF Jr. will be no different. Each week, yours truly will write an article that takes a look at the best players, teams, and jaw-dropping plays that take place each Saturday at Concordia’s Stinger Dome.

To make things a little bit more interesting for the reader, and a bit more competitive for the players, I will also include a top 5 performers of the week; a category otherwise known as ‘The High Five’. I will try to be fair and include different players as we go along, but if you find yourself getting upset about not being there, try your best do something to get yourself noticed, even if it’s simply a great diving de-flag, or a key QB-sack! If you think you’re the next Adrian Peterson, Darrelle Revis, Tom Brady, Antonio Brown, Richard Sherman, J.J Watt, Frank Gore, or Russell Wilson, then show me what you got!!!!

After years of writing for the adults, I want to try something new with the juniors. This season I will list the top 3 individual matchups that I look forward to seeing each week. As you might have guessed, it will be called ‘Matchups’. After witnessing the first three weeks of amazing action, there are more than a few head-to-heads I want to see. I will also include a brief preview of each week’s upcoming games, as well as a brief recap of the previous week’s action too, in the section called ‘Picks’.

Before I get started, let me just give a quick thank-you to El Presidente Rob Campana for writing the first article of the season.

Without further ado…

Through the first 3 weeks of the season, we have seen A LOT of good football being played. While at first glance the scores might not be indicative of that, keep in mind, that despite our best to balance the teams, some of groups have a couple more first-timers, and/or players that have never played with each other before- and as we’ve seen, even a little chemistry can go a long way. Growing pains should be expected.

 

High Five

Adam Mahrouse (Hurricanes Jr.) – He has been -hands down- the best rusher in all of FPF Jr., and to be honest, he is better than a number of rushers in the adult division as well. His 8 sacks are 6 more than the next closest rusher.

Reece Woods (Crimson Tide Jr.) – The two way threat is a highlight waiting to happen on both sides of the ball. His 4 INTs also happen to lead the league.

Trey Bentley (Tigers Jr.) – The talented Freshman has 3 TD passes, 3 INTs on defense, and a rushing TD to go along with 104 rushing yards. That would be a great season for some. Bentley has done that over 2 games.

Jaeden Edghill (Buckeyes Jr.) – He can hurt you with his arm and his legs. In two games so far this season, he has thrown for 2 TDs, and he has averaged nearly 100 yards a game on the ground.  

Terrence Brown (Tigers Jr.) – The TD rushing leader with 4, has some of the sweetest feet in all of FPF Jr. His ability to cut and change directions in a heartbeat reminds me of a young Reggie Bush. Whenever his team needs a big play -as they did against the Wolverines in Week 2- they just put the ball in his hands. It worked out, as he put up 2 TDs.

 

Matchups

Reece Woods (Crimson Tide Jr.) vs Juwan Edghill and Ryan Garber (Hurricanes Jr.)

I know this is 2 vs 1, but don’t worry, this isn’t the WWE; this isn’t a handicap match. I am going with both members of the Hurricanes, because each started a game for the Canes this season. Usually in football no matter what level you play, as the old saying goes, when you have two starting Quarterbacks, you don’t any starting QBs. Peeze and Patrice’s team has proved otherwise so far, as both pivots have been fantastic.

Woods, (I told you there would be more on him later) has been equally fantastic as well, as his amazing play on both sides of the ball have been a huge difference maker for his team. Any ball that is thrown deep that isn’t on target, has a chance to be picked by Woods. He reminds me of a young- much younger, Ed Reed.

Camdyn Jeremiah (Wolverines Jr.) vs Kaiden Dewey (Tigers Jr.)

Arguably the two fastest players in FPF Jr.’s Freshman division, both players put on a show in their Week 2 contest. Dewey had an INT to go along with 2 catches for 45 yards and 1 TD, while Jeremiah who filled in at QB for his team at certain points during the game went 3 of 6 for 41 yards through the air, and added 5 carries for 44 yards and 1 TD on the ground.

George Aifantis (Hurricanes Jr.) vs Jayden Hogan (Longhorns Jr.)

The saying don’t judge a book by its cover definitely holds true here as Hogan despite being the shortest member of his team is arguably the team’s most dangerous offensive weapon. His blazing speed, good hands, and sneaky ability to get open are all assets that the Longhorns should continue to exploit going forward.

I was going to go with Number 1 Moe Khan hater Sam El-Mashtoub (don’t worry, there are plenty of them out there), but I couldn’t ignore the production of his teammate George Aifantis. He leads his team in TDs with 4, and is currently tied for second in INTs with 2.

In their first matchup, Hogan only had 1 reception, but it was a big one as he burned the Hurricanes’ secondary including the aforementioned Aifantis to score a Hail Mary TD on the final play just before halftime. Let’s see what happens this time around.

 

Picks

*From this week going forward, we will be playing 3 games each Saturday at the Stinger Dome instead of the two that we had been doing the first two weeks of the season, so make sure to double check the schedule on the website.

 Hurricanes (Jr.) – Longhorns (Jr.)

These two teams locked horns 2 weeks ago. The Hurricanes who were firing on all cylinders, shut out the Longhorns in the 2nd half on the way to a 43-13 victory. I don’t expect such a one-sided affair this time around, as the Longhorns who aren’t short on heart and effort, have rounded out their roster with a few new additions which should help coach Dave Allen build an identity on Offense and Defence. I still think the Hurricanes are the more talented team right now, and that should be enough to carry them to victory.

 Tigers (Jr.) – Wolverines (Jr.)

This is a rematch of a Week 2 affair that saw the Tigers use a 32-point first half explosion to beat the Wolverines 39-12. For the Wolverines to be successful on Saturday, they will need to ideally go with one Quarterback this time around, as they ended up having 5 players throwing passes last time and struggled to find consistency. They will also need their defense to make some stops and contain the aforementioned dynamic duo of the speedy Terrence Brown and accurate Trey Bentley. The Tigers shouldn’t just assume that it will be a wrap, as the Wolverines- who have a lot of talented players, but have only scored two TDs apiece in their first 2 games- should have their full roster in-tact and ready to go. I expect a much closer game.

Crimson Tide (Jr.) – Hurricanes (Jr.)

Both teams met each other on ‘Kickoff Saturday’, and the Hurricanes cruised to an easy 45-12 win. For the Crimson Tide, their players were much less familiar with each other than the Hurricanes players were, and it showed. The Tide rebounded in Week 2 vs the Longhorns and exploded for 58 points. The Hurricanes lead FPF Jr. in scoring with 88 points through the first three weeks of the season. Needless to say, this should be a high scoring affair.

 

That’s it for this week. Since I do scorekeeping for all the FPF Jr games, I will see you guys on the sideline this Saturday.

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt I left something out, don’t be shy. You can shoot me a tweet at @BADNEWS51.