Bombsquad’s Breakdown (D2) – Week 13

Bombsquad’s Breakdown Playoff |edition

And then there were two. Both the 1st seeds in Division 2 managed to make the finals– but it wasn’t easy. Here’s how it happened.

Countdown to detonation.

2. The Gold Standard, in a very exciting fashion, defeats the One Night Stands 45-31. This seemed to be a theme this weekend as this game was a tale of two halves. O.N.S. got out to a scorching beginning as they scored on the opening play of the game as Craig O`Brien tossed a 40 yard TD. O.N.S. then went on to score with 1 play left in the half to go up 25-13. Gold Standard were flat and seemed completely out of sync. And then with that one play the game changed. Jay Ulley took the snap and Mike McNair dropped to half. The confusing part? They double rushed Ulley and left McNair by himself. Ulley threw the ball to McNair who made a great play to catch the ball and remain in bounds, and from his own end zone threw the ball to the opposite corner of the field where Scott Mironowicz made an incredible catch at the back of the end zone and kept both feet in, in front of an astonished Kishon Thompson who did not make a play. It seemed like Thompson was worried about an interference call and maybe also thought the ball would either be dropped or caught out of bounds. He was wrong and so the game changed. The Gold Standard started the second half with the ball and never looked back. Shane Williams and Mironowicz did the bulk of the scoring and the Standard out scored O.N.S. 26-6 in the second half. Very disappointing collapse by the One Nighters. But now we have our first finalist.

1. The Ruff Ryders narrowly defeat the G-Men 27-25 in complete opposite fashion as the other playoff game. The Ruff Ryders were the team that got out to an amazing start. They scored all of their 27 points in the first half as they led 27-6. In the second half, the G-Men came back with a vengeance! Paul Kamel was on fire and Nathan Taylor seemed to raise his game to another level. Daniel Calla rushed Paul Lapierre impeccably collecting four sacks and passes defensed, but seemed to also hit the QB’s hand, reinjuring his right thumb. I don`t know how much of an impact that made on Lapierre but the QB of the year did not throw anymore TD`s after that. Not to take away from a G-Men defence that was more than up to the challenge in the second half making play after play to shut down the Ryders` offence. In the end the G-Men had two plays to win the game and on the last play Gianni Settino almost got the ball to Nareg Yessayan who had an unusually quiet night, but fell just short. In the end, the Ryders move on but great game G-Men.

Boom. Just Boom. Very strange playoff games so ‘Boom’ sums it all up well.

My Showstoppa of the week is the G-Men`s second half defence that completely shut down the Ryders and almost managed to come back. Just short but great effort!

This week`s Golden Boy is Scott Mironowicz simply for making that incredible catch that was so clutch for the Gold Standard and much needed. There were bigger outputs this past week, but none were as important as that one grab.

And here we are. The end of the road. The finals for Division 2.

The Ruff Ryders take on the Gold Standard. When these two teams played each other last it was almost an exact reflection of their games from this past weekend. The Ruff Ryders got out to a fast start and led 19-7 as the Gold Standard were sluggish out of the gates. Then came the second half and the Gold Standard were back from the dead. Paul Lapierre managed to score twice in the second half, which was just enough, but the Standard outscored the Ruff Ryders 20-12 in theat last half. Will history repeat itself? I don`t think so. Let`s find out why.

The Gold Standard are well aware of why they lost the first meeting. They also know what happened to them this past weekend. This gives them an advantage as they see the error of their ways and can adjust to fix the problem. The offence is very strong. To minimize the effectiveness of Brandon Pierre I believe the Standard will pull out all the stops and use all the weapons they have at their disposal and utilize the three QB system that has brought them success. At least they will need to in order to improve their chances. On defence, they will need to shut down an All Star receiving core but they held them to 12 points in the second half the first time so I do not believe they will be overly concerned.

The Ruff Ryders have been nearly perfect all year. Even when the offence has slowed, the defence has been there to pick up the slack. They know what to do to win the game. But historically they struggle in playoff games– especially the finals. To be fair, they have not been in any championship games with Lapierre at the helm, so it would be unmerited to compare the two. But this time around they seem to have a different spring in their step– or Springer. If you can`t beat them, join them. Jamil Springer was on the team that defeated the Ryders in their last final this past spring. This time around, they recruited him and he may be the missing piece to the puzzle that leads to championship glory. The biggest x-factor in this game was depicted by Rochdi Benabdelkader: Paul Lapierre`s thumb. It was quite swollen last week. Will it have time to heal or will Jamil return behind the center? I believe Paul will be fine. But he will need to get out and throw some balls before the finals to make sure he is ready.

All in all this is going to be a great final. I do not believe that this will be a blowout by any means. These teams are both very talented and have great chemistry. But in the end I just feel this Ruff Ryder team is destined to win. I believe it will be a one score difference at the most, and may come down to the last play. I am calling the Ruff Ryders to be the 2011 D2 Champs this year.

All year long,

Through tribulations and trails,

Your teams have done battle,

To come down to these finals.

A great task is at hand,

Stay true and you`ll be fine,

If you want to know more,

Be in Brossard, Saturday at nine.

Do you have an idea how this will play out? I would love to hear it. So email your predictions or nude photos of Kate Beckinsale at [email protected] but until then another week has been defused.