Bombsquad’s Breakdown (D2) – Week 5

 

Well, now that we are all over our Super Bowl hangover and the NFL season is done, it is time to really focus on your FlagPlus Football team, unless you are a huge hockey fan, of course. Our weekend return brought with us many surprises. Like the C — , like the G-Men getting their first loss (again). Or the All Blacks winning, in one of the most ridiculous finishes in Flagplus history.

But enough to be said! Let the game say the thing and I shall stand back and story tell at once.

Countdown to detonation.

7. MOMO Nation pounds X’s and O’s 43-19 — CUT! Wait a minute, pounds? Okay, well, maybe if X’s and O’s would have been on time for their game they would not have been down 18-0 before the first snap. That could take the wind out of anyone’s sails. Not to mention they didn’t have their QB but instead used Jean-Daniel Chevalier who started the season as QB of the D1 Redhawks, before moving back to WR. With that being said, MOMO still had a good game with Yannick Vanasse throwing 4 td’s with only one pick. Big story is the breakout game of Jean-Nichol Derenoncourt, who doubled his touchdown season total to 8 with a 4 td performance on 6 catches for 85 yards. All that after starting 15 minutes late. Good job MOMO.

6. Wolfpack pounces on a struggling O.N.S. squad, that was without quarterback Craig O’Brien, 47-21. This led to a 5 interception performance by the Pack. Not to mention, the Wolfpack were also without starting QB Pascal Murray. Usual fill-in, Michel Carrier came in to throw 5 td’s with 2 picks. Big defence played a huge role but without O’Brien at the helm, the One Nighters were used and abused by the Wolfpack, who are once again starting their second half surge. I would really like to see how O.N.S. would do with a consistent line up every week. They have the talent, now…

5. Here it is. Picture this, there are under five plays left and you are undefeated losing to a team who hasn’t won. You score! The game is tied. The convert: NO GOOD! Can you feel the tension? Move to the last play of the game. Air Squad can go home knowing they tied one of the top teams in the division right? WRONG! On the last play of the game Matt René, who had a great game throwing for 164 yards and 5 td’s, rolls to his left to set up the hail Mary and laterals to his half back who is standing in the end zone and what happens: he drops the ball! Safety, game over, final score 36-34. All this and you lose to a team who put up 36 points with only 37 yards passing!! That’s right folks. The All Blacks were led by Chris Eramian who ran 7 times for 139 yards and 3 td’s. Hey Squad, one word for you: RUSHER!

4. Battle of the animals! Wildcats and Wolverines are all over each other and who won? No one. Tied 35 all. Good to see these teams put on a show like this. Also good to see QB Pierre-Marc Chadi of the Wildcats find more receivers to throw touchdowns to besides Phillipe Lamarche and Kevin Regimbald, who up until this week had all of the receiving touchdowns for this team. Congrats to Karl Morin and Jean-Francois Marquis for getting in on the action. Big news in the Wolverines camp was Adrien Kellman taking the reins and throwing. AK threw for 117 yards and 4 td’s with one rushing td as well and just one interception. Three of those touchdowns were to Shane Paquette. Not bad. Do I smell a QB controversy?

3. Ruff Ryders hand the G-men their second first loss of the season. Another game that was a tale of two halves. As I see it, the turning point in this game came when the G-men scored with just 3 plays remaining in the half and took a 18-12 lead, leaving the Ryders with two plays. The Ruff Ryders then “marched” the field in those two plays, culminating in a Rochdi Benabdelkader touchdown grab, making the match even. But the Ryders decided to go for 2 and completed their convert making the score 20-19 at the half. The game was over at this point, as both defences worked to shut the other down. Paul Lapierre managed a td pass and the G-Men managed to return the ensuing convert for 1 point. Gianni Settino threw for 2 td’s and ran for another, but it just wasn’t enough in this defensive battle. Final score 26-20 Ryders.

2. Mercenaries outlast the Triple Sixers in a scoring marathon, 38-36. Personally I feel this game was more physical than it should have been. There was contact in situations where there should have been none. Regardless, this game boiled down to one defensive stop. Pat Jerome caught 5 passes for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns and really made some spectacular plays. Great body control and positioning as he caught balls over almost everybody. That being said, Karim Chaoual also had a great game, throwing for 6 td’s and 281 yards. His counterpart Gino Di Fazio threw for 264 and 5 td’s along with a rushing score for the old man. Anthony Thompson was all over the Sixers with 8 catches for 118 yards and 2 td’s. Good game overall, but we don’t want to see anyone get hurt out here.

1. Gold Standard take the crown off the Kingz with a 40-31 victory. Even though Jay Ulley wasn’t there for the Standard, Mike “Steve” Mcnair (watch WEPL to get joke) is no slouch at the quarterback position and filled in nicely going 18-28 for 228 yards and 5 td’s with 1 pick. Shane Williams and Mark Deslauriers were huge for the GS combining for 13 catches for 199 yards and 4 td’s (Mark D with 3). Great game by the boys in Gold and a really difficult outing for the Kingz. This is a game to erase from all memory banks of the men in blue. There were more dropped balls than a in a juggling class for 5 years olds. The most important being a 40 yard touchdown pass hit right in the bread basket to a Kingz player which was dropped. Carmine Pollice was then sacked on the next play ,which led to a punt and turned the tide in this end-to-end game. Hard to lose two games in a row…..especially when you won one.

Boom. Like Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines in ‘Running Scared’ right before they start shooting at Victor Gonzales.

My Golden Boy this week is Chris Eramian who won the game with his legs. He ran 7 times for 139 yards and 3 touchdowns, filling in for their missing QB Chris Bridgeman. That’s just ridiculous. Congrats Chris!

SHOWSTOPPA!!!! My Showstoppa this week is both defences in the second half of the G-Men and Ruff Ryders game. 39 points in the first half, only 7 in the second. Great job on both sides.

Let’s get down and dirty with the games coming up this week!

I think the Gold Standard are well aware of Pat Jerome and will work hard to limit his impact on this game. They have already proven they have two viable QB’s at their disposal, so I am taking the Gold Standard to beat the Triple Sixers. My suggestion to the Sixers is not to try and be as physical this week, as last. This team is very aggressive and it might not work to your advantage.

This might as well be a bye week for the Ryders as I feel they will be all over the Air Squad. Hopefully last week’s loss will fire up the Squad, but I just don’t think they will have a lot of luck scoring on this defence or stopping guys like Matt Norzil and Rochdi Benabdelkader. Look for a big win from the Ryders.

The Kingz and Mercenaries will be a really good contest. Student plays the mentor as Gino Di Fazio takes on Carmine Pollice. These teams match up well. The Kingz have chemistry and the Mercs have a lot of firepower. Only time will tell who wins out, and as you know I will not be picking a winner as I will be playing in this game, so best of luck to both sides (not really).

The surging Wolfpack take on the Wolverines. I think that regardless of who is throwing for either side, these are two teams heading in completely opposite directions. The Wolverines have been disappointing all season and have yet to show the spark that once ignited a championship team. As for the Pack, it’s business as usual, as they continue their annual second half upswing. I look for the Wolfpack to take this one.

One Night Stands versus the Wildcats. The enigma that is the Wildcats will have their hands full with this Kishon Thompson-led defence. If the O.N.S. have Craig O’Brien back at the helm, then I see them winning this game. But, if he is not, the Wildcats take the match. Guess it all comes down to consistency in this league.

The G-Men are going to take all their frustrations out on the X’s and O’s. Sorry guys. My suggestion would be to make sure your whole team is there for the start of the game because the last thing you want to do is spot this team points. That being said the G-Men will still win this match and handily.

And finally I am calling MOMO Nation to upset the All Blacks! I believe the All Blacks have been regressing in recent weeks, as they have played lower competition, and I feel MOMO is hungry and coming on as of late. Also you cannot run for 139 yards on this team. You heard it here first. MOMO beats All Blacks.

 

At last this article,

Has come to an end.

Half way there,

Until the playoffs begin.

 

Who will make the grade,

I cannot say,

But it’s going to be a lot of fun,

Along the way.

It is a pleasure to write for Division 2 and once again great job out there. These games are always fun to watch. As usual you can email me with random presidential quotes or haiku at [email protected], but until then another week has been defused.