Bombsquad’s Breakdown (Div 1/2) – Week 3

Only three weeks in and man is there some crazy action going on. Kevin Wyeth and Carmine Pollice face off twice in one night, in back-to-back games no less. D2 had two ties, D1’s defensive crews showed up with no team surpassing 35 points… FlagPlus is heating up!

Let’s check out the action.

Countdown to detonation.

3. Montreal’s Finest takes down the Demons 33-19. For the second week in a row the Finest defensive crew held the opposing team to under 20 points, which is never easy, especially against a team who’s QB averaged over six touchdowns per game last summer. What I will say is this was not the usual Demons team out there. There were many very surprising drops as every receiver on the offense managed to miss at least one. Some even more. One receiver was 1 for 3, but we won’t name names. Although, Benny Goodfriend had one hell of a catch over the middle. But the Finest offense took advantage and went on to remain undefeated for the time being. I look forward to the rematch.

2. It seems the Redhawks are finally hitting stride as they defeat the Rainmakers 31-24. This was a defensive match. Both QB’s threw 3 interceptions. But both were also able to spread the ball all over the field, although Charles St-Martin’s favorite scoring threat was Felix Senecal, who caught 3 TD’s. Bobby Mikelberg continues to score at will with another 2 touchdown grabs. But the biggest shock this season has to be the Rainmakers sitting at 0-3 to start the year. I believe that is more a reflection of the competition than any problems with the squad. We’re still waiting for a game where both their offense and defense play well in unison.

1. The Expos beat Old Skool by a single point, 20-19, in a rematch of last year’s D1 Championship Game. Both defenses came to play. Andy Peterkin was held to only 15-30 passing for a mere 96 yards and 2 TD’s with 1 INT. Chad Byers was 13-26 for 141 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 INT. The game was basically back and forth until the Expos went up nine with time winding down and left Old Skool without enough time to complete the comeback. Peterkin continues to run at will but it wasn’t enough on this day as converts were the story in the end.

7. Carmine Pollice defeated Kevin Wyeth in their other matchup of the night as the Trojans beat O.N.S. 48-43 in a wild shootout. It was a great comeback as O.N.S. was actually down 33-15 at the half. Vinny Gualano is still on fire catching another 3 TD’s for the Trojans and was the leading receiver. Has any receiver done more over the last season and a half? Wyeth had Tony Lalla as his go to man. They posted a great 28 point second half but it was not enough in the end to overcome that halftime lead.

6. The G-Men shut down the Triple Sixers 27-18. The G-Men continue to play solid defense as they shut down a talented Sixers squad. While on offense, ironically, the G-Men’s own version of Wes Welker in Angelo Garofalo led the way with 8 receptions for 112 yards and 2 TD’s. Gianni Settino again was very consistent going 15-19 for 207 yards and 4 TD’s against a very good defensive side. Karim Chaoual was without his favorite target J-F Marcotte. He was still able to spread the ball around, but the G-Men defense always seems up to the challenge and made the important stops when they needed to.

5. The Mercenaries came out victorious as they battled the Gladiateurs in the FlagPlus arena 25-19. With Adi Sharma back in the fold after mounting Machu-Pichu, the Mercs defense made the stops when they needed them. Francois Lebeau was effective, going 24-39 passing for 204 yards and 3 TD’s. Lebeau hit old favorite Phillipe Leduc 8 times for 65 yards and reigning D2 Two-Way Player of the Year Charles Baillargeon 5 times for 62 yards and a TD. With all that, Gino Di Fazio still got the job done outscoring Lebeau in the end. Stephane Chartrand caught 2 TD’s and lead the way for the Mercs.

4. In the first of the two ties this week, the Air Squad tied the Blazers at 25 apiece. QB Nicolas Lafond had a much better outing this time around out-dueling Blazer QB Leon Holder. Lafond was 13-23 for 163 yards, 4 TD’s and 1 INT. He used all of his receivers and even a sub. On the other side Holder was 11-20 for 115 yards and 3 TDs. Kenton Lowe caught 2 scores on 4 catches for 48 yards. The Blazers benefitted from a pick 6 by defender Jerome Baker. But alas to the victor goes the spoils. No victor, no spoils.

3. In the second tie of the week, MOMO Nation tied the Tomahawks 26-26. Yannick Vanasse continues to run all over D2 as he had 60 yards rushing with a TD. He also threw 3 TD’s. His counterpart Mike Grilli was 15-27 for 147 yards and 4 touchdowns with 1 interception. Dany Ostiguy once again led the Tomahawks with 4 catches for 73 yards and 2 scores. But Frederic Brunet and Dragann Mallette were both contributors as well. Now if someone besides Jean-Nichol Derenoncourt would start putting up some big numbers, MOMO would be a force to be reckoned with.

2. The Wolfpack pounced on Top Guns 45-24. Pascal Murray had a great day going 16-28 for 228 yards and 6 TD’s with 1 pick. Mikail Davidson continues to shine with 5 catches for 63 yards and a TD while Alexandre Cavanaugh scores another 2 TD’s giving him 5 on the season. Mario Porreca tossed 4 TD’s but was also picked 3 times. Nick Gaudreault caught 5 and a TD as did Justin Roggio. The big story though would have to be big safety Remy Pare with all 3 interceptions for the Wolfpack defense. The Wolfpack are seemingly finding their groove earlier than usual this season. Beware.

1. Finally, the Wolverines take a step to the next level and defeat Victorious Secret 30-25. On the day the 49ers fell in the NFC Championship Game, so did Paul Lapierre’s other team. Both QB’s had very similar stats. Tony Tabet had only one interception while Lapierre had two and one of them was very costly as Michel-Ange Pierrecin took it to the house and ended up being the difference in this game. The Wolverines had almost shut down the Triple Sixers and now they defeat Victorious Secret. Maybe there is more parity in D2 than we thought.

BOOM. Like the Niners and Ravens Super Bowl dreams.

My SHOWSTOPPA this week goes to all the D1 teams who held their opponents under 30 points win or lose. It seems the offences gelled more quickly than the defensive units coming into the new season, but it seems like the “D” has caught up. You all silenced the critics. Great job by all.

My Golden Boy this week would be a tie between Akked Moore and Felix Senecal who both led their respective teams to victories with 3 TD’s a piece.

My SHOWSTOPPA is Remy Pare and his 3 INT performance. Most people can’t catch three TD’s in one week and he pulled off 3 INT’s. Incredible.

My Golden Boy would have to be the 8 receptions for 112 yards and 2 TD’s by the Angelo Garofalo of the G-Men. He is establishing himself as a force to be challenged should anyone wish to shut him down. Not bad for a guy playing his first season above D3.

This season is shaping up to be one of the best FPF seasons in D1 history. There may only be six teams but I invite you to go and look at the complete stats for QB’s in D1. It truly is neck and neck. Not one QB has started pulling away from the pack. The scoring has been frequent and then just like that all the defenses step up and provide us with a week of lower scoring games. The Rainmakers haven’t won a game. That should show you how competitive it is in D1.

In D2 things seem to be changing every week. But one thing is constant, 5 teams still do not have a win. Last week I could have confidently said we will have one less winless team with MOMO Nation and the Tomahawks squaring off, and I would have been wrong. There is another chance for the winless club to shrink this week as O.N.S. takes on the Blazers. The strangest stat to me is we still have five winless teams, yet only one of them have not earned a point. All the others at least have a tie. MOMO Nation has 2 ties!! This is truly a strange D2 season.

I give up. Let’s look at some of this week’s matchups.

In D1, the action is great this week. But the grudge match this week would have to be Montreal’s Finest taking on the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season and went on to win it all in Old Skool. The Finest have a good season going so far and Old Skool hit their first bump in the road losing to the Expos. The defending champs are going to want to take out their frustration on the Finest. Andy Peterkin and Kevin Wyeth will have to be at their best because this game has the makeup of a great shootout. If you want to be entertained, then head to Catalogna Saturday night at 9pm and watch these teams battle it out. It will be worth your time.

Also the Expos will be taking on the winless Rainmakers. This game has the potential to be epic. The problem I have noticed with the Rainmakers is Ryan Kastner seems to be having problems closing out the game. The Expos are flying high after a win against the champs and look to continue their winning ways against the Rainmakers. I think the Rainmakers’ defense will have problems with the offensive fire power the Expos possess. Also, the Expos defense really stepped up last week. I will have to go with the Expos although it is so hard to picture an 0-4 Rainmakers team.

The Triple Sixers take on the Trojans in the battle of giants. I believe the key to this game will be the ability of the Sixers defense to stop Vinny Gualano, who has been tearing up the league. Both teams will have their chances but if the Sixers want to win they must put a stop to the Pollice-Gualano tandem. It seems Karim Chaoual needs to start connecting with Pat Jerome a little more often. All in all this will be a great game. I cannot choose a winner however…I wonder why.

Victorious Secret is fuming after their loss and their road does not get any easier as they face the G-Men. Both teams have immense talent on both sides of the ball. I believe that the defense for V.S. will know how to limit the role of Angelo Garofalo. But I also believe the G-Men are up to the task of shutting down the V.S. offense. This will be a tough match and I believe it will come down to converts. But I am going to go with my upset pick and say Victorious Secret wins by 2 points.

In the battle of winless teams who both also have a tie, we have the Blazers against the One Night Stands. Now this may be the Blazers first go around in D2 but they have a very talented roster. But last week O.N.S. had one of the best QB’s in FlagPlus with Kevin Wyeth. And there is a rumour floating around that Mr. Wyeth will once again be behind center for the upcoming match. If that is the case, then I truly believe the Blazers will have at least one more week to wait until getting that first win.

The NFL season has almost come to an end,

And two teams will face off, both I can’t stand.

So focus on FlagPlus, is now my goal,

Since the NFL, stole a piece of my soul.

It may be week three, still early on,

Never too early for you to strap your flag on.

For now is the time to start hitting your stride

So you drive on to the playoffs and contend with Pride.

That’s it for me here. You can always send me information on road conditions or Super Bowl predictions for me to ignore at [email protected] but until then, another week has been defused.