Calling The Audible, Flag Plus St. Patrick’s, and a few brewing QB Controversies

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Division 4 article; glad you tuned in!

On tap this week, we’ve got your usual Division Highlights, Game Recap, Game Preview, Power Rankings and Game Picks. But before that, cheers to the weekend, cheers to finally being able to get together at a bar over pints, and cheers to another fantastic season of FPF football so far. Also, while I joined FPF’s podcast, Calling The Audible this week, I stayed far away from the production set, so cheers to CTA with sound! And of course, for your weekly PSA, have a fun but safe St. Patrick’s weekend!

Ok, now back to FPF.

4A – Pulse of the Division

• Bruins got a HUGE win over the Centaures, in what was a great matchup last Monday in St. Laurent. Both teams are now 2-2.
• Spera’s Cougars tried their 4th different QB this past week, going with 5A’s The R.E.E.T QB Santino Sparagna. Well, it certainly worked, as they came away with an impressive 40-21 over a stacked Takeover roster.
• Another favorite lost big in Week 4, as the Small Giants got whipped 52-25 by TOPSZN. TOPSZN’s roller coaster of a season continues. They are high right now, but will they come crashing down next week?
• Chris Brockwell (Centaures) is lighting up the tackle department. The tackle stat can either go one of two ways. Either you are out of position and getting picked on, but there for the tackle, or you are making diving tackles to prevent a 20 yard-after-the-catch gain and clutch tackles for a 1-yard QB run that prevents a 1st down. Brockwell is doing the latter.
• Blackouts got back in the winning track and now sit at 3-1 after their strong defensive performance against Hurley & Sons, beating them 25-7.
• Mongoose’s Marc-Antoine Bigué has perhaps the most clutch stat: league leader in XP’s with 6 extra points (4x 1pt converts, 1x 2pt convert).
• LBB took another loss and sit at 0-4. Time to shake things up. As found out from Peeze, apparently that thing to shake up is to have Minh Ton-That on the defensive side of the ball.
• Mongoose really took it to The Stoics and now sit opportunistically atop the South Division in Conference B.
• Rahman Khan (The Brotherhood) is your sack leader after 4 weeks with 7 sacks in 4 games. Followed by Jonathan Steinberg (KGP Ra) and Hasani Worrell (TOPSZN) each with 4 sacks.
• Shoutout to The Brotherhood who have the least Points Against (56) and the most Points For (152) amongst all teams in 4A.
• KGP Ra is the last undefeated team in the division, and there are only 2 teams without a win yet. The parity and strong competition in Div 4A is real!

4B – State of the Union

• We’ve got 3 teams that are still undefeated at 4-0: Les Montagnards, The U and Vultures. However, all 3 teams had that perfect record in slight jeopardy in Week 4, playing in close games.
• Mofos got a big win to go 3-1 and sit alone as the #3 seed in Conference A. Julian Nelson is emerging as a big play receiver in 4B. Time for the division to take notice.
• Eastside Boys persevered and always put one more score on the board to prevent a Los Locos comeback.
• Ryan Kharouf (Finessers) quietly taking the lead in Passing Yards (789) in 4 games.
• I predicted that Beer Belly Brigade would tie Arouch 25-25. So I was wrong with the score, but I did predict the BBB would score 25, a 25-18 win for BBB.
• Mathieu Girard-Provost (Les Montagnards) is leading the division with 9 TDs/
• Team Ethnik suffered a painstaking loss on Wednesday night in Hebert. They were up 27-12 with 18 minutes left and in full control of the game.
• Bandits threw everything they have at the strong Vultures club, but to no prevail. They fall to 1-3.
• Ben McMahon (Vultures) leading the division with 19 Passing TDs.
• Hot Sauce Sports suffer another defeat, 32-19 over Les Verges Folles. They need the win badly against Beer Belly Brigade.
• Patrick St-Amand (Voodoo) and Jonathan Benoit (Beer Belly Brigade) lead the division with 5 INTs
• The Vultures offense is rolling on all cylinders: They have scored the most points in 4 games: 141 Points For (35 points per game; just under 6 TDs per game!).
• Golden Eagles played their wild card by having Sara Parker throw for them and put Kevin Lubin at WR. It didn’t quite work out the way it did for Spera’s Cougars (4A), as the Golden Eagles fall to 0-3. Are they in a do-or-die situation in Week 5?
• Don’t look now, but Finessers are now 1-0-1 in their last 2 and creeping out from the bottom of the standings.
• Anthony Drysdale (Vultures) is by far the leader in XP converts, with 11 points off of converts (3x 1pt converts, 4x 2pt converts).
• Les Montagnards are a defensive shield: have allowed the least points in 4 games: 45 Points Against (11 points allowed per game; just under 2 TDs allowed per game😱).

Game Recap

Eastside Boys 40 VS Los Locos 31 

Both teams were coming into this one without a win in the past 2 weeks. Eastside boys had a winless 0-2 record, while Los Locos were 0-1-1 in their last 2. A victory then, would mean a lot to both teams to get their season back on track.

For Eastside Boys to get the much needed first win of the season, they would need more from QB Anthony Lazzara. Coming into this matchup, he had struggled so far, only throwing 4 TDs for , mixed in with 3 INTs and having been sacked 8 times. Both statistically and from the eye-test, A. Lazzara‘s play was where it needed to be. He bested all of his season totals in this 1 game, throwing for 184 yards and 5 TDs. It didn’t start that cleanly for him though, as after gaining a first down on his first pass attempt, he was off the mark on his next 3 throws, but made up for it with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Augustin Donald on 4th down, as the wheel route was the back breaker for Los Locos all game long.

Not phased by being down 0-7 early on, Los Locos took the drive 40 yards in a single play, with Arnaud Trudel jumping higher than his defenders on a nice post route for the score. He instantly made it clear who the Eastside Boys needed to worry about when playing D.

The next Eastside Boys drive was all Nicholas Gomes-Risso and Alessandro Barazzoni, as the 2 gained all 40 yards, capped off with a 1-yard TD to Barazzoni, his first of the 3 TDs on the night.

Los Locos were close to not being able to answer, as on 4th down, they could not complete their pass for a 1st down, but wait. Nic De Cico, rushing for the Eastside Boys, contacted the Locos QB Thomas Soto, giving Los Locos a fresh set of downs, and they made the Eastside Boys, as they were able to get the ball to Brandon St. Jacques-Turpin, punching it in from 24-yards out. They were unable to convert on either of their extra point attempts on their 2 TDs, so they were still down 13-12 to the Eastside Boys.

The Locos defense needed to step up and get a stop, but the Eastside Boys shut that idea down pretty quickly, as it took 2 completions on 3 plays to get into the endzone. A first down was gained by a nice 12-yard chunk by Barazzoni and then, Dan Lazzara got in on the action, getting his first of 2 TDs on the night. He burned the Locos D on yet another wheel route. As I mentioned earlier, this was one of the key reasons why Los Locos lost this game: lost coverage on the wheel route. I’m sure moving forward on their season, they will communicate better on who’s got the wheel.

Not to be outdone, Los Locos themselves scored on 2 plays as well. First, their deep threat in Trudel was able to get them to the 2-yard line, and punched in by the big boy, Paul Maksoud, who himself had a 2-TD performance. After the Eastside boys couldn’t convert on their XP, Los Locos finally did, as Laurent Boileau tied this game up at 19 apiece.

After another 3-play TD drive, led by A. Lazzara’s 17-yard scamper down field, Eastside Boys were up 25-19 and needed a stop on the final 3 plays of the half to ensure Los Locos wouldn’t tie the game and start the 2nd half with the ball. And that they did. Los Locos were only able to gain 7 yards on 2 plays, and the ball was way short on the final play, as Olivier Mathieu gained 17 overall, but had the hard task of running another 15 yards into the endzone with a swarming defense trying to tackle him. D. Lazzara made sure to make that tackle and give his team the half-time lead 25-19.

Los Locos started the half by driving the offense once again, but within the redzone, Thomas Soto made his first big mistake of the night, as Angelo D’Onofrio picked him off the in the endzone, giving his team a chance to go up 2 scores.

The possession was a funny one for Eastside Boys, as it started with a 30 yard gain on George Kalavritinos‘s only catch of the night, setting up the Boys for a 1st and goal from the 2. On 1st, Ale Barazzoni ran into the rusher, backing them up to the 7. Then Laurent Boileau sacked A. Lazzara for 6, backing them up to the 13. Then on 2nd down, the other Lazzara moved early at the line, backing them up another 5 to the 18. They went from 1st and goal from the 2, to 2nd and goal from the 18 (and still redzone)! The momentum on the drive was shifting towards Los Locos until Nic Gomes-Risso recovered 14 of those yards. Los Locos would not quit though, as Boileau was able to get his 2nd sack of the drive for 6 yards. So 4th and goal from 8 yards out. Incomplete to Gomes-Risso. BUT WAIT. A flag on the play! A costly penalty by St. Jacques-Turpin gave the Eastside Boys a fresh set of downs, and Barazzoni cashed in his 3rd TD of the night to go up 31-19 with Gomes-Risso dropping back as the 2nd QB and throwing a no-look Touchdown DART. Up 12, Eastside Boys decided to go for 1, and an interesting series of events unfolded. The ball was actually picked off by Will Trottier, and with his Division 1 experience, made Serge Pilon-like moves, evading 4 or 5 Eastside defenders on his way to returning it for a point. BUT WAIT AGAIN. As most FPF’ers know, if you go for 1, the rusher is lined up 2 yards past the goal line. The Locos rusher was lined up 1 yard after the goal line and ref Craig O’Brien threw the flag well in advance of Trottier’s heroic efforts. With the Eastside boys voicing their complaints about Trottier’s flag position on his belt (potentially a reason for their missed tackles), the Eastside boys were able to focus again as they had the opportunity to go for 2 points from the 5. Once again, Gomes-Risso dropped back and threw ANOTHER no-look pass, this time to Angelo D’Onofrio for a 33-19 lead.

With time running out in the game, Maksoud emerged as a leader on the next Locos drive, first gaining 17 yards for a 1st down, and then scoring from 7 yards out, using his frame to box out the Eastside Boys defenders. And then with 3:30 left in the game, all A. Lazzara needed to do was drive the field, kill the clock and score a TD to go up 2 scores. But the experience and athleticism of Will Trottier came through: A HUGE pick 6 that sent the Locos team into a frenzy. Score update: 33-31. Naturally, Los Locos went for 2, but were unable to connect.

So here they were again, up 2 with 2:30 left in the game with the ball in their hands. There was no choke job on Monday, as A. Lazzara hit brother Dan for the easy 6 yard hook, and for the 30 yard, you guessed it, wheel route, as that put it away for the Eastside Boys.

It was a great back and forth game, filled with untimely penalties, blown coverage, no-look throws and lots of “oh BLEEP” moments.

Los Locos Player of the Game: Arnaud Trudel – 3 receptions on 5 targets, 75 yards, 1 TD, 1 tackle

Eastside Boys Player of the Game: Anthony Lazzara – 13/20, 184 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT, 1 PD

Game Preview 

4A Big Fun (1-3) VS The Stoics (2-2)

Big Fun really need the win this week as they sit in last place in their Conference, with their 1-3 record. They have the depth at receiver to matchup well against The Stoics defenders, and Evan Ely Nolet needs to go through his pre-snap reads to see where he can win his matchups. I am not suggesting he wins all the matchups across the board, but once it gets to the WR 3-4-5 on DB 3-4-5, there are some opportunities I see that he can take advantage of. Once he gets a feel for what The Stoics are running, he needs to be able to give specific routes to specific receivers to be able to exploit the matchups and give the team the best chance to win.

From The Stoics defensive perspective, the one player who can completely disrupt all of Nolet’s play calling is rusher Denzel Eadie-Lowe. We’ve said it before on different FPF platforms, by Eadie-Lowe is a glitch in the matrix. He takes an extra step without you being able to see it with your own eyes and gets to a spot where the QB is going before the QB even gets there. He needs to be present at the game though for him to be able to wreck havoc on Nolet, who is having a very pedestrian season far, throwing 9 TDs and 5 INTs in 4 games. Nolet needs to better utilize 2 key weapons in the offense: Kenny “Baws” Boutilier and Rico Tulino. These 2 players can be offensive game-breakers, and while they’ve been more dangerous defensively, the 2 offensive touchdowns they have combined between them is just not enough to translate into wins. Another thing that is contributing to the losses, and potential future losses if they don’t clean it up, is that they have converted 0% of their extra points. That’s an area they have struggled mightily and need to clean it up.

For The Stoics, Chris Rivest is having a better season than Nolet so far, and needs to continue utilizing all his receivers as he has done so far this season. That spread attack is averaging 7 plays to score a touchdown, and if they continue that trend against Big Fun, they will come away with the win, as for Big Fun, they are 2nd to last in that category, as it takes them 15 plays to score a TD. So if both teams have 28 plays to run, The Stoics are scoring 4 times to the 2 TDs Big Fun is putting up. So staying on that pace will be key for The Stoics.

Both teams have not forced too many turnovers: 3 for The Stoics vs. 4 for Big Fun, so Big Fun may need to be more aggressive on D to give their Quarterback an extra possession or 2 if the offense is running at the same clip they’ve been on this season.

Alright, all that being said, it’s time for my prediction. I know it looks like I’ve set up this game to lean towards Stoics, but I see Big Fun understanding the urgency of this game for there season, and I see Rico Tulino being a monster on both sides of the ball, charging his team to victory, but it will be a close game!

Prediction: Big Fun 24 – 23 The Stoics

4A Power Rankings

1. KGP Ra (4-0) – Last Week #2: What more can we say? The only undefeated team left in 4A. If they crush a Top 5 Power Ranked team in Blackouts this week, they will stay in the Top 3 for a long time.
2. The Brotherhood (3-1) – Last Week #5: Already said it above and in CTA… HOTTEST team in 4A; good enough to get you into the #2 spot. Pretty sure they were outside of the Power Rankings in Week 1, so started from below the bottom, now they here.
3. Small Giants (3-1) – Last Week #1: Ummmm.. what happened when you allowed 52 points on D? 😦
4. Blackouts (3-1) – Last Week #4: Nice win to get back on track, but it’s against a team they should have beat. They don’t move up, don’t move down. The #4 spot is appropriate for them.
5. TOPSZN (3-1) – Last Week N/A: So I’m pretty sure I made a mistake by omitting TOPSZN from last weeks Power Rankings, so, well I admit when I am wrong and apologize. Sorry boys! Huge win by doubling up on Small Giants gets you the #5 spot.
6. Takeover (2-2) – Last Week #3: 2-2 is a surprising record for Takeover so far. I didn’t forget that Will was at QB for the first 2 games though. Look, they should beat Bruins, but the Bruins are a tough out.
7. Mongoose (2-2) – Last Week N/A: So who are the real Mongoose? The team that rips up teams 40-19/40-18? Don’t think so. But I also think they could have kept it closer against Small Giants. They will be a hard team to pick for/pick against when doing Game Picks.
8. Bruins (2-2) – Last Week #10: Big, clutch win by the Bruins over Centaures. Something still seems just a little off though, I can’t quite put my finger on it.
9. Centaures (2-2) – Last Week #6: Back-to-Back losses on Monday night in St. Laurent. I hope I’m not the scorekeeper that brings them bad luck.
10. The Stoics (2-2) – Last Week N/A: I’m not picking against you in my Game Preview, rather, I’m suggesting Big Fun is a desperate team needing the win. For that, I’ll put you in the last spot of the Power Rankings after getting a win in Week 4.

4B Power Rankings

1. Vultures (4-0) – Last Week #1: FPF is all about offense, and there’s no better team at scoring than Vultures in 4B and they’ve proved it after 4 weeks.
2. Les Montagnards (4-0) – Last Week #2: They are proving they can win in any type of FPF game-situation. This past week? The comeback victory.
3. The U (4-0) – Last Week #3: These guys are so hard to contain and prevent them from making plays, but the team is not infallible. There’s a path to victory against them, but it’s not an easy path for opponents.
4. Beer Belly Brigade (3-1 )- Last Week #4: Another win and they stay put at #4. It’s a few weeks away, but Week 7 vs. Vultures may be a potential playoff preview. Let’s see how they fare in that matchup.
5. Mofos (3-1) – Last Week #8: When these guys are on, they are ON (fire). For a team mostly comprised of new FPF players, to come into Division 4 and have a 3-1 record is impressive.
6. Honey Martin (2-2) – Last Week #5: 71 Points Against is the lowest in Conference B, despite 2 losses in a row. The 2 losses however are against teams with a combined 7-1 record.
7. Voodoo (2-2) – Last Week #6: Tough loss to a good Finessers team, but that’s the type of game that Voodoo probably should have won. It came down to converts, and Voodoo didn’t get even 1 point off their 4 TDs. When that happens, you run the risk of losing games the way they did last week.
8. Arouch (2-2) – Last Week #7: They played a tight game against BBB, and will pretty much be playing tight games the rest of the season, with a few exceptions. For now, they fit into the 8th spot in the Power Rankings.
9. Les Verges Folles (2-2) – Last Week N/A: Les Verges Folles will be an interesting team to follow. How far can Nassim Ouadhi lead this team on offense? With Guillaume Beland playing D the way he does, he can single-handedly carry this team into a playoff spot.
10. Eastside Boys (1-2) – Last Week N/A: Heyyy, with continuous performances like Monday night’s, this team will be climbing the standings, no doubt.

Week 5 Game Picks 

4A Games (My Picks are in Bold Green)

Blackouts vs. KGP Ra

Big Fun vs. The Stoics

Bruins vs. Takeover

The BrotherHood vs. Centaures

TOPSZN vs. Backyard Bullies

Hurley & Sons vs. Spera’s Cougars

4B Games (My Picks are in Bold Green)

Honey Martin vs. Les Montagnards – N/A

Voodoo vs. Vultures

Golden Eagles vs. Bandits

The U vs. Ballers

Finessers vs. Mofos

Hot Sauce Sports vs. Beer Belly Brigade

Les Verges Folles vs. Los Locos

Les Verges Folles vs. Eastside Boys

Arouch vs. Team Ethnik

Les Montagnards vs. Los Locos

Bandits vs. Sphinx

Epilogue

Well, that does it for this week! Hope you enjoyed the article! Next week is the Mid-season report card, so it will be a long one! Feel free to reach out to me on socials @iggymanz or Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo on FB messenger. Time to get pumped for Week 5 and leave it all out on the field! May the luck of the Irish be bestowed upon your teams. LET’S GOOOO!

Want more FPF? Here you go! Watch the 3.5 hour episode of Calling The Audible with your truly and Peeze Della Reeze and see why the Bleu Nuits Cougars are my favorite 🙂