Championship Saturday Is Home To Upset City

Welcome to the last article of the FlagPlus Football Junior season.  I know I said last week’s article would be the final one of the season, but I felt that it would be wrong to leave you guys without one last piece of reading material to recap last Saturday’s championship games.

So without further ado, here we go…

The first game saw the Longhorns take on the Hurricanes.

This had all the makings of an instant classic, as you had Juwan Edghill, the Longhorns’ Quarterback taking on his former team once again, you had the two best rushers in the Sophomore Division going at it, in Shaylnn Bentley (Horns’) and Adam Mahrouse (Hurricanes), and most importantly, this was the first meeting between both teams since the Week 9 regular season finale, which saw the Canes’ lose for the first time, by a score of 24-18.   

The game ended up being a classic, but not in the way many expected. Instead, it ended up being a classic case of defensive domination, as the Longhorns’ fast and aggressive defense swallowed up the Hurricanes’ offense.

Sophomore QB of the Year winner Ryan Garber, who not only led the voting for the award by a landslide, but also led the league in TDs with 23, had his worst game of the season as he struggled with his accuracy all afternoon. The first year pivot finished with a season-high 4 Interceptions. The deep ball, which had been a huge part of Garber’s game all season-long, simply wasn’t there. Players were either overthrown, underthrown, or when the ball was delivered properly, the Horns’ Defensive Backs did a great job of getting a hand on the ball.

Making the passing game difficult all afternoon for the Canes’ pivot was the aforementioned Bentley. Although she only finished with 1 sack, her constant pressure wore down Garber, and caused him to throw passes early and while on the run; Bentley also shut down the shifty QBs run game. In the last two regular season games between both squads, the pivot had 8 carries for 141yards and a 1 TD. On Saturday, the pass rush specialist and her teammates held him to just 3 carries for 13 yards.

The Canes’ offense, which led the all teams in scoring with 293 points in the regular season, was shut out at halftime (18-0) for the first time all season. Part of the reason was Garber’s play, but drops, sloppy route running, and nerves by the entire team definitely played a huge part as well.

Things turned around briefly for the Canes’ as Gianni Frassetti who had a game-high 8 catches for 76 yards, scored a touchdown on his team’s opening drive of the second half. Unfortunately, for the favourites, that would be the game’s only highlight for them, as they wouldn’t find the endzone for the rest of the game.  

The Longhorns offense stalled in the second half, but paired with an amazing defense, their damage was already done. To rub salt on the wound, for an offense that had been so explosive all year long, it wasn’t until 31 minutes into the game that they got on the scoreboard.

Contrary to the second half, the Longhorns offense played a great half of football to start the game. Instead of relying on Edghill to roll out and make plays via backyard football, Head Coach Dave Allen called a short passing game that worked to his QBs strengths, and totally threw off the Hurricanes’ coaching staff and defense.

Edghill, as usual, kept plays alive with his legs, but he also spread the ball around to multiple receivers, and wisely used both sides of the field while doing so. When he had the ball in his hands, he used his eyes to look off defenders. On one occasion, he stared at his snapper Joshua Peters who was wide open in the short middle of the field, causing two defenders to leave their zone and come down on the solid receiver; instead of forcing the ball like he had done in the past, he threw a quick pass to a now uncovered Conor Tomalty for a 1st down. As a football player, fan, and coach, it’s always nice to see when the light finally goes on for a player, and you get to witness the player’s evolution take place in front of you; Juwan did just that as a QB in this game.

Defensively, as I mentioned in my pregame comments that you guys will soon be able to view on the FPF YouTube channel, Edghill’s play on defense would play a huge role in the game, and boy did it ever, as he was all over the field all afternoon. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year recorded a game-high and momentum-shifting 4 INTs, one of which he ran back to the house to open the scoring in the game. For all intent and purposes, the game was over from that moment.

Besides Edghill and Bentley, other Longhorns who came through with strong defensive performances were Nathaniel Peters, Nico Kamke, Khalil Spielman, Jacob Watson, and Conor Tomalty. They all played great in coverage, and played a major part in shutting down the vaunted Hurricanes’ attack.  

When it was all said and done, the Longhorns played as a team, didn’t let the big stage intimidate them, and executed when they really needed a play. That is why they pulled off the upset, and that’s why they are the champs. Congrats guys!

**

The second final of the day and last game of the season saw the Buckeyes take on the heavily-favoured Tigers.

Coming into the game, the Tigers were undefeated against the Buckeyes going 3-0-1 this season.

Just as we saw with the previous game, and just like we saw last week in the  Semi-Finals when the Buckeyes knocked off the heavily-favoured Wolverines, the regular season records should be thrown out the window, as they don’t mean anything come playoff time.

The Tigers started the game with the ball, and as they had done all season, started marching down the field on their opponents. Unlike the regular season, the favourites’ offense hit a snag; as they turned the ball over on downs, as Quarterback Trey Bentley couldn’t connect with a criminally wide open Valerian Cyrenne for a TD after the WR dropped the ball. That drop was a sign of things to come for the team all afternoon.

The Buckeyes made the Tigers pay right away for the wasted opportunity, as QB Jaden Frenette who had been a terror on the ground in recent weeks, picked up 29 yards on a designed QB keeper.

One play later the Buckeyes would cough up the ball as Frenette was picked off by Tigers’ two-way threat Kaiden Dewey on the goaline, as he jumped a route on a pass intended for Max Arnovitz. The Tigers would be gracious enough to return the favour 3 plays later when Bentley was picked off by Frenette (who was voted Defensive Player of the Year) who returned the pick for a touchdown. With the successful 2-point conversion, the underdogs were in front 8-0.

The next offensive drive saw the Tigers pick up a good amount of yardage again, as Bentley hit Jonah Edghill and Wide Receiver of the Year Kaiden Dewey for big gains.  After another dropped TD by the usually reliable Cyrenne, the Buckeyes took control of the game for good on a gorgeous one-handed pick by Ben Arnovitz which he returned the length of the field for a score. The TD and the successful conversion put the Bucks’ up 16-0.

The Tigers finally got on the board before the end of the first half when Running Back/Wide Receiver Terrence Brown scored 40-yard TD on a catch and run that started behind the line of scrimmage.

The momentum was shortly-lived however, as the Buckeyes answered back with two TDs, the first on a 40-yard run by Frenette, and then on a 40-yard catch by speedy WR Max Arnovitz.

With the aforementioned run by Frenette, the run-first QB had 109 yards rushing with a TD at the half.

In the second half, the Tigers proved that the third time is indeed the charm, as Bentley went back to Cyrenne, and the two finally connected for an 18-yard TD.

After another Buckeyes’ TD, the Cyrenne/Bentley connection would strike yet again, as both players who had now changed positions, would connect as Cyrenne hit Bentley for an 11-yard TD.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, it was too little too late, as they couldn’t stop their opponents from running out the clock.

Final score 34-26 Buckeyes.

Just like the Hurricanes before them, mistakes, nerves, a lack of execution, and superior defensive play by their opponents led to the upset. 

It was a definitely a good game, but the better team won on this day!

 

High Five

Longhorns – They executed a great game plan, and they came up with giant play after giant play on defense to win the inaugural championship. Well done boys!

Buckeyes – See above…No I’m kidding, they rode the quick feet of Frenette, momentum-stealing plays on defense, and the advantage they had in the speed department to knock off the team with the best offense in the Freshman Division. Great job!

Juwan Edghill – Can I put the mid-season acquisition of Edghill on here as well? Seriously though, he had two TD passes on offense, and 4 INTs on the defensive side of the ball. What more is there to say?

Jaden Frenette – I never thought a starting QB who only completed two passes would ever make it to the list, let alone win the championship, but here we are. Frenette finished Championship Saturday with 6 carries for 124 yards and 2 TDs to go along with 1 TD pass, and game-high 6 tackles, and a pick-6 on defense.

The Fans and the Coaches – You guys came out all season long, and supported and cheered on the kids, which in turn made each week a lot of fun for everybody involved.

Before I sign off, a special thanks is in order to the main man Rob Campana, who had a vision in FPF Jr, and made it become a reality with a lot of dedication and hard work. Just like the adult league, you can expect the Junior and Sophomore Divisions to get bigger and better as we go forward. Stay tuned, next season will be here before you know it.

Congrats once again to not only the champs and to the upsets they pulled off, but to everybody that came out in this, the inaugural season of FPF Jr football. It was a pleasure guys!

Cheers!