The 2018 FPF Junior winter season has now come to a close. For all the joy of championship weekend, I still see this as a somber occasion because it marks the start of a long month and a half without football. On a cheerier note, we saw a phenomenal weekend of football and at the end of each game, a champion was crowned. In the Freshman division, a hard season of work saw the Silver Cougars rewarded with a championship. In Sophomore B, the Huskers narrowly edged out the Musketeers to claim the trophy while in Sophomore A, the Golden Eagles soared to victory once again to finish the season on a winning note and most importantly, with a trophy! Finally, the Varsity final was a heavyweight affair between the undefeated Thunder and the dangerous Wildcats. In a close fought affair, the Thunder’s defence did the job and led their team to a perfect season.

While only half the teams playing this past Saturday managed to hoist a trophy, their opponents all did a remarkable job as well to make it to that playoff game. It is always tough to make it all the way to a championship game and lose but the teams that played in this final round of the playoffs all had a great regular season and playoff run and were in contention for the championship. Let’s jump into the recaps from this final week of FPF Junior action.

 

Championship Weekend Recaps

• Silver Cougars (18) vs Sunnybrooke Elites (8)

In the first championship game of the day, we saw regular season heavyweights Silver Cougars face off versus the playoff performing Sunnybrooke Elites. While the 10 point difference in score may indicate a slightly lopsided match, this game was anything but that. The Cougars came out of the gate sprinting and looked to be cruising to an easy victory after the first half. However, the Elites stepped up their game after halftime and really started applying pressure on their opponents. While the Cougars bench may have been a casual and joking environment when they were leading, as their opponents started applying pressure, things became very serious very fast.

For the Silver Cougars, Jackson Lovig did what he had to do and completed 8 passes for a total of 62 yards. He also caused trouble for his opponents on the ground as he rushed four times for forty yards as well as a touchdown. In a big game like this when things tend to get flipped on their head and all your other wins are meaningless, quarterbacks generally look for their most reliable receiver to move the chains. While some things change over the course of a season, Patrick McNab’s talent never diminished. He finished the game with a season high five catches for 45 yards. In Freshman where it has always been more difficult to move the ball, having a sure handed player like Patrick McNab is a massive asset for a team. Rounding out the Silver Cougars’ receiving corps was Matthew Rafla with two catches for 9 yards as well as Eliot Patterson with a catch for 8 yards. Where the Cougars really shined however was defensively where they limited their opponents to 8 points and one score. Leading that defensive charge was once again Patrick McNab. The talented young man finished the game with three tackles but most impressively, two interceptions. Both of which he returned to the house for touchdowns. The most important of those two came at the very end of the game when he picked off the Elites and returned it for six to seal the championship for his Silver Cougars. Despite his team not being able to complete a passing touchdown, those two picks led his team to victory. Also contributing to that formidable Cougar defence was Alexandre Lessard with  4 tackles and a defended pass, Nathan Piotrowski with a pick and Jackson Cooper with two sacks. The Silver Cougars used what was working on the night to lead them to victory and ultimately, the championship.

For the Sunnybrooke Elites, their underdog dreams came so close to coming true. They surged late in the season and rode that wave all the way to the finals. However, once they made the finals, they fell just a bit short to the daunting Silver Cougars in the finals. The Elites came out a bit flatter than usual in the first half but really started putting on the pressure in the second half. They had their opponents sweating right until that final whistle. That charge was once again led by the impressive Dave Lileka Bolombe who passed for more yards than the Cougars with a total of 64 yards. Like his opponents, he did not pass for a touchdown but did most of the work with his legs where he rushed for a total of 82 yards and a touchdown in 7 attempts. Dave Lileka Bolombe both out ran and out passed his opponents. Offensively, the Elites outperformed their rivals, but it wasn’t quite enough to get them the win. Dave Lileka Bolombe keyed into his receiver Mateo Vergara and the duo connected on four occasions for a total of 44 yards. The Elites number two receiver was Guill Karll Narciso who finished the game with twenty receiving yards. While their offensive production was better than their rivals, they were not able to score the defensive points the Cougars did and that ultimately was the difference between the two teams. Leading the Elites defence was Diego Leone who finished the match with 4 tackles and Mateo Vergara with three tackles. What won the Cougars the game was largely their three interceptions. The Elites got their hands on three passes but only managed to bat them down. While a defended pass is still a great stat, converting a few of those PDs into INTs can really make the difference between winning and losing. The only player that managed an interception on the night for the Sunnybrooke Elites was Dave Lileka Bolombe. Defensively, the Elites managed to limit the dangerous Jackson Lovig largely because of the exemplary rushing of Jayden McLaren-Desir who was in the opposing’s quarterbacks face the entire game. He pressured him on most snaps and managed two sacks.

• Huskers (20) vs Musketeers (19)

In the most closely disputed match of the finals, the top ranked Huskers took on the regular season runners up, the Musketeers. For most of this game, it looked like the Musketeers were going to come out on top. They led for most of the game and things were moving smoothly until the Huskers started making plays and they slowly closed the gap. There was never a massive momentum swing but as the Musketeers tired, the Huskers just kept on gaining steam. They followed that head of steam to come from behind and win he Sophomore B crown.  

When the playoffs roll around, the players who shone bright during the regular season always seem to shine brighter on a bigger stage. There are few more talented stars than Riley Element and no bigger stage in FPF Junior than the finals. His calm personality, poise in the pocket and height have made him one of the premier passers in the division. After a below par first half, Riley Element turned things around in a drastic fashion for the second and led his team to a come from behind win. He completed a total of 9 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown. Despite airing out on 23 occasions, he only threw one pick. To add to his passing totals, he accumulated 40 yards on the ground and a touchdown. All season, we have seen Riley Element and Ben Arnovitz connect time and time again for considerable chunks of yardage. However, the Musketeers did a great job shutting down Ben Arnovitz so the Huskers had to improvise and find new people to spread the ball to. They did not have to look very far as Max Arnovitz stepped up in a big way to fill in for his closely marked brother. Max Arnovitz caught four passes for an impressive total of 67 yards and his team’s only passing TD of the match. While Ben Arnovitz was still particularly closely marked, he still managed two grabs for a total of 19 yards. While those aren’t bad stats, they are nowhere near the numbers he has put up in past weeks. While the Huskers are filled with big name players like the ones I’ve already mentioned, it wasn’t any of those that stood out on defence but rather Ryan Black who racked up an impressive 6 tackles on the night. In coverage, Tyler Van Frank managed a solid game as well with two tackles and just as many defended passes. Riley Element was also making plays on defence but as a rusher. He used his large frame and deceptive speed to get into the opposing QBs face all game and limit the Musketeer’s passing output. While he only managed one sack, he got his hands on three more passes and batted them down before they even got across the line of scrimmage. On his rare off plays from rusher, Riley Element played safety and, surprise, surprise, he also made an impact there since he managed his team’s only pick of the game and started the comeback. That mixture of explosive offence and shutdown defence led the Huskers to wins all year and that same format led them to victory in the playoffs and eventually in the championship game.

This was a really hard loss to swallow for the Musketeers who were the better team throughout most of the game. Sadly, as they started losing their momentum, the Huskers were gaining and the tides turned in the final yet critical moment of the match. For all the praise I sung of Riley Element, the Musketeer’s Kaydon Shaw out passed his opponent and threw more TDs. He threw for a total of 115 yards and a touchdown. Like his opposing number, he only threw one pick and did a relatively good job of protecting the ball. Despite being hurried into most if his throws, he still managed to move the ball downfield and connect with his receivers on 15 occasions. What made the Musketeers passing game so efficient was that they did not use one main receiver. If you tried to shutdown Matteo Palladini, Lucas Piscopos would rear his head and make you pay. The Musketeers leading receivers on the night were Zachary Nelson with 3 catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, Jordan Pennestri with 3 catches for 16 yards and a touchdown as well as Massimo Moufrage who caught a team high 4 catches for 14 yards and a TD. It was also a welcome addition for the Musketeers to have the speedy Brennen Dias-Juliao who rushed twice for a total of 23 yards. On defence, it was once again Massimo Moufrage the tackle machine that went to work. He finished the match with a team high 6 tackles and a defended pass. In one of the gutsier play calls of the year, coach Gino Di Fazio baited Riley Element by calling defensive back Matthew Ouellet back to the bench before promptly telling him to run back into position. Seeing the defender out of position, the Huskers QB threw to the near side receiver but since Matthew Ouellet was told to run back into position. It was perfectly timed: as Riley Element threw the ball, Matthew Ouellet (with a head of speed) jumped the route and intercepted the pass. That all important interception by Matthew Ouellet put the Musketeers in position to tie the game but their attempt fell one point short.

 

Championship Weekend Team of the Week

Offence

QB Trey Bentley: 143 yards, 3TDs

Rusher Nicolas Di Maulo: 85 yards

WR Max Arnovitz: 67 yards, 1TD

WR William Bradford: 46 yards

WR Patrick McNab: 45 yards

WR Mateo Vergara: 44 yards

Defence

Rusher Louis Vincent: 4 sacks

DB Olivier Gauthier: 4 tackles, 2INTs

DB Samuel Cahill: 5 tackles, 1INT

DB Kaiden Dewey-Hull: 4PDs

DB Massimo Moufrage: 6 tackles, 1PD

DB Jackson Lovig: 4 tackles, 1PD

 

FPF Wonder Women

I remember back in the first few years when there were only one or two girls playing in FPF Junior. From that original season with a few brave pioneer girls, FPF Junior has come a long way. We have moved on from the stage where girls are just on the field to where girls are competing for awards and making a difference snap in snap out. In the Freshman division, Audrey Kilbride was among the leaders in terms of sacks, Audrey Rose Blanchard even threw a few passes as well as totalling nearly 100 receiving yards. You can’t talk about girls in FPF without mentioning Maya Di Fazio who’s already in her fifth FPF Junior season. In only 5 Freshman games, she racked up 9 tackles, 3 interceptions and two defended passes. To my knowledge, she is the only player to simultaneously play in two divisions. In the older Sophomore division, her stats were even more impressive. She finished her Sophomore season with 22 tackles, 4 interceptions and 2 defended passes. On the same team as Maya Di Fazio, we saw Elizia Laberge throw for 350 yards and four touchdowns in her first FPF season. In the highest level, Varsity, we saw three girls take center. With the Wildcats, we saw Sara Bouchard enter the season as their starting quarterback before moving to defence where she accumulated 7 tackles and a defended pass. The Fighting Irish boasted the girl power duo of Erica Dubois and Abigail Cockerton. Abigail Cockerton was one of her team’s favorite targets underneath and she used her reliable hands to finish the season with 23 catches for 165 yards and 3 touchdowns. Erica Dubois, also of the Irish had a stellar season of her own as a rusher where she finished tied for third in sacks across all of FPF Junior with 11.

 

Sadly, it’s the time of year (and article) where we have to say goodbye. Personally, this was my first season as a writer for FPF and I had a great time watching the games, following the storylines and writing the articles. I hope you all enjoyed my articles and if there’s anything you would like to see in future FPF Junior articles, fire off an email to the league and I will see what I can do.

Most importantly, I hope each player had a great season playing football. While it may sound cheesy, its not all about winning. You can have a great time in a three-win season just as much as in a perfect season. The key is to push yourself and enjoy being with your teammates and playing the game.

For all those of you who already miss football, rejoice! Registration for the FPF Junior spring season is now open.

With that, thank you all for putting up with my sideline jibber-jabber and questions. Have a great break and I hope to see you all back for the spring season in April.