Co-Ed and Women’s Presenting Strong Play Early On

Hey everyone, Iggy Magnets here back writing articles!

After a good month off from FPF flag football, we are back with the 2023 version of the Fall Cup to close out the 3rd season of the year. I have been impressed with the early play in both Co-Ed Divisions as well as the Women’s division and will be looking to bring you inside those worlds week in and week out. I’ll do my best to get you the pulse of CE1, CE2 and the women’s division, highlight players that are difference makers, which teams are playing at an elite level, and who’s struggling. Of course, things shift as the season goes along, so you’ll need to tune in to get the latest news and insights to gain an edge on your competition, all of which you can get here.

In this week’s article, I’ll either give my Pre-season/Week 1 Power Rankings, or End-of season predictions for the standings, along with a comment for each team! But before we hop in to all the FPF action, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo but…. no one calls me that. The FPF nickname is Iggy Magnets, but Iggy works just fine. I’ve been playing flag since Fall 2017 as a receiver, so the Fall Cup has always had a special meaning over the other seasons as it was my introduction to FPF and flag. If you know me a little, you’ll know I’m not exaggerating, but it’s changed my life 180 degrees and is now a huge part of my life. The on-field fun, getting to know amazing people, and the highs the game can give you is like nothing else. This season, I’m on four (yup, count it) 4 teams: Tier 2 (QB), Tier 3 (Snapper), CE1 (QB), and CE2 (Receiver), so yeah, call me versatile!

On top of articles, FPF offers several media outlets and bells and whistles, including yearly awards, a weekly Podcast, Calling The Audible, live broadcasted Finals, an All-Star Game, Game of the Week (one recorded and highly-quality edited game, per week from media personality Chris Rivest) as well as photo grabs from James D’Andrea. I am truly lucky to be a part of it all, so let’s get right to it as I’m sure you’re ready to see what this season will bring and where you and your team is ranked early on.

Iggy’s Co-Ed 1 End-Of-Season Standings Predictions

Kiss My End Zone – Last year’s #1 seed by the end of the Spring ’23 regular season and a 2nd place finish with a Loss to The IG Team, they added several key pieces to their roster to help get this team over their new rival in The IG Team. I can see KMEZ finishing atop the regular season standings, but as past seasons have shown, this doesn’t mean they will win it all.
The IG Team – The IG Team are looking for to become three-peat Champions after raising the last two Co-Ed 2 trophies. They too have added key pieces to bolster their lineup in Jourdain Alexis, Constance Millaire and Penelope Fortin. Jeanslee Alexis has rapidly grown into a true dual threat QB, as he has a cannon of an arm and runs and cuts as fast as anyone in FPF, making the offence truly dangerous. Not only that, this defense is as adaptive, fast and athletic as any in the division, making them a truly complete team.
EZFun – EZFun are looking to make some noise in Co-Ed1 after taking KMEZ to overtime in the Spring Co-Ed 2 Semi-Finals. They started the season with a clutch 29-26 victory over a very strong and revamped Vultures squad, but according to my sources, Jeremy White cannot be the full-time QB for the team. We will see whether Nicolas Blais will take the reps under centre and how that will unfold. Otherwise, they have fantastic female players to contribute to the mix of tall, sure-handed and shifty male players on the team. EZFun will be a tough out in every game.
Vultures – Watch out! Ben McMahon is now leading this Vultures squad as he took over late last season with the QB Flex in effect. They are once again using the QB Flex to fit in Co-Ed 1 for the Fall Cup, and while it lowers their cap to 445.5 (instead of 460), they were able to reach into the Red Nation talent pool and recruited Emma Townsend-Asselin and Geraldine Cabillo-Abante as full-timers on the team. They also added a rookie in Tanya Manno to the squad, and she looked great in her first FPF game out there. The Vultures are a scary, quick strike offense, but will need to use the regular season to communicate and play off each other on defense so that when the playoffs come around, they be much improved and be a dangerous 2-way team.
Fitsquad – I always like the makeup of the Fitsquad team ever since William Brouard has taken the reigns at QB. With him behind centre, the offense is able to both methodically drive the field and hit the deep ball with any of the 6 receivers. If Vincent Bastrash is the snapper or even simply on offense, he will pose a large threat to all Co-Ed 1 defenses. On top of Bastrash, Laurence Pontbriand is likely the best female offensive player in the division and you may want to think of using one of your better defenders on her to shut her down, otherwise, she will make you pay. The question is whether the defense can come up with timely stops to give the offense a chance to put teams away. The one thing that makes me wince though: The roster of 12 players. Seems a little too large for my liking, but maybe players have mentioned they can’t make all the games.
Plenty of Fish – I always have high hopes for Plenty of Fish, and always feel like they slightly underperform below (at least my) expectations each season. I feel like the team could go 7-3, but end up in the 4-6 / 5-5 area, which, as a reminder, is not a bad record in FPF. FPF has many talented and experienced teams and a .500 record is actually good (depending on how badly the 5 losses were). Still, this team will look to comeback from a heartbreaking loss to EZFun in their Quarter Final playoff game, where they threw an interception while up 1 point, got a 4-and-out stop on their own 1, leaving 1 play remaining, which was a snap over Maude Lacasse‘s head that resulted in a safety and a 1 point season-ending loss. Unlike Fitsquad, their initial roster of 7 players is a small red flag. One player can’t make it and you’re down to 6 and need to scramble for a sub. Though, they do have an incredibly solid female core from the BRUTES in Annabelle Chevrier, Quarterback Maude Lacasse and Rebecca Décary-Corbeil
Deep Ballz – This Deep Ballz squad is much improved from last year’s Fall Cup where they played in Tier 4. Now having played together for 3 seasons, you can tell they are a more cohesive unit. That said, their biggest question mark comes at QB with Bruno Provencher taking snaps. He’s a great athlete, and can run the ball effectively, but flag is a passing game, getting the ball into your receiver’s hands and letting them do the damage. With the top-end talent of Francois Rocheleau and the depth with Francois Laramee, Victor Rifiorati and Ève Charbonneau, you have the weapons to be able to move the ball downfield. Their biggest weakness I find is their lack of a true rusher. When they do put in Rocheleau to rush, one of the fastest players in the division, they lose his speed and abilities in coverage, and that’s when offenses hit the deep ball on them. This crop of Co-Ed 1 teams is loaded and while Deep Ballz are good, they aren’t quite there with the other teams.

Iggy’s (Way too Early) Co-Ed 2 Power Rankings

1. Balls deep

Why must there always be a team with this team name? Oh well, they’ve produced 2 wins in 2 weeks, with a thundering defense, only allowed 25 points in those 2 games. FPF rookie Benjamin Carli‘s 7 TDs is good for a new face in FPF, but as the season goes along, if he can be scoring 4-5 TD’s a game, this team could be a dangerous one in the playoffs.

2. Kiss My Christmas Balls

Here’s another 2-0 team, HOWEVER, this #2 Power Ranking comes with an asterisk. No, it’s not that I’m on the team, rather, that the defensive unit that has played together before and has let up 60 points through 2 games. On the other hand, the offense has done it’s job when they’ve needed the score and Alex Noel‘s 10 TD’s has him smiling his was as the #1 TD passer through 2 weeks.

3. At Least We Tried

I saw this roster in the off-season and really liked the combination of this Drink Team mash up with Free Smoke. With strong female additions in Josianne Martin, Carolane Larivière, Catherine Bolduc and Chloe Corbeil, the GM of the team knows what wins in Co-Ed: constructing your team with strong female players. Shelder Valéry leads the men’s side of the ball with Darryl Dorcely under centre for the team. He’s a great runner of the ball, but this team will go as far as how well he can throw the ball. Interesting in that they beat an all-world female squad in Subzero quite handedly, but then lost to a WYD Step Bro’s squad that I thought they would have had. Let’s see how this team goes moving forward.

4. TIGRES

The Mexican crew, TIGRES, are an interesting bunch. Completing 42% of your passes, completing 15 passes for 188 yards and, scoring 4 passing TD’s in 2 games is just not good. That said, Néstor Chávez is likely the shiftiest scramblers in Co-Ed 2 and his 236 rushing yards and 5 Rushing TDs are an eye-popping stat. The problem is that it’s easy to game plan against and take away, so this team will go as far as the level of experience in their competition and how much they can one-up the defenses that take away what they like to do. Still, putting up 54 is a feat, but against what looks like a brand-new team to flag football.

5. Y&Y

Not even a game played yet and there are already 16 players on this roster, which will be more than some teams end up with by season’s end. The biggest question entering the season will be who the starting quarterback will be: Antoine Charlebois or Maya Di Fazio? Of course, another question will be who is truly on this roster and who will be there game in and game out.

6. WYD Step Bro’s?

Pranav Sharma and the Step Bros are making their way into the Co-Ed world. Sharma will look to improve his offensive game in a bit of a slower-paced CE2 from what he’s used to. This will allow him to more easily read defenses and implement his offense with his known male receivers. Looking at the first game stats though, let’s see if he can implement the girls more as, more often that not, you win Co-Ed games with your female players. Defensively, allowing just 12 points to a good team is a great way to start the season, so it seems like this will be a tough team to score against.

7. Who’s Gonna Carry The Boats

With no question mark on this team name, are they making a statement? Because if it’s a question, it will be Alex Szalipszki steering this ship. There are nice (unknown to FPF) pieces on this roster, with Lazar Atanackovic and Mikelis Rogers being steals at a 60/60 cap hit, Eric Schiocchet making a name for himself with Idaho Udapimps, and the veteran leadership and solid play of Cam Chaput. The females leading the way are the reliable hands of Kayla Gauthier, the strong rushing of Jenna Araujo and a often forgotten snapper in Roxanne Roy, who had close to 200 yards receiving and found the endzone 4 times last Spring season with the Thunder Buddies. If the team gels quickly with Szalipszki at QB, this could be a team that makes some noise in the playoffs.

8. Predators

Looking at the team, I like the combination of free agents they collected for Cesar Garcia-Diaz to surround himself with. Combing a few players from different teams he’s played with already, like Magalie Ruel and Roxane Rashidian, along with FPF veterans like Anthony Gentile, Aryane Boucher, Chris Olson, Chris Morin, as well as a sophomore, and likely their most explosive and electrifying player, in Edouard Guimas, the team is well-rounded and will only get better and better as the season goes along. The biggest improvement will need to come from Cesar Garcia-Diaz at QB and will need every snap he can get to implement his offense and diversify the playbook further than all-hooks and scrambling plays.

9. Subzero

I am so curious to see how this all-star studded team fares in CE2. If these were my pre-season predictions, I would have ranked them inside the Top 5 teams. I would have thought the score line would have been a little closer against At Least We Tried, but I also have ALWT ranked #3 right now as one of the stronger teams. I can see many of their games being high-scoring, in the 45-40 or 38-35 type of games. While they know their defensive assignments probably better than most CE2 teams, the only thing they lack, other than in Laurence Pontbriand and Catherine Gaumont, is the height to defend the 6’2 and taller male receivers that some teams possess. While they are currently ranked #9, I think this is the lowest they will be ranked and are a Top 5 team in the division. It will be very interesting to follow this team all season! Can’t wait.

10. Free Agents No More

“How is an 0-2 team ranked higher than us at 0-1”? Might be a question Ballhard University is asking themselves. The reason? Free Agents No More showed grit and a much improved offense from Dallas Odem from past seasons. Eagle has now implemented his defense over 2 seasons with this squad and the players know where they are supposed to be and are more aggressive than season’s past. They will however, be beat by more athletic teams on 1 or 2 plays, but they will very much be in most games this season. Though, you would be wrong to underestimate Anthony Moustache thinking you can beat him deep or that you can cover the guy, he’s easily their best playmaker and will help this team greatly.

11. Free Agents

Always hard to gauge how well a Free Agent team will do, but from the looks of it, Gabriel Lemonde will be taking the snaps at QB. He is going to have to improve on his tough season with Kamikaze last spring, throwing 14 TDs and 14 INTs. I like some of the names I see on the roster like Diana-Janes Landry, Rachel Shea, and Scott ‘Superstar’ Legoute, but the difference will be how good the FPF rookies are in Ross-Witcher Choute, Catherine Bergeron, Jason Ludvig and Guillaume Funel are. I will need to see them in action to see how cohesive they are, but knowing new teams, that cohesiveness takes time to build. Look for them to struggle early and be more competitive come Weeks 6-8.

12. Ballhard University

Laurent Charles and Rhami Aboud will look to mentor this brand-new team to flag. For their first test though, they didn’t fare too too well against a TIGRES team that runs an unconventional offense, allowing 54 points in your debut. Ankit Singh will, if he didn’t already, quickly find out how tough it truly is to Quarterback a team. If ever you want some tips, look no further and reach out my dude! Otherwise, it looks like getting the ball into Michael Namdary‘s hands will be a recipe for scoring, with 72 yards on just 2 receptions. The question will be how fast the offense can pick it up to cover for the defense. I say that because flag is an offensive game and it’s known that defenses will give up points, so the offense will need to click quickly if they want to stay competitive in games.

Iggy’s (Way too Early) Women’s Power Rankings

1. Vortex

Sitting at 2-0 and winning the last Fall Cup Championship, where else can I rank Vortex as Week 3 begins? They handled Wolfpack quite handedly and beat a very good Wildcats squad. This team seems to have the most QB depth I’ve ever seen in FPF. Whether it was Gabrielle Vanier last Fall Cup, Annika Browns this year and last Winter, or filling in from time to time, Geneviève Fortier, they all have the ability to go out there and move the offense and win games. The team is filled with all-star talent from the QB’s to Catherine Girard, Elodie Drouin, Sarah Cormier, Tamara Journeau and Virginie Aubut-Ménard. The team is a menace on both sides of the ball, as through 2 games, they have 8 TDs and 8 INTs already. Look for more eye-popping stats from this team all season!

2. BRUTES

BRUTES are looking to overcome a couple of finals losses from last year’s Fall Cup and the Winter season. They started the season with a “take no prisoners” attitude in a 60-0 route of Red Bulls who were without a starting QB. They had that killer mentality and will look to keep that hunger alive all season as they have a Championship in their sights. They have added themselves a stellar player in Sabrina Gervais, as she looks to complement and be that +1 to their already all-world roster to try and get the best of Vortex.

3. Red Nation

Red Nation is that plucky team that turns it on when their backs are against the wall. They are the reigning champions of Women’s 2 from the Spring season, but this time around have opened the season with a perfect 2-0 record. They are without defensive superstar Rachelle Vallieres, but the defense is still their calling card. I love the improvement seen from Allyson Sobol. She’s always had a great deep ball, but now it’s thrown with more precision, as are her short-to-intermediate passes. Where in the past, RN has been stuck at 8-12 points, they have already scored 31 and 27 in their first 2 games. They too have added a nice weapon in FPF rookie Anisha Joshi, as she has great hands, quick feet and deceptive moves.

4. Wildcats

Wildcats are likely a #3-ranked team in a few weeks, but after losing to Red Nation in the playoffs and starting the season 0-1 (although against the #1 ranked Vortex), they slip as the 4th ranked team to start the season. Catherine Bolduc is one of the better Quarterbacks in the division, which helps kick start their offense on the right foot, but there are some newer pieces to the offense in Sabrina Neveu, Kristelle Sevigny and Frederique D’Orsonnens. Of course, you have the dangerous Josianne Martin who just gets open with her great route running and clutch hands which is the primary weapon on offense. Defensively, Sandra Clement and the aforementioned D’Orsonnens have already created 3 turnovers while Kristelle Sevigny had 3 sacks. The pressure this defense can put on offenses will compliment the offense nicely and will put teams away.

5. X&X

Maya Di Fazio has impressed me so far this season. Despite not picking up a win, she is throwing the football with decisiveness and with great power and pinpoint accuracy. She has nice weapons on offense in Tanya Tambo, Grace Ndayizeye and Olivia Stewart, who have combined for 21 receptions, 249 receiving yards and 4 TDs. Defensively, they will not create too many turnovers, but they do get stops on 4th down, thanks to the tackling and PD machine that is Maya Di Fazio. She prevents many of the drags across the field and turns them into 4 yard gains instead of a 19-yard first down. They will struggle against the older, more experienced flag teams like Vortex and BRUTES, but they can hold their own against the rest of the division.

6. Wolfpack

Despite the 0-1-1 record, I like this Wolfpack team. Their greatest offensive strength are the hands of their receivers. They make the tough catches and put the offense in better scoring positions with the likes of Carrie-Ann Auger, Jade Shen-Moreau, Maryse Paquette and Thérèse Nguyen. While Auger, Shen-Moreau and Nguyen are the shiftier route runners, Maryse Paquette is that security blanket for Camille Dumas that moves the chains and gets touchdowns in the redzone. Their biggest need for improvement will be the defensive side of the ball, and learning to read concepts and jump on balls to create turnovers. Still, it’s a group that never gives up and I like the way they play the game.

7. Red Bulls

Red Bulls are a bit of a free-agent Women’s team and will have a tough time in this division that is filled with teams that have played multiple seasons with each other. I liked what I saw from Rachel Shea at QB in their first game of the season. The 31-6 score line and 15 of 32 in the passing department, doesn’t represent her struggles. The team had a few more drops than they would have liked that put Shea in tough, 3rd and 4th-and-long situations. More reps and better timing and execution from everyone as the season goes along will make this team more competitive

Alright, that does it for this week, as I gave a blurb for each and every team this season. Goodluck the rest of the way and go out there and ball out for your teams! I’ll leave you with my weekly predictions

Weekly Predictions – Winners in Bold

Co-Ed 1

Deep Ballz vs. EZFun

Fitsquad vs. Plenty of Fish

Co-Ed 2

Free Agents vs. Balls deep

Predators vs. Free Agents No More

WYD Step Bro’s? vs. Y&Y

Ballhard University vs. At Least We Tried

Who’s Gonna Carry the Boats vs. WYD Step Bro’s?

Kiss My Christmas Balls vs. TIGRES — N/A (I don’t pick my own games)

Free Agents vs. Subzero

Women’s

BRUTES vs. X&X

Red Nation vs. Vortex

BRUTES vs. Wolfpack

Wolfpack vs. Wildcats

Good-luck once again this season and thanks for tuning in to the first article of the season!