Co-ed: Finals Preview

Finals are here at last! An entire season has been leading up to this moment. For the most part, things have gone according to plan in co-ed. The heavyweights won the games they should have and the less experienced teams continued to improve.  I would have loved to see an upset or two, but it didn’t happen.  As expected, the co-ed 1 finals will feature Power Rangers and 3rd Down for What. In co-ed 2, Yin&Yang will face off against It’s a Match. While all four semi-finals played out as I predicted, there were two games that were closer than I anticipated.

I expected 3DW to run away with this game, but things were much closer than I expected in this co-ed 1 semi-final. While 3DW did eventually win 26-19, Party Mix played a fantastic game and I would be negligent if I didn’t discuss their performance. Party Mix looked like the Party Mix of old. For the first time in a long while, Francois Deslauriers & Co took the game to their opponents. He spread the ball to six different receivers. In co-ed, it is the girls that make the difference. If you want a chance to win you need to use your girls. If you are just sending them on routes with no intention of throwing to them, your offence will be predictable and easy to stop. Clearly, Deslauriers understood this because his leading receiver on the night was Laurence Lamy. Lamy caught four passes for nearly 40 yards and a score. When Lamy wasn’t moving the chains, Party Mix relied on Deslauriers’ legs to pick up first downs. He ran for 42 yards and a touchdown. The one thing that Party Mix were not able to do was get Benjamin Leger more involved. I said before this game that if they were to have a chance, Leger was going to need to do better than he did during the regular season. During the regular season, Leger averaged 38 receiving yards a game. In the semi-finals, he did not do any better. He caught four balls for 33 yards. Party Mix have been waiting all season for Leger to establish himself as a dominant receiver. While he has been good, he has not been great. The same went for Party Mix. They were good in the semi-finals, but they were not great. They would have needed a great game to beat 3DW and they came up just short.

The other game that was closer than anticipated was the co-ed 2 semi-final. Michael Scott’s Tots gave Yin&Yang quite the scare. These two teams went score for score nearly the entire game and really, either team could have come out on top. While MST did lose 36-31, they played a fantastic game that is worthy of mention. The last time these two teams met, Y&Y were unable to contain Sebastien Crisi-Lauzon. This time, it was Rico Tulino who Y&Y were unable to stop. He accounted for over 60% of his team’s receiving yards with his nine receptions for 111 yards. Despite all those receptions and yards, he only caught one of MST’s five touchdown passes. If you are wondering who caught all of their touchdowns, it was Zackary Alberts-Gill. Despite only 23 receiving yards, MST’s rusher accounted for three scores. MST’s final score came courtesy of Chloe Brazeau-Gelinas who also had 32 receiving yards. When previewing this game, I discussed the matchup between MST’s rusher Alberts-Gill and Y&Y’s QB Michael Roy. We have seen Roy thrown off his game by a talented rusher in the past and I expected Alberts-Gill to have a similar effect. While Roy may have been rushed making a few of his throws, Alberts-Gill did not manage a single sack. It is hard to blame Alberts-Gill for the lack of sacks. Maybe it was something in the air, but neither team was playing well defensively. Both offences were able to march down the field and score at will. Neither team managed an interception. Ultimately, this was an offensive slugfest, so it was only fitting that this match came down to one final drive with the game on the line. Y&Y scored to take a 36-31 lead and turned the ball over to MST with three plays to go in the game. With the first of those three plays, MST advanced nearly 25 yards and found themselves deep inside Y&Y’s half. With their second to last play, MST advanced to within just a few yards of Y&Y’s endzone. The game was going to come down to one final play. Evan Ely Nolet spotted Rico Tulino in the back-right corner of the endzone. The pass was just a bit too high and Tulino came down just a few inches out of bounds. It was those few inches that separated MST from the finals.

Championship Previews:

3rd Down for What (8-0) vs Power Rangers (7-1):

Quarterbacks: The best two quarterbacks in all of co-ed will be facing off in this final. While both Sara Parker and Tam Vilaydeth may be exceptional passers, they have very different approaches to the game. Parker is your prototypical pocket passer. She loves to sit back in the pocket and dissect opposing defences. She limits her mistakes, avoids turnovers and marches her team down the field with methodical and clinically precise passes. Vilaydeth on the other hand is much more of a scrambler. He relies on his agility to avoid the rusher and buy extra time. He is not scared to tuck the ball and run if he has to. The down side of this approach is that it is more prone to risks. There is a higher probability for sacks and turnover when you play the way Vilaydeth does. For that reason, I give the edge to Sara Parker over Tam Vilaydeth

Receivers: Both of these teams rely heavily on a single receiver. 3DW’s main man was Jeremy Murphy. He had a stellar regular season with 416 receiving yards and 11 scores. For Power Rangers, their guy was Serge Pilon Jr. who finished the season just 1 yard short of 400 receiving yards. While the numbers may slightly favor Murphy, I have to give the nod to Pilon in this matchup. His 170 games of FPF experience as well as his patented butt-tuck move to avoid tackles make him the more dangerous receiver.

Rusher: There really isn’t much of a contest here. On one hand, 3DW searched all season long for a rusher. They tried a few different players at the position and the only one who had success was Charles Verreault with his 4 sacks. Power Rangers never questioned who their rusher was. Cedric Farmer was a force to be reckoned with his six sacks. In terms of rushers, Power Rangers are at a clear advantage.

Secondary: While Power Rangers may have a few extremely talented players in their secondary, they are not as well rounded as 3DW. Power Rangers rely on players like Nicky Farinaccio and Wade Shallcross for turnovers. On the other hand, every single member of 3DW’s secondary is a threat. They have five different players, all with multiple interceptions. Having a few stars is great but having an entire defence of ball-hawks is the dream and that is exactly what 3DW have. Advantage 3DW here.

Final Verdict: 3DW won the first meeting between these two teams and they will win this one as well to cap off their perfect season.

It’s a Match (8-0) vs Yin&Yang (5-3)

Quarterbacks: When the playoffs rolled around, most expected Y&Y to finally decide on a quarterback. They did not. It is now the finals and there is still not a consensus as to who will start in the quarterback position for them. Their opponents, It’s a Match have had that dilemma figured out since week 1. Benoit Lawlor is their quarterback and he is a very good quarterback at that. Despite not having the mobility of a Michael Roy or Justin Weir, he has arm strength and football IQ to put them both to shame. Lawlor can complete the short passes, but it is his accuracy deep that makes him a lethal quarterback. This is an easy call to make, It’s a Match has the advantage when it comes to QBs.

Receiver: When it comes to receivers, both of these teams have their big names. Matthew Peacock led Y&Y with 431 receiving yards while It’s a Match’s Alexis Labonte led all of co-ed with 454 receiving yards. If the only two receivers in question were these two, I would have to give the edge to Labonte. He can run more routes than Peacock and he has more experience finding the soft spots in opposing defences. However, Y&Y have a second receiver who is just as talented as Peacock. Andrew Caruthers has led the charge for Y&Y in the postseason with 116 receiving yards and three scores in only two games. While It’s a Match may have the best receiver, Y&Y has the better corps of receivers.

Rusher: I know each of the team’s rushers and I can say that both are extremely talented. However, when I looked at the stats I was surprised. Y&Y’s Erica Dubois has two sacks and three defended passes while It’s a Match’s Vladir Boursiquot has four sacks and no defended passes. I know for a fact that both of these rushers are better than their stats reflect. I think that Dubois’s three defended are what will give her the edge. It is nearly impossible to sack Lawlor, but if she can manage to bat down a pass or two, Dubois will have had a tremendous game.

Secondary: The key to a good secondary is having a talented unit that plays well together. Both of these teams have half of that equation. On one hand, Y&Y’s defence is filled with talent. You would be hard pressed to find a weak link in that group. Four of Y&Y’s defenders have multiple interceptions. The shortcoming of this defence is their cohesiveness, this is their first season playing together and they are still working out communication issues. On the other end of the spectrum you have It’s a Match. While they may not have the talent that Y&Y has, they have something even more important: experience. This group has played together before and they are an extremely cohesive unit. I believe that experience is more important than skill in a secondary, so I have to give the edge to It’s a Match.

Final Verdict: All season I have struggled to predict my own team’s games. I believe that an unbiased writer would choose It’s a Match to win this one, but I feel that Y&Y has a surprise in store. I guess the only way to find out is to tune into the finals tomorrow at 5:10.

There you have it, that not only concludes my article, but also the winter 2019 season. This has been my first season writing for an adult division. I have really enjoyed the experience. Thank you all for bearing with me while I fiddled with the content of the articles as well as my style of writing.

Best of luck to all the teams in the finals and I hope to see you all during the co-ed spring season!