Co-ed Season gets Underway with a First Week of Blow-outs

Welcome to this 2019 co-ed winter season!

I will be following the ups and downs of this season with all of you as a writer and a player. I have to start this article by saying that this is the first time I’m writing for the big leagues. I spent the previous four seasons covering FPF Junior and this year, I am thrilled to also be writing for co-ed. This is also my first year playing in the co-ed division. There may be a few mishaps and little bumps as the season moves along but I hope you will enjoy the articles and have a great season!

I started off my FPF career playing in the Junior division and after aging out of the juniors, I moved onto the adult leagues and I have played three seasons in the adult divisions. I have played with a few established teams such as SWAT, Tip Top Shape and Team Ethnik. This season, I’m trying my hand in co-ed with Yin & Yang. I am also a scorekeeper and there is a good chance you have seen me on the sidelines in the past few years. If you ever have suggestions, critiques or ideas for the article, I would love to hear from you. I scorekeep on Sunday nights in Lachine and I also play on Saturdays in Brossard. If you have anything to say, feel free to let me know. That’s enough boring chit chat about me, lets jump into what you are all hear to actually read about!

 

Bargain of the Week:

Matthew Peacock (Yin & Yang): Let’s start with the stats: 4 receptions, 90 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns. I could end this right here and that would be impressive. Now consider that Peacock’s cap hit only sets his team back 58.3 on offence and 56.9 on defence. That’s what I call a bargain! If we want to compare Peacock to the week’s other leading receiver, Olivier Laberge, you will see just why Peacock is such a bargain for his cap hit. Laberge has a 71.8 rating. Laberge did manage 4 more receiving yards but that was with 4 more receptions. Matthew Peacock, with his low cap hit and great production has to be the inaugural winner of the Bargain of the Week Award.

Cap Waste of the Week:

Just to be clear, I won’t be holding back in these articles. If any of you want to see a sugar-coated rendition of facts, go check-out my junior articles. We are all grown-ups, so let’s tell it like it is. With that being said, the unlucky winner of this week’s Wasted Cap Award is…

Serge Pilon Jr. : Maybe co-ed is a more relaxed league, maybe it is a place to play with your friends but none of that is an excuse for an elite athlete like Pilon to put up peasant numbers. With a cap hit of around 90 on both sides of the ball, Pilon should be striking fear into the hearts of opposing defensive backs and quarterbacks alike. While the average player may content themselves with 46 receiving yards, Pilon is not your average player. On defence, he made even less of an impact, recording only one tackle and a defended pass. If Pilon does not take over games, he is not worth the cap hit he costs his team.

 

Game of the Week:

Co-ed, I have got to say: too many blow-outs this first week. It was not easy to find a closely fought game to write about but at least 3rd Down for What and Michael Scott’ Tots played a hotly disputed match. In what I affectionately nicknamed the Bowl of Complicated Names, 3rd Down for What (3DW from here forth) managed a narrow 21-18 win over Michael Scott’ Tots (MST henceforth).

Sara Parker led her team to victory with an outstanding 16 completions out of 19 attempts. If that 84% completion rate seems too good to be true that’s because it is too good to be true. Four of those completions were in fact caught by her opponents. Oops. This was an extremely uncharacteristic outing for Parker. In eight games last year, she threw a total of eight picks so her four picks in week 1 represent half of all her interceptions from last season. Is this simply a night to forget for Parker or might this be the new normal? 3DW certainly hope it’s the former. Out of Parker’s twelve completions, five were to the safe hands of Rachel Beaudoin. Those five receptions allowed Beaudoin to tally nearly 30 receiving yards to go along with her score. When you turn the ball over four times and still manage to win, it means your defence had one hell of a showing. No one on 3DW’s defence made a bigger impact then Charles Verreault. He managed three tackles as well as a defended pass and most importantly, he also picked off the opposing QB and ran that pick back for an all-important score.

It really wasn’t a great night for quarterback play last Sunday in the Stinger Dome. I know, the lighting is awful but an experienced QB like Evan Ely Nolet of MST should definitely be completing more than 52% of his passes. However, Nolet made the most out of his 16 completions. He averaged 9.3 yards per completion on his way to passing for 149 yards and three scores. However, I’m sure Nolet and MST will turn things around quickly. They have all the key components necessary for a threatening passing game. They have an experienced deep threat in Kenny Boutilier. In fact, the 4th year man managed an impressive six catches on Sunday for nearly 70 yards and 2 scores. To pair with a deep threat like Boutilier, you need a sure handed receiver who can work the slants and the hooks. Luckily for MST, that is exactly what Karina Niboj does and she proved that against 3DW. She exploited those short routes on her way to six catches for 30 yards. While I was quick to criticize Sara Parker for the four picks, lots of credit has to be given to MST’s defence. Leading their ball hawking secondary was Rico Tulino. He had a fantastic game and managed two of his team’s four picks. The final two picks came courtesy of Kenny Boutilier and Veronica Kost.

 

Misinformed Predictions:

Yin & Yang vs Black Mamba: In week 2’s first match of the weekend, co-ed’s two least originally named teams will face off in a match that is sure to be much more exciting than either of their names. However, I don’t see Black Mamba being able to crack Y & Y’s formidable defence. Y & Y will win this low scoring affair.

Michael Scott’s Tots vs It’s a Match: I’ve got this match pencilled in as my tentative match of the week. It’s a Match did win their first game but they were not facing the best co-ed had to offer. On the other hand, MST are co-ed vets who can easily bounce back from an opening week loss. Upset Special: Michael Scott’s Tots to win.

ATH Squad vs Tigers: I hate blow-outs. I despise them with a vengeance. They aren’t fun for the winning team and they are even less fun for the team getting trounced. Sadly, I don’t see this game ending in anything other than a one-sided affair. Tigers struggled mightily against division 2 opponents, so I don’t think they have much of a chance to win against a division 1 team. I see ATH Squad winning big in this one.

La Meute vs 3rd Down for What: Will Sara Parker throw another four picks? If she does, this game won’t be close. However, I believe she is far too talented to repeat the same mistakes she made this week. I see the veteran quarterback protecting the ball and leading her team to victory. 3DW will win in a closely disputed match.

A-Town vs Hot-Dawgz: In week one, A-Town only conceded 12 points while Hot-Dawgz struggled to put up points and only managed to score six. A solid defence like A-Town’s is exactly what Hot-Dawgz don’t want to face. I see A-Town winning in a low scoring affair.

Power Rangers vs Party Mix: Week 2’s last game could very well be its best. I said before that I had Michael Scott’s Tots vs It’s a Match pencilled in as my week 2 match of week. If any game has a chance of beating that game out and be crowned GOTW, it is definitely Power Rangers vs Party Mix. Party Mix leads division 1 in scoring while Power Rangers boast the best defence. This will be an extremely close affair but I think the experience of Party Mix will prevail in the end.

 

I will keep this short and sweet. I hope you liked where I went with this article. If you did like it or if you find me to be a horrible and overly critical writer, please let me know. I write for you all so your feedback is what really matters to me.

See you all in week 2!