Cover Zero

The real run begins.

 

After 10 hard battled weeks, this is it. We’re here; the moments you’ve all been waiting for since you’ve submitted your name to play FPF; the playoffs.

Let’s be honest, FlagPlus Football’s playoffs are exciting. Not only do we get a bunch of games in very little time, but every game matters. Every, single, game is do or die and no one can look away from a second. That’s what football is all about, a blink of an eye. You can look down to make sure you’re at the right mark and the receiver just blazed right past you for the game changing TD. Don’t look down, don’t get distracted; all you need is one play.

For the final week, I’d like to take a moment and thank the teams that won’t be moving on :

Dragons : It was a bad season, something to think back on next time around and to improve on. It sucks, but it’s the truth.

Two and a Half Dans : One too many losses had you counting on me and I let you guys down. Sadly, in football, you can’t trust others. You had a good run nonetheless. I hope to see you guys around next season!

Old Farts : I wasn’t expected undefeated, but I was seeing you guys as underdogs. I guess it was a bit too “under”. I still believe in this squad. All they were missing to be successful in Div C would’ve been a strong two-way player to fill the void. I hope I’ll see this squad again; bunch of nice guys, really!

Lockdown : Maybe it’s time to look back on the season and change some things around. Things went south, fast. I expect to see LD again. I would suggest going back to basics and to what made you guys successful in the first place!

 

I’ll also be delivering my last interviews of the season and my thoughts on, well, everything as usual. Get used to it !

 

 

 

 

Week 11

Watching a few Div C games makes me happy. I love how you guys give it your all and that we can actually witness very talented players. See the GOTW if you don’t believe me.

 

Players of the Week

Alex Holowach (Project Mayhem) : His team needed him to have a big game and he stepped up huge. Throwing for 8 TDs and no interception in a dominant last win of the season gives his team the necessary momemtum to push into the playoffs.

Marc-Antoine Viens (Six Fast Guys Plus Ryans) : How can I do anything but name the player who got every TD passes from his QB ?

Simon Bosquet Beaudoin (Predators) : Completely shutdown Cerantola’s running abilities and getting 3 TDs on offense. Enough said.

 

 

Quick Recaps

Game of the Week

This game didn’t disappoint. Going back and forth between both teams all game long kept us on our toes and ended on the very last play of their season.

The Originals were late to the game and started with a 6-0 deficit. It hurts, but they managed. Knights started off strong and were soon up by a 13-0 lead before Ojeaha even touched the ball.

Without the game turning in a offensive shoutout, both teams played pretty decently on both sides of the ball and QBs were getting frustrated. Clutch plays turned the ball over and the game soon reached the end mark.

Jordan McLaren, a pickup to replace Leo Lanni temporarily, forced Ojeaha to forego his left side and to throw against a very aggressive Antonio Lanni; things didn’t go as planned. If they play again, McLaren won’t be present; this could really turn things around.

Knights scored with very few time left and Theo Ojeaha had one more shot at his 7 point deficit. Driving the field, he was hitting the endzone with only 3 plays left. Jonathan Louis dropped a TD and the film isn’t really showing it clearly, but it was an odd drop.

On the very last play, going up the middle, Masciotra picks off the ball cleanly to give his team the bye week and win bragging rights.

 

 

Speed prevails

The second game on the dock was a battle between Predators and Broccasion to see who gets the bye week and who ends fourth seed. I was excited for this game and it really came down to the wire.

Predators marched early and hard as Broccasion’s defense had troubles adjusting to Floreani’s throws. On a clutch last play of the first half, Floreani closed in on his receiver and managed to put his team up by 2 scores rather than just one.

Cerantola managed to put together a nice momemtum in the second half and create a comeback that could’ve been enough. Scoring on back to back drives, they were only down by 2 and had the ball; a Cinderella story. Sadly, this isn’t Disney. Missing one too many converts earlier in the game, they managed to score, but were still down by 2 points. SBB got the sack on the convert to give his team the win rather than a tie. Either way, Predators would’ve clinched.

SBB really managed to shutdown Cerantola and haste most of his throws all game and gave his team a serious edge. Without recording that many sacks, he really changed the game and has to be voted MVP.

 

 

Get to Know your Opponents

The segment is back for its final version. I would like to take a moment and thank everyone (captain or player) who took the time to answer my questions and made this segment possible. I know it took you guys’ time, but I believe it was a success. I’ve only heard good critics about it.

 

Broccasion (Captain Justin Cerantola)

– How did Broccasion start ?

Broccasion was accidentally founded in 1876 by Colonel Mustard…I lied none of us have ever met Colonel Mustard. Broccasion actually began when Kristian Cerantola  played a few games as a replacement player for Alliance in 2009. We then had a meeting with Mark Provost a long time friend who had mentioned the league on numerous occasions and we decided it was time to give FlagPlus Football a shot and we haven’t looked back since.

– Who’s the unspoken star of your team ?

There are no unspoken stars on the team we all consider ourselves social butterflies but if I do have to choose the player who gets the least recognition I would have to say it is Alec Cerantola. His lanky frame and ostrich like speed make him a dominant rusher. We just aren’t the same team when he isn’t rushing and he deserves more credit than he often receives.

– The team has changed a lot in the past years, with the recent adding of the ranking system, do you believe this particular Broccasion squad is stronger or weaker than its previous forms ?

It is difficult to say whether the current roster is better or worse then our previous seasons, it is different though. Back in the day we had shutdown players like Theo Ojeaha, Guillaume De Palma and of course the Richard Sherman of the league Steven Hodhod. However, they weren’t Bro enough to stick with us so we found great replacement players in Emilio Pampena and Marc-Andre Lapointe. The core of the Cerantola bros, Kyle Lebofsky  and Mark Provost will never change….EVER. As long as have the core our team will remain competitive, that being said I do feel like we have something special this year our defence has been revolutionized with the addition on M-A Lapointe and we always feel like we have a chance to win. This team could compete with almost any past Broccasion team.

– Realistically, how far do you expect Broccasion to make it into the playoffs ?

Well with the Tony Romo of the league as our Quarterback it is very difficult to say how far we can make it in the playoffs. While playing great football at the moment Kristian Cerantola has never won a playoff game. We may try and convince him that the regular season has been extended to 14 games. All kidding aside we have a lot of faith in every player on this team and we know we can outwork any team, we want to win it all and have no doubt that we will be playing The Originals in the finals. 

 

-One last question : How was the name of Broccasion chosen / came to existence ?

Once the decision was made to play Flag the next decision was the name. So the core of the team got together for our band rehearsal (RockBand on Xbox 360) drank a lot of beer and then  Kristian had a moment of clarity. I am paraphrasing but it went something like this: Guys this is simple we are a bunch of Bros who get together once a week for an occasion, we should call our team Broccasion. We never thought Kristian could sound so smart but he did it and we never looked back.

 

 

 

 

Power Ranking

 

1. Six Fast Guys Plus Ryan. Although they lost, I still believe this team is the real deal.

 

2. Knights. They took down the #2 spot when it mattered.

 

3. The Originals. Losing to Knights has them dropping a spot; doesn’t mean they aren’t any good anymore! Be on time next time.

 

4. BearSkins. They maintain their fourth spot. It’s pretty legitimate in my opinion.

 

5. Predators. Taking down Broccasion took everything they had. SBB as a rusher is a game changer for them.

 

 

 

 

Award Winners

I like to consider myself a tough critic, but also a very out there kind of guy. That being said, I’ll be giving my thoughts on this year’s award winners. Please note, I have no say in this and it’s completely subjective.

Keep in mind that if you play the same position in a higher division, you aren’t eligible for the awards.

**In bold are the actual winners.

 

Quarterback of the year : James Floreani (Predators)

Receiver of the year : Simon Bosquet-Beaudoin (Predators)

Defensive player of the year : Danny D’Amour (Project Mayhem)

Two-Way player of the year : Justin Filteau (Game Changers)

 

 

Quarterback of the year : James Floreani (Predators)

No one went undefeated and his stats are simply ridiculous. Congratulations.

 

Receiver of the year : Eric Maiorino (Two and a half Dans)

Bolstering 60 receptions is huge. He’s third in yardages (if we don’t count Moses) and has 11 TDs instead of 13 or 14. I think that 20 receptions is more than 2 TDs, but that’s my two-cents.

 

Defensive player of the year : Danny McFee (Two and a half Dans)

18 sacks in 6 games is monstruous. The Dans have found their new rusher. He has more tackles than the other rushers which gives him the award in my opinion.

 

Two-Way player of the year : Justin Filteau (Game Changers)

18 sacks and monstruous offensive stats (43 receptions for 614 yards and 14 TDs). This guy never gets tired. Really deserving.

 

 

 

Playoffs

My article is late and Robert Campana is simply too fast; he got the rankings down before I could submit rendering this useless.

Nonetheless, I still want to put it up because it looks good and because I don’t really care for redundancy.

 

Conference A

1. Six Fast Guys Plus Ryans (8-2) : Clinched bye week.
2. Predators (6-4-0) : Clinched bye week.
3. BearSkins (7-3-0) : Will face Eskimo Brothers.
4. Centurions (5-4-1) : Will face Broccasion.
5. Broccasion (4-5-1) : Will face Centurions
6. Eskimo Brothers (4-5-1) : Will face BearSkins.

 

Conference B

1. Knights (8-2) : Clinched bye week.
2. ZOO (6-4-0) : Clinched by week.
3. The Originals (8-2-0) : Will face Moose.
4. Project Mayhem (5-4-1) : Will face Game Changers.
5. Game Changers (5-5-0) : Will face Project Mayhem.
6. Moose (4-6-0) : Will face The Originals.

 

 

 

 

Predictions

 

(4) Centurions (5-4-1) vs (5) Broccasion (4-5-1)

Previous matchup : 29-29

Last time these two teams met, they gave each other their one and only tie of the season. Does this mean we’ll have a very promising first round playoff game? Hell yeah it does.

Broccasion has been playing, arguably, some of their best football recently and Cerantola is playing better now than he was in previous season (stats would say otherwise, but his ball placement and mobility is up there). I ignore if their chemistry is slacking or their playcalling needs a bit of tweaking, but this team can be clutch. They are known to crumble when playoffs comes (Cerantola has never won a single playoff game as a QB in FPF) and it’ll all come down to how well Cerantola can avoid Centurions’ rusher. I don’t think Lebofsky and Lapointe will let the green gang bully them around anymore and we might get a very physical game.

Centurions are known for their defense. With Gaudet taking snaps, they’ve turned into a clutch machine. Without scoring hundreds of touchdowns, this offense knows how to get themselves on the scoreboard and gets the job done; plain and simple. Their gritty defense is even better than the Giant Ghio is rushing. It’ll really come down to whether they manage to shut Cerantola down and how efficiently they can contain his runs.

I believe this will be the season where Cerantola will get his first ever playoff win and break the curse. I’m eager to see how it’ll come down.

Prediction : Broccasion

 

 

(3) The Originals (8-2-0) vs (6) Moose (4-6-0)

Previous matchup : 46-14 The Originals

The Originals are built to win and it shows. This team is stacked on every position and they have subs for pretty much every body at any given moment. That being said, Theo Ojeaha has been having amazing games and not so amazing ones back to back. Inconsistency has me doubting a bit. Nevertheless, this team is fantastic to watch. Their QB buys time, throws it up and you can see a guy like Jamaal Gittens out jump every single player and just catch a beauty on the sideline without breaking a sweat. With such a supporting cast and their ball-hawking defense, I do not see The Originals losing their first round, nor their second.

Everyone had high hopes for Moose. This roster is ridiculous, but it’s plagued with people not showing up to games and underperforming all season long. If they could get together, build a bit of chemistry and go back to basics, Moose could really hit the ground running. Sadly, I heard rumors that Morissette might not even be present for his team’s playoff game and without Morissette, Moose isn’t a div C team.

The Originals will make a statement after last week’s defeat. Expect another high scoring game like their previous matchup.

Prediction : The Originals

 

 

(4) Project Mayhem (5-4-1) vs (5) Game Changers (5-5-0)

Previous matchup : 38-26 Project Mayhem

Possibly my favorite game on the docket, Mayhem against GC is bound to be electric. They’ve faced in the past, they’ve grown since and now they are playing with everything on the line. Both QBs have won championships and they know what it takes to win.

Project Mayhem is having the season I imagined they would; very high scoring games followed by low scoring games in which they can’t get back on the horse. For some reason, they seem to be missing a key element to their game to flip loss into wins. Holowach is known to perform in the playoff with #NR and I don’t think this week will be any different.

Game Changers faced a reality check when they jumped up two divisions in a single offseason. They’ve been performing and they’ve playing up to their opponents which is fantastic. Their defense is strong and their receiving corps is amazing. These guys make plays like no one else. Sakiz isn’t having the season he had last Winter, but he’s still a very talented quarterback. They’ll have to formulate a plan to reduce Holowach’s productivity; they’ve faced him before, they know him now.

Project Mayhem have to leave everything on the field, Game Changers won’t go down easy.

Prediction : Project Mayhem

 

(3) BearSkins (7-3-0) vs (6) Eskimo Brothers (4-5-1)

Previous matchup : 33-12 BearSkins

The first round’s last game will be a great one. Honestly, this could really go any way; this could end up in a one score game on the final drive, this could be a serious blowout, I really do not know. And this is why I’m hyped for this matchup.

BearSkins have been playing tremendous football recently with Etinson at quarterback. With such a receiving corps, they are bound for greatness. You pretty much need to shutdown 3 elite receivers while still trying to maintain the other two down to “not too much” yardages. This is a nightmare. With Etinson’s mobility and his receivers, they are bound to push past the first rounds.

Eskimo Brothers managed to defeat my team last week to sneak their way into the playoffs ahead of the Dans. They’ve been performing without their starting quarterback and Stachowski has been getting his teams wins. Sadly, I don’t think it’ll be enough. Plagued with injuries and a missing Shawn Steen, Eskimo Brothers might have too much on their plate against the BearSkins squad this week. Nevertheless, their rusher is really something else and I expect him to keep his defense in check; he can really change the way a game is played by himself. Much will rely on him when the whistle blows.

If the Brothers can force Etinson to stop looking at Papich, they might be able to slow down their offensive production and take the lead; it’ll come down to whether or not Papich has another game for the ages.

Prediction : Bearskins

 

 

 

 

That’s it for this week. Expect to hear from me again in the following days or see me on the field watching those great plays or epic failures. Get in touch with me, it makes for better coverage and a better season overall. I’ll be at the fields, my email, [email protected] works and I’ll be watching twitter, @DagenaisFPF, closely this season. Leave it all on the field. Don’t forget to tune in to the Unclehood’s show. With only two media member left in Div C, I hope they perish like the rest of us.