Czikk’s Cover 3: F.O.E continues Cinderella run, 6+R’s offense suffers total meltdown

F.O.E shuts down 6+R offense, moves on to semis

F.O.E has knocked out its second consecutive playoff opponent after coming into the big dance with a 6-4 record.

They rode 18 first half points on route to a 30-19 win over Two and a Half Dans (10-0).

It was a dose of revenge, too. F.O.E lost to the Dans 26-12 in Week 4. Wednesday evening was a different story, and the first time all winter a team beat the Dans.

F.O.E QB Alex Holowach connected on 18 on 28 passes for five scores and an interception. Jeremy Anderson caught a pair of touchdowns on five receptions, while James Nowakowski (7 rec, 102 yards), Jordan Moses (2 rec, 34 yards) and Dilan Daoust (rec, 14 yards) all caught TD passes.

“On offense we knew they liked 4-1, so we ran a lot of short zone floods. James [Nowakowski] was huge, catching and gaining YAC,” said Holowach. “We got a key stop on D with about two minutes left in the game and we iced it on final drive, leaving them four plays down two scores.”

Dans QB Joey Taylor threw two interceptions after throwing just eight over his previous 11 games.

“I had a step on him as rusher from our previous game, so I just understood his tendencies,” said Holowach. “So although I didn’t sack him, I got him to throw off his back foot a few times, thus his uncharacteristic low completion percentage.”

Taylor was still able to throw TDs to Foti Evangelista, Matthew Rupcic and Adam Bailey, but it wasn’t enough.

“The game was all over the place,” said Taylor. “It’s hard to remember drive by drive, but they simply outplayed us. They came with a game plan and stuck to it. Props to them, they were a really solid team.”

I asked Taylor if he was disappointed.

“For sure. To go 11-0 and not make championship game was a let down. We had the team to make a strong run,” he said.

Travis Moses and Lamar Joseph got the interceptions for F.O.E. Their Cinderella story in this season’s playoff run continues.

F.O.E built a decent 18-6 lead by halftime, but Taylor threw a TD in the second half to give the Dans a 19-18 lead, their first of the night. But Holowach and company answered right back on their ensuring possession.

They now face off against Dad Bod Squad (10-0) in the semi-finals.

And to be completely fair to F.O.E, my use of the term “Cinderella” may be exaggerated. After all, their four losses came to the Dans (10-0), Coyotes (10-0), Dad Bod Squad (10-0) and 6+R (9-1). Still, beating an undefeated team in the quarterfinals is always big.

“We played a step behind the top teams that beat us in the season, but we’re sort of like the Spurs of this division,” said Holowach. “We’ve been around the block for a minute. We knew what we were capable of when we turned up our focus and intensity. I always liked our chances in a one-and-done short tournament like the playoffs.”

 

Dad Bod Squad silences the critics, takes out 6+R

Whoever had to matchup against the powerful 6+R (9-1) squad in the quarterfinals was going to have a monster to deal with. As it happened, that responsibility came to Dad Bod Squad (9-1).

The Dads decisively took out 6+R 31-12 on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals, booking themselves a date with F.O.E in the semifinals.

Dads QB Sean Avraam played a great game, hitting 19 of his 25 pass attempts for 170 yards and five TDs.

In comparison, 6+R QB Frédéric Viens, who may have had the finest season of any QB in the league, threw just two touchdowns along with an interception. Veins went 21 for 31 for 169 yards.

Dad Bod Squad built up a 19-6 lead heading into halftime. 6+R scored just six more points in the next half.

I asked Vinny Gualano how the Dads were able to win:

“Basically, we had a good idea of their style of offence. They’re a great team, but fairly predictable. We knew [Veins] liked the short stuff so we made sure to always have two guys spying the slants by the wideouts or the slant-out by the centre. Defensively we let them catch the short plays and we just didn’t miss flags,” said Gualano.

“Offensively Sean tore up their defense. He managed to break their rushers and buy time. He spread the ball around perfectly so their defense was confused and didn’t know who to cover” added Gualano.

Pause for a second to consider that 6+R scored at least 33 points in every single game over the last 11 games. To score just 12 Wednesday night marked a total offensive meltdown. It was a catastrophic disappointment for a team that boasted the likes of Marc-Antoine Veins (68 rec, 19 TD), Anthony Brisebois (52 rec, 15 TD) and Anthony Garant (19 rec, 12 TD).

In this game, Marc-Antoine Veins caught five balls for just 28 yards. Brisebois caught five for 53 and a TD. It appears Garant did not play.

Gualano told me that Alex Moreau played a great game covering Brisebois.

Avraam, meanwhile, threw touchdowns to Gualano (2), Moreau, Ryan Aridi and Anthony Da Silva. Matthew Petrone picked off Veins.

“What we called was working for us and we also got into their head. Honestly, I’m not being cocky. You could tell that they were getting very frustrated because they’re not used to being stopped as frequently,” added Gualano.

 

The Brotherhood ices Brocassion in the second half, books trip to semis

All Theo Ojeaha could say after the game was “I just love my team.”

And for good reason too. Ojeaha and his Brotherhood (10-0) squad rode 20 second half points to edge out Brocassion (6-4) 45-31.

The teams headed into halftime tied at 25-25, but Brocassion was held to just six second half points.

The play of the game may have gone to Ojeaha himself, the QB who could also be considered the defensive player of the year. He pick-sixed Kristian Cerantola to stretch The Brotherhood’s lead. They would never look back.

On offense it was the usual good news for The Brotherhood: Ojeaha went 15 for 19 for 203 yards and five pass TDs. Jamal Gittens caught two TDs while Kevin Kaya, Quaysie Gordon-Maule and Khalil Kerr also hauled in scores. Gordon-Maule nearly had two touchdowns: he found himself wide open in the second half, but when he caught the ball the ref ruled that he only got one foot in bounds.

Kerr forced an interception very close to Brocassion’s goal line to start the second half. Ojeaha capitalized on the turnover and Jamal Gittens grabbed the conversion to make it 32-25 Brotherhood.

What seemed like seconds later, Ojeaha punched in his monstrous pick-six to make the score 38-25. Conversion failed.

The Brotherhood was riding quite the high after Ojeaha’s play and it showed. Gordon-Maule sacked Cerantola on Brocassion’s ensuring possession, and his boys were loud about it.

Ojeaha nearly threw another touchdown, but Gordon-Maule was ruled out of bounds, so the Brotherhood punted.

Brocassion took their next possession and drove all the way down the field. They actually missed on a fourth-down conversion close to The Brotherhood’s goal line, but a defensive offside gave the offense new life and a first down. Cerantola threw a touchdown to Marco Masciotra, his fourth of the game. Conversion failed, 38-31 Brotherhood.

After that Brocassion wouldn’t threaten again. The Brotherhood added another score when Ojeaha threw a pass to Kerr in the endzone. Gordon-Maule grabbed the conversion. 45-31.

After the game we caught up with a happy trio in Ojeaha, Gittens and Saad Majid. We also spoke about Gittens’ trash-talk:

 

Coyotes win see-saw battle with Laval’s Finest

Possibly the most entertaining matchup of the quarterfinals came down to Coyotes (10-0) and Laval’s Finest (7-3) in a score-fest.

In the end Coyotes took it 44-39.

Laval’s Finest led 13-6 in the first half. Rob Mashtoub and Jordan McLaren scored for Laval while Andrew Langburt caught a Sammy Feder touchdown for Coyotes. McLaren picked off Feder in the endzone and then Josh Feder picked off Laval QB Justin Lavallee, nearly in his endzone too.

Sammy Feder threw a straight go route to Langburt for 31 yards to make it 13-12, and Langburt caught the two-pointer. 14-13. The receiver finished the day with four catches for 47 yards and the two scores.

Lavallee came back and hit Theo Bekelis down the field, then big Zach Zwirn for 30 TD. On the last play of the half Lavallee threw to the endzone and Kevin Smuda came up with the bat down, but the ball landed in Bekelis’ hands. On the conversion Lavallee dropped back nearly 20 yards as a result of pressure and tossed up a ball to Mashtoub in the endzone. 21-14 Laval at halftime.

In the second half, Kevin Smuda caught a short pass along the sideline, spun out of a potential tackle and nearly coasted to the endzone to tie the game up. He finished the day with two scores on three catches and 63 yards.

Coyotes’ Shawn Stein picked off Lavallee to start the second half. When Sammy Feder got the ball back he threw long to Stein, who stretched out to get the ball for about 40 yards. That made the score 28-21 Coyotes.

On Laval’s next possession, Lavallee threw a bomb into the endzone to Mashtoub, who simply out jumped Stein. The TD was good for 28 yards to make it 28-27.

Feder worked his offense down the field and answered back with a short touchdown to his brother Josh for seven yards. Stein grabbed the two-point conversion to make the score 36-27 Coyotes.

Laval answered back in the seesaw battle when Lavallee threw a strike to Zwirn for 28 yards. Zwirn finished the game with 5 catches for 59 yards and the pair of scores. Kevin Smuda picked off the conversion. 36-33 Coyotes.

Feder then threw a short touchdown to Smuda for eight yards and Laval conceded the two points in an effort to conserve time. 44-33 Coyotes.

The plan seemed to be going right: on their first play Lavallee hit Bekelis, who advanced nearly half the field. Bekelis finished with nine catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Lavallee hit Zwirn for his second TD of the game and again, they declined going for the conversion.

But that was as close as Laval would come at 44-39.

Feder went 18 for 23, 237 yards, five TDs and a pick. Lavallee finished at 25 for 37, 273 yards, six TDs and two picks.

After the game we spoke with Coyotes’ AJ Rashkovan about his team’s multi-faceted performance:

 

Semifinals matchups:

Dad Bod Squad (9-1) vs. F.O.E (6-4), Sunday at 11:00 PM

The Brotherhood (10-0) vs. Coyotes (10-0), Sunday at 11:00 PM