Categories: DivisionDivision 3Men'sWinter

Czikk’s Cover 3: Top Sauce regains form, Lightweight lifts heavy in Week 5 thriller

Just two football games marked Division 3’s fifth week of play, both of them at the Hebert Dome Monday night.

Vince Nardone and Top Sauce took on Hugo Henderson and the winless Les Eudists in what turned out to be a tight, defensive game.

Perhaps encouraged by the podcasting naysayers, Nardone rebounded nicely in Week 5. Justin Blanchard called him “the worst quarterback of the week” on Calling The Audible Episode 4 last week, with Simon Dagenais adding fuel to the fire.

Decisive plays came out in spurts on Monday night. Both quarterbacks experienced frustrating drives where multiple footballs would fall incomplete for consecutive tries.

Still, Nardone was able to toss three touchdowns on just eight completions to Chris Milard, Justin McLean and Carl Nardone. G.M. Kolethras chipped in with two catches as well.

Top Sauce took a 6-0 lead when Nardone hit Milard from 10 yards out. Les Eudists couldn’t do anything with the ball after about several incompletions. Nardone picked off Henderson’s fourth try. 

But all Top Sauce could do was turn the ball over on downs.

Henderson then tied the game when he threw a strike to a far-reaching Louis-Christophe Lafontaine (5 rec, 79 yards, TD).

On the ensuing drive Top Sauce’s Milard came down with a long bomb in double-coverage that covered nearly the entire field. Nardone threw a short score to McLean in the flats and Top Sauce took a 12-6 lead.

Before the half expired, Henderson fired a TD in the back of the end zone to Marc-André Paradis (4 rec, 54 yards, TD) and the two-point conversion to Mathieu Berthelet. 13-12 Eudists. Paradis had a notably strong game, hauling in several clutch grabs.

In the second half, Top Sauce threatened when McLean nearly came down with a long pass, called as defensive pass interference. Nardone flipped the ball to his brother Carl for the short TD, then nailed the conversion to Kolethras to take the 19-13 lead.

Top Sauce played well defensively after that. Vince Nardone picked off his second pass of the game, and on another possession his team forced a turnover on downs.

But the game wasn’t over just yet.

Les Eudists sacked Nardone in the endzone, making the score 19-15. Eudists retrieved the ball with five plays left, and the game came down to the final play, when Henderson threw into the endzone with good intentions.

We caught up with Vince Nardone after the play to get his reaction:

Top Sauce improved its record to 3-2, while Les Eudists remains winless at 0-5.

The only other game of the week saw Lightweight (3-2) take out Jonesers (2-3) in a high-scoring thriller. The two teams put up a combined 79 points, with Lightweight eeking out the 41-38 victory.

Both Lightweight’s Simon Dagenais and Jonesers’ Ryan Lelinowski passed for nearly identical numbers: 16 for 25, six TDs and a pick. Dagenais threw for 201 yards while Lelinowski for 211. Lelinowsky also chipped in 27 yards on the ground.

Dagenais said it was a back-and-forth game. Jonesers scored on the last play of the first half to make the score 21-20 Lightweight.

In the second half Lightweight started with the ball and marched all the way to the endzone, making it 28-20.

“We basically kept it really close the entire way, trading scores,” said Dagenais. “We had converts going our way (5/6), which kept us on top during the game.”

Lightweight took the lead with less than two minutes in the game. Jonesers, down by three, got the ball back with seven plays left. They couldn’t get it done.

François Raymond and Cory Kennedy both came up large for Dagenais. Raymond caught seven balls for 125 yards and three scores while Kennedy caught six for 70 and three scores, and picked off a pass on defense.

On the other side, Dave Chitayat balled out, clawing three TDs on seven catches and 132 yards. “Dave Chitayat kept burning our corners for 40 yard bombs,” added Dagenais.

 

League Notes

And so after five weeks the leaderboards are shaping up quite nice. Each of the four divisions still have one undefeated team, just like after week four. The Brotherhood, Coyotes, Dad Bod Squad and Two and a Half Dans are all sitting pretty at 4-0.

Brotherhood seems to be the consensus best team in the entire division, especially after “destroying” Lightweight in Week 4.

It sounds like Coyotes have experienced quite a ride through four games, especially after “an absolute thriller” win over Brocassion in Week 3.

Dad Bod Squad has been on an impressive role this season, and continued the streak of solid play last week. They beat Gros Chefs Bandits by 20, which could convince Peeze to reconsider his previous Power Ranking slight on them.

Two and a Half Dans, meanwhile, has just been playing good football.

Beating 6+R was a big statement in Week 1. Since then the squad took out Red Raiders, Les Buddays and F.O.E by considerable margins. QB Joey Taylor has thrown 19 TDs this year, spreading the magic around to eight receivers, none with more than five TDs.

But consider this: nine out of the division’s 27 teams all have three wins, so there’s clearly a lot of opportunity for change. Let’s take two 3-1 teams who are showing some pretty ridiculous points for/against margins.

6+R sits at +59, and lost a tight Week 1 game to Two and a Half Dans, 38-31. Since the guys have looked mighty impressive, winning by 30, 14 and 22 points. As Simon Dagenais wrote last week, 6+R’s defense made Red Raiders look bad in Week 4. Watch out.

Meanwhile, Laval’s Finest sits at +49 points, having only lost to Coyotes in Week 1. Since then they’ve improved every game, edging out 8 Boys 1 Cup by five points and dominating Les Messieurs Chats and B.D. Bandits.

 

Week 5 Power Rankings:

  1. The Brotherhood (4-0): There’s not going to be too much arguing on this one. These guys have been plain dominating, scoring a league-high 173 points. Theo Ojeaha has thrown for 22 TDs without a pick while seven of Khalil Kerr’s 11 catches are TDs.
  1. Two and a Half Dans (4-0): Joey Taylor’s 19 TDs on 714 passing yards are carrying this balanced, selfless offense. Danny McFee has registered seven sacks and John Koutris has 21 tackles.
  1. Coyotes (4-0): They’ve never put up less than 32 points in any game and Sammy Feder is balling out with 22 TDs and just one pick. Receiver Kevin Smuda apparently hauled in several crazy catches over the past weeks, which shouldn’t be surprising. Josh Feder already has already caught 11 TDs on 22 catches. Still, they’ve given up the most points of all the unbeatens.
  1. Dad Bod Squad (4-0): QB Sean Avraam has throw 17 scores on a 101.8 QB rating. Beating Top Sauce by 14 points in Week 3 was likely a huge win for these guys.
  1. 6+R (3-1): A decisive, 22-point win over Red Raiders in Week 4 upped 6+R’s record. QB Frédéric Viens has thrown for 751 yards and 22 TDs. Justin Blanchard and Anthony Brisebois both have caught over 200 yards receiving and four scores. Five of Anthony Garant’s eight catches are TDs.
  1. Laval’s Finest (3-1): Since that first loss in Week 1, Laval’s Finest has taken an unfair vengeance on this league. Their Week 4 win against B.D. Bandits wasn’t even close, with QB Justin Lavallee tossing seven scores, going 23-28. Week 6’s game against the winless Les Buddays could be another ugly one.
  1. Show Me Your TDs (3-1): These guys are in the same conference as The Brotherhood, which is never fun. Still, they’ve carved out a nice record. Their only loss was in Week 2 to BearSkins. Anthony Addona is the star of the offense with 235 yards and nine TDs receiving.
  1. BearSkins (3-1): BearSkins could easily be in that 7th spot, but that 128 points against isn’t too pretty. Still, their offense more than produces. They scored 52 on Top Sauce in Week 4, and never under 31 all season. Sasha Papich has caught nine of QB Neil Etinson’s 22 TDs.
  1. Wolfpack (3-1): Wolfpack only lost to Top Sauce this week in a tight game in Week 2, but since then they’ve hammered out wins against Gros Chefs Bandits and Mongoose. These guys seem to play good defense, with everyone chipping in with sacks, picks, PD’s and tackles. Corey Greenaway is a large, fast man. QB Pascal Murray needs to minimize the interceptions.
  1. Brocassion (3-1): Life doesn’t seem to be easy for Brocassion in that tough conference with both Coyotes and Laval’s Finest. They lost to Coyotes by only five in Week 3 and squeaked by both Les Messieurs Chats and 8 Boys 1 Cup. Brocassion needs a resounding win in Week 5 to stay within the Top 10, and they have the chance to do that against Red Raiders.

 

Big Matchups in Week 6:

  1. Wolfpack (3-1) @ Dad Bod Squad (4-0), February 11 at 8:00 PM
  2. Coyotes (4-0) @ FOE (3-1), February 11 at 9:00 PM
  3. Mongoose (2-2) @ BearSkins (3-1), February 12 at 9:00 PM
  4. 8 Boys 1 Cup (2-2) @ 6+R (3-1), February 12 at 11:00 PM
  5. Lightweight (3-2) @ Show Me Your TDs (3-1), February 13 at 10:00 PM