Deuxième et Court (Div D) – Semaine 8 (English)

Can a playoff picture get clearer while equally getting fuzzier? A few more teams punched their ticket to the playoffs after this past Wednesday and Thursday’s games, while others inched their way back toward the bubble—allowing those already there to scoot forward in the process. Sunday couldn’t get here any sooner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Race to the playoffs:

 

Updated after Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games.

 

1. Centurions* (9-0, 18 pts, 4-0, 77 PA): Ballz Deep (7)

2. Les Affreux* (8-0, 16 pts, 2-0, 147 PA): Playground, Black Ice (13)

3. Mongoose* (6-3, 12 pts, 3-0, 194 PA): Limetime (12)

4. Blue Mountain State* (7-1, 14 pts, 2-1, 134 PA): Vikings, Playground (14)

5. Limetime* (6-3, 12 pts, 3-0, 220 PA): Mongoose (12)

6. Bearskins (5-4, 10 pts, 2-2, 274 PA): X-Men (11)

7. Wheel of Fish (5-4, 10 pts, 0-3, 275 PA): Lockdown (9)

8. Lockdown (3-3-3, 9 pts, 1-2, 272 PA): Wheel of Fish (10)

 

On the bubble: 

9. Black Ice (3-5-1, 7 pts, 0-3, 303 PA): Les Affreux (16)

10. Shamrocks (3-5, 6 pts, 1-1, 215 PA): Pardon My Swag, Warriors (7)

11. Playground (3-5, 6 pts, 1-1, 238 PA): Les Affreux, Blue Mountain State (30)

12. Pardon My Swag (3-5, 6 pts, 1-1, 240 PA): Shamrocks, Underdogs (10)

 

Eliminated: 

13. Underdogs (2-7, 4 pts, 1-1, 282 PA): Pardon My Swag (6)

14. Big Blue Wrecking Crew (1-7-1, 3 pt, 1-3, 302 PA): Park-X Streets (3)

15. Warriors (0-8-1, 1 pt, 0-3, 273 PA): Shamrocks (6)

 

Conference B

1. Longhorns* (7-1, 14 pts, 1-1, 120 PA): Park-X Streets, Jaggerbomb (13)

2. Le Zoo* (5-1-2, 12 pts, 1-0-1, 187 PA): Checkmate, Gotham Knights (20)

3. X-Men* (5-2-1, 11 pts, 3-0, 202 PA): Ghosts, Bearskins (14)

4. Hostile Territory* (6-2, 12 pts, 2-0, 173 PA): Jaggerbomb, Tyrants (15)

5. Gotham Knights (5-3, 10 pts, 2-0, 186 PA): Ballz Deep, Le Zoo (19)

6. Checkmate (5-3, 10 pts, 1-1, 243 PA): Le Zoo, Black Mambas (16)

7. Jaggerbomb (4-2-2, 10 pts, 1-0-1, 191 PA): Hostile Territory, Longhorns (26)

8. Vikings (4-4, 8 pts, 1-2, 166 PA): Blue Mountain State, Project Mayhem (21)

 

On the bubble: 

9. Ballz Deep (3-4-1, 7 pts, 1-1-1, 208 PA): Gotham Knights, Centurions (26)

10. Project Mayhem (3-5-1, 7 pts, 1-2, 325 PA): Vikings (8)

11. Ghosts (2-6, 4 pts, 1-1, 273 PA): X-Men, Speed Demons (14)

 

Eliminated:                                                 

12. Tyrant (2-6-1, 5 pts, 0-2-1, 248 PA): Hostile Territory (12)

13. Park-X Streets (1-6-1, 3 pts, 1-2, 244 PA): Longhorns, Big Blue Wrecking Crew (15)

14. Black Mambas (2-7, 4 pts, 0-3, 277 PA): Checkmate (10)

15. Speed Demons (1-7-1, 3 pt, 1-2, 252 PA): Ghosts (4)

*Indicates team has clinched a playoff berth

 

Recap:

 

Bearskins crush Ice

 

Of course, the one upset pick I make of the week turns out to be a disaster. Coming off three straight dominating performances–including a 168-yard rushing game last week–AJ Zigman was looking to make it four in a row against the Bearskins on Wednesday, but they had other plans.

 

Offensively, Bearskins quarterback David Souaid played a mostly error-free game, marching up and down the field with short passes to his receivers to move the chains.

 

On defence, excellent rushing by Marco Bertoldi gave Zigman constant pressure throughout the game, leading him to go 5-for-17 for 34 yards and a touchdown with one interception through the air. While Zigman did manage 71 yards and a score on eight carries, it simply wasn’t enough on a day the Bearskins were clicking on both sides of the ball, with two consecutive touchdown drives to start the game leading to a well-deserved 32-18 victory, and bringing one step closer to clinching a playoff berth.

 

 

Don’t call it an upset

 

I know what you’re thinking. You saw that Big Blue Wrecking Crew beat Wheel of Fish 49-38 and wondered, “man, what a huge upset!”

 

I’d rather call it a win long overdue. 

 

After a slow start to the season, BBWC quarterback Dean Demetriou finally started building a rapport with his receivers the past three weeks. It led to close losses in those games before Demetriou finally broke through this week with the kind of performance we’ve all been waiting all season long to see, as he finished 17-for-24 for 245 yards and five touchdowns to just two interceptions through the air, while adding 35 yards and two scores on the ground.

 

As for Wheel of Fish, their defensive woes from last week continued, as they were unable to force more than a single forth down attempt while allowing two-point conversion after two-point conversion. It all wasted a much-improved performance from quarterback Avi Yayon, who finished 23-for-32 for 216 yards with six touchdowns to just one interception through the air, as he and his team go from thinking about how high a seed they can get to just hoping they’ll make the postseason at all.

 

 

No Moosenuckle required

 

Peeze and I have said it all year—if Mongoose want to win, they need to give Cedric Nuckle the ball.

 

As it turns out, that’s only the case when he’s actually at the games.

 

Nuckle was absent for the team’s big divisional matchup versus Lockdown this past Wednesday, but that didn’t keep the team from dominating in a 39-6 victory.

 

Voted as the game of the week, this one turned out to be more like the dud of the week with Lockdown collapsing behind quarterback Gianfranco Ranaudo’s four interceptions and the team’s overall inability to move the ball against Mongoose’s space-eating defence. 

 

But that’s not all the feasting Mongoose would be doing, as quarterback Alexandre Gaudet devoured the Lockdown defence to the tune of 14 completions on 21 attempts for 184 yards and six touchdowns with a lone interception.

 

Four of those completions went to receiver Gael Robitaille—playing his first flag football game since taking the field for Division 4’s Green Nation in Winter 2013—who made the most of them to gain 107 yards and find the endzone twice. Cedric who?

 

 

Random thoughts:

 

-I said last week I thought Big Blue Wrecking Crew were too good to not win at least one of their last two games. What I didn’t mention was that I had a feeling it would be against my team. (I thought writing it would jinx us; I guess just thinking it was enough).

 

-A word to the Underdogs, who failed to show up to their game against Centurions this past Wednesday: there’s one week left. Finish with pride.

 

-That being said, shoutout to Mendy Cardichon of the Black Mambas. A 1-7 record entering this past Thursday’s game didn’t stop him from balling out for six catches for 93 yards and three touchdowns on offence while adding five pass deflections an interception on defence.

 

-I think I’ll add an extra section next week to start looking at the FPF awards races in the Division.

 

-Rumor has it Cedric Nuckle is done for the season due to scheduling issues. It begs the question: Was Mongoose’s domination of Lockdown without him a fluke, or can they really win without him? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

 

 

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That’s it for this week. As always, you can reach me at [email protected] by email and @JBlanch6 on Twitter. Be sure to tune in to this week’s Division D podcast at http://fpf.podomatic.com to hear Terry Tam’s golden voice and my not-so-golden voice talk about the awesomeness that is Division D football. Good luck to all on Sunday!