Div E Week 6 Recap: Moving Day

Gentlemen, this has been an extremely eventful week in division E and I have oh so many thoughts about it. I dubbed this week’s recap ‘moving day’ because I believe we are finally starting to see who the strong teams in the division truly are, also because I am currently watching The Open and it’s saturday, ‘moving day’. 

This was supposed to be the week that I’d finally witness The Praetorian Guard play in person and I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately I had a family matter which I could not miss, so I remain at the mercy of stats. 

My lesson of the week is regarding jewelry. Most players in FPF know that they must remove all of their jewelry before games as a safety precaution. Naturally a player on 3Hunnas (Co-Ed 2) gave her necklace to a friend to hold. After the game she noticed that the pendant on the necklace was gone and thus a search began. The Pendant was only the size of a dime and it took a solid thirty minutes for them to find it. Honestly, I’m surprised they found it at all. The moral of this story is that it’s probably a good idea to leave your jewelry at home and not risk it falling out of someone’s pocket, although, I do wear a chain and I am terribly forgetful so I am not qualified to judge in this manner. 

Games of the Week

Minchia FT 12 – 35 Les Petites Carottes 

I don’t usually work on Mondays but I decided to be an absolute gentleman and take Moe’s monday night shift in Laval. Honestly I am very happy that I did because I was able to see this game between two solid teams that I’ve never had the pleasure of watching. Both of these teams narrowly missed out on my top three of Week 5, but again, that was purely stat-based. 

Les Petites Carottes (LPC) had the ball to start the game and quickly drove the length of the field. The opening play of the game was a 34 yard bomb from Jason Rayes to Laurent Beauchamp. Xavier Brault scored the touchdown on the next play to open the scoring. Minchia struggled on offense, turning the ball over on downs on their first possession. LPC regained possession, and ran another quick drive. Rayes found Gabriel Jobin for a 35 yard gain, Rayes then completed the drive himself with a 10 yard rushing touchdown. Additionally, LPC have a very solid goal-line/ extra point strategy – they run a goal-line fade to Xavier Brault who is simply too tall for the competition, it works quite well. Minchia seemed to be totally out of it very early in the game, then they scored a touchdown in one play which spanned the length of the field. Adam Antel delivered a perfect ball to Matthew Neiss for a 40 yard score and to cut the lead in half. The comeback lasted no longer than a couple plays though. LPC scored another 40 yard touchdown on the second play of their next drive, this one coming from Laurent Beauchamp who finished the game with 74 yards and a score on just two catches. LPC would score again and take a 28-6 lead into the half, and that was that. Each team scored once in the second half in a dominant win for Les Petites Carottes. 

Adam Antel had a tough night for Minchia, completing just a third of his throws for 131 yards, two scores, and as many interceptions. 

Players of the game

Jason Rayes: 170 Yds, 4 TD, INT, PD, 35 rush Yds, Rush TD.

Laurent Beauchamp: 74 Yds, TD, 37 Yds/Rec. 

Gabriel Jobin: 61 Yds, 2 XP. 

Xavier Brault: 12 Yds, TD, INT, 2 XP.

Matthew Neiss: 86 Yds, TD, 2 TKL. 

Magnetos 26 – 25 Big Fat Bats 

The last game I watched the Magnetos play, they were absolutely lost for an entire half of football until their quarterback Adam Malinoff showed up and led them to victory. In the win Malinoff suffered a partially-torn ACL, and my initial thought was that the Magnetos are no longer contenders. Since then, they’ve won twice without him and remain undefeated which I find extremely impressive. 

Big Fat Bats (BFB) were undoubtedly the better team in the first half. Their opening drive consisted of a number of short completions, until Matthew Zeppetelli found Luca Leccese for a 28 yard touchdown to open the scoring. Magnetos’ first drive was possibly the polar opposite; they ran two plays, one was an incompletion and the other was picked off by Chrys Voutselas. Four plays later BFP scored again, another long touchdown from Luca Leccese, this one being 30 yard long. Magnetos had their backs against the wall and finally scored their first touchdown of the game, a 25 yard connection from Eden Raffoul to James Wiseman. BFB got the ball back and held it for a long while. It took them ten plays to drive down the field and punch in a three yard score by Chrys Voutselas. Nearing the end of the first half, Magnetos were able to throw together a timely drive resulting in a 26 yard rushing touchdown by Raffoul, sending the game to halftime with a touchdown separating the two teams. Magnetos had the ball to start the second and Jordy Melnik carried the drive. The snapper set up his own 1 yard touchdown with a 29 yard reception, then scored the 2 point conversion himself to give his team their first lead of the game. Both teams failed to score on their next possessions, giving Magnetos a short field with time remaining. Eden Raffoul and James Wiseman connected once more for a 27 yard score which came by way of a beautiful toe tap. BFB got the ball with one more chance to win it and Anthony Giacomodonato scored an 8 yard touchdown to bring them within one. Rather than go for one point and the tie, BFB went for the win but could not convert for the extra two points. 

This game was very exciting, and a really big win for Magnetos. However, I must say that if Big Fat Bats were a bit better at tackling this game would have ended much differently. 

Players of the Game: 

Eden Raffoul: 101 Yds, 3TD, 26 Rush Yds, Rush TD. 

Jordy Melnik: 45 Yds, TD, INT, PD. XP2.

James Wiseman: 56 Yds, 2 TD, 2 SK, PD.

Luca Luccese: 96 Yds, 2 TD, 2 SK, PD.

Unfortunately those were the only two games I saw this week because I’ve already written about last Sunday’s.

Power Rankings 

1. Vick in a Box (6-0)

We have a new #1 team in Div E. They are one of just two undefeated teams remaining in the division, and they managed to hand The Praetorian Guard their first loss of the year by a pretty wide margin. It is crucial to note that the Praetorian Guard were without their usual quarterback for the game, so while I do not want to use the word asterisk to describe the win, I must. In my opinion Vick in a Box has a very good mix of athleticism and age; they are not 18-20 so they are a bit more mature, however they are all pretty athletic and keep pace with the younger teams. Until further notice they are the team to beat in Div E.

2. Magnetos (6-0)

As I mentioned earlier, I am extremely impressed by this young squad. They lost their quarterback in Week 5, and still managed to win both of their week 6 games. I also think it’s worth noting that this is the only team I’ve seen consistently punt the ball when backed up on fourth down, and I think it shows a lot of maturity. If these guys can find a quarterback to finish off the rest of the year, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be a contender in the playoffs. 

3. The Praetorian Guard (6-1)

I know that it is a little harsh to drop this team two spots just because of one loss in which their quarterback was not even playing, but I thought it would only be fair to drop them seeing as there are still two undefeated teams in both the division and their conference. I still think that with a full team they are the favorites to win the division, but this is a weekly article and teams change week-to-week. 

Honorable Mentions: 

Les Petites Carottes (7-1) 

It’s very possible that Les Petites Carottes deserve to be in the top 3, but how could I possibly put them in there when two spots are filled by undefeated teams, and the other is the only team who’ve beaten Les Carottes. Their numbers are very impressive with a +140 differential (highest in Div E) and their team is full of speed and athleticism. I’ve got a feeling that LPC will join the top 3 sooner than later. 

The Penetrators (5-3) 

They may be just 5-3, but they handed Minchia FT their second loss of the season, holding them to just 6 points for the entire game. Two of the team’s losses came at the hands of teams inside the top 3, with the sole blemish on the record being their week 1 loss to Sulé Fesss (3-6), although I will say Sulé Fesss is a team whose record does not fully reflect their potential.