Div E’s Mid-Season Report Card – Part 1

The Spring season is taking many interesting twists and turns throughout the entire league. It’s shaping up to be a great post-season, but first, we’ve already reached the halfway point of the season and with that, comes the fan favorite mid-season report card. For this week, I’ll write the report cards for the teams that have played 6 games, and a handful of teams that have played 5 games. Next week, I’ll do the team currently sitting with 4 games played and the other teams that have played 5 so far.

That means this week, we have the first 19 teams to comment on and give a mid-season review for, as well as take a look at the poll results from last week.

The mid-season article format this year won’t be the crazy long recap for each team. Instead, I’ll give a grade for each Team’s Offense, Defense, and Overall grade with a 75-100 word paragraph to explain the rationale or comment on the team. I’ll also look at who has stood out as the team’s mid-season MVP. So you, the reader, understands the grading scheme, I’ll quickly break down what each grade means, more or less, and what distinguishes a ‘B’ grade vs a ‘D’.

Offensive/Defensive Grading Scheme

A: Outstanding offensive/defensive performance. You are the best at your craft and have proven it so far in 5 games. Offensively, you move the ball with ease and if you get stopped once or twice a game, I’m shocked. Defensively, I’m seeing 6-7 stops a game, and you’re averaging 2-3 interceptions a game. You are elite.

B: You are a good offense/defense. Offensively, you can drive the field for the most part, with a few hiccups each game. Because defense is hard, you are getting 3-5 stops a game and that is good in Division E.

C: You are an average/below average offense/defense. Your putting up 18 points per game on O and on defense, you stop the offense 1-2 times game. Your picks are lucky bounces off receivers hands.

D: You are really struggling on offense/defense. Your concepts aren’t quite working and you gotta change something up.

Overall Grading Scheme

Whereas the Offense/Defense grades are basically saying whether you are good or bad, the Overall Grade is compared to expectations placed on your team relative to the beginning of the season. A “C” grade doesn’t mean you are a bad team, just that you are meeting pre-season expectations.

A: Your team has greatly exceeded expectations. You are more likely to get this grade if you are a 3-2 team when you were expected to go 0-5 or 1-4, than a 5-0 team expected to go 5-0.

B: You have a good team, but you’ve slightly surpassed expectations. You are staying competitive in games but could have a 3-2 record or 1-4.

C: You are meeting expectations. I expected you to be exactly where you are at.

D: Severely under performing relative to expectations. I thought you were gonna kill it, and you have 0 wins.

So without further ado, let’s get the article going!

Western (6-0)

Offensive Grade: A

Defensive Grade: A+

Overall Grade: C

Mid-Season Team MVP: Matthew Campbell

I’ve been moo’ing them all season, but they are killing it on both sides of the ball. Likely the only team to boast two 300-yard receivers, and they almost both have double digit TDs in Mackenzie Wilson (355 yards, 10 TDs) and Matthew Campbell (318 yards, 9 TDs). Cameron Wilson after a 4-year hiatus is showing he’s minimum a Div D QB, hence the moo’s. Defensively, what’s their else to say with 19 interceptions and 13 sacks and 18 PDs. But, this is exactly what was expected of this team, so a C overall grade. No A+ on Offense because of the 5 INTs thrown.

Les Petites Carottes JR (6-0)

Offensive Grade: A

Defensive Grade: A+

Overall Grade: C+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Laurent Beauchamp

LPC Jr doing what a lot of teams do to put a 2nd team in, going with a new QB from their roster, while keeping most of their core guys + a few new players. Alexandre Manes was the question mark going in, and 26 TDs and 3 INTs later, he is proving he can play the part. To be fair, they haven’t had the toughest of schedules, but playing QB is hard, and the team is scoring and has two 200-yard receivers in Laurent Beauchamp and Jason Rayes. Manes also has the ability to scramble and be dangerous when running upfield, with 275 rushing yards (3rd overall) and 4 TDs (1st overall). The defense I was never worried about, and has been producing turnovers for Manes to capitalize on for scores, and that’s what he’s done. C+ since I expected them to be strong, but the + because Manes has produced.

Swiffer WetJets (6-0)

Offensive Grade: A-

Defensive Grade: A-

Overall Grade: A+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Gregory Stefanidakis

As a new team in FPF, what Swiffer WestJets have done is impressive. They’ve played some good competition, and some teams that are not as good, yet they are winning in different ways which is a good sign. Winning the tight, close matchups, beating out the weather elements, beating more experienced teams, etc, etc. For a new QB in Alex Chin, to start your FPF career with a 4:1 TD-to-INT ratio is outstanding. I’ve mentioned I love the ball distribution from him in past articles, and Greg Stefanidakis and Paul Nasr appear to be the 2 top receivers but Anthony Lucia, Andrew Chin and Wassim Dakka round out the dept on O very nicely. Speaking of Wassim Dakka, the dude is everywhere on D, with 4 INTs and 4 bat downs already. Him and Andrew Chin are shutdown DBs. And then with 13 sacks combined between Peter Nickoletopoulos and Gregory Stefanidakis, you have a great defensive unit. A+ for coming out the gate undefeated in FPF. Seriously impressed.

Baby Sharks (4-2)

Offensive Grade: A-

Defensive Grade: A-

Overall Grade: C+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Maxime Sharkawi

With a trio of Jeremy Laplante, Maxime Sharkawi and Sam Aerts, I had a feeling this would be a very good Div E team. They do have 2 losses after 6 games, but it feels like if they lose, it will be because they didn’t put their best effort out there and try too much when trying to catch up in a game where they are down. But that’s part of the battle of the regular season: seeing different game situations and how to react next time you are in that same position when you’ve failed to handle it well the first time around. That was the case in their game against Freshmen XL. While Freshmen played well and overall better than Baby Sharks, it’s for Laplante to better manage the game next time they aren’t clicking on offense. When everything is going great, the team is hard to stop, but when things aren’t going their way, they need to find a way to pounce on opportunities and forget the one’s they miss on. Max Sharkawi is a menace at receiver, with his height, hands and speed. He is a mismatch for 98% of the division and could very well be your Receiver or even 2-way player of the year. My opinion for this team? Start practicing 2-point converts when up big in games. It could come handy against better teams.

Warriors (4-2)

Offensive Grade: A

Defensive Grade: A

Overall Grade: B+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Daniel Devine

This is a fun, young team in Div E. Kevin Summers has looked very good, even though it appears he has room to grow and the potential is high. The team suffered a key injury with Noah Swaminadhan going down against Western in a chippy affair. The team is young and needs to stay composed and mature quickly, or else the emotions of the game can easily distract this team that has a chance to go far in Div E. The team has struggled against VERY good defensive squads, but is capable of putting up 35+ points against average Div E defenses. They need to learn from their losses against both 6-0 squads in Western and LPC Jr, because its likely they meet either or both in the playoffs. Dan Devine is expected to be the leader and has been their best player, and while he can’t do everything himself, he will need to rally the troops when things aren’t going their way. Lots of potential with this squad.

Bloodline (3-4)

Offensive Grade: B-

Defensive Grade: B-

Overall Grade: B

Mid-Season Team MVP: Justin Fraser

Note: Written when the team was 3-3. Mathis Pilot started off VERY strong with 12 TDs and 3 INTs in 4 games, and less so recently, with 5 TDs and 3 INTs in his last 2. His play will determine how the team fares the rest of the way. One thing is for sure, he can rely on Justin Fraser, the clear WR1 on the team with 319 yards and 8 TDs. I still like Nathan Duguay, who has taken a bit of a back seat as the WR2, but if defenses focus on Fraser, Duguay can absolutely hurt opposing defenses. Duguay, Dany Lamery and Eric Boisvert round out the depth and experience on the squad. Defense is hard in FPF and this team hasn’t quite seen its best days on defense. With only 1 sacks on the season, opposing QBs have too much time to break down their D. Improvements required on D, but I’ve seen worse.

Practice Squad (1-5-1)

Offensive Grade: C

Defensive Grade: B

Overall Grade: B

Mid-Season Team MVP: Alex Papineau

Note: Written when the team was 1-4-1. The yards are there, but not the 6 points. Given the 898 yards of offense they’ve had, they’ve driven the field 22 times worth of yards, and have only come out with 14 TDs. That level of efficiency is considered average for a new QB. He had a great game against Best Worst Zgust, but since them, has struggled, throwing 8 TDs and 6 INTs. The 8 TDs in 3 games I can live with, as long as you aren’t turning the ball over 6 times. The offense is left by Vincent Demers, Fabrice Tremblay and Alex Papineau who are racking up the yards, but when they get tackled close to or inside the redzone, Saumure is struggling to punch it in (which is normal btw). Even though the team is 1-4-1, they’ve faced some tough opponents. In fact, their opponents combined record is 20-11-1, which is pretty high, for opponents to have a win percentage of 64%. The schedule doesn’t get much easier either, with Freshmen XL and Mamma Mia coming up.

The Creamsicles (1-5)

Offensive Grade: C+

Defensive Grade: C

Overall Grade: C

Mid-Season Team MVP: George Tsagarospiros

The team has had a tough schedule, not gonna lie. Sucks, since they are a new team to FPF, with the exception of 2 players, but there is potential for this team to get it. You can see glimpses that they have something, particularly on offense. It clicked in their games against Chomedy Chodes and James’ Backyard, but also struggled against more experienced teams like Mamma Mia and BackYardigans. Billy Bountounis isn’t exactly lighting it up in Div E, but for a new QB, where the position is extremely difficult, he’s doing a serviceable job. I’ll take the 2:1 TD-to-INT ratio over someone who can’t score at all and throws 6-7 picks a game. George Tsagarospiros leads the way both on offense and defense, though, defensively, Yiani Dafniotis is making a name for himself as a rusher with 8 sacks on the season.

No Brain No Gain (5-0)

Offensive Grade: A

Defensive Grade: B-

Overall Grade: B+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Timoté Nehma-Lacasse

Raphaël Caron has seen a steady improvement from him winter season. He’s dramatically reduced his INT totals, and is on pace to throw 50% less interceptions than the winter season, and 10 more touchdowns. They’ve beaten some good squads, but I would have had them as favorites in all those games. Still, they have slightly surpassed my expectations of them coming into the season. Offense is coming ‘easy’ to this team, but the defense isn’t 100% in-tune just yet. They aren’t bad, they do force turnovers, but they can do a better job communicating routes going into other people’s zones.

Mamma Mia (6-0)

Offensive Grade: A+

Defensive Grade: A

Overall Grade: C+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Adriano DiGiandomenico

Note: Written when the team was 5-0. This team’s offense flows through Adriano DiGiandomenico, who is having an all-star calibre season at QB. With the studs around him for Div E, he has the luxury of running a Receiver-by-committee offense. Everyone is a threat, with 5 players having at least 11 targets and at most 18. Whether it’s James Scicchitano, Nicolas Knez or George Koutsoukos, they are all dangerous with the ball in their hands, and that’s when DiGiandomenico isn’t taking off himself downfield. The defense is led by the savvy vet, Mike Cap and is showing in on the field, leading the team with 4 INTs at the halfway mark. This is a very good team and don’t look like they will be challenged until the playoffs.

TuneSquad (5-1)

Offensive Grade: A-

Defensive Grade: A

Overall Grade: C+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Ben Arnovitz

Note: Written when the team was 4-1. Chaz Presser has this TuneSquad team rolling. They are on a 4-game win streak after losing their season opener to a good No Brain No Gain squad, and lost that game by 2. A 3.5-to-1 TD:INT ratio for Chaz is good, but not outstanding. He has upped his completion percentage from past season, which is a good sign, and he has the ability to scramble as a last option. He would be 3rd on the team as a receiver if his rushing yards were receiving yards, so it’s more of a 3rd option. Both Ben‘s are reliable targets, as is Jesse Dym while Jeremy Steinberg is stretching the field with 174 yards on 7 catches. When he’s not chomping yards on defenses, he’s moving opponents backwards with a Div E-high 12 sacks. They are favorites the rest of the way, so the regular season isn’t about wins and losses, it will be about improving on each rep and being exposed to all the different game scenarios so they are ready for playoffs.

Chomedey Chodes (4-2)

Offensive Grade: A+

Defensive Grade: B+

Overall Grade: C+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Jonathan Bottazzi

Note: Written when the team was 4-1. The offense is excellent with this returning team from the Winter season. Matthew Bottazzi is on pace for 44 TDs, surpassing his total of 38 last season, but more importantly, has learned to cut down on the interceptions. He’s on pace on reducing his INT totals by 50%, which is massive. The reason why they get a C+ overall is that I pretty much expected them to beat new Div E teams which they have since I knew the team could score. Their only true test, they lost to TuneSquad, but like I mentioned, Bottazi cutting down on the turnovers is season 2 of his learning curve. Season 1 is being able to score TDs. He checked that off. Season 2 is about still scoring, but now limiting the turnovers, so his QB progression is going great. Season 3 and above will be about game management, time management, selective play calling and getting used to the usual game scenarios, but also getting accustomed to the less frequent ones. Defensively, Jonathan Danessa is playing a larger role, doubling down on his interception total from the winter and Alex Forgione almost has the same number of sacks in less games. Its these improvements that will make Chomedy Chodes a team to look out for.

Bullshigh (5-1)

Offensive Grade: A-

Defensive Grade: B+

Overall Grade: A

Mid-Season Team MVP: Joseph Ouellette

Note: Written when the team was 4-1. First of all, shoutout to Olivier Guérin and Gabriel Mutombo for playing in the 5v5 Competitive division against the best of the FPF teams. For Div E players, these guys didn’t look completely out of place and Guérin even made a CLUTCH catch in the final 38 seconds of the game from a pass by yours truly to win it for the Braves. Not sure they knew exactly who they were playing with, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Okay, now for their report card. The offense averages aren’t spectacular from Matis Sardinha, as he’s averaging 3.5 TDs, which is good. He isn’t lighting it up, but it is effective, ESPECIALLY with only 3 INTs thrown and the TD-to-INT ratio at 6:1. That ratio is Div B level, so I can definitely live with 18 TDs through 5 games. Joseph Ouellette is your clear WR1 on the team. Team MVP could have gone to Isaac Ladouceur or Jérémie Coe with their 4 picks, but when a single receiver has roughly half the touchdowns and yards thrown from your QB, it’s hard to argue with that level of production coming from 1 player. Defensively,15 turnovers in 5 games is a lot; very impressed with that total! A bit light on the sacks, but if the rusher is pressuring the QB into throwing those bad balls for picks, ill take that all day. This is another brand new team to FPF that is doing impressive things in their rookie season. To be averaging 30 points a game in your FPF debut is VERY good, including beating some veteran teams in BackYardigans, shutting out Flag Dealers, and losing to Mamma Mia, who is one of the Top 3 teams in the division, is all signs that good things are to come from this team this season and moving forward if they decide to come back for the Fall season. For those reasons, and relative to preseason expectations, they get an overall ‘A’ grade. Games against Chomedy Chodes should be a high-scoring shootout, and they will be tested against a tough Les Petites Carottes JR defense.

Texas Whales (3-2)

Offensive Grade: B+

Defensive Grade: B

Overall Grade: B+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Tyler Cousins

Tyler Cousins was having a great bounce back season at QB until last game against Vice City where he likely got into his own head. With the loss of George Spano due to injury, the team will need to rely on their QB in a multitude of ways. They will need his confidence to remain high even after an interception, which he will need to keep on lower end, and play a simplified version of his game. Chazz Pisanelli has taken a big step up in his game, as he has already put up season-high numbers in TDs through 5 games and is on pace to have a season-high in yards as well.

Team Timbo (3-2)

Offensive Grade: C+

Defensive Grade: C+

Overall Grade: B-

Mid-Season Team MVP: Tim Horner

Since calling out Viren Patel for his poor start to the season, the dude has turned his game around significantly. From 5 TDs and 4 INTs through 3 games to 8 TDs and just 1 INT in his last 2, it has led to back-to-back victories and look to continue that winning streak in Week 7 as they are entering their Bye Week. They were hard-fought wins too, against 2 good-to-slightly-above-average teams in PS and BWZ. Let’s see how they improve in their next 3 games to when they face Mamma Mia in Week 10. That will give us a better understanding of how far they’ve come this season, because Mamma will be a team you’ll see in the Semi-Finals I’m sure. No surprise to see Tim Horner with 300 yards and 10 TDs in Div E, and would have even thought he would have more than 2 INTs, but I guess even Div E teams know they should not be throwing the ball his way.

Trailer Park Boys (3-3)

Offensive Grade: B-

Defensive Grade: B

Overall Grade: C+

Mid-Season Team MVP: Alexandre Meunier

Note: Written when the team was 3-2. Not everything can move through the hands of Alexandre Meunier and legs of Antoine Meunier. It’s a bit one-dimensional through the air and through the ground, that it’s a recipe that is doomed to fail for a long playoff run. Run into a rusher who you can’t run around? There’s the ground game. Found a DB that can shutdown your WR1? You need a reliable 2nd and 3rd option at receiver, and while those appear to be Nicolas Lachance and Mathieu Gascon, they need a higher catch-to-target ratio and should have eclipsed 100-yards by now. Gascon though, is a great flat defender on D and has created 3 turnovers so far. In fact, the defense as a whole has produced 11 turnovers from interceptions, which is nice through 5 games, but it’s only great if you capitalize and create points off those turnovers. Those will be their areas to improve on as the back half of their schedule gets more difficult.

Best Worst Zgust (2-2-1)

Offensive Grade: B-

Defensive Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B

Mid-Season Team MVP: Alexis Labonté

Félix Gilardeau has been great in one game (but I won’t take much stock against OPN), good most of the games not so good in another. What it tells me is that you can count on 3-4 TDs, so 18-24 points, but the defense will need to create 2 turnovers (whether they are by stops or INTs) to get the majority of their wins. The offensive targets are well spread out, with the veteran Alexis Labonté doing the most damage with his target share, and while he is the defensive playcaller and captain, Andrea Iseppon is the one creating the most turnovers with 3 interceptions to his name. A luxury to have in at rush in Div E, where you see many running QBs, is Stanley Louis. With 10 sacks already, any team who’s offense rolls through a running QB is in for a nightmare. There are some true tests on the rest of the schedule, but a good one to size themselves against will be Bullshigh to close out the regular season.

BackYardigans (2-3-1)

Offensive Grade: B

Defensive Grade: A-

Overall Grade: B-

Mid-Season Team MVP: Jordan Le

Is this a good team? They impress me one week and the next, they disappoint. They should have beat Flag Dealers, took a strange loss to Best Worst Zgust, but that was Game 1 of the season, and I tend to ignore those season opening games. They have though, at the same time, had a good, offensive game in a loss to Bullshigh, made life hell for a very good Mamma Mia squad and took care of business against The Creamsicles. With such a great defense, it gives Massimo Colacci a bit of breathing room to make a few mistakes, but 10 INTs in 6 games is a tad high, especially since he’s punching in 2 touchdowns for every interception thrown. The receiving core though, is very nice, it could be one of the best starting 5 with James Masciotra, Jordan Le, Massimo Moniz, Jack Ciaravella and Nicholas Antonacci. They have all eclipsed 100-yards and the target, touchdown and yards distribution is quite even amongst the 5, making it incredibly difficult for opposing defenses to go 5 BDs deep. The question the rest of the will regular season will be whether Colacci can get them the ball.

Cavaliers du Rohan (3-3)

Offensive Grade: B

Defensive Grade: A

Overall Grade: B-

Mid-Season Team MVP:

It’s been 3 full (calendar) years and Cavaliers du Rohan are still in Div E. After 50-60 games under their belts, they should have a better record than 3-3, but it does go to show you that Div E is not a bad division. I wouldn’t say they’ve had an easy schedule, as they have faced Baby Sharks and Swiffer WetJets in the rainy elements, but they haven’t had an immensely difficult schedule either. Kevin Hébert-Pedulla is still on pace for throwing roughly the same number of interceptions, likely to end with 10-12 INTs, however, he’s already tied his second best output for Touchdown passes in a single-season with the 20 TDs he’s thrown through 6 games. His QBR this season also shows his improvement, which is 22 points better than his previously best season in the Winter 2022 season, as he is just shy of a 100 QB rating. All to say, he is on pace for a career year this Spring. His offensive improvement has come with the backing of a strong defense that causes multiple turnovers per game, plus with Antoine Bonin putting incredible pressure on opposing QBs, they are pushing teams back into 3rd and 4th and long situations that end with a turnover on downs, or interceptions. They have a few tests to end their regular season, so they should focus on steadily improving and gaining more game-situation experience, so that come playoff time, they are more ready than their opponents.

Revisiting Last Week’s Poll

Here are the results of last week’s poll, starting with the most likely to win ROY:

As for the who best undefeated team is, the community voted most for Western, with LPC Jr in 2nd:

Best rusher poll? Jeremy Steinberg by 1 vote:

And finally, looks like Div E would equally want Alex Manes and Jeremy Laplante as their QB1 amongst those with 17 TD’s:

Iggy Magnet’s Week 6 Game Picks

Bullshigh vs. Chomedey Chodes – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked Chomedy by 1

TuneSquad vs. Trailer Park Boys – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked TuneSquad

Flag Dealers vs. Cavaliers du Rohan – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked Cavs

QUEENS vs. CTE Goons – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked QUEENS.

Practice Squad vs. Freshmen XL – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked Freshmen

Bum City vs. TYP SHI – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked TYP SHI

Airs vs. Bloodline – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked Airs

BackYardigans vs. Mamma Mia – Can’t pick, I saw the result already. Would have picked Mamma Mia

The Stables vs. Texas Whales – Iggy’s Pick: Texas Whales

No Brain No Gain vs. The Creamsicles – Iggy’s Pick: No Brain No Gain

Sweet Bonanza vs. STEPBROTHERS – Iggy’s Pick: STEPBROTHERS

The Stables vs. Best Worst Zgust – Iggy’s Pick: Best Worst Zgust

Les Vidanges FC vs. Sweet Bonanza – Iggy’s Pick: Les Vidanges FC

Vice City vs. La Mennaise – Iggy’s Pick: Vice City

TYP SHI vs. Warriors – Iggy’s Pick: Warriors

Freshmen XL vs. Swiffer WetJets – Iggy’s Pick: Freshmen XL

Longhorns vs. Les Vidanges FC – Iggy’s Pick: Les Vidanges FC

OPN vs. Les Petites Carottes JR – Iggy’s Pick: Les Petites Carottes JR

Baby Sharks vs. The Diddlers – Iggy’s Pick: Baby Sharks

Locked & Loaded vs. James’ Backyard – Iggy’s Pick: Locked & Loaded

Head Tops Only vs. Bullshigh – Iggy’s Pick: Bullshigh

Week 5 Game Pick Record: 12-4
Overall Prediction Record: 41-16 (72% prediction rate)

Epilogue

Alright Div E, that does it for the first half of the report cards! If you weren’t covered this week, you’ll be covered next week!

Here’s the link to CTA if you didn’t already watch it. If you didn’t, what are you waiting for?!