Division 5A & 5B: Week 8 Recap & Award Race

Week 8

Thoughts of the week:

No shows at 11pm on a Monday night are the worst.
Anybody else already excited for playoffs?
I’m working on very little sleep and I’m not used to writing early in the morning.
The Patriots make it so easy for everybody to continue to hate them.
TGIF
I won’t be scorekeeping or writing next week, so I shall see you in two weeks.
Will we see two undefeated teams in 5A this season? It would be poetic for them to meet in the finals.
Am I allowed to cheer for certain players? If so, I’d love to see Justin Frankel break the single season sack record. I tried to check what it is, but the website wasn’t cooperating.
If I was playing fantasy FPF, the first wide receiver I would draft would be Nicolas Saro. I wonder if he sees himself as more of a Tyreek or Travis.
Frank Kaye is one of the better personalities in all of FPF. I just wish he didn’t put up 51 on me last week.
I somehow always tend to see more 5B games than 5A.
How do the Bruins and The Process not play eachother this season?
There hasn’t been a lot of movement in my power rankings, does that mean I’m smart or lazy?

Spartans 32 vs. Les Voyous 12

I know, I know, I’m doing a recap for Les Voyous two weeks in a row but I haven’t gotten to see them play, nor have I covered the Spartans very much this season so you’ll just have to deal with it. Sebastien Dallaire started this game with an excellent run on the second play of the game for 20 yards, and then he never went back to it for the rest of the game. He threw an interception right after the run on a really nice play by James Colley who had a great game on both sides of the ball. Two plays later, James D’Andrea made a throw into a tight window to find Alexis Bessette for a short touchdown.

On their ensuing drive, Les Voyous cut the field in half on their first two plays, cutting up the field easily to get to the 1 yard line. It took 3 attempts, but they punched it in on 3rd down when Dallaire found Vincent Laganiere who hauled it in for one of his two catches on the night. Things started to look up for Les Voyous. James D’Andrea came up with a huge sack which ultimately forced the Spartans to come up short on 4th down and Les Voyous capitalized, going up 12 to 6. As you can probably tell by the final score, it would be the last time they found the endzone and the Spartans basically took control of the rest of the game.

James D’Andrea spread the ball around nicely and threw 4 touchdowns to 4 different rceivers. Sebastien Dallaire, on the other side of the ball, didn’t have the same kind of success. He struggled to complete passes and turned the ball over twice more. As I said at the start of the recap, it really surprises me that he didn’t use his legs more as I think it would have had a big difference in this game.

The Spartans are now moving along nicely and look guaranteed to make the playoffs. Les Voyous on the other hand are in a 4 way tie for the last playoff spot and a win would have given them control over their own destiny. There is definitely still a chance, though, and you know what they say. You just need a ticket to the dance to be able to dance with the prom queen. That’s definitely not it but hey, it works.

Tents & Hammocks 27 vs. Tip Top Shape 26

In the spirit of transparency, I reached out to David De Andrade to find out how this game went after looking at the box score. While it may not get game of the week status, it certainly played out that way. Both teams are fighting for a playoff spot and the loss hurts more for Tip Top Shape in my opinion simply because Tents & Hammocks seem to only finish their season in 2020.

Both teams moved the ball well as David De Andrade spread the ball around more than Brandon Aylward. It must be frustrating to watch the same guy get the ball on more than 50% of their plays but for some reason, teams just haven’t been able to stop the combination of Danny Aylward and Alex Joltopuf – more so Aylward in this one. He was all over the place on both sides of the ball and is the ultimately definition of a security blanket for his brother.

If you looked at his stat line, you would think that David De Andrade had a great game, but I can tell you first hand that this one left him frustrated. Tip Top Shape was up by two scores early in the game and let this one slip away. As De Andrade describes it, they were about to go up by 3 scores when they ended up with 4th down and goal. De Andrade found an open guy, but he couldn’t manage to get two feet in bounds. Turnover. Tents & Hammocks took advantage and drove the field to score which got them back into the game.

After getting another stop and repeating the same process, Tents & Hammocks found themselves up by a point with a little bit of time remaining. De Andrade, as he normally does, marched down the field and finds himself in a similar situation. Two plays left, 4th down, down by 1, it all came down to a final play. Somehow, there were two guys wide open but the throw was a touch high, but still catchable. The ball slipped through the first pair of hands and actually had a chance to be caught by the Tip Top Shape player standing right behind but it just wasn’t meant to be apparently.

The Process 27 vs. A-Town 24

There are a few things I need to get off my chest. Firstly, yes it seems as though the media in general covers The Process quite a bit, but that’s only normal as they are undefeated and they’re bound to get attention. Secondly, I literally score their games every week so it’s extremely difficult not to. Also, Simon mentioned on the podcast that he was disappointed in the score and thought they should have blown out A-Town. To that, I say that this team isn’t built that way. Langburt isn’t the kind of quarterback to sit in the pocket and throw for 7 touchdowns and 300 yards. I wouldn’t call him a game manager either because he can burn you in multiple ways, but ultimately he and the squad know how to come up with a big stop when needed and when to come up with the right play on offense. It also helps that they all speak Hebrew and can basically have full blown conversations at the line without the defense knowing what is going on.

With all of that said, these past two games have been tough for them, but I think they will come out better because of it. They’re learning to eliminate the opponents best player and run with plan B or C. It’s kind of like in chess, when you take the other players queen, only to sacrifice your own. It’s a cocky move that basically says I’ll happily beat you with whatever I have left and to me, that’s the best way to describe this team.

To get into the game, the reason why The Process came out on top was because Andrew Langburt was able to eliminate A-Town’s best player from the game. As a rusher, Jimmy Marneris continued to guess wrong and Langburt either extended the play before making a pass, or burned him on the ground. Call up extraordinaire, Aidan Strasser, was able to score on the first drive to put The Process up 6-0. He was filling in for Jakob Boidman which helps prove my point earlier.

The turning point in the game came early on when Emile Plante was sacked twice on A-Town’s first drive, the second time on 4th down to create the turnover. I say that it was the turning point because other than that drive, Emile Plante was able to drive the ball extremely well against a solid defense, completing 81% of his passes and using all of his weapons fairly evenly. Darryl Dorcely and Mitch José came up with big plays for A-Town offensively and Marneris still got his, but that first drive proved to come back and haunt them.

Ultimately, this was a playoff like game that saw two teams doing their best not to make a mistake. The play of the game for me was a two point conversion play by DonnDre Borden. He didn’t have the best game statistically, however after their second touchdown, Langburt threw the ball back to Borden on the 2 point conversion and he made defenders look silly as he ran the ball into the endzone from about 15 yards out. I’d easily watch this matchup again.

The U 42 vs. Finessers 22

I’ll be honest, I went back on forth on whether I wanted to include the recap for this one because it didn’t quite live up to expectations. At the end of the day, the matchup coming in was a good one and I was able to watch it live and therefore give you guys more detail, so why not include it. After all, it’s the first time I’ve got to watch both teams this season.

To say that the game started out as a disaster for Finessers is an understatement. It took 3 plays for the U to drive the field with catches by Rosenberger and Pedvis put them in scoring position and then Russell Schwartz capped it off with a nice 11 yard touchdown. This is where the game spiralled out of control a little bit for Finessers. I feel for Ryan Kharouf because he can only do so much, but the first snap of the game wobbled on the ground to his left. Loss of 8. After an incomplete pass, the next snap went over his head. Safety. Just like that, 6 plays later, they found themselves down 15 to 0.

On their next drive, Kharouf completed his first pass but other than that, nothing too exciting to report. There was another bad snap and they turned the ball over on downs, giving Evan Frank a short field. He jokingly turned to me and said that the short field was frustrating stats wise. To be fair, he actually said that he wished he had more field to better distribute the ball and get more teammates involved and I thought that was pretty cool. On that drive, it literally took one play on a short 1 yard pass to Joe Kano to be up by 22. Kano obviously took this game seriously because he seemed to be too scared to play against me the night before with Soft Serve. One day we’ll get to sling it against each other, Joe.

The next two drives for the Finnesers were a 3 and out and a pick six. Kharouf didn’t have any help in this one with his receivers dropping a ton of passes, a total of 5 bad snaps and overall they just looked disorganized. He actually probably had closer to 150 yards passing as opposed to the 93 that is posted, but he can blame his snapper for the shrinkage. He was able to turn it around in the second half and hit a few deep passes but ultimately it was way too late.

Power Rankings

Division 5A

Super Saiyans (7-0)
Outlaws (7-0)
Rollin’ with Mahomies (6-2)
GLC (6-2)
Voodoo (5-2)
Bruthers (5-1)
Spartans (5-2)
Longhorns (4-3)

Division 5B

The Process (7-0)
Bruins (7-0)
The U (6-1)
EZW (6-2)
Takeover (6-2)
Honey Martin (5-1-1)
Les Gros Coqs (5-1)
La Brume (4-2-1)

Awards Race

I’d like to start by saying that these opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinions of FPF. Seriously. These are my picks for the awards and my opinions about how they may play out. I am not even sure whether I get a vote or not so you can rest easy to know that these are far from final. All I can give you, the reader, is knowledge about how these kind of races have played out in the past and what I think the outcome may be.

At the end of the day, I’m just as curious and excited as to who may win these awards. Regardless of what Division you play in, it’s a pretty great feeling to add one of these to your repertoire. Good luck to all of those still in the race.

Quarterback of the Year

Zacharie Quiviger – Rollin’ with Mahomies – 135/206, 1531 yards, 38 TDs, 8 INTs, 111.1 QBR

Stephen Harripersaud – Outlaws – 129/191, 1241 yards, 35 TDs, 3 INTs, 118.5 QBR

Jordan Allard – Super Saiyans – 109/176, 1182 yards, 29 TDs, 1 INT, 118.9 QBR, 190 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs

In my opinion, Jordan would need a big end to the season to make this a 3 player race. While he has the best rating in the entire Division and does a lot more work on the ground than the other two, it’s hard to ignore the touchdown totals of Quiviger and Harripersaud. We’ll get a clearer picture once Jordan and Stephen play their 8th game, but if I had to guess right now, I’d say that Harripersaud has the slight edge because of his low interception total.

Wide Receiver of the Year

Nicolas Saro – Rollin’ with Mahomies – 53 catches, 613 yards, 16 TDs

Charles Verreault – Tip Top Shape – 30 catches, 492 yards, 11 TDs

Alex Joltopuf – Tents & Hammocks – 44 catches, 390 yards, 7 TDs

Danny Aylward – Tents & Hammocks – 35 catches, 374 yards, 11 TDs

This is definitely Nicolas Saro’s award to lose. I added both guys from Tents & Hammocks because they still have 4 games left to play and depending on who does more of the work for them, both still have a shot. Ultimately, though, when you’re dominating the league in all 3 major categories, somebody would have to come grab the trophy out of your hands and I don’t see that happening. Sorry Nic, don’t mean to add all of the extra attention. Or maybe I do.

Defensive Player of the Year

Angelo Garofalo – Voodoo – 14 tackles, 9 INTs, 8 PDs, 1 Def. TD

Patrick Jazon – Longhorns – 19 tackles, 6 INTs, 1 sack, 3 PDs, 2 Def. TDs

Adam Rosen – Longhorns – 21 tackles, 4 INTs, 3 PDs, 2 Def. TDs

This one is a little bit harder and I could probably include another 2-3 guys but ultimately I think it will come down to Garofalo or one of the Longhorns. I personally helped Garofalo last week and if he doesn’t win this, then I think he also has a shot at Two-Way. This award often goes to one of the interception leaders unless you’re breaking records in another stat column and I don’t see that happening.

Two-Way Player of the Year

Angelo Garofalo – Voodoo – 26 catches, 367 yards, 8 TDs, 14 tackles, 9 INTs, 8 PDs, 1 Def. TD

Rico Tulino – Big Fun Party Mix 8 – 39 catches, 336 yards, 9 TDs, 20 tackles, 5 INTs, 4 PDs

Anthony Lazzara – KeepItTogether – 31 catches, 326 yards, 10 TDs, 18 tackles, 2 INTs, 8 PDs

It’s really tough to pick for this one as there are so many categories to consider. Ultimately the winner of this one is a guy who continuously dominates on both sides of the ball and in my opinion, what better indicator than yards gained and turnovers? If I’m right, Garofalo is in the clear lead but he definitely has some competition, including a few who aren’t on the list. I had to face Garofalo last week who has good speed and hands and is a sneaky defender.

Quarterback of the Year

Jeremy White – EZW – 145/197, 1515 yards, 37 TDs, 5 INTs, 124.5 QBR

Jimmy-Lee Janvier – La Brume – 95/153, 1212 yards, 32 TDs, 5 INTs, 112.8 QBR

Ian Einheiber – Takeover – 138/208, 1227 yards yards, 34 TDs, 8 INTs, 105.5 QBR

I think this is Jeremy White’s award to lose very honestly. If somebody will take the award though, I think it will be Janvier. The stats above are with one less game so he has room to catch up. There are a few other names that you can throw in the mix like Iadeluca, Plante or Evan Frank, but ultimately I don’t think they have the combination of Touchdowns and QBR to compete.

Wide Receiver of the Year

Vincent Benjamin – Takeover – 49 catches, 422 yards, 10 TDs

Alexandre Bachaalani – Finessers – 35 catches, 466 yards, 11 TDs

Zach Zwirn – Bruins – 48 catches, 409 yards, 10 TDs

Gabriel Poisson – Sterdam – 36 catches, 403 yards, 9 TDs

This one is the tightest race we have, in my opinion. Not only do we have the 4 guys up top, but Noah Groper and Charles-Olivier Lavigne can be dark horses too. Groper actually has the edge in touchdowns right now too. While Benjamin seems to have the lead, the rest of the pack have a game in hand and this one will truly come down to the final three games. I wish we could see what Lavigne would have done with a full slate of games.

Defensive Player of the Year

William Power – Takeover – 14 tackles, 9 INTs, 8 PDs

Michael Khazaka – Fighting Flamingos – 20 tackles, 6 INTs, 1 sack, 6 PDs, 2 Def. TDs

Gabriel Wiseman – Bruins – 10 tackles, 4 INTs, 9 sacks, 4 PDs, 3 Def. TDs

Justin Frankel – The Process – 2 tackles, 20 sacks

This one is also tough because at the end of the day, what’s worth more to those deciding? If you lead the league in interceptions, does that automatically put you at the top of the list? What about somebody like Frankel who might break the single season sack record? Or his teammate Langburt who always dominates PDs and is all over the field? Guys like Dynell Pierre and Julien Nelson also can be thrown into the argument as well, but I think Pierre and Langburt are probably in the Two-Way conversation also.

Two-Way Player of the Year

Andrew Langburt – The Process – 88/140, 1074 yards, 31 TDs, 7 INTs, 105.2 QBR, 17 rushes, 207 yards, 3 TDs, 24 tackles, 5 INTs, 10 PDs

Gabriel Wiseman – Bruins – 125/197, 1069 yards, 26 TDs, 7 INTs, 102.3 QBR, 16 rushes, 133 yards, 2 TDs, 10 tackles, 4 INTs, 9 sacks, 4 PDs, 3 Def TDs

Dynell Pierre – Black Knights – 26 catches, 276 yards, 9 TDs, 24 tackles, 5 INTs, 3 PDs, 1 Def. TD

Nobody fills up the stat sheet quite like Andrew Langburt and Gabriel Wiseman and Dynell Pierre is doing just enough on both sides of the ball to get some attention as well. Pierre is top 5 in the league in tackles and tied for 6th in interceptions, all while being tied for 7th in offensives touchdowns. While his stats look good, there’s a lot more potential, especially on offense. I’m definitely missing a few people who should probably be on this list as well but if I was voting today, I think Langburt gets this one.