Division 6 – A Wild and Unpredictable Wild Card Round

Alright, wrap that bow on the regular season, as the 24 best teams in Division 6 made the cut. The Top 8 seeds automatically qualified for the Divisional round of the playoffs and were safe from elimination during the Wild Card round. And what a wild opening round of playoffs it was in FPF, with a little bit of everything. Sprinkle in some forfeits, sudden death overtime, gruesome injuries, Hail Mary playoff victories that sent one team to the next round and another in disbelief, and of course, the latest which affected Division 6, the freezing rain / ice storm that shut down the Baie D’Urfe dome before the games even happened and brutally interrupted the games at 9:48pm with the blackout at Hebert, preventing the 10pm Div 6 from even taking place.

If you weren’t there, the lights went out at 9:48pm at Hebert that left the dome in complete darkness. What felt like minutes after, the generator kicked in, and with flickering lights, the refs scrambled to get the time remaining in the game, the down, and the field position, all while teams discussing whether they will continue the game or end the game. The generator would fail and the lights went out again, and you could hear the walls of the dome slowly losing air. With everyone hurrying to leave the dome, in the end the games involving Douilles Molasses vs. Slippery Slopes, Pigeons vs. Demons, and Fiddlers vs. Why So Serious have all been postponed to Tuesday April 11th.

At Laval, the games did happen, but not without some (minor) controversy. First, the workers at Laval were apparently super strict and only opened the doors to the Dome at exactly 9:10 when our reservation started, and then second, they lost power too, but luckily, it was 5 minutes after all the games were finished playing. So No Fly Zone, Top G and Dime Squad were all able to win their wild card matchup.

A quick word on those games. No Fly Zone did the absolutely incredible smash and grab, beating Betway Bandits with just 5 guys on the field. Then, Top G down 12-0, came back with 18 straight points, plus stood their ground in the redzone on the final Bananas drive of the game to come out victorious. To wrap up the 3rd game that was played, another comeback was completed, as Dime Squad found themselves down 0-12 and 6-18 to Towers FT, but coming up clutch was Kaelen Trepanier and William Gillespie to take the lead in the 2nd-to-last-play of the game, leaving Davide Bartolucci one last Hail Mary attempt that was intercepted by Ryan Quesnel to ice the game.

Okay, let’s get back to the Wild Card round previews, as the primarily Jewish teams were accommodated for Passover and the rescheduled blackout games will take place Monday and Tuesday, respectively. So let’s get the breakdown on!

Division 6 – Wild Card Round Previews 🔮

TuneSquad (11) vs. The Royals (22)

Position	TuneSquad	The Royals
QB	✅
Receivers	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher		✅

Breakdown by Position

QB – Going into the season, comparing these 2 QB’s, I would have given the edge to Ryan McGrath, after remembering his dominance in the Division 6D Winter 2019 playoffs, en route to a Division Championship. That said, the receiving core was LOADED, with guys like Roshaunn Dorval-Trotman, Kevin Donnet, Andel Thomas-Gordon, Ty Smith and Brandon Parent, all who are now playing in Divisions 3-4 four years later. Now in Division 6, with not quite the same receiving crew, McGrath didn’t have the 6:1 TD-to-INT ratio he was averaging back then. Instead, he’s at a 1.6:1 ratio, far below his own standard and below Garner Ross‘ 5.5:1 ratio. Wow, what growth from Ross, especially in the INT department, to protect the ball, but also in the TD count, as he had a career-high 33 Touchdowns this season. While he would have liked a better performance against The Habibis, he showed he is will to throw balls where only his receivers can make a play on the ball and will live to play another down. There was a stretch in the season where he went 4 games without an INT, and averaging 4 TD’s a game. That kind of game may just be enough to win them this playoff game, but certainly, he’s got the edge over McGrath going into the game.

Receivers – I find the 2 receiver sets very different on both teams. The Royals have the stud #1 receiver who, if we are smart with selecting the award winners, Receiver of the Year should go to Xavier Hilditch of The Royals. After that though, sure there is Massimo Rosati and the reliable Eric Pawlusiak, but I always prefer the depth that teams can put out there and force a defense to go against 4-5 quality receivers, which is what TuneSquad can lineup. With the Arnovitz brothers, Adam Antel, Ben Regenstreif and Jesse Dym, TuneSquad are saying “go ahead, we will attack your 3rd, 4th and 5th best DBs. Advantage TuneSquad.

Defense – This one isn’t too hard. I’m going with the defense that surrendered 100 less points on defense and have a solid mix of quick, big and tall defenders who can make quarterbacks pay with interceptions. TuneSquad forced 11 more turnovers than The Royals (23 vs 12) and once again, I’m siding with TuneSquad.

Rusher – So the rusher with the better stats is Massimo Rosati, sacking QBs 15 times, which was tied for 1st in the division. This will be important, as Ross was using his legs more in the final games of the season, including rushing for a TD in each of his two Week 11 games. That said, the more important matchup will be Avi Korman containing Ryan McGrath and making sure he doesn’t break free for big runs. The thought process should be that they want McGrath to pass the ball, rather than extending drives with his legs.

TuneSquad X-Factor: Jesse Dym – Jesse wasn’t there in the final game against The Habibis, but he is usually Ross‘ safety blanket from the snapper position. If he can continuously move the chains and even contribute with an INT, that would be golden for TuneSquad.

The Royals X-Factor: Ryan Campbell – Campbell is that 3rd depth receiver on The Royals, where if all the attention is set to Hilditch and Rosati, Campbell could sneak by coverage. He caught 75% of the balls thrown his way, so look for him to convert some key 3rd and 4th downs. If he adds an INT to give McGrath an extra possession, this would be huge for The Royals to pull off the upset as the underdog.

Prediction: TuneSquad 26 – 19 The Royals

Mountain Dew Babies (12) vs. Practice Squad 6 (21)

Position	Mountain Dew Babies	Practice Squad 6
QB	✅
Receivers	✅	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅

Breakdown by Position

QB – The biggest difference between these 2 teams comes from the experience Mountain Dew Babies claimed last year after going 0-10 with the San Francisco 69ers. With that season under the belts, Simon Constantineau learned the importance of limiting the turnovers from interceptions. In doing so, he almost doubled his QBR from last season, from a 59.8 to 102.7. He completed 30 more balls for 300 more yards, 10 more TD’s and thew 7 less interceptions. He also added 3 more rushing TD’s as he was a dual threat QB like last year, running for just under 400 yards. On the other end, Joseph Shporer is where Simon was last year, having thrown the 4th most INTs in the Division with 17. The turnovers put his defense in trouble and will have to limit the turnovers to max 2. Edge goes to Constantineau and the MDB’s.

Receivers – Both receiving cores are very similar. Both have their clear #1 guys in Luke Moreau for PS6 and Nicolas Fortin for MDB, and a couple of 200+ yard receivers in Josh Notte and Dominic Weidner vs. the pairing of Jérome Coderre and Jérémy Sauvageau. It’s eerie in fact, how similar the lineups look stat-wise. The one area which MDB’s have the edge to give them slight advantage overall is that they converted nineteen XP1 attempts and three XP2, whereas the PS6 receivers have successfully converted just 8. This will be key if the game is close. Overall, I’ll give it a tie, but MDB’s are a hair ahead with the clutch hands in the tight redzone

Defense – Both defenses gave up roughly the same number of points, but MDB’s created 19 turnovers from interceptions vs. the 12 from PS6. Given that PS6 struggled way more offensively, scoring just 194 points to the Babies 324, it’s the clear the turnovers helped the Babies offense put up more points. Not just that, the DB’s are dangerous in their own right to score after having picked off opposing QBs. Of the 19 interceptions, they returned 6 to the house. That is some serious damage!

Rusher – While Paul Blanchette-Seguin had more sacks than Josh Notte on the season, Josh has the more important task of containing Simon Constantineau and making sure he doesn’t rip off runs for big gains, resulting in either first downs, or worse, Touchdowns.

Mountain Dew Babies X-Factor: Olivier Roy – As the 4th leading receiver in yards, Roy could end up having a big game offensively and if he can get 1 or 2 INTs, he would be clutch en route to a MDB victory.

Practice Squad 6 X-Factor: Arden Finkelstein – Similar to the pick above in Roy, Finkelstein had enough TD’s to be relevant in the redzone and could be the one with a late score to put his team ahead in a close game.

Prediction: Mountain Dew Babies 32 – 18 Practice Squad 6

Douilles Molasses (13) vs. Slippery Slopes (20)

Position	Douilles Molasses	Slippery Slopes
QB	✅
Receivers	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅	✅

Breakdown by Position

QB – Douilles Molasses win a lot of the matchup comparisons here, and that is most evident in the QB department. Felix Gerin-Lajoie simply has the better arm, more experience reading defenses, more experience in flag game management and more chemistry with his team than any of the 3 QBs that have suited up for Slipper Slopes. Statistically, the best of the bunch has been Tro Atolikian, but the eye test says Trevor Ruffner, although if you put him in, you lose him at receiver. In the end, it won’t matter too much as Gerin-Lajoie wins this matchup quite easily.

Receivers – I like the experience and skill set that both Jeremy Pelletier and Trevor Ruffner bring to the table for Slippery Slopes, but ultimately, the breadth and depth that Douilles Molasses can send out there is much strong and have the matchups to win jumpballs. Douilles had 6 receivers with at last 100 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Slippery Slopes could only manage 3 receivers to eclipse the century mark in yards and 3+ TDs. Give me the Douilles receivers.

Defense – Defensively is where Slippery Slopes matchup more equally to the Molasses DBs. The slopes are big but are quicker on their feet than they look. With a few errant throws from Gerin-Lajoie, the Slopes will need to take advantage and intercept those balls to give their slippery offense that was only able to produce an average of 19 points a game. That said, given the QBs the Slopes will throw out there, I’m convinced the Molasses DB’s come away with at least 2 INTs. This one is closer, but the edge goes to the DM defense.

Rusher – Neither rusher or mix of rushers really wins the matchup, but a big key towards a DM victory will be how well either Sevag Mikhlian (who is actually not playoff eligible, just realized this) or Arto Khatchikian rush Gerin-Lajoie, who likes to abandon his reads and simply beat a rusher around the corner with a couple of moves. If he can pickup first downs and touchdowns, the game is theirs. If the SS rusher(s) can contain and force him to throw, the game becomes closer.

Douilles Molasses X-Factor: Amélie Durocher – I’ve said it in past articles, but a lot of people underestimate Durocher, but she can absolutely tear defenses apart by sustaining drives with key first downs and is a redzone target that gets forgotten about. I can see a silent killer in the stats with a stat line like 4/26/2. In there are 2 TD’s and a couple of 3rd and 4th down conversions that are enough for Douilles to pull away on the scoreboard.

Slippery Slopes X-Factor: Ash Katch – Why not, I’ll go with Ash Katch(em). Whether it’s pokemon he is capturing or footballs for touchdowns, he will need to add to the 1 TD and/or the 1 INT he had on the season. Gotta Katch ’em all.

Prediction: Douilles Molasses 25 – 13 Slippery Slopes

Pigeons (9) vs. Demons (24)

Position	Pigeons	Demons
QB	✅
Receivers	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅

Breakdown by Position

QB – I guess there’s a reason why this is the 9 vs. 24 matchup, as Pigeons are wiping the board clean above. While under 1,000 yards and under 30 TD’s in my normal analysis of a QB suggests they didn’t have a great season, there are a couple of things that lead me to give Anthony Del Peschio a pass. First, it’s Division 6. Team offenses tend to struggle overall, especially in their first season in FPF. Second, he missed 2 games to improve those stats. Third, the defense had a ridiculous amount of Pick 6’s, giving 0 yards for the offense and vulturing 10 TDs away from Del Peschio. That said, comparing his stats to the 5, yes FIVE different quarterbacks that threw a pass for the Demons this year, Del Peschio looks like a god. No QB had more than 5 TD’s thrown and the highest passing yards was 303 from Neil Wright. The sum of all QB passing yards was 786 on the season. That is 78 yards of offense… the equivalent of driving the field twice in a game. No more to ponder on this, QB matchup goes to Pigeons.

Receivers – The receiver comparison is at least a little bit closer, but still, this easily goes the way of Pigeons. A lot of teams in Div 6 struggled to cover Luca Chiricosta as he is in consideration for some end-of-season hardware, and I don’t see anyone being able to contain Luca. The Demons can answer with Ibrahim Chibane who is tall, rangy and has decent hands, but the struggle is to get the ball in his hands. After Chibane, Zayden Kung’u is the next receiver up, while the Pigeons can counter with Alessandro Del Peschio and Mass Chiricosta. The Pigeons receivers can do some serious damage, more than what the Demons can do. Gimme some more Pigeons.

Defense – 29 interceptions, 10 Pick 6’s. ‘Nuff said. Pigeons.

Rusher – While neither QB is an absolute threat as a runner, it’s important to note the performance of Andrea Aquino on the season and his 13 sacks. That was 4th best in the Div and he will eat whoever lines up at QB for the Demons. David Vasii has been a good rusher in past seasons, and reached the double-digits in sacks with 10. He will be an important piece on D if he can force Anthony Del Peschio into 1 or 2 bad throws that the Demons D would need to take advantage of and create the turnover.

Pigeons X-Factor: Mass Chiricosta – While Luca got all the shiny recognition, Mass Chiricosta is the one who enters the game as a dark horse that will have the Demons confusing Massimo for Luca

Demons X-Factor: Quang Le – Quang had some PD’s on the season that could have led to more interceptions. He will, if the Demons want to pull the ultimate upset, need to turn those PDs into INTs. He made a serious diving interception for his only one on the season, but a play like that in the playoffs, and you create a Quanundrum for Pigeons (as close as a Dad joke as you’ll get).

Prediction: Pigeons 32– 12 Demons

Fiddlers (10) vs. Why So Serious? (23)

Position	Fiddlers	Why So Serious?
QB	✅
Receivers		✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅

Breakdown by Position

QB – I should be writing how Frank Teoli-Colatrella has more experience than Manny Bizogias at the Quarterback position and how that is an edge he has over Manny. But here we are, with Bizogias having thrown 8 more TDs and 3 less interceptions than Frank (granted Frank missed a game). Still, the 12 points higher in completion percentage and the 27.1 higher QBR points is massive when comparing a QB in his 13th FPF season vs. one in their rookie season. I didn’t even have to look further than the Points scored; Fiddlers averaged 27 points a game whereas Why So Serious averaged 16 a game. Advantage Fiddlers.

Receivers – While I like the duo of Andrew Perillo and Kevin Scalia, combining for 857 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns, I can’t ignore the games under the belts of Why So Serious, combined with their height, size and speed. I do prefer the trio of Robert Di Ielsi, Nikolai Streiter and Josh Currie, despite the latter’s 42% catch percentage. Having a 3rd option at receiver to get yards, a key first or a touchdown on 3rd or 4th down goes a long way. Slight edge to WSS.

Defense – While both teams have a very similar number of interceptions that come across 7-10 different players, it shows that there are many playmakers that can get the ball back to their offenses. The major difference though are the points allowed by both defenses. Fiddlers have allowed 184 points, which is awesome. That’s just 3 TD’s per game while Why So Serious have given up over 300 points, 327 to be exact. That’s 5 TD’s and a couple of converts… PER GAME. Yikes. Gimme the Fiddlers to come up with a big stop in crunch time.

Rusher – Nino Lombardi is rushing for the first time in FPF after a couple of season with the Melons/FKU franchise and came away with 14 sacks, which is some serious damage to opposing offenses. While Teoli-Colatrella isn’t a running threat, if Lombardi can force WSS into 3rd-and-15, 4th-and-12 situations, it’s more likely that WSS turn the ball over on downs, whether from an interception or on downs. Daniel Assayag, or the rusher-by-committee situation for WSS will need to be very careful not letting Manny Bizogias run on key 3rd and 4th down situations to pick up the first down, or let him bust downfield for a big run for a touchdown, as Bizogias has that ability to find the endzone, taking off from anywhere on the field. Advantage Fiddlers here.

Fiddlers X-Factor: Nino Lombardi – His presence is felt on both sides of the field. As a rusher, like I mentioned, digging the Why So Serious in deep holes will be critical to their success and on offense, he’s a reliable pass-catcher, grabbing 80% of the targets thrown his way. He might be lower on the receivers scoresheet but if he gives a 4/28/1 type of offensive performance, in addition to the defensive efforts, that’s a solid game from Lombardi

Why So Serious? X-Factor: Nikolai Streiter – His towering presence can be a problem for both opposing offenses and opposing defenses. If he can have 2 TD, 1 INT kind of performance, he may be able to help Why So Serious pull off the great upset.

Prediction: Fiddlers 25 – 18 Why So Serious

Epilogue 👋

Alright Div 6, that does it to preview the divisional round. If you want more content, there’s always more! Here’s our podcast, Calling The Audible from this past Friday with Peeze, myself and Eagle at Master Control (sort of):