Division B: Quarter-Final Playoff Preview

The regular season is now behind us, and the FlagPlus Football playoffs are finally here. Welcome to the Division B Quarter-Final Round.

Congrats to all the teams that have made it to this point. To The Hateful Eight, I hope you guys use this season as a learning experience of what the competition in FPF is all about, and you guys take a more serious approach when it comes to showing up to games. This league is a lot of fun, I hope you get to enjoy it more the next time around.

Matchups

(1)Kiss My Inlaws versus (8) Beer Belly Brigade

Previous Meetings: Kiss My Inlaws (44-19) Week 3 and (40-0) Week 10

Just judging off the scores alone, you can see that both previous meetings were blowouts. The key to victory for Kiss My Inlaws in the first meeting was their ability to force an interception and turnover on downs in the second half, and turning a six-point half time lead, into a (28-6) rout after halftime.

Kiss My Inlaws picked up where they left off defensively in the second meeting, as they took advantage of a Beer Belly Brigade team, who were without their starting Quarterback in Alexandre Fafard, and held his replacement in David Enault, to 6 of 18 passing for six interceptions. Ouch.

On paper this matchup looks one-sided as it features the top offense and defense against the worst offense and defense. In their lone loss this year, Kiss My Inlaws fell (54-48) to OneStop.

As the lowest scoring playoff team in Division B with 220 points, Beer Belly Brigade has shown that engaging in a shootout is not in their repertoire. To win the game, they will need to do two things. First, they will need to have long scoring drives that keep the Kiss My Inlaws offense on the bench.

The second thing they must do, is disrupt the Kiss My Inlaws offense, most notably Quarterback Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo. This season, the veteran Quarterback has gone a combined 38 of 52 for 457 yards with 12 touchdowns and just one interception against the Beer Belly Brigade. When he is in rhythm, Iggy is nearly impossible to beat. On the rare occasion where his timing is off, he is a much different passer.  The Beer Belly Brigade will have to shake things up and change coverages post-snap against the All-Star QB.

To complete the three-game sweep, Kiss My Inlaws, will need to dictate the pace once again. Air the ball out offensively, play aggressive and suffocating defense, and simply overwhelm the Beer Belly Brigade by coming at them in waves and showing them who the better team is.

Prediction: Kiss My Inlaws (40-21)

(2) The Infantry versus (7) Silent Ticklers

Previous Meeting: The Infantry (38-34) Week 1

In the first meeting, The Infantry were able to squeak out a 4-point victory even though the Silent Ticklers were playing without their starting Quarterback in Jordan Panetta. Filling in at QB was Snapper Andrew Blevings. The former Chateauguay Raider had a shaky first half as he completed only four passes. He was also sacked twice including once for a safety and tossed two interceptions. Two of his completions however went for touchdowns.

In the second half, Blevings was sacked for another safety and only completed three passes, but they all went for touchdowns. I am not making I up, I promise.

To complete the sweep, The Infantry will have to play better deep ball defense, as they gave up four touchdown passes of 30 or more yards, including two that went for 40 yards. This will be imperative especially with the return of QB Jordan Panetta, who is not afraid to air the ball out.

On offense, The Infantry will need to take deep shots. In the previous meeting they were led by Zack Stacey at QB. The veteran passer averaged less than seven yards per play and completed only six passes that traveled more 12 yards.

Will Power will presumably be back at Quarterback for The Infantry. He has shown this season that he is not scared of throwing deep early and often. He will need to do so in this one. He will also need to help his offense clean up the mistakes they made last time, as they had three turnovers on downs.

To get the win, the Silent Ticklers will need to avoid turnovers as well, as they gave up the aforementioned two safeties, and turned the ball over on fourth down three times.

The Silent Ticklers will also need to make sure that Jordan Panetta uses his speed and agility to avoid the rush. Going up against premier Rusher Julian McLaren-Thompson, The Infantry picked up three sacks. Tomorrow they will be dealing with another elite QB chaser in Ethan Adrian, who led the division with 14 sacks.

On defense, the Silent Ticklers will need to take away the intermediate part of the field and force their opponents to become one-dimensional on offense.

Both teams didn’t have their starting Quarterbacks last time out. The fact that the Silent Ticklers lost by four points when they only had eight completions, and were also without Jack Antaki and Daniel Mancini, is something I can’t ignore.

Prediction: Silent Ticklers (36-34)

(3) OneStop versus (6) Heavenly Sons

Previous Meetings: OneStop (42-36) Week 6

In the first showdown, the Heavenly Sons jumped out to a (20-8) halftime lead before hanging on for the six-point win as they received a clutch 11-yard touchdown reception from Charles Cossette with three plays remaining in the contest.

A few things stood out from that game. Firstly, OneStop got the win without their starting Quarterback in Michael Caparelli. Replacing him was George Koutsoukos, who had a solid performance going 9 of 16 for 169 yards with four touchdown passes and one interception.

The Heavenly Sons were missing a key piece too, as arguably the best Receiver in FPF outside of Pat Jérome, in James Drysdale, also missed the contest.

The Heavenly Sons come into the game on a two-game winning streak. One victory was via forfeit over the Beer Belly Brigade, and the other was a (41-34) victory over the Silent Ticklers. Both wins came at the right time as they snapped a four-game losing streak.

To get the win, Heavenly Sons Quarterback Ben McMahon will need to do what he does best, and that is mixing in the short and deep passing game along with the run, and making defenses pay when they cheat to either side.  

On defense the team must buy time for Rusher Kevin Donnet to pressure opposing QB Michael Caparelli, and force him into low percentage throws, and get him off his timing.

OneStop is coming off a (46-32) loss to The Infantry last Sunday. Prior to that however, they had won five in a row. That one stumble aside, this team is playing their best football of the season.

For OneStop to get the win they will need to exhibit the same offense that they have been displaying over the second half of the season, as they have scored at least 40 points a game in all but two contests. Yes, I am counting the forfeit win over the Hateful Eight, but let’s be real, they weren’t keeping this team under that point total even if they did show up.

Defensively, OneStop must give time for Rusher and rising star Luca Leccese, to get after McMahon, and force him into rushed throws. The battle between those two alone will be worth watching.

Another matchup that bears witnessing will be the battle of current and former McGill Redbirds in both Ryan McNally and Jahnai Lewis who qualify for the former, and Owen Bujarsky, who is the latter. It will be interesting to see how big of an impact all three players make, as the trio can take over a game in an instant.

I had a chance to talk to Caparelli in Brossard last night after he led his Div. E to a playoff victory. I asked him about tomorrow’s game, and why he think his team would win. He listed health as the biggest factor.

“We are finally getting healthy, and at the right time. We are getting Charles Cossette (another former Redbird) back from injury, and that is big for us.”  

Getting Cossette back will be huge, as he will have to help try and limit the damage done by Drysdale. No disrespect to Cossette but having Drysdale in the lineup is the biggest difference maker you will find. He is the true definition of game-changer on both sides of the ball. I am going with the upset here as well.

Prediction: Heavenly Sons (38-32)

(4) Bruins versus (5) EZW

Previous Meeting: Bruins (39-31) Week 8

The first showdown was a game of two halves. The first half looked like a blowout as the Bruins strolled to a (26-7) lead. The halftime break seemed to do EZW a world of good, as they outscored the Bruins (24-13).

To win the game, EZW must get off to a better start. For as valiant as their near comeback was, if they hadn’t climbed into such an early hole, their chances of winning would’ve been much higher.  A key to doing that will be making sure their offense shows up, as they have only scored more than 35 points just four times this year. In the regular season, EZW was the second-lowest scoring team in Division B, as only the Beer Belly Brigade recorded fewer touchdowns.

EZW must also avoid the turnovers they committed in the first meeting, as Quarterback Nicolas Blais was picked off twice, with both being returned for touchdowns, first by Nicholas Fo, and then Marvin Steinberg. Adding to their troubles, was the fact that the team went only 1 for 3 on fourth down. Giving your opponent four extra possessions is not a recipe for success.

For the Bruins to win the game, they must play an entire game. Taking your foot off the gas is one thing, but the Bruins appeared asleep at the wheel, as the EZW comeback was cut short due to their inability to convert on an onside pass attempt on the game’s final play.

The Bruins must also bring the same defensive intensity to Brossard that they brought back in Week 8. Even though they forced several turnovers in their first meeting, the team has given up the third most points out of all playoff teams.  

One matchup I am looking forward to watching will be Marvin Steinberg against Nathan Desjardins. Both players are underrated deep threats, as well as redzone monsters. They each have length, speed, agility, and leaping ability to make circus-like catches. This showdown will be must-see action.

I think EZW will get off to a better start this time around, but it won’t be enough as the Bruins will make a play when they need it most and get the win.

Prediction: Bruins (40-36)  

Picks

Kiss My Inlaws vs Beer Belly Brigade – Kiss My Inlaws

The Infantry vs Silent Ticklers – Silent Ticklers (Upset Special #1)

OneStop vs Heavenly Sons – Heavenly Sons (Upset Special #2 and my pick for Game of the Week)

Bruins vs EZW – Bruins

Last Week: (3-0)

For those of you that don’t know, I co-host a podcast called The 514 Show. On next Monday’s show I will be releasing an interview I am conducting with former FPF Founder and President Rob Campana. We will touch on why he sold the league to Jeff Rosenblatt, the current popularity of flag football, and what his plans are for the future.

If you haven’t listened to it yet, I conducted an interview with Jeff about purchasing FPF that I posted a few weeks ago. You can hear both that interview now, as well as Rob’s (next Monday) if you type in The 514 Show on Spotify or Amazon Music.

The big man Zack will be back later this week, so he will jump back in the saddle for the Division B article next weekend. I hope you enjoyed the last two weeks. Thanks for taking the time to read my work.

Good luck to everyone and their teams tomorrow night. Playoff time is finally here. This is what we sign up for!

If you liked the article, hated it, or simply felt like I left something out, please feel free to contact me at [email protected], or on the FPF Facebook page.