Division E, a breaking ground of limitless potential

For starters, Division E, as any other, had its fair share of upsets and stunning moments in the surprise bag. To mention that some players have gone on to shine in their performance is a lack luster understatement as the division continues to show its mosaic of potential and hence, stands as a true land of opportunity for its harvested crop of FPF superstars.

 

Starting with the Lionhearts vs Mountain Goats faceoff, here was a good observatory point to nitpick for noteworthy talent on the rise. Quarterback Giovanni Siino from the Mountain Goats has really sharpened his offensive squad by making some impressive plays on the ground as his running game has been turning heads as of late. On the opposing end, game after game, quarterback Emilio Greco has demonstrated himself to be a true leader on the Lionhearts offense by proving his capabilities on his feet as well as through the air. His captain status will bring the red the red felines pretty far if the teams continues to play as a cohesive unit.

However, let’s not give all the praise and applause to the quarterbacks as key receivers and outstanding defensive players are worthy of mention here.

In spite of the conspicuous absence of star receiver Chris Rose, Greco was fully capable of turning his handful of receivers into legitimate threats for the Goats’ secondary. Starting with MF Jones, this imposing target has showcased his athleticism on several occasions cumulating YACs after YACs (yards after catch for those who are wondering….) chewing up he field for significant yardage catching for almost 40 yards on his own. Greco obviously has a premium target here in Jones but that goes without forgetting A. Palumbo who’s been making plays on offense and defense at critical moments throughout the game. Another key Lionheart to be mentioned is G. Di Pietro who punched in 12 points of the board for the Hearts for carry his team to victory.

 

Meanwhile, interesting side story:

As smoothly as the game was going, interesting events were concurrently unfolding on the Goats’ sideline. Following this series of events, a Mountain Goats player by the name C-Man was convicted of a wardrobe related infraction which forced FPF officials to intervene and relocate said C-Man to the outer perimeter of the FPF sanctuary (in other words, the synthetic grass-covered football field) for the felony perpetrated until corrective measures were taken and approved by the aforementioned league representatives. C-Man was later permitted conditional bail from the sideline, as long as no pockets were to be found on his lower-body apparel in order for him to play. Unfortunately , he would be escorted again to the penitentiary sideline for verbally mistreating an opposing player and thus get stamped with a OC (Objectionable Conduct) notation on his record. After serving a 5-play sentence on the exterior of the field and agonizing to reenter the game, he was allowed to finish off the rest of the match with his fellow teammates by showing proper behavior.

 

 

Changing gears, the Goats have been a fighting team full of surprises lately with QB Giovanni Siino displaying jaw-dropping running ability showing this aspect of his game to be his forte by a long shot. Moreover, this part of the article would be incomplete if one weren’t to mention superstar player William Roche who’s made resounding plays on Sunday (just like over the past few weeks) including touchdown catches, interceptions and averaging over a half dozen tackles per game. Couple Roche’s versatility with the support of Luca and Reino Reino in catches and tackles and you get a well-balanced trifecta of flag-football performance.

 

Moving on to the Clinkers vs The Practice Squad, it’s easily noticeable that quarterback Marc-Andre Desaulniers is without a doubt the vocal leader of this Clinker squad. Added to that, his arm is to be highly esteemed given the number of completed passes that he authored throughout Sunday evening’s ball game at Papineau’s Montreal Soccer Stadium. From Mark Bellini to Phillipe Aussant to Alexi Dubois to Jeremie Ledoux (among several other talented receivers), the later few proved to be successful offensive weapons in the Clinkers arsenal. However, despite those memorable performances in this match, one playermaker remarkably stands out on the Clinkers team and this gentleman is none other than Jeremie Ledoux. This star player was absolutely phenomenal on both sides of the field recording an interception, 7 tackles and scoring a mindblowing 6 touchdown receptions. Ledoux has reached MVP status by blowing his performance out of the water to disproportionate levels last Sunday.

On another end, the Clinkers experienced quite the family reunion within their ranks the brother-and-sister tandem of Erica and Alexis Dubois. On defense, Erica Dubois was incredible as she cumulated close to half a dozen tackles, proving that girls belong in the flag-football trenches just as equally as the boys do. From one Dubois to another, its essential for this part of the article to highlight Alexis Dubois’ stellar performance in this match with a touchdown reception and several defensive plays including multiple tackles, one or more pass deflections and an interception. Yes, Alexis Dubois deserves the silver medal in this game for how well he played. On team black though, players like Tyler Grondin, Ty Smith, Kevin Donnet, Stefano Spagnuolo, Andel Thomas-Gordon and Emre Sagir all deserve some acknowledgement. After watching Stefano Spagnuolo play several games, it’s easy to state that he’s a threatening defensive player as he cleans up lots of plays with important tackles reducing plays to 3-4 yard gains or less. Tyler Grondin, added to being the offensive maetro at the quarterback position for The Practice Squad, has picked up quite some tackles on defense throughout the game. However, we can notice that at QB, he still fully rotate his receiving targets shuffling from Andel Thomas-Gordon to Kevin Donnet (who caught multiple passes on several occasions) to Ty Smith who caught an impressive 26-yard touchdown pass to help his team stay in the game. A little note about Kevin Donnet: not only is he an excellent receiver making his mark in this division but he comes off as a role model type of player by his positive demeanor and this is a desirable trait off-the-field trait to have as an FPF player.

Special mentions also goes to Mark Bellini for his interception and several key catches and tackles as this goes without saying how much of a leader he continuously proves to be in different capacities but that on its own will be a tale to tell in another FPF story.

Next, the Raw Sauce vs Threat Level Midnight (TLM) matchup was pretty one-sided as the latter team presented a far more competitive front throughout the ball game. Let’s start with QB Jonathan Lemieux who showd time and time again that he’s the man in charge on the gridiron by completing key throws to Simon Richard and Antoine Baril for touchdown points on the board early in the match. Even on defense, he intercepted a pass in order to return it for a trailblazing touchdown score. Nevertheless, let’s not take anything away from Riley Pincombe’s outstanding performance with an amazing 4 touchdown receptions in the game.

In particular, Simon Richard acted as the on-the-field leader as he insured constant communication with his mates from start to finish, coupled with several shut-down tackles and catches averaging around 5 yards per completion.

On defense however, Antoine Baril had an ostentatious presence that evening with an off-the-charts total of 6 sacks on QB Alexandre Lauriault. The positive feedback loop (refer to psychology 101 textbook) truly works for this quarterback-hunting predator.

A few special mentions go out to Robert Baretto for his tackle behind the line of scrimmage and Alexandre Guertin for his touchdown catch late in the game.

Despite the hard day at work for Raw Sauce, QB Alexandre Lauriault managed to complete some significant passes to receivers Simon Coderre, Nathaniel Soulard-Lesage and Tomas Plante.

Also, rusher Eric Labonte recorded a sack on QB Lemieux early on, providing needed momentum at that moment which could have altered the direction of the game for the Sauce team. Steadily, Guillaume Bourbeau and Tomas Plante picked up yardage bit by bit through the air (3 yards here, 5 yards there) and Francois Prud’homme recorded notable tackles on defense but despite the valiant efforts, on that night, TLM were the far superior team as Simon Richard’s interception in the second half provided the proverbial final nail in the coffin to seal the deal for a final score of 42-0.

On the same page regarding blowouts, the Tough Lungs vs Mambo match showed just that as the former team proved without a shadow of a doubt why they are the team to beat in Division E. To start things off, Matt Lerner’s throwing ability is unparalleled as every pass was launched with a perfect spiral with bulls-eye accuracy. Whether thrown to Jo-Berny Escarme (accountable for one TD), Justin Bizzaro-Gray, Olivier Doleyres or Justin Lerner, each of those receptions is a beauty to watch. The yardage those receivers pick up is just a plus resulting from an exemplary work ethic by them and their star QB. In terms of dual threat, it would be a shame not to include Greg Kritselas in the conversation as he’s proven himself capable of scoring touchdowns on key catches and making tackles all over the field. Similarly, Justin Bizzarro-Gray (with a remarkable pair of touchdowns) is another player that stands out in those two categories and to finish, Oli Doleyres proved to be a defensive threat just as much of an offensive one by registering almost a half dozen sacks.

For Mambo, despite losing 46-0, Joseph Kano, Tim Horner and Nikki Papich took turns deflecting the ball and recorded key stops to slow down the Tough Lungs onslaught. However, Papich had a hard time at quarterback recording three passes to Kyle Pedvis for 21 yards) .

Another hard fought battle was the Honor Game vs Nemesis game where the Daoust brothers formed a redoubtable duo with David at quarterback and Devon at receiver. In fact, David completed 2 touchdown passes to his brother Devon for just under 40 yards early in the first half. David Daoust authored other touchdown passes to Jocelyn Calixte (2 catches for this receiver to be congratulated for) and one to Angelo Mourelatos. The Honor Game wasn’t done there as Daoust intercepted two of QB Janda’s passes to return both for touchdown scores to further put his team in the lead.

However, for Nemesis, some players deserve praise for their highlight-reel performances like Jocelyn Calixte for his two touchdowns and three interceptions, Romualdino Cabelguen for his three sacks on defense and Mandy Cardichon and Maxime Pichet for their touchdowns, receptions and tackles althroughout the game.

For the final chapter of this week’s news, the Chocolate Barracudas vs X-Terminators ended with a score of 37-27 for X-Terminators. On the Chocolate side, Chris Williams had a stellar performance on offense and defense as he made six spectacular catches including one touchdown at opportune moments to help his team present a competitive front. Otherwise, Lusson Pierre was an incredible athlete on both sides of the ball intercepting the ball once and scoring a much needed touchdown. At QB, Sonny Elias demonstrated some good passing skills but his ground pounding running ability raised a few eyebrows. However, he biggest surprise came when Jason Noel hopped in at QB to throw the ball to Sonny Elias for a momentum shifting touchdown ! Finally, let’s not forget to give distinctive mentions to Matthew Fernandes for his six catches for 30 yards and Keenan Alleyne for his touchdown, his sack and his pass deflection to complement the Barracudas striking capability.

For the winning team, Mike Knopp highlighted that he was the MVP for their team as he recorded 7 tackles on defense like the astute tackler that he is, picked three interceptions from the air and played quarterback to lead his team to victory with eight completions for 108 yards. Another remarkable dual threat on the X team was Adam Guillemette with a noteworthy list composed of two TD’s, six tackles and a pass deflection. Lastly, Gordon Hogan was incredible with four tackles and two interceptions on defense coupled with one touchdown catch.

Overall, Division E provided excellent flag-football showdowns and memorable sports moments this week. With one more week left to go, there will definitely be some late coming plays that are cooking up throughout the division and we’re all boiling up with excitement as we wait and see what will unfold.

 

Chris Dagher’s Top Eight Power Ranking for Division E

1. Tough Lungs
2. Clinkers
3. X-Terminators
4. Honor Game
5. Lionhearts
6. Mountain Goats
7. Mambo
8. Raw Sauce