Divisional Round Recap; Quarterfinal Preview

After last week’s bye week, we are back to business once again here in Division 6. The last time we were here, the Divisional Round of the playoffs were about to kick off, as 16 teams were set to slug it out to determine who would advance to the Quarter-Finals.

After the first round dust had settled, 8 teams were knocked out, while 8 other squads were left standing for the right to compete this Sunday night at the Stinger Dome. The winners of this week’s slate of games will advance to the Semi-Finals this Wednesday at Stade Hebert, before and the last two teams left standing square off for D6 Championship next Saturday at 2:30 in Brossard.

Before we get to the Finals, however, let’s examine how we got to this point. To make things easier, I will go by Conference.

 

Tip Top Shape versus Goon Squad

This game was a tale of two halves as Tip Top Shape who backed into the playoffs having lost their last two regular season games, continued to sputter on offense as they suffered through and on-going shaky play by their Quarterback David De Andrade. In their last 3 games including the contest vs the Goon Squad where they only put up 6 points at the break, T.T.S had scored a measly 25 points combined in the first half.

To illustrate just how bad the offense was playing, the aforementioned 40-yard TD pass to Wide Receiver Salem El-Jam that got the team on the board just before half, was De Andrade’s first completion of the game. It took him until 8 minutes left in the game to complete his second pass. That pass seemed to ignite their attack, as the De Andrade completed 4 passes in a row, with two of them going for TDs to Marc Belhomme and Ricard Martelly, before getting a garbage time score to seal the game.

For the Goon Squad, they struggled to move the ball all evening. Outside of a Matthew Gagliardi TD reception, and a couple of plays from their number 1 WR Simone Marzella, they just couldn’t find that spark offensively.

Final score 26-6 Tip Top Shape.

 

Diablos versus Smokin’ Axolotls

This game started off with fireworks as Diablos’ Defensive Back Alexandre Levesque jumped in front of a Jordan Rossie pass and came away with a momentum-turning interception on the Smokin’ Axolotls’ first drive of the game. The Diablos made their opponents pay for the turnover, as their QB Francois Martin hit WR Georges Élie-Voyer for a quick score to put their team ahead 7-0.

As has been the case many times this season, the game quickly turned into the Élie-Voyer show, as the FPF veteran made a number of big catches to extend his team’s lead. His effort was aided by the performance of the aforementioned Levesque, who for the second week in a row, had another solid game offensively, as he led all players with 4 receptions for 68 yards.

The Smokin’ Axolotls, who came into the game scoring exactly 2 touchdowns a game in their last 2 contests, matched that total, as they were only able to muster 14 points, despite solid performances by Wide Receivers Jason Kokolakis, Chris Brockwell, and Craig Beemer who combined for 7 catches for 98 yards, and 2 TDs.

Final score 26-14 Diablos.

 

Team Laval versus Sabrfc

As a writer for this fine football league, from time to time, it is my job to gloss over rotten performances.  Occasionally however, it’s hard to do just that, as teams – to put it nicely – just don’t bring their A-game to the party. One of those instances, was the matchup between these two squads, as despite putting up more than respectable numbers throughout the year on offense, Sabrfc looked lost in this one.

The series of bad events for Sabrfc started early, when QB Max Marini was intercepted by the INT king himself Maxime Turpin-Lalonde. The Spring Season pick-master would make his presence felt on the other side of the ball for his team, when he would score his first TD since Week 8 of the regular season, on a 37-yard catch and run that saw him break at least 3 would-be Sabrfc tackles, and gave his team a 6-0 lead.

Team Laval would add on to their lead courtesy of a 30-yard touchdown catch by Vincent Bradley over the out-stretched arms of Max Marini who had good coverage on the play.

The score would give Team Laval a 12-0 lead at the half.

The second half started with a beautiful pick by Turpin-Lalonde, who tipped an underthrown Marini pass to himself for the INT. Tam Laval would make their opponents pay for their second mistake a few plays later, when Vincent Bradley ran for a TD that gave his team an 18-0 lead.

The only benefit that came to Sabrfc out of the sequence, was on the convert for the Bradley TD, Mickey Marini picked off the pass, and was about to run it back for the 1-point, but he was held by one of the Team Laval players. The result was of the penalty was 1 point being awarded to Sabrfc…Unfortunately for them, it was the only point they would score the entire game.

Final score 25-1 Team Laval.

 

TDs and Beer versus Spartans

In the first half of this affair, both offenses came out to play as each team traded chances and scores early and often. It was clear from the pregame warmups, and sideline chatter, that this  

The big names coming into the game for TDs and Beer was Evans, the Keiller brothers, and Mascarenhas, while the Spartans had Hernandez, Grant, Martel, and Bessette. Not only did the big names deliver, but both teams got contributions from virtually every guy on their roster.

This came down to Quarterback play. Evans, the FPF veteran had a superb game, as he was able to take advantage of matchups, and pick apart the Spartans’ defense for 6 TDs. He even had a strong game with his feet, as he used his underrated scrambling ability to pick up a game-high 63 yards on the ground

For the Spartans, the season-long accuracy struggles of James D’Andrea continued. His inability to find and in some occasion hit open receivers really hurt his team, as he was picked off 3 times, and was only able to complete 7 of his 14 passes. To D’Andrea’s credit however, he placed the lost solely on himself, and vowed to be better next season. I believe that he will.

Final score 39-24 TDs and Beer.

 

PB n’ Jelly versus Fourth and Twenty

Early on in this one, it looked like we were headed for an upset special, as the number 1 seed PB n’ Jelly got off to a shaky start, and suffered a turnover on downs, and Fourth and Twenty made them pay courtesy of a TD by Jason Draicchio that was set up by a huge catch in double coverage by Wide Receiver Eric Ciaccia.

That TD seemed to wake up PB n’ Jelly, as their offense went on a roll from there. In this was NBA JAM (classic video game for all you young readers out there) Quarterback Joseph Kano would have been on fire, as he completed pass after pass over consecutive series, and didn’t slow down until he threw one bad ball off of his back foot. The first-year passer would go on to post an unbelievable stat-line of 12 for 13 for 156 yards for 5 TDs.

On the receiving end of a lot of those Kano passes was the team’s leading receivers Alex Mashaal and Dylan Catellier. Both guys shredded the Fourth and Twenty defense, as they combined for 8 catches 87 yards and 3 TDs.

Defensively for PB n’ Jelly, Catellier had a huge pick-6 that essentially put the nail in the coffin. Also stepping up was rusher Jean-Louis Chen who had an impressive 4 sacks while filling in for the team’s regular rusher Michael Smith. This isn’t the first time Chen had to fill in for Smith. He also did it in Week 9 against Tip Top Shape, and the move paid off as the rookie picked up 3 sacks. The interesting question now of course is, will Conference B’s number seed roll with Smith or Chen at the all-important rusher position?

Final score 41-13 PB n’ Jelly

 

Gamecocks versus CMS Laval

You pretty much you’re in trouble when your starting Quarterback gets hurt in the first five minutes of your game. That was the case for CMS Laval as they lost Laurent Denis to a lower body injury. He also missed a few plays before for penalized for wearing shorts that had pockets on them.

Filling in for him was backup QB Charles Hébert. Luckily for his team, Hébert has experience as a passer, having started 4 regular season games at the position. Unfortunately for CMS Laval, the Gamecocks’ offense was too lethal, and put up too many points for their opponents to keep up.

The Gamecocks should everybody what depth and playoff football is all about. With their leading Wideout Kyle Tanzer having a surprisingly quiet night (2 catches for 18 yards) little used receiver Matt Stotland stepped up big time for his team. Coming into the game, the rookie WR had 8 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. After the action was all said and done, Stotland had a game and a career high 3 receptions for 80 yards and 2 TDs. Also stepping up for the Gamecocks was Zach Aaron who had 3 catches for 44 yards and a TD. Coming into the contest, he had only produced a modest 11 grabs for 86 yards and 2 trips to the end zone. Talk about bringing your game to another level. Let’s see if both players can keep it up this week.

Final score 34-6 Gamecocks.

 

Nighthawks versus Bricksquad

Coming into this game, I said that for the Nighthawks to win, they would need not only their best player Vincent Alessandrini to put up huge numbers, but they would also need big games from their other playmakers to. Alessandrini did his part, as he delivered on both sides of the ball, with 7 catches for 48 yards and a TD, to go along with 2 INTs, 4 tackles, and 1 pass defended.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the team with the exception of WR Anthony Mancini, no one else really brought their A game to the table.

Bricksquad on the other-hand got major contributions from several players, but none bigger than rookie two-way player Peter Scuccimarri, who had a monster game with 3 catches for 87 yards, 2 TDS on offense, and 2 INTs and 5 tackles on defense.

Also chipping in with a solid performance were another set of first-year players in Wide Receiver Michael Lisella and WR/DB Troy Savain. Lisella was second on the team with 5 receptions for 27 yards and two scores, while Savain had 4 tackles, 1 interception, and 2 batted balls.

Newly installed Bricksquad Quarterback Jarred Stewart who had an impressive outing in the regular season finale against PB n’ Jelly, continued to show improvement at the position as he threw for 149 yards, 5 TDs, and added a rushing TD as well.

Final score 36-14 Bricksquad

 

N.W.O versus Jean Guy

This was a matchup of two veteran teams. It was also a showdown of two teams that have struggled to score for most of the season. As you can expect, it took a big defensive play at the end of the game to settle it.

The N.W.O took a page out of the Jean Guy playbook and came up with a big defensive play for the win as rusher Nick Recine picked up his 3rd sack of the night on the game’s final play to seal the victory.

Final score: 17-13 N.W.O

 

Quaterfinal Picks

TDs and Beer (4) versus (1) Tip Top Shape

Previous Meeting: Tip Top Shape 24-20 (Week 8)

The regular season meeting between these two teams holds a lot of importance for several reasons. Firstly, Tip Top Shape was able to keep their undefeated streak alive even though they were severely outplayed in the first half, as they saw themselves down 20-6. They were able to fight back, put some points on the board, and get stops on defense to cap off the comeback victory.

Secondly, the game marked the beginning of the end for the aforementioned winning streak, as T.T.D would go on to lose their next two games to close out the campaign.

For TDs and Beer, the game had the opposite effect, as it they were able to build off of their solid performance, and have now won 3 games in a row.

Presently, outside of PB N’ Jelly’s Joseph Kano, and the Gamecocks’ Daniel Richman there arguably is no other Quarterback playing as good as TDs and Beer’s Brad Evans. Going all the way back to Week 7, Evans has thrown for 20 TDs and only 3 INTs. Over those 5 games, his QB Rating is a mind-blowing 101.68.

The only mind-blowing thing about David De Andrade’s game right now is the amount of plays he and his offense leave on the field, and the high number of mistakes they make. If Tip Top Shape wants to come out of this game with the victory, they will A) need their QB to not wait until the end of the first half to complete his first pass, and B) they will need take care of the ball. Since Week 7, he has thrown 9 interceptions. If he does not, T.T.S will be in for a long night against a ball-hawking defense led by Scott Booth, the aforementioned Keiller brothers, and Mascarenhas who had two picks last week vs the Spartans.

Tip Top Shape were extremely lucky to beat TDs and Beer in the regular season, and equally so last week against the Goon Squad. Their luck runs out Sunday night.

Prediction: 26-14 TDs and Beer. (*Upset Special)

 

Diablos (3) versus (2) Team Laval

Previous Meeting: 31-30 Team Laval (Week 4)

The first matchup between these two teams was a real barn burner that came down to a huge play at the 1-yard line via a Martin Beaudry bat down of a Francois Martin pass intended for Jean Sebastien Rochon who ran a quick out route in front. Before the Rochon could catch the ball, Beaudry jumped the route knocked the ball and that was it. This was without a shadow of a doubt, one of the top games of the year in D6. Here’s hoping the rematch will live up to it.

For Team Laval to pull off the sweep, they will to step it up even more on defense. Despite the defensive heroics, the Diablos’ Georges Élie-Voyer ran through the T.L defense like they were Swiss cheese. He had a monster game with 6 catches for 103 yards a 2 touchdowns. While it’s virtually impossible to shut down the player I picked for Wide Receiver of the Year in my 2nd annual Division 6 Awards Article last week, Team Laval will have to figure out a way to slow him down at least partially. Helping out in a big way in that department will be the aforementioned Maxime Turpin-Lalonde. He didn’t play in their first meeting. You can be sure that he will be matched up one-on-one with Élie-Voyer. This will a must-watch matchup.

On offense, they will need to do what they did last time, in spreading the ball around. In Week 4, 7 different receivers caught passes. Team Laval has a lot of different options at WR including the aforementioned Martin Beaudry, as well as Vincent Bradley and Olivier Gauthier who both caught 2 TDs in the first meeting. The Diablos defense is aggressive, tiring them out by rotating in fresh guys is a good idea.

To do that, Team Laval will need to see the Olivier Bourgeois who played QB in the first meeting, and not the one who struggled mightily and only completed 8 of 23 passes against Sabrfc.

For the Diablos, besides getting a big game from the aforementioned Georges Élie-Voyer, they will also need some help from some other guys. As I mentioned earlier, Alexandre Levesque really stepped up against the Smokin’ Axolotls in the first round. The team will another performance like that out of him, as well as Vincent Lajoie and Michael Deguire.

Prediction: 32-30 Diablos

 

Gamecocks (2) versus (3) Bricksquad

Previous Meeting: 19-13 Gamecocks Week 3

This is yet another matchup of the 2 and 3 seed. In the first showdown, the Gamecocks jumped out to a 13-0 lead at the half courtesy of 2 TD passes from Daniel Richman.

Bricksquad really struggled on offense in this one. In particular, QB Jarred Stewart had a rough night, as he went 4 of 6 for -9 yards passing and an INT. The start, was the second game of the year at the position for Stewart. To make matters worse, he had come off of a dominating win against the winless Gronky Kong the week before, so this game against a much better Gamecocks served as a much-needed wake-up call.

After putting in Troy Savain at QB, the team was able to settle down in the second half, and to put some points on the board as Savain connected with Michael Lisella and Stewart for TDs.

As I stated earlier, Stewart has improved a lot since that ugly performance. For his team to get the W on Sunday, they will need him show even more growth in his game both as a passer and as a runner. They will also need big outings from their two best players on defense in Cornerback Dimitri Sinodinos (5 INTs) and rusher Joseph Crivello (10 sacks).

Speaking of rushers, the D6 sack leader himself Jamie Steinmetz will be on the field as well. In the first meeting, he picked up 3 sacks, and was a huge reason why Stewart and the entire Bricksquad offense played so poorly. If the Gamecocks are to walk out of the Stinger Dome with the win on Sunday, they will need another big effort by Steinmetz.

I think this game will come down to quarterback play. While Stewart has improved by leaps and bounds since the first time these two means met, he has a long way to go before he is at the level of Gamecocks’ QB Daniel Richman. Furthermore, while it is a little concerning that the Gamecocks only won by 6 points given how bad their opponents played on offense, I think that can be chalked up to early season struggles. I also expect a much better performance out of Kyle Tanzer this week.

Prediction: Gamecocks 22-14.

 

PB n’ Jelly (1) versus (4) N.W.O

Previous Meeting: 32-27 PB n’ Jelly (Week 3)

To date, this was the closest any team has come to knocking off PB n’ Jelly from the ranks of undefeated. The N.W.O jumped out to a commanding 27-13 lead at the half, only to be done in by mistakes and not being able to finish off their opponents by allowing a last-play hail mary completion to seal the comeback.

There are two huge matchups that must be looked at in this one. The first is the N.W.O’s Domenic Benevento versus PB n’ Jelly’s Dylan Catellier. This is a case of arguably D6’s best CB vs it’s best WR. In the first matchup, Catellier was held in check as he put up a modest (by his standards) 5 catches for 32 yards. While I am sure he’ll do better this time around, it will hard to post break-out numbers the rookie sensation Benevento.

The other matchup that intrigues me is the rushers. Whether it is Jean-Louis Chen or Michael Smith for the team in purple, or Stephen Tirelli or Nick Recine for the black and white, the fact of the matter both QBs Joseph Kano and Michael Sanchez don’t like to be pressured. Not that any QB does, but Kano in particular can get thrown off just a little bit by an aggressive rush. Whichever team gets consistent pressure will be helping themselves out a lot.

Last week, the N.W.O showed they can dig down deep and come out with a huge victory with their backs against the walls. That’s very important.

I am tempted to pick the N.W.O in this one, but it seems like PB n’ Jelly gets that little bit of extra motivation every time I pick against them.

I expect the rematch to be just as close as the first meeting. I think this game will come down to execution, and I am not sure that the black and white can keep up offensively with their opponents. Because of that, I am loosely going with the guys purple.

Prediction: 32-25 PB n’ Jelly.

 

That’s it for this week. Don’t forget, that the Semi-Finals/Conference Finals will kick off this Wednesday at Stade Hebert starting at 8:30.