Flo’s Forecast: First Round Preview

Ten weeks in the books and the playoff matchups are set.

Week 10’s GOTW didn’t live up to the hype as the play-in game in division saw the Fun Boys run away from Laval’s Finest behind a dominant defensive performance led by rusher Gabe D’Amico-Mazza who sacked Rod Mashtoub six times. Congrats to the Fun Boys for stepping up but now they get to face The Incredibles with only five guys. That should be interesting. It’s been done before!

 

 

Individual Award Winners:

Congratulations to our 8 individual award winners in division A/B this season.

DIVISION A

 

QB of the Year:

Marco Masciotra, All Black Everything

10 GP, 2095 yards, 56 TD, 4 INT, 69.1 COMP %, 123.5 QBR

 

WR of the Year:

Theo Ojeaha, All Black Everything

9 GP, 55 rec, 703 yards, 17 TD

 

Defensive Player of the Year:

Rashawn Perry, Top Guns

8 GP, 15 TKL, 4 INT, 2 PD, 2 TD

 

Two-Way Player of the Year:

Pat Jerome, Montreal’s Finest

10 GP, 40 rec, 556 yards, 16 TD

25 TKL, 2 INT, 5 PD

 

 

DIVISION B

 

QB of the Year:

Vinny Gualano, Grip N Rip

1794 yards, 50 TD, 7 INT, 72.7 COMP %, 119.1 QBR, 432 yards rushing, 10 TD

 

WR of the Year:

Liam Mahoney, Fun Boys

41 rec, 655 yards, 19 TD

 

Defensive Player of the Year:

Aleksander Papich, The Incredibles

20 TKL, 9 INT, 3 PD

 

Two-Way Player of the Year:

Jamie Ojeaha, STL

41 rec, 464 yards, 18 TD

17 TKL, 7 INT, 11 PD, 1 TD

——————————————————

Playoff Schedule:

 

Division A

• – Round 1 is the play-in game between the #4 and #5 seeds and will be played on July 24.
• – Round 2 is the following Sunday, July 31st.
• – The Division A Final is Sunday, August 7th in Brossard at 9 pm.

 

Division B

• – Round 1 is Sunday, July 24th at Stade de Montreal. The #1 and #2 seeds in each conference get a bye.
• – Round 2 is Sunday, July 31st in Lachine.
• – Round 3 is that Tuesday, August 2nd in Brossard.
• – The Division B Final is Sunday, August 7th in Brossard at 8 pm.

 

Round 1 Previews:

 

Division A

#4 Rainmakers (4-6) vs. #5 Monstars (3-6-1)

Previous Meeting (s):

Week 1 – Rainmakers 46, Monstars 37

Week 6 – Monstars 53, Rainmakers 51

 

The Monstars had an up and down first season in division A to say the least and enter the playoffs on a 3-game losing streak. Highs included taking down Montreal’s Finest and lows included losing to the undermanned Legends just a week later. Sure, they lacked consistency, but they also showed that they can ball with any team in the league’s top division on any given day.

The Rainmakers started off on fire and were 3-0 after three weeks. However, it was a struggle the rest of the way as they dropped 6 of 7 (including one to the Monstars) with their only win being a tight one-point victory over the Legends.

This game, like the two before them, should feature plenty of points. That being said, defenses usually tighten up a little for the playoffs and I don’t expect to see 50’s in this game. If you look at the numbers, Ryan Kastner has had a pretty good year throwing for just under 2000 yards, 49 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. But if you look at it a little closer, the Rainmakers were held to under 30 points five times this season. That will not win you many games in division A and that’s exactly what happened. He and the explosive Pilon twins have not meshed as well as anticipated and if they want to make a legit run here in the playoffs, their chemistry needs to be there.

I’ve been on the Monstars bandwagon as of late and I’m not going to jump off when times are rough. If I had to pick a defense to make a big play or force a turnover, I’d go with the Monstars defense and in a game where one turnover could very well be the difference between going home and advancing, give me the Monstars to advance.

 

Prediction: Monstars 39, Rainmakers 32

 

Division B

 

CONFERENCE A

 

#3 Kings (7-3) vs. #6 #NoRegard (4-6)

Previous Meeting:

Week 9 – Kings 32, #NoRegard 20

 

These two teams just met up in week 9 and the Kings won convincingly picking off Mario Porreca three times in the process. Watching that game, it was closer than the score indicates as it was a one-score game pretty much the whole way through. Two of three interceptions came in the end zone and one was a fluke game-changing one off the hands of Hugo Lalonde and right into the defender’s hands.

Mathieu Rene has had a solid season for the Kings and has built a nice rapport with Jad Aridi. When the Kings roster has been at full strength, they’ve been very good and from the looks of it, they will be at full strength for this matchup. That is not good news for a #NoRegard team that has struggled for the better part of the season to score points.

Porreca has a tendency of forcing deep balls when they’re not there and taking a lot of time in the pocket before pulling the trigger on throws at times. The last time these two teams met, he forced two to Kendal Mayers in tight coverage and paid for it big time. He needs to learn from that outing and come back with a new gameplan if the #NoRegard offense is going to keep up with the Kings offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, the #NoRegard defense has been the better unit by a large margin in terms of points against but the Kings have been more opportunistic in terms of interceptions with 14 picks this season, compared to #NoRegard’s 7. With the Moses brothers, Jeremy Anderson, Kendal Mayers and Dariusz Golebiowski back there, you’d expect that number to be higher, and in order to win this game, they may need a pick from one of these guys.

 

Prediction: Kings 32, #NoRegard 26

 

#4 Predators (6-4) vs. #5 Gladiateurs (4-6) (Written by Peeze Della Reeze)

Previous Meeting:

Week 10 – Predators 42, Gladiateurs 29

 

 

 

 

 

CONFERENCE B

#3 Ambassadors of Quan (6-3-1) vs. #6 Lightweight (4-5-1)

Previous Meeting:

Week 6 – Ambassadors of Quan 32, Lightweight 32

 

In the most intriguing matchup of the week in my opinion, Simon Dagenais takes his team into the first round of the playoffs with a lot of confidence having tied AoQ back in week 6. Dagenais had perhaps one of his best games ever last week vs. VPC & FF and looked impressive in doing so. However, the VPC & FF defense doesn’t hold a candle next to the AoQ defense. Lightweight’s receiving corps is definitely top 3 in the division but the AoQ defense has some talented smart players on the back end to match that with Danny D’Amour, Ryan Perry and Paul Lapierre.

Alex Holowach has quietly had a solid year for AoQ passing for2000+ yards and over 50 touchdowns. Although he has thrown 12 interceptions this season, he’s only thrown two in the last five games. With the ball-hawks Lightweight has on their defense, Holowach will need to keep being smart with the football. He has great chemistry with underrated receiver James Nowakowski and he’ll need his main man to step up here as Lightweight will surely do everything in their power to take away Lapierre and Perry.

In the end though, Lightweight is one of the most talented teams in all of division B and it will come down to whether we see the good Dagenais, or the bad Dagenais. In a shootout, can Dagenais keep up with Holowach once again?

 

Prediction: Ambassadors of Quan 33, Lightweight 27

 

 

#4 The Incredibles (6-4) vs. #5 Fun Boys (5-5)

Previous Meeting:

Week 1 – The Incredibles 33, Fun Boys 27

 

For all the drama the Fun Boys just went through last week in a win-and-you’re-in type of game that was filmed for all of FPF to see, this week might very well lack any hype at all, or has the potential to become one for the ages if they pull off a victory in round 1. That is because when they take the field against The Incredibles, they will only have five guys suiting up. Now, winning with five guys in the playoffs has been done before a few times, I’ve seen it with my own eyes when Mongoose did it a couple of years back, so it is possible. Likely? No.

With no shortage of ball-hawks on The Incredibles’s side, Phil Cutler is going to have to be near perfect if the Fun Boys hope to steal a game they have no business winning. Greg Stern has had a so-so, up and down year, but should find lots of success playing a five-man defense here, especially with the bevy of dominant receivers he has to throw to. If I’m Phil Cutler, I slow the game down as soon as possible to limit each team’s possessions and make sure to hit my conversions. That being said, it might be hard for Cutler to play that style of game as he loves to air it out to his receivers letting them make some plays for him.

 

Prediction: The Incredibles 40, Fun Boys 24

 

 Best of luck to all teams for round 1 of the playoffs! If you want to reach me for any inquiries or to disagree with me, feel free to hit me up at [email protected] or DM me @JFloMusicMTL on Twitter.