FPF Championship Finals Week – Who Will be Crowned Div C champs and did I change my prediction from CTA?

So this article will be all things Div C Finals; all things Blessed and all things Infantry. A breakdown of the 2 teams, how they got here, who’s the favorite, who’s got more to lose, and of course a prediction of who will be crowned the Division C Spring 2021 Champions and who the top candidates for Finals MVP are. So without further ado, let’s get the Roadshow started!

Alright, for those who don’t know, the FPF Finals includes a slate of content for you, with the regular articles and Calling The Audible breakdowns, but coolest of all, a Live broadcasting of the Finals will be available for those who want to tune in and watch without being at Lachine. Of course then, those finals can be later viewed on YouTube as they fall into the archives of FPF.

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How did they get here?

Blessed

Season Overview

Blessed started the season off 5-0, scoring a low of 37 points in a game after 5 games. It looked as though they would steam roll their way to a 10-0 season until they hit a small bump in the road against Silent Ticklers, which happened to be the same time when the injury bug clipped Blessed and took its toll. They played their only regular season loss without Kevin Smuda, Isiah Allard and Jonathan Svetna. The toll it took however only lasted 1 game, as they went on to finish the season 9-1, but some games were closer than they had been all season until that point, notably back-to-back 1 score games against Mangoose and Blue Dreamers in weeks 8 and 9. In the absence of three main pieces, Quaysie Gordon-Maule and Myles Keiller were formidable replacements for Blessed. Still without Allard and Svetna though, Blessed was set to face their toughest test on the season, a regular season finale against The Infantry which had been hyped to be the finals preview by many of the FPF experts. The return of Smuda played a big role in their victory against The Infantry, as he returned to play catching all 6 of his targets for 62 yards and 2 TDs. The 40-29 win would be a confidence booster to see where they stack against their 9-1 rivals before going into the playoffs.

A star is born

Marvin Steinberg was always a very good football player, but not everyone in FPF knew the name… until his breakout season this past regular season. Steinberg rose to the top of Div C, finishing 4th in receiving yards (558), 4th in receptions (42), and tied for 2nd in receiving TDs (17). With these stats, he was turning heads in FPF and cemented himself as the class of Div C en route to a 2-way player of the year award (which actually is the highest merited award in FPF). Usually a 2-way award is thought of as someone who is average or good on both sides of the ball, whereas an award like WR or Defensive of the year is thought of the best receiver or DB out there. The 2-way award in FPF though, is truly someone who is a force and dominates on both sides of the ball, and that’s exactly what Marvin did for Blessed all season on the football field.

Harripersaud’s ceiling

We all know by now that Steve Harripersaud had a season that makes me wanna do the Shawne Merriman “Lights Out” move, just a drive and a half short of 2,000 passing yards. His 55TDs (1st), 72.5 completion percentage (3rd), 187 completions (1st) and 125.4 Quarterback rating (1st) are all eye-popping statistics in Div C that have me wondering what his ceiling in FPF is… I think with this very roster he’s not having a 5-5 record in Div B, maybe 7-3, 8-2. In other words, he can play and have success in Div B next spring. What about Div A/Div 1? Will we be talking about Steve in a few season amongst the best FPF has to offer at the Quarterback position? This one is an interesting question that we will all need to stay tuned to find out in the near FPF future.

As Deep as my Subconscious

Blessed are… well… blessed with the amount of depth they have on offense as they do on defense. Take their top 5 receivers (an offensive lineup) and combine their TD output.. 40 TDs. Those are very good numbers for a team that plays 6 players all year… this team’s main roster is 9 players… so let that sink in! As for their defense, I’ve mentioned it several times, but they have 4, 5 if you include Will Power, towering defenders that are not statues with cement on their feet. They have quick feet and the speed to go across the field and make the deep and even the intermediate throws very difficult to complete. The defense ended up with 23 INts, the highest output of any Div C team and 17 sacks, good for 4th overall.

The Road to the Finals

Blessed had a bye week during the play-in round and used those extra days to their advantage by resting any lingering injuries. In their first playoff game against Top Sauce, Kevin Smuda was the leader receiving 9 targets from Steve, catching all 9 for 91 yards and 2 scores. Defensively, Marvin Steinberg forced 2 key turnovers, taking one to the house with a pick 6. As for Harripersaud, he what he usually does, distributing the ball to 5 different receivers, 4 of which scored TDs while throwing 0 INTs, all while adding 25 rushing yards; a season high for him. In the Semi-Final, they next played Sheeeesh where it was the Marvin Steinberg show, proving why he won 2-way player of the year. He had 5, repeat.. FIVE touchdowns and 3 INTs in that game and propelled his team to victory. Of course, Smuda‘s 2nd 9-reception playoff game and snapper Jafar Hassan‘s ability to be a reliable check-down option for Steve (6 receptions, 50 yards) were big contributions on offense as well.

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The Infantry

Season Overview

There’s honestly not much to recap for their season. The Infantry was WIPING out their competition week in, and week out, with wins by 3 or 4+ scores. The only exception was a week 6 matchup against the Blue Dreamers, a 25-19 victory by only 6 points. They were 9-0 and looking to complete their perfect season, until they collided with Blessed in the last week of the season. Interestingly though, while they lost the game 40-29, they in fact had a 23-16 lead going into the half (they did start the game on offense), but the 1st half was seriously altered when following Infantry’s 21st point, the next snap went over Steve‘s head for a safety, putting The Infantry at 23 points, but more importantly, not allowing Harripersaud to score and go ahead with the final 6 plays of the 1st half. The second half is where The Infantry crumbled though, and Corey himself will admit that a lot fell on his shoulder, ending up with, statistically, his worst game of the year, throwing 3 INTs with a 93.8 QB rating. Now look, if a 93.8 QB rating is the worst of your season… your having a pretty damn good season, and Corey? He had an outstanding season, throwing for over 2000 yards (2026 to be precise – 1st overall), 54 touchdown (2nd), completing a whopping 73.1% of his passes (2nd) with a season QBR of 117.8 (3rd). Much like his final counterpart, while there is always one or two top-end pass catchers on every team (Rory and Jaylan, but more on them later), Corey did a fantastic ability to spread the ball enough to make sure opposing defenses would stay honest and would be able to hit his depth receivers like Sean Semerjian, Dwante Morgan and snapper Mike Collard. To speak to that depth at receiver, if you take the top 5 receivers and sum their touchdown totals, they scored a combined 46 touchdowns! In fact, that’s better than the number put up by Blessed (40).

Corey Rising the Ranks

I mentioned on Calling The Audible this week that going into the season, I wasn’t sure if Corey Walwaski was a top 2 Quarterback in this iteration of Div C. Now, don’t get me wrong and don’t misread into what I’m saying… let’s put things into context. First, Corey is a stud of a quarterback. He is by no means “average” when comparing him to his peers. Second, Div C is quite high in league play in FPF, so there are other very strong quarterbacks and strong defenses. I simply believed he was a #5 Quarterback going into the season, and not necessarily a #1 or #2 guy. Clearly, with the team he built around him, he simply put, proved me wrong, putting up sick numbers that I could only dream of posting. His height already gives Corey an advantage to see over most rushers, but it is his QB vision, going through his progressions, the ability to make the different types of throws (soft touch, high-arching balls, zipping it in, etc.), all with practiced foot and arm QB mechanics that lead to a beautiful release, that set him apart as a top-end Quarterback.

Jaylan and Rory: An unstoppable duo

Like in NFL Fantasy, the WR position in FPF is the one where each team, especially one’s that make it to the playoffs and finals, have one or 2 receivers that are ballers. For The Infantry, that is Jaylan Greaves and Rory Semerjian, and for different receiver abilities, which leads to a great 1-2 punch that defenses need to be careful and make adjustments for. For Rory, it is game-breaking speed. Once he gets the ball in his hands, literally every touch can be taken to the house. This means that defenses need to converge on him once the ball is in hands and even defenders from the other side of the field need to start taking an angle towards the endzone in case he breaks free from the flat defenders. This forces defenses to be on high-alert and can mentally exhaust a team, leading to breakdowns in coverage. Of course, then, not only is Rory dangerous on his short routes, but if defenders bite on a short route, he is dangerous too with any double-move routes: stop-and-go/ wheel routes as well as the deeper ones: post-corner/corner-post. He of course also has great hands that led him to a double-digit touchdown count season (13) and finishing 3rd in receptions with 44 catches. Naturally, his top 1% speed led a 628-yard season, good for 2nd overall in Div C. And then there’s Jaylan Greaves. You wanna talk about your prototypical WR? That’s someone that would have height, speed, hands, hops, route-running ability, juke-ability, and a passion for the game that is unmatched. That’s what you get in Jaylan. He is the ultimate game-changing, game-breaking receiver that you want on your team, and will play an incredibly important factor if The Infantry will come away as Div C champions. Combined, these 2 receivers pose a threat that not many defenses can match, hence why throughout the season they smashed opponents by 3-4 scores.

The Road to the Finals

The Infantry of course, had a bye in the play-in round as they finished in the #2 seed during the season, but it has not looked like there’s been any rust. All The Infantry has done is put up 44 and 43 points against their 2 playoff matchups against Silent Ticklers and Les Gros Coqs, respectively, while only allowing 27 and 14 points against. In the 2 games, Corey has been a MONSTER, completing 77% of his passes (seriously?!), posting 497 yards, 11 TDs, ZERO INTs, and a mind-boggling QBR of 145.6 (SERIOUSLY?!). While it sucks to have lost Eddy Lee for the season, they did replace him with Jordan Allard (IR rule), who has added a nice complimentary 3rd weapon on offense for Corey, and has added another piece defensively, contributing with a defensive turnover in their playoff run. Leading the way on the attack though, is none other than Jaylan Greaves with his 149 yards and 5 TDs in the 2 games to go along with his 3 PDs and 3 picks, returning one of them for 6. Sean Semerjian has been effective rushing both quarterbacks in both playoff games, even getting 2 sacks on the speedy Dom Lefort. If The Infantry are going to want to win the championship, he’s going to have to pressure Harripersaud into making quicker reads than he’s used to, which may lead to bad throws, bad decisions, and turnovers for The Infantry.

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The Div C Final

So this is it. The final most people predicted is right around the corner, and the jitters must be settling in. I’m telling you guys reading this (which is probably only The Infantry and Blessed players), but this game is going to go down with the FPF historians and will be referenced for years to come. It checks off all the points to make it an instant FPF classic. You’ve got the 2 statistically best and fundamentally-sound Quarterbacks battling it out on the field. You’ve got a 1-on-1 super-star talent match up in Jaylan vs. Marvin. You’ve got depth on both teams, but not just average depth, but insanely good depth. You’ve got elite rusher talent which has us wondering who will have a bigger impact for their teams, Terry Babalis (17 sacks on the season) or Sean Semerjian (18 sacks on the season)? And then, I think the most intriguing and unwritten storyline is this: The Infantry have the better football talent if the game was played on a 100-yard, university-level football field. But Blessed have, collectively, more FPF experience and have the better flag football players. So while the question has been answered a few times in the past, we will once again see if perhaps these set of tackle football players on The Infantry can change the narrative and prove that they can adapt their game to the smaller field and best one of the greatest FPF minds in Steven Harripersaud. One of the keys in this game will be to see if Corey Walwaski will force throws to his playmaker, Jaylan Greaves, or if he can take what the Blessed defense is giving him and drive the field patiently. From Blessed’s side, they just need to run their regular Steven Harripersaud offense. Steve is slightly more accurate with his set of receivers and will look to frustrate The Infantry defense with check down plays, and then hitting the intermediate-deep balls every now and again. I cannot wait to call this game and watch the drama unfold. I think this game will be fireworks, score-for-score ’till the very end. So here it is, prediction time! … It’s been a few days since I went on Calling The Audible to give my prediction, and honestly, the line in this game hasn’t deviated much, maybe a 0.5 point here and there, but my prediction remains unchanged. Gimme Blessed to win the Div C Championship, in a final for the ages, 40-39.

What a season it’s been, and honestly, I think Div C has given us the best storylines and the best matchups week in and week out in all of FPF, and finally, it’s time to see who’s the best of the best. Who will be crowned the Div C champion? Who will be MVP? Tune in to the live broadcast, Sunday, September 26th at 9:30pm to find out!

Signing off for the season, it’s been a blast Div C. Cheers, and hope to see you on the field for Fall Cup 2021!

Iggy Magnets