FPF Cup – Opening Week Edition

Hey great FPF community,

Like I mentioned in my pre-season article, it’s great to get back to talking all things FPF, so let the speculations, expectations, thrills and disappointments begin. But before that, just a few things that are going through my more-often-at-home-than-I-should-be-during-summer mind. But only a few things since there’s the whole league to cover in this article this week, and the entire season.

• I never thought I’d see the day where there’s hockey during the summer. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time, and it’s here… For all things negative out of COVID, I say, take the wins where you can. This is definitely one of them.
• Habs won a best-of-5 series against the Pens?!? Tell me that earlier in February-March this year and I would have laughed in your face. Still unsure how I feel about that… no longer having a shot at drafting Lafreniere… Oh well, I’ll go along for the ride I guess. GO HABS GO!
• A pretty smooth week 1 in FPF, and a large credit goes to the players for being patient and understanding, but also to the staff for being prepared and executing the measures that were put in place.
• Maybe the roster-texting wasn’t 100% on point, with auto-correct being the largest culprit, usually changing the field codes, or perhaps thinking Cote-des-Neiges (CDN) is the field code for College Notre-Dame (CND) (even I thought the field code was CDN for a day). I’m sure after 1 week, teams will be more aware and it should be something that continues past this Fall Cup season.

So here we are, week 1 is in the books! And what an opening week! While Tier 3 saw some rust in its play, the offenses in Tiers 1, 2, and Co-Ed seemed to have picked up right where they left off in the Winter. It was far from perfect, but for the most part, in 7 of the 8 games I score kept this past week, the offenses were rolling and putting up points. In addition to scorekeeping, my duties include writing these weekly articles that will recap games from the previous week that caught my eye, preview games for the following week, analyze matchups, standings, provide thoughts and insight on team progression, talk about outstanding performances and highlights that I witnessed from the sidelines, write up team power rankings, make game picks, and occasionally create an FPF fantasy team of the week. These are a few of the things you can expect out of my articles.

Tier 1 Thoughts – Season Expectations

The Braves are so good, and have such a deep roster, they have the ability to put together two Tier 1 rosters that can compete for the Cash Bracket Bowl. Braves Verts get Jonathan Maheu, complemented by the Pilon brothers, while Braves Noir take JD Chevalier as their pivot with Georges Gariepy and Jourdain Alexis as primary weapons. Is there much else to say that with all their FPF and football experience, that both these teams have the chance to meet each other in the finals. Overall though, I like the Braves Verts team just a bit more.

I believe Khansequence will give the Braves teams the biggest run for their money, with a loaded roster for Dan Lazzara to work with, including arguably the best players at their positions, with the FPF highlight reel monster AJ Gomes (WR), all-star rusher Isiah Allard and Paul Lapierre at snapper. I also like them bringing in Barazzoni, his first crack at playing in Tier 1/Div 1-2, and impressed in week 1 with his 2 TD’s.

KGP looks to contend with the top teams this Fall Cup, and will have to do what they in week 1 against les Braves Noirs; that is, to go up a score in the first half and simply go score-for-score in the second half when their opponents are trying to get back in the game. With the chemistry already on point for Phil Cutler with guys like Dylan Garber and Julien Paiement, and re-adding Quaysie Gordon-Maule after joining KGP RA this past winter, this team will look to keep all their games close and come out on top. Because of this, they could go 2-2 or 4-0 after the preliminary round, but my bet is they finish 3-1.

While Sweat & Beers played this past Winter season in Div 3, and losing by 17 points in week 1 to Urgence Medic, and Peeze thinking they will be on the lower end of Tier 1, I still like Sweat & Beers to be a middle grounded team and could surprise one of the top teams and catch them sleeping. With receivers like Akeem Hoyte-Charles, Chris Milard, Chris Williams, Rocco Christiano, and Dan Dick as their top receiving unit, I can see this team putting up points, but can they stop the other offensive juggernauts in this Tier?

Tier 2 Thoughts – Season Expectations

Tier 2… What a tier! I’m not the biggest soccer guy, but I’ll make my only soccer reference all year, I swear… but to reference the World Cup, Tier 2 is the “group of death”, except that it’s pretty much the ENTIRE tier, not just a handful of teams. Seriously, look at each week’s matchups and they all look like playoff games. On top of that, every team has their beast, their unstoppable player (or 2) that can simply takeover a game and carry their team to victory if their teams has the ball at the end of the game. Some teams even have 3 guys like that!

“No team with Justin Blanchard on their roster should be going 0-4”.

-Will Power

Voodoo have of course Pat St-Amand (and Etienne Vaillancourt, an underrated FPF player that has great hands and doesn’t get talked about as much as I believe he should be). Half-A-Stars have studs like DonnDre Borden, Kevin Smuda and Noah Groper and Andrew Langburt feeding them the ball (need I say more?). When Jacob Boidman and Ariel Librati are your 4th and 5th options, you know your team is a contender. Bruins have Zach Zwirn and Gabe Wiseman, Tough Lungs have Justin Lerner, Los Banditos have Vincent Benjamin. Outlaws, with the seasoned vet, Steve Harripersaud who continuously contends for QB of the year in whichever division/Tier he plays, added height and deep threats in Marvin Steinberg and Justin Santillo, while retaining Mr. Do-it-All, Patrick Jazon. I could go on all day simply naming players and teams, but take my word for it, this Tier is scary good, so if I didn’t mention your team, don’t worry, I’ll be mentioning your either later in this article or in the coming weeks. But while we like to poke fun at Peeze at QB and his ability to throw pick 6 after pick 6, consider this about Tier 2’s level of play… Peeze is a good concept play caller, has great players that compliment his game and has a very talented roster this Fall Cup, with the likes of Justin Blanchard, Will Power, Terry Tam and (watch the name…) James Langshaw… and yet its very possible they go 0-4 in their preliminary round schedule. Crazy. Just crazy, or as Will Power put it, “no team with Justin Blanchard on their roster should be going 0-4”.

Look, the best way I can summarize my thoughts about the entire Tier without taking up 10 pages is by breaking down the teams into groups of 3.

Note: This breakdown of groups I will be mentioning has nothing to do with the way the FPF will be re-seeding teams at any point during the tournament. It is simply a way to bunch teams together who are so closely separated as either 1) True contenders, 2) Great teams that have a decent shot at surprising a contender and 3) Teams that need to play lights out all season to have a chance. Again, the line is so thin between all these teams, that what separates teams from being in one of my 3 categories is usually having 1 more star player vs. your team.

• 1) The True Contenders

Half-A-Stars – Big 3 with a great QB and championship pedigree..

Pepperoni Boyz – Unstoppable deep threats, big bodies and great hands. Try and stop this offensive juggernaut.

Mangoose – I will talk about this team more later in this article. Keep reading to find out why they are a true contender, but (Hot take!) they might have the best QB in all of FPF.

Pardon My Swag – Nasty lineup with a big 3 of their own in Jordan Mcinnis, Riley Pincombe and Craig Browning. Oh and there’s the Keiller brothers, Frankie Scalzo, and Brad Evans ain’t too shabby at QB. Sick team.

Outlaws – Not because Kevin “Neckdana” Kousaie called me out on Facebook, but whenever you have Steve at QB, big play receivers, and defensive studs like Patrik Jazon, your team will always be a contender, there’s no questioning that.

• 2) Great playoff teams with a chance to go to the big dance

Warriors – Before pushing them to the top, I’m interested in their week 4 matchup vs. Tough Lungs, which will either put them at 3-1 or 2-2 after 4 games.

Voodoo – While it wasn’t the Money Bracket, Voodoo still won their Playoff Bowl Bracket last Fall Cup. I don’t underestimate winning teams, but that being said, and Frank Kaye knows it, he can’t throw 5 picks against his upcoming opponents in Outlaws, Tough Lungs and EZW and expect to come away with the win like he did against Peeze.

EZW – EZW did what they always do on offense with Jeremy White spreading the ball for one of the most balanced attacks in Tier 2, which includes White’s running ability. The question is, and always will be about the team’s defense. Can they stop these other teams, all of which have at least 1 superstar?

Texass Shorthorns – Colin Sequiera is the hottest QB in the lower divisions. Winning this past week in his season opener outdoors against Los Banditos, he’s now won his last 7 games dating back to the Winter season with Gryphons, throwing 43 touchdowns, just 3 interceptions and 1,671 yards during that win streak. Scarily, it looks like he has more chemistry with these set of Shorthorns receivers than his Gryphons team, particularly John Bews, whose 4 receptions all went for 6 points in week 1.

Tough Lungs – Sure, when you think Tough Lungs, we all immediately think about Justin Lerner, but let’s give more credit to the strong supporting cast of Daron Migdesyan who is good for 8-12 touchdowns and 300 yards in a traditional 10 game season, Greg Kritselas (avg 6-8 TD’s a season), snapper JB Gray (avg. 37 receptions, 230 yards), and Olivier Doleyres whose put up 270+ yards and 6 TD’s his last 2 seasons. These guys will need to step up on both sides of the ball to contend against teams like EZW and the Warriors.

Bruins – This is an interesting take on the Bruins franchise, as from what I’ve heard around the FPF grapevine, is that Francois Martin is taking over the reigns as QB. This allows Wiseman to be a threat down the field, Zwirn as perhaps the best receiver in Tier 2, and add free agent Robert White to the mix, and you’ve got a nice, quiet team that can do some damage.

Hot Sauce Sports – I mentioned the names previously, but watch for Langshaw to have a breakout season and be in the mix for one of the player awards, likely two-way player of the year. Still, they may go 0-4 in the preliminary round, but could go 4-0 in the next round. Peeze, just stop throwing pick 6’s!!!

Les Gros Coqs – I would have put this team as a top contender, but I don’t know how serious the injury to All-Star and dual-threat QB Dom Lefort is. I love the makeup of this team though; they cover a lot of the checkboxes you look for in a great team: size, speed, chemistry, hands, awareness (both defensive and offensive) and competitiveness. I hope the injury to Lefort was just day-to-day and that he’s ready to go for week 2.

• 3) Teams that need to play like Shawne Merriman

Note: I hate putting teams in this 3rd category, but know that it’s not the bottom of the barrel. The teams are either 1 piece away from doing damage or lost a player to free agency, especially since we’re limited to playing on a single team this year. Hopefully being placed here can lift your game and prove me wrong though.

Unknown Talent – Didn’t think I would be putting UT in this group, but it had to be some teams. Losing Barazzoni is a main reason why and Joe Luciano as a rookie FPF quarterback is a question mark for someone like me who hasn’t seen him in action. He does have the offensive weapons and looks like he will be leaning on Nic Gomes-Risso, as he had 10 catches for 82 yards in their season-opening loss to EZW.

Les Centaures – Offensively, Hugo Allamanno is going to have to be huge for this team, and so is Chris Brockwell defensively (if he’s to play this season) if they want a chance. Their preliminary schedule unfortunately is not favourable for them, playing Mangoose and Texass Shorthorns in weeks 2 and 3 after going up against Pepperoni Boyz in week 1 and giving up 33 points.

Trojans – Unfortunately, this isn’t Div 6D boys. They are a good group of football guys, and have talent to beat up on lower caliber teams, and while it’s no shame to lose to a team like Half-A-Stars, the problem is most of the teams in Tier 2 are like Half-A-Stars. They may have reached a little too high, but this is what it takes for teams to get to the next level, and that time is now for Trojans.

Los Banditos ­– Another team I really like and I usually have making the playoffs anywhere from the 5th-8th seed (in a usual 8-team playoff season), but it seems like their usual pivot, Francis Desrochers is out for the Fall Cup, putting #2 receiver Jeremie Gauthier in the backfield as the QB. While he can certainly break teams for big yards with his legs and hit Vincent Benjamin down field for scores, it may not be enough to keep up with other teams and their multiple offensive weapons.

Tier 3 Thoughts – Season Expectations

While Tier 2 is more difficult to predict with the parity at an all time high, Tier 3 is a little easier to predict who will be in the top half re-grouping after 4 games, and which teams will be in the bottom half.

Top Half (in no particular order)

Lockdown – I love the free agent additions Eagle made to this Tier 3/Div 6 staple of a team, making them truly competitive for the a Bowl championship. Formerly known as Pat Riot, Buck Aneer now has new toys on offense with the likes of Alex Blais, Tom Gatehouse and Tyler Keating, in addition to his trusty snapper Steven Alberico.

Honey Martin­ – Mark Bellini is now considered one of the top quarterbacks in Tier 3, and the connection he has with his brother Enzo Bellini is tough to defend. This is more of Honey Martin’s “B” team, or could even be considered the “FA” team, as there are 4 free agents new to the roster, including All-Star snapper Tony Khoury, the ever present Nim Jenikovsky, and 2 components of the Ducks franchise coming in with championship pedigree, Alex Croteau and Anthony Pelletier. The team needs to gel quickly in their first 4 games if they want to contend for a Bowl championship.

Triple P – With Andel Thomas-Gordon and Kevin Donnet on the team, Triple P have one of the best WR/DB duo’s in Tier 3. They will go as far as sophomore QB Marc Farley will take them. He didn’t look great in week 1, completing just 38% of his passes for 65 yards, as they just managed to squeak by Bada Bing, formerly the Boucsaneers. I can see Triple P coming away with a 3-1 record if Andel and KD are utilized properly. Otherwise it could go sideways fairly quickly.

Bud Knights – Marc-Andre is the seasoned vet in this tier, but struggled in week 1. He needs to find his rhythm quickly, as he is the new guy coming into an established team in Bud Knights, the best defense in all of football. He brought a side kick along for the ride in Jeremie Ledoux, and he and Mathieu Kieljian will need to be the best players on the field for them to be truly successful, but I see them just cracking the top half due to a tougher schedule. I fully expect them to be part of a Bowl playoff race though, just not sure if they will be playing in the cash bracket.

South Side Speedsters – Man, how is Ben Reid’s rating still not over 70 yet? This team was one win away from making the finals in the cash bowl in last years Fall Cup, and much like Honey Martin, they are looking to make the finals this time around. The D is strong, Reid’s found a nice play calling system for FPF that works, they’ve got speed in Olivier Claveau and size and strength in Nicolas-Emmanuel Pierre. Just thank god that Dawson Pierre isn’t on the team, or they would be walking away with the $200 cheque in their Bowl.

Mean Girls – While falling hard in Div 5B as a rookie team last Winter must have been tough, Mean Girls immediately become a top 9 team now that their battle-tested and have played tougher competition. They have seen what works in their own offense and what doesn’t and come into this Fall Cup 150% more prepared than when starting week 1 back in January. They also added experience and athleticism in Angelo Mourelatos, and it showed in week 1, doubling up on Ballin 60’s, an average team last year in 6D.

Trapstars – Tough loss for the Trapstars in week 1, which makes their week 2 matchup a must-win if they wish to finish the first 4 games with a 2-2 record. It’s as much of a “must win” as you can get in FPF if they want to participate in the cash bracket. Otherwise, this team will easily make the playoffs after all 8 games are said and done. Look for Cooper Young to continue his tear from Winter 2020 and be amongst the leaders for Offensive Player of the Year.

Goblin Gang ­– Put Ben McMahon on the field in Tier 3 and your team has a chance to win each week. Period. 

Le Speakeasy – After a tight victory against the Trapstars in week 1, I think this tem will finish 3-1 after 4 games. With Matheiu Ouimet at QB, one of the better dual-threat QB’s in the tier, they have an outside chance at the money bracket, but believe they will make the Bowl playoffs but without the cash incentive.

Bottom Half

Rainmakers – This is a team that could take Tune Squad’s place in the Top Half-ranked teams if Tune Squad fails to deliver. The only reason I didn’t lock Rainmakers with the other top-half teams is due to the inexperience at QB with Derek Kastner. He was just good enough in week 1, but against a lower-tiered team like Lionhearts, I would have liked to have seen Kastner push the points on the board. Note: Watch out for Colin Power (no relation to Will Power). I don’t know what it is about the Power’s and football, but it’s in their genes to be good at it.

Ballin 60’s – I hope to see this team improve from last Winter, but they are playing 3 veteran teams out of their first 4, and looks like they will end up 1-3. They do have some talent on the field, so I shouldn’t be so quick to write this team off. Maybe this will push them to prove me wrong.

Replacements – Each year Replacements give me hopes in the opening weeks of FPF, but not this time around, getting shutout 32-0 to Eagle’s Lockdown squad. They absolutely need to be in Marc Farley’s face against Triple P to come out with a victory in week 2 and have a good shot at beating Bada Bing in week 3 to come out with a 2-2 record.

Zone 6 Ballers – Jeansley Valbonard is a single threat QB as it stands today, and its his explosive cuts and his legs that can do the most damage on the field. He needs to work on his reads and his mechanics throwing the ball. If he can do that, this team is athletic enough to give teams a run for their money.

Les Nains Johanais – Not a lot of known FPF talent here, and that doesn’t necessarily mean they are not good, just means I don’t have a lot to go on, other than a 25-19 loss to Tune Squad. Looks like Alec Richard-Nantel, who played in 5B as a receiver this past winter with Les Hommes de L’Ouest will be tossing the ball (and running, 4 run attempts for 37 yards). Throwing his first FPF passes with new FPF receivers has me leaning towards the bottom half teams. I’ll have to re-evaluate this team more after 4 games.

Bada Bing – Formerly the Boucsaneers squad in 6D this past winter, hopefully they were able to learn from their first season. They kept it close in week 1 against Triple P, but someone on this team has to emerge as the key performer.

Goon Squad – Goon Squad is another team that needs to develop their QB at a faster rate or look to fall towards the bottom half after 4 games. Romito threw another 4 picks to start the season, but I’m very curious to see their game against Ballin 60’s Tuesday at Brossard and see if they can get a win on their record. They kept it tight against Bud Knights, but predict a 1-3 or 0-4 record once the preliminary round is over.

Lionhearts ­– ­While they’ve improved each year, Lionhearts will continue to struggle by virtue of their schedule, playing 3 strong caliber teams in Honey Martin, Mean Girls and Lockdown. Sorry guys, but it looks like a 0-4 record to start the season. Hopefully games 5-8 will be kinder to you.

Tune Squad ­ ­– It’s awesome to see yet anther FPF Jr. team making the jump to the men’s division. They looked good in week 1, but a question that begs to be answered is whether the team can mature quickly like Charles Presser has. This will decide how far they go, but I liked what I saw week 1. I’m just too unsure about this team, so I say that after 4 games, they are amongst the bottom teams (but 10th or 11th overall and not at the bottom).

Game Recaps (Not this week!)

I will usually do Game Recaps in my weekly articles, but because of the tier breakdown for the season covering the majority of this week’s article, I’ll be writing game recaps as of next week.

New (Quick) Segments – From the Scorekeeping Sideline and Iggy Magneto’s positive and negative take

Time for a couple new segments, the first is called From the Scorekeeping Sideline, where I’ll mention some of the amazing plays and highlights that caught my eye from the sideline during the Tuesday night games in Brossard and Wednesday night games at the College Notre-Dame outdoor field.

Highlight of the Week – If you saw FPF’s own podcast show, Calling The Audible, featuring Eagle, Moe Khan and Peeze Della Reeze, then you saw (from far) the incredible AJ Gomes’ stop and go, jumping, one handed, sideline, 20 yard TD catch. It was sick on film, but trust me, it was just absolutely disgusting and nasty in person. Glad it was caught on film, but even then, it doesn’t do it justice. By far the highlight of week 1 in FPF.

A New FPF star is born – There’s a new Quarterback in town. Mangoose QB Frederic Paquette-Perrault, who has in fact played in FPF before (last played Winter 2015), looked like an absolute STUD in his game against Pardon My Swag. Also on the sideline with me was longtime ref, Leo Gervais, who, after watching Paquette-Perrault throw for a couple of series, asked me who this guy was and mentioned to me “I’ve been to Alouette practices in the past, and this guy throws harder than Anthony Calvillo”. Granted, Calvillo was known more for his touch, more so than for having a cannon of an arm, but still, to have a CFL-level of arm power, many Tier 2 teams are in for trouble this Fall. Off his back foot, he easily overthrew his receiver from his own goal line to the endzone, threw a tighter spiral on the run than Pat Mahomes, and threw a pass sideline to sideline, for a 20 yard touchdown, calling out “Touchdown!” before the ball got to his receiver. It of course did, and the defender who peeled off never even had a chance with the velocity that ball was coming at. I can’t wait to see what more tricks this guy has up his sleeve.

For the second segment, since I’ve now been dubbed as Iggy Magneto, or Iggy Magnets (per the Calling The Audible crew), I’ll look at one positive thing and one negative thing that stayed with me from the previous week.

All things positive – Braves Verts stomped all over BYOB in week 1, 51-18, with Jon Maheu going 23 for 28 for 231 yards, 8 TD’s and a clean 0 INT’s. While Alex Pilon racked up 102 yards on 6 catches, 3 of which went for scores, it’s Lauriane Beauchamp who sent positive vibes through her team, catching 9 balls for 78 yards and 2 TD’s herself. In this one game compared to the first 3 games of the 2019 Fall Cup, she’s already surpassed her yardage and touchdown stats. While teams will be pressing the Pilon brothers, they should start to game plan around Beauchamp as well, or as many teams will find out, she will find the endzone on you.

Negative attitude – This week’s negative side of the ball comes from a couple of Tier 3 games, where two Objectionable Conduct penalties cost 2 teams a shot at victory. The first came Tuesday in Brossard, where the Lionhearts #90, Anthony Innacronz was firing up his team emotionally with his words and play, picking off Derek Kastner on the first pass of the second half. A few drives later however, still very vocal, Leo had enough and called an OC on Innacronz. The Lionhearts would eventually go on to lose the tightly contested game, 13-7 and could have used him on the field.

The other game was outdoors in CND and this time, it was Trapstars QB, Ryan Garber taking the OC on the final drive of the game, down by 1 point. It forced their best receiver, Cooper Young to go in at QB. He did well to drive them down the field, but was picked off in the redzone by Guensley Michel. An untimely OC penalty that could have changed the course of the game, that wraps up the negative side of week 1. Watch out for those OC penalties; remember you’re now off for 10, potentially, game-deciding plays!

Power Rankings

Tier 1 (Top 5)

1 – Braves Verts

2- Khansequence

3- Urgence Medic

4- KGP

5- Braves Noirs

Tier 2 (Top 7)

1- Half-A-Stars

2- Mangoose

3- Pepperoni Boyz

4- Texass Shorthorns

5- Pardon My Swag

6- Warriors

7- EZW

Tier 3 (Top 7)

1- Lockdown

2- Honey Martin

3- South Side Speedsters

4- Tune Squad

5- Rainmakers

6- Triple P

7- Bud Knights

Co-Ed (Top 3)

1- Kiss My Endzone

2- Fightin’ Tigers

3- Yin & Yang

Thanks for reading my week 1 article and be sure to catch Alexi Dubois’s take on the FPF Cup, in his version of the weekly (bilingual) article!

Cheers!