FPF Junior Championships

The FPF Junior season drew to a close this weekend with our five championship finals. In the Atom division, Flight School 5 capped a perfect 8-0 regular season with a championship. In Mosquito, we had a bit of an upset when the IB Vikings beat Flight School 3 in the semi-finals. However, the Vikings were not able to carry over their momentum into the finals since they lost to the McCaig Gladiators who were crowned champions. The story from the Pee-Wee division was very similar to the one in Atom. Flight School 2 dominated during the regular season, winning all eight of their games. Even more remarkable was the fact that they scored 335 points more than they conceded. Flight School 2 capped off their great regular with an impressive 32-2 win in the finals to clinch the championship. Flight School 1 had a similarly impressive season as their Pee-Wee counterparts. They conceded just a little over ten points a game while scoring, on average, 34 points a game. Even in the championship final, Flight School 1 dominated with a 36-6 victory to win the division. In the Midget division, we had quite the upset. After the Raiders upset the Crimson Tide in the quarter-finals, they followed up by beating the Nittany Lions in the semi-finals. With those two victories under their belt, the Raiders had to be considered the favorites in the finals and they did not disappoint. They cruised to a comfortable 38-20 win to claim the division title.

Paths to the Championship:

Flight School 5: Flight School 5 were the most athletic team in the division, and they rode that athleticism all the way to the championship. Their coaches developed an offensive system that relied on yards after the catch rather than long passing plays. This short passing game allowed Flight School to protect the ball. In fact, their quarterback Gavin O’Connell only threw three interceptions all year long. With a receiver like Jordel Springer, it is easy to understand why Flight School didn’t need to attempt the long passes. It was much more effective to throw a short pass or hook to Jordel Springer and watch him run for the long score. While they only threw three interceptions all season, Flight School 5 had no problem intercepting their opponents. On defence, just like on offence, Flight School 5 were led by Gavin O’Connell. The talented young man led his team in four of the five defensive categories. He finished the season with a team high 13 tackles, 7 interceptions and three sacks. He also led his team with five defensive scores. These stats are insane. It’s actually kind of hard to get your mind around the fact that Gavin O’Connell put up such dominant numbers despite only playing six games. The only category that Gavin O’Connell didn’t lead in was passes defended. It was the equally tall and talented Sotonye Ariel Wilson that led Flight School 5 in defended passes.

It was on the heels of their spectacular regular season that Flight School 5 cruised into the playoffs. Both their players and coaches were full of confidence, but they still needed to perform in the post season. Perform they did! They put on an offensive and defensive clinic in the semi-finals with a 34-0 victory over the Jaguars. They held their opponents to only 15 passing yards, largely thanks to Gavin O’Connell’s two interceptions. They were also perfect on offence. They used three different QBs, threw to four different receivers and five different players ran the ball. It didn’t matter in whose hands the ball was in. They scored 34 points and booked their ticket to the finals. The finals against the Bears was the closest game of Flight School’s season but they were once again able to manage a win and secure the championship. I would love to write more about that game, but since the iPad with the stats was stolen before the stats were uploaded, there is not much I can say.

McCaig Gladiators: The key to the Gladiators’ success starts with the play of their all-star quarterback Kingston Paquet. I have seen him evolve as a passer for a few seasons now in FPF and Kingston Paquet keeps on getting better. In his first two seasons in the league, it was clear that he had all the arm talent needed to succeed. There was just a little something missing. He wasn’t making the right reads. This year, he coupled his arm strength with an exceptional understanding of the game. The result was nearly 900 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and less than an interception a game. He posted a career high in completions, yards, touchdowns, completion percentage and QB rating. While Kingston Paquet did have a dominant season, he would not have been able to post the numbers he did without an extremely talented corps of receivers. That receiving corps was led by the stellar play of Luca Fonsato. In just his first season of FPF play, Luca Fonsato tallied 20 receptions for over 400 yards and eight scores. Behind Luca Fonsato, it was two Swaminadhams who rounded out the Gladiators receiving corps. Justin Swaminadham actually led the Gladiators with 24 receptions for a total of 263 yards and five scores. Noah Swaminadham also had an impressive season with 17 catches for nearly 200 yards and 3 scores. On defence, it was a different Swaminadham who left his mark. Luca Swaminadham finished the season with ten tackles, three picks, a defended pass and a defensive touchdown.

The Gladiators were good during the regular season, but they were not dominant. There were bumps and bruises along the road to victory. They lost their very first game of the season against Flight School 3 but the next week, they started on their path towards the championship with a win over Flight School 4. The Gladiators biggest win of the season came in week 5 when they beat the previously undefeated Flight School 3. From that point on, it looked like the Gladiators were the team to beat, however, in week 7 they lost to the Vikings and people started to question whether or not they had what it took to win it all. They silenced all their doubters in the finals when they soared to victory over the Vikings to claim the championship.

Flight School 2: This may be one of the most dominant teams that FPF Junior has ever seen. No team came close to them. They scored 335 points more than they conceded. They also only allowed, on average, only one touchdown a game. While Flight School 2 did have a strong quarterback in Connor O’Connell who passed for nearly 1 000 yards, 28 touchdowns and no interceptions, Flight School 2 used a total of six different quarterbacks. Most notably among those other quarterbacks was William Leclerc who, despite only 24 passing attempts, passed for 320 yards and 11 touchdowns. Flight School 2 used the same technique as their Atom affiliate Flight School 5. They exploited the short passing game and threw mostly short hooks and slants. Their receivers then made things happen with yards after the catch. That technique, revolutionary to FPF Junior allowed Flight School 2 to pass for over 1 400 yards while only throwing two interceptions. Despite only posting 15 receptions, Maxime Latendresse led all of Pee-Wee in receiving yards with 337 and in touchdowns with 14. Yes, if you do some quick math, you will realise that all but one of his receptions were for touchdowns. On defence, it was not one player that stood out for Flight School 2 but rather it was a ball-hawking unit that struck fear into the hearts of opposing passers. Kaiden Dewey-Hull and Jamyan Theodore led the team with five picks each. Right behind them with four interceptions each were William Leclerc, Connor O’Connell and Maxime Latendresse.

Flight School 2 breezed their way through the season and the playoffs were no different. Their first place finish assured them a first round bye and booked them a ticket to the finals. The final looked like the rest of their season. Connor O’Connell was perfect like usual and he completed ten passes for 180 yards and five scores. It was also nice to see Flight School 2 spread the ball. Their six touchdowns (William Leclerc also threw a TD) were caught by six different receivers. Flight School 2 has so much talent that the biggest problem for their quarterback is  choosing which wide-open receiver to throw the ball to. They rode that exceptional talent all the way to the Pee-Wee championship.

Flight School 1: Flight School 5 and Flight School 2 won their championships thanks to the short passing game. Flight School 1 dominated like both of those other teams, but they rode the deep ball all the way to the championship. That deep passing game started with the exceptional talent of Trey Bentley. In only six games, he passed for over 1 300 yards and threw for 10 times more touchdowns than interceptions. He led the division in both passing yards and passing touchdowns, but he was 50 passes off the lead in terms of completions. The fact that Trey Bentley led in passing yards while completing fewer passes than the leading QB just proves how much they loved the deep ball. The main recipients of that long ball where Mathis Lamontagne and Koliah Bagordo. Mathis Lamontagne averaged 22 yards a completion on his way to a 19-catch season for over 400 yards and 10 scores. Koliah Bagordo averaged just one yard less a catch over the season. He caught 14 passes for nearly 300 yards and six scores. Rounding out Flight School 1’s receiving corps was the talented Camdyn Jeremiah who caught just as many passes as Koliah Bagordo but he tallied 80 yards and two scores less. Flight School 1’s defence was led by the lanky Oshea Maxwell who had an extremely impressive season with 10 tackles and six picks. Every defence needs a sure tackler and for Flight School 1, that tackler was Manny Thibert. He was tied for the team lead with 12 tackles and he also managed two picks and a defended pass.

Flight School 1’s defence was stellar in the regular season and, somehow, that defence got even better for the playoffs. In their two playoff games, they only conceded one touchdown. After their first game, I challenged Flight School 1’s offence to march the ball down the field and score touchdowns with short passes. The lived up to the challenge and they put up 36 points in the final with a mix of both short passes and deep balls. While they did prove that they were able to play the short game, what they still didn’t prove was that they can score on converts. In the finals, they failed to score on all 6 of their 2-point attempts. While Flight School 1 did have a dominant season and won the championship, there is still a bit of room for improvement.

Raiders: I talked all season about how there are always upsets in FPF Junior. Well, this season, the Raiders where the team that defied the odds. After a mediocre regular season, they impressed in the playoffs by knocking off the top seeded Nittany Lions and then beating the Tigers in the finals to claim the division crown. The biggest difference between the Raiders playoff and regular season was the play of their quarterback Riley Element. During the season, he did pass for nearly 1 400 yards, but he threw 15 interceptions in the process. Luckily for Riley Element, he has the best quarterback FPF has ever seen coaching him. By the time the playoffs rolled around, Riley Element and the Raiders’ offence were firing on all cylinders. In only three games, he passed for nearly 700 yards and 16 touchdowns. Most importantly, he only threw three picks. During their playoff run, the Raiders exploited four receivers. William DeMoor led those receivers with 23 catches for 218 yards and six scores. Behind him was the versatile Mike Philips who caught ten passes for 145 yards. Rounding out their receiving corps was Bucky Cross with 121 receiving yards and Mukendi Mbikay with his three touchdown catches. The Raiders were a dangerous team all season long. It was clear that they had no trouble putting up points. They just struggled with protecting the ball and stopping their opponents on defence. Both of those problems were fixed in time for the playoffs and the result was a championship.

There you have it, that caps off yet another exciting season of FPF Junior. I hope you all enjoyed the league as well as my articles and I hope to see you back on the sidelines when the Spring season kicks off. Also, stay tuned to the FPF website because I will be posting my “Dubois Awards” where I name the quarterback, receiver, defender, rusher and two-way player of the year from each division.