FPF Junior Divisional Recaps

Last weekend, I was out of town and I was unable to take in any of the FPF Junior action. When I got back, I went over the scores from the games I missed. Since I was not able to catch any games last weekend, I will go over each division and talk about the noteworthy performances.

Atom:

The first thing that caught my attention in Atom was that the McCaig Gladiators 2 no longer had a perfect record. In fact, they drew 0-0 with the Silver Cougars. I am not sure whether I am more surprised about the Gladiators not wining or not scoring any points. After looking at the games’ stats, I quickly understood why the Gladiators could not put up points. They were missing their star quarterback Luca Swaminadhan. While Luca Iacovelli did his very best to replace him, he was not able to lead his team to victory. While it was not a great day for either the Gladiators or the Cougars offence, both of their defences stepped up big. The Cougars’s defensive effort was spearheaded by the talented Matthew Cooper. His two tackles and one interception set the tone. On the Gladiators side of things, it was Joshua Szammer with his four tackles and one defended pass that caught my eye.

Mosquito:

In Mosquito, the McCaig Gladiators 1 asserted themselves as the best team in the division with a statement victory over the AP Hurricanes 2. Surprisingly, the Gladiators managed to win this game despite the struggles of their star quarterback Kingston Paquet. A few weeks back, I compared Kingston Paquet to Brett Favre. That comparison was largely based on his arm strength and gun-slinger mentality. However, many forget that no NFL quarterback has thrown more interceptions than Favre. Kingston Paquet was also afflicted by the interception bug last weekend. He threw three interceptions in his game on Sunday. Luckily, the Gladiators defence picked up the slack. Luca Fonsato helped out his quarterback out with two interceptions. Those two picks gave Kingston Paquet a shorter field to drive and permitted the young man to score two TDs despite only passing for 70 yards. The Hurricanes Markus D’Alessandro also struggled. He only completed 7 passes for 56 yards. While his defence did pick off the Gladiators on three occasions, Markus D’Alessandro was not able to capitalize on those opportunities. Out of those three picks, Markus D’Alessandro recorded two himself. The Hurricanes third interception came courtesy of Kevin Leitch.

The Hurricanes second game of the day was against the 2nd placed Panthers. In a crucial game for the Hurricanes, Markus D’Alessandro rose to the occasion and led his team to a 14-13 victory. While he may have struggled in his game versus the Gladiators, Markus D’Alessandro did just enough to lead his team to victory over the Panthers. He passed for 85 yards and most importantly, did not turn over the ball. While the Hurricanes protected the ball, the Panthers did not, and it was Trevon Belgrave who managed the interception. With his six tackles and one pick, Trevon Belgrave was quite the difference maker. It is hard to figure out what went wrong for the Panthers in this game. Their two quarterbacks, Diego Leone and Kevyn De Serres-Payne combined for nearly 150 passing yards. They even distributed the ball quite well. They had seven different receivers catch passes, six of whom had multiple receptions. This game eventually came down to extra-point attempts. The Hurricanes scored two points on converts while the Panthers only scored one. For a team like the Panthers who love the deep ball and rely on their athletes for yards after the catch, scoring on converts can be difficult. If they hope to have success this season, they need to figure out the key to producing more off extra point attempts.

Pee-Wee:

Unsurprisingly, the Musketeers are still atop Pee-Wee with a perfect record. The combination of Kaydon Shaw and Massimo Moufrage was once again too much for opposing defences to handle. In the Musketeer’s game versus the Rams, the two combined for 82 yards and a score. I was also surprised to see Maya Di Fazio try her luck at quarterback. While she has always had the skill to play the position, she has been too nervous to try her hand there during games. Her performance Sunday proved that she has nothing to be nervous about. She completed both of her passes for a whopping total of 37 yards. On defence for the Musketeers, it was once again Massimo Moufrage who made the biggest impact. To go along with his three tackles, he also had a defended pass and two interceptions, one of which he ran back for a score. While Massimo Moufrage may grab all the headlines, the Musketeers have another star defensive back in Dante Picken. The promising athlete left his mark on the game with a tackle and interception of his own. Finally, I cannot talk about the Musketeer’s defence without talking about the rushing of Frida Llaguno. She was constantly in the face of the opposing quarterback and her efforts were eventually rewarded with a sack.

The most exciting week four game in Pee-Wee was the one between the Bulldogs and the Packers. While the Bulldogs were not quite able to secure their first win of the season, they came very close. All season, the Bulldogs coach Jeff Fixman has been stressing the importance of having one quarterback for the entire season. That persistence was rewarded in their game last Sunday. Bulldog quarterback J.J. Fixman had his best game of the season with 182 passing yards and four touchdowns. He led all Pee-Wee quarterbacks in passing yards. His favorite receiver was Matthew Ziegler who caught four passes for an impressive 87 receiving yards and one touchdown. J.J. Fixman did not content himself with just a dominant offensive performance. On defence, he managed two tackles and his team’s only interception. If the Bulldogs keep on playing like they did last Sunday, they will win their first game of the season very soon. The Packers had a very similar approach to the game. Just like the Bulldogs QB, Zacharie Gadbois threw for four scores and only one interception. The recipient of one of those scores was Aymerick Jean. He also led all Packers with four receptions for 57 yards. While the Bulldogs may have passed for more yards, the Packers eventually won the game thanks to the legs of Zacharie Gadbois. The elusive quarterback decided to tuck the ball and run on five occasions. Those attempts were rewarded with 88 rushing yards and a score. It was that score that made the difference and led the Packers to victory over the Bulldogs.

Bantam:

When I went to look at the results in Bantam, I was expecting to see a convincing win for North Shore over the Dusters. After all, last week I talked at length about how the Dusters were disorganized all while praising North Shore and calling them a well-oiled football machine. Clearly, I jinxed it and for that, North Shore, I am sorry. In one of the highest scoring games of the weekend, the Dusters beat North Shore 39-34. The Dusters path to victory started with the performance of Adam Malinoff. While there is a lot the Dusters quarterback did wrong, notably the tree interceptions he threw, there is even more he did right. To lead your team to victory after turning the ball over three times is quite the accomplishment. Adam Malinoff managed it by throwing for nearly 200 yards. He added to his passing yards another 68 rushing yards. When you tally all that up, Adam Malinoff produced over 250 yards of offence. When he wasn’t running, Malninoff’s favorite target was Evan Shiveck. While Evan Shiveck may have led the team in receptions with four and touchdowns with two, it was Matthew Eily who finished the game as the leading receiver for the Dusters with his two catches for 55 yards. North Shore did all they could, but simply put, they were not able to keep pace with the Dusters high octane offence. While Jaheim Smith had a game for the ages with five receptions for 70 receiving yards and three scores, not many others elevated their play. After Jaheim Smith and his 70 yards, the nearest is Matthis Continelli with 25. On defence, it was the Jushane Davis show. The extremely talented young man recorded three tackles and, most importantly, an interception that he ran back for a score. However, no matter how good Jaheim Smith and Jushane Davis are for North Shore, they will need more players to rise to the occasion if they want to have a chance of beating the Dusters.

Midget:

While most of what happened in Midget was as expected, one result shocked me. TuneSquad handed Mustangs their first loss in over two seasons. Garner Ross and his wonky lefty throwing motion produced big for TuneSquad. He had just about a perfect performance. Garner Ross completed 18 of 20 passes for a 90% completion rate. To go along with that outstanding completion rate, Garner Ross threw for 212 yards, five touchdown and no interceptions. While he had a great performance, those numbers would not have been possible without the top-notch play of his receivers. Garner Ross is spoiled to have four talented receivers. On Sunday, he did a great job spreading the ball between those four. Leading the charge was Eli Jacobson who had a dominant performance with five catches for 72 yards and a score. Not to be outdone, the talented Charles Presser recorded two touchdown grabs to go along with his 4 receptions for 63 yards. Also with two scores was Ben Arnovitz. The final member of TuneSquad’s big four is Jesse Dym and he closed out the match with four catches for 24 yards. Defensively, it was Charles Presser who made the biggest impact. He was a force to be reckoned with in the secondary and made the Mustangs pay with a defended pass and two interceptions. However, the most impressive performance came from Jonaatan Lebensztajn-Shahraban. For years, I have seen rusher after rusher try to contain Coby White. Jonaatan Lebensztajn-Shahraban succeeded where so many before him have failed. He limited the Mustang’s QB to only two rushing attempts and sacked him four times in the process. I won’t say much about the Mustangs because I know they are a much better team than this loss reflects.

With that, the fourth week of FPF Junior action is a wrap. I will be back on the sidelines in Kirkland this weekend taking in the action. If you have any questions about the league or feedback about the article, feel free to come and let me know.

See you all on Sunday!