Inside the Red Zone (D1) – Week 10

 

The regular season is now over. Was the 2011 Winter Division 1 season as we had expected? I believe so. Montreal’s Finest and the Demons finished one and two respectively. The Expos and the Rainmakers finished third and fourth respectively. Old Skool (many ex-Hurricanes players) made the playoffs late in the season and the Express clinched the playoffs in week ten. The CLR Forces failed to qualify for the playoffs for a second straight season while the Redhawks (a new team) lost in the last week to finish out of post-season contention. In a nutshell, it was all pretty normal in FlagPlus Football’s elite division.

WINTER 2011 SEASON

Also with the end of the regular season, four awards were handed out. Did the winners match my candidates in The Amazing Race? Well I had predicted that Kevin Wyeth would win best QB and he did. From what I hear, this was the toughest decision of all twenty in FPF. Chad Byers and Wyeth both had incredible seasons, and despite Byers’ incredible completion percentage, it was Wyeth’s incredibly low interceptions thrown and QB Rating that gave him the slight edge. As Alex Porras pointed out, it is his FIFTH QB award which is an amazing accomplishment. Let’s not forget that he was also inducted into the Hall of Fame this season. Moving on, I had Marc Champagne as the best receiver and lo and behold, he won the receiver of the year award. He had 741 receiving yards and 19 TDS which are similar numbers to SCC (Express) from Winter 2010 Division 1 season.

So far, it’s all Finest until now. The defensive player battle was very close between Kishon Thompson, Bruno Collette of the Express and Karim Binette, but I had given the nod to Karim Binette. FlagPlus Football agreed and Karim Binette won the defensive player of the year award. Believe it or not, this is Karim’s first award and way over due. I have played a couple of seasons with Mr. Binette in the past and I couldn’t be happier that he was finally recognized for his talents.

The two way player was close between Michael Chitayat and Tim Kraemer, so either way the Rainmakers would be bringing home one award. Well, it appears that Michael Chitayat edged out his teammate and won the Two-Way player of the year award. This is rewarding because it shows he is a complete player. We always knew Mr. Chitayat for his offensive abilities, however, this year he has stepped up his defensive game. Consequently it helped the Rainmakers improve to the third best defense in Division 1.

Last but not least, it’s time to announce the Heisman. It was another close race between Kevin Wyeth and Chad Byers, however I will have to go with Kevin Wyeth because although they put up similar numbers, the deciding factor was the head-to-head which went to Mr. Wyeth. Furthermore, he also won the QB of the year so it’s hard to make an argument against him.

Congratulations to all the individual award winners on being recognized for their abilities during a period of ten weeks. However, does it mean anything that the Finest won three out of four awards? The Demons and the Expos didn’t even have one player in there. Does that make them upset? I doubt it. Knowing the Demons and the Expos, they want the championship more than any award (and so do the Finest and the Rainmakers) but not being recognized for individual awards might add an extra incentive. As Moe Khan always says, “only time will tell”.

WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR!

Also with the end of the regular season, a few teams don’t make the playoffs. In the Winter 2011 Division 1 season, the CLR Forces and the Redhawks failed to qualify for the playoffs. The former were pretty much out of post-season contention by mid-season, however the latter had a chance in week ten to clinch (a win or tie would have sufficed) but came up just short. So what will happen to both in Winter 2012?

When I spoke to Frederic Dupuis, he was adamant that the CLR Forces will be back in Winter 2012. He also confirmed that he’s disappointed his team has now missed the playoffs two years in a row. Therefore in Winter 2012, they will be better organized and ready to compete. They showed signs of life late in the season (as they did in Winter 2010), but I do believe they hate the idea of not playing in the post-season for two years in a row. So I definitely believe they will be back with a vengeance.

As for the Redhawks, it was a good season despite what anyone says, because they definitely kept their playoffs hopes alive till the last possible week. Being the new team, they still finished ahead of the CLR Forces. Had they put Charles St. Martin at QB from the beginning of the season, would that have been enough for them to clinch the playoffs? It is tough to speculate, but I believe they just needed another win to clinch, which could have come early in the season, but I guess we’ll never know. If I know them at all, they are very competitive and will return in Winter 2012. As with any new team, they learned a lot this season and are smart enough to make adjustments for next Winter season.

So farewell to the CLR Forces and the Redhawks for this Winter 2011 season. You played hard and gave it your all every week. We look forward to seeing you in Winter 2012.

PLAYOFFS 2011

I believe I pretty much broke down the first round of playoffs on the WEPL this week, so you’ll have to tune in to that. However, I will focus on the two teams who received a first round bye, staring with Montreal’s Finest. They finished 9-1 (only loss came to the Demons), tied for second best offense and were first in defense. Three out of four individual award winners came from the Finest. Can they be stopped? It appears that although they’ve had some close games in Winter 2011, they’ve managed to win almost all of them.

Similar to Winter 2010, they had a week off before they faced the Express in the semi-finals; the rest was history. So what are the Finest doing in their bye week to make sure another upset doesn’t take place? Well no one is available for comment so I can’t really say. It seems like Moe Khan has his boys on lockdown while he’s off gallivanting to the barber shop to finally cut his hair. The Finest don’t want anything but that championship trophy and are very much focused. So there isn’t much more to be said about that.

How about the Demons? What are they doing? Well the Demons have had an interesting season. They’ve rarely had a complete roster, which is somewhat alarming but at the same time, it shows that they’re talented enough to win without some of the key players. They finished 7-2-1 and tied for second in points scored with the Finest. Their defense has been suspect at times as they have allowed an average 35.5 points per game. Now with the loss of Adi Sharma (who is out of town for the rest of the playoffs), they will be in tough, however I have to believe that they still have enough experience and talent to adjust.

I actually was able to reach Carmine Pollice and asked him a couple of questions about the state of the Demons in the bye week.

Rehan: With a bye week, how does the team prepare and stay in game shape?

Carmine: Extra time to relax and stretch.  We are slightly more “seasoned” than other squads.

Rehan: Would you rather face the Rainmakers or the Expos?

Carmine: It really does not matter.  Both are beatable, as are we if we do not play to our potential.

Rehan: How do you adjust for the loss of Adi Sharma?

 

Carmine: Not easily. Adi is the captain and spark of the defense.  We have had to shift things around in his absence.  Hopefully we can make him proud.

Rehan: What’s your game plan for the semi-finals and does it change depending on who wins this weekend?

 

Carmine: Nothing changes regardless of who we play.  Our game plan only changes based on which players we have.  We have played very short handed the entire second half of the season.  When the team is there we are a very tough out.

So the Demons seem to be relaxed and loose, and why shouldn’t they be? It has worked for them quite well all season long. Their goal should be to field a full roster (minus Adi Sharma) for the semi-finals in two weeks.

ON TAP

Next week I’ll take a look at my STARWAR SQUAD for the Winter 2011 season. The squad is comprised of talented players who perform at the highest level every week. Similar to past seasons, my squad has six players because all can play two-way football. Also I’ll give the categories of STAR-AWARDS© and the winners will be announced the following week.

 

That’s it for this week’s column. As always please email me for feedback/suggestions at [email protected]. Good luck to all teams this weekend and see you all next week Inside The Redzone.