Inside the Red Zone (D1) – Week 5

 

To win your first ever FPF game is very exciting, winning two straight games, is a statement. Of course I am speaking about the Redhawks, who are turning heads and showing the rest of Division 1 that they are no longer to be taken lightly. Now that we are halfway through the season, Division 1 is shaping up quite nicely. Many had picked Montreal’s Finest and Demons to make it to the finals in April, but now that we are five games in the season, are those two teams still the favorites? I believe they are, but it is not as evident as it might have been at the beginning of the season. There are a couple of teams (Rainmakers and Redhawks) who are surging and it is time to give them their due credit. In my column last week, I discussed the Redhawks in detail. This weeks, I will be doing the same for the Rainmakers.

**Congratulations to Kevin Wyeth, Kishon Thompson, Patrick Chenard, Rochdi Benabdelkader and Carmine Pollice for being the first five players ever to be inducted into the FlagPlus Football Hall Of Fame. It is a great honor for FlagPlus Football because we have had the privilege of seeing such amazing people and players perform at the highest level. Your contributions to this league are invaluable and a part of our success. Therefore I would like to congratulate and thank each of you**

 

The Demons are 5-0. Are they the best team in Division 1? Yes. They have the number one offense, which hasn’t been stopped by any team after five weeks. Their chemistry is impeccable and to an extent, their defense is also making plays. Do they have a weakness? It is tough to find weaknesses on an undefeated team, but if there is something, it would have to be the absentees of their players. There were a couple of games when the Demons didn’t have their full roster and although, they did manage to win, it was a close call (Rainmakers and Old Skool). **FLASHBACK** In Winter 2009, the Demons lost to the Hurricanes in the semi finals because a couple of players were missing. I believe they’re deep enough to win, despite the absences, however, the task becomes much more difficult. So I hope they all realize that come playoff time, everyone should be present.

 

Redhawks won again last weekend, this time upending the Express 25-19. You can call me Captain Obvious, however when someone throws for 75 yards in a Division 1 game, it is highly unlikely that their team will win. I am speaking about Patrick Chenard who threw for 75 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. It is still remarkable that despite the poor passing performance, it was a one score game. At the same time, can it also be said that the Redhawks’ defense played well? Absolutely! The Redhawks have a lot of playmakers on defense and they are improving their flag game weekly. They intercepted and sacked the Express twice last week. On the flip side, Charles St-Martin is doing wonders for their offence. He spreads the ball and makes good reads on a consistent basis. After two games, he is 2-0 and has a QB rating of 106.4. The Redhawks will be mightily tested this weekend because they face the powerhouse Montreal’s Finest, who completely outplayed them earlier this season.

 

Speaking of whom, Montreal’s Finest won last weekend against Old Skool, however the game was much closer than the score (37-27) indicated. Hall of Famers Kevin Wyeth and Kishon Thompson arrived to the game late, however upon their arrival, Montreal’s Finest was back to their old tricks. Old Skool didn’t have Andy Peterkin at the game so Mike Cuscuna took over the QB duties. I must say that he did a GREAT job filling in. He made some no look throws that even caught the Finest defense off guard. Therefore I don’t think Andy Peterkin could have done more for Old Skool. That said, he can always prove me wrong when these two teams meet again in week 10.

 

Old Skool are in trouble right now because they are two games behind in the chase for the last playoff spot, but their schedule is favorable because their next three games are against Express , Redhawks (both are teams they’re trying to catch) and CLR Forces (a team who is 0-5). So it is time for them to wake up and to start making it happen (a-la 2010 Expos); otherwise they’ll soon find themselves officially out of playoff contention.

The same can be said about the CLR Forces, because after five weeks, they have zero points. Their latest loss was against the Rainmakers, who defeated them quite easily. The CLR Forces’ next three opponents are the Expos, Old Skool and Demons. Unless they start a magical journey (similar to Aladdin on a carpet ride) that results in a few wins, they will be missing the playoffs for a second straight season. So in essence, if they have a chance at making the post season, they have to win four times out of their five remaining games. Is it impossible? No. So will they make the playoffs? We’ll find out later in this week’s The Eight Ball.

 

Lastly, the Rainmakers are 4-1. Are they just as good as the Demons? No, because they lost to the Demons. Are they then just as good as Montreal’s Finest? It is tough to say, because although they have similar records, it is tough to compare their playing styles. Luckily for them, and for us, the Rainmakers’ next two opponents are the Demons and Montreal’s Finest, respectively. Therefore in about two weeks, we’ll have a very good idea of Rainmakers’ belonging in that same category. As I mentioned earlier, I will discuss the Rainmakers in detail in “Behind The Flag”.

The Eight Ball

This week’s question is “Will the CLR Forces turn their season around and make the playoffs?”

Answer: Outlook not so good.

So there you have it, the eight ball has spoken.

 

Behind The Flag

This week I will take a look at the Rainmakers, who are captained by superstar QB Ryan Kastner. They are currently 4-1 and third in the Division 1 overall standings. When we think of the Rainmakers, we see a great bunch of guys who carry themselves with class. They play hard, compete and are great ambassadors for McGill Football. They joined FlagPlus Football in Winter 2008 (the inaugural season for the WEPL) and have enjoyed many great seasons, since. I sat down with Ryan Kastner and we chatted about the Rainmakers.

“The late Adriano Tassone was the first to play flag with the Click-Clack, in 2007. He decided to start his own team in 2008 and recruited a bunch of his McGill University teammates to come play with him (myself, Alex Bussandri, Mike Samman, Bobby Mikelberg, Mike Chitayat). Lee Kiley was a good friend of Mike Samman and had experience playing flag in the summers and therefore he also joined. Finally, Teddy Frenette was recommended to us by McGill Univesity teammates Christian McGuire and Addly Dufour.

At first, Addley wanted to be the snapper but he was demoted after our first scrimmage when he kept snapping it all over the place. That’s when we recruited Derek Kastner to be our snapper. Although he had no football experience, he could throw, had good hands and was open to learning from the more experienced receivers. That was the inaugural Rainmakers team and we ran through Division 2. In our first season, we only lost to the Demons and the other McGill team [the Red Army] in the semi-final. Even though we didn’t win the championship, we were all competitive and wanted to challenge ourselves so we decided to move up to Division 1 for future seasons.

Over the years we added Christian McGuire, Addley Dufour and PO Brunet but lost them along with Teddy Frenette when the Expos joined FlagPlus Football, because they play together in outdoor football leagues. Nonetheless, having played with them helped us learn the finer points to the flag game, which is different compared to tackle football. So with the loss of some of our players to the Expos, we added (in Winter 2010 season) Charles-Antoine Sinotte, who had played with us during the Spring seasons. We also added Ben Leger who played with Mike Samman and Lee Kiley during the summers. They were great additions and we had our best season yet, losing in the semi-finals to the Expos by a single point.

This season we lost a few more guys when Alex Bussandri took a job in Toronto, Lee Kiley tore his ACL and Charles Antoine Sinotte was able to go play semi-pro football in Europe. So we went out and got Tim Kraemer (another former Redmen player, who’s played in FPF’s lower divisions) and Frank Toupin who had played flag with Mike Samman and Ben Leger. Once again the new additions have been huge and a big part of our 4-1 start.”

 

So there you have it, the story of the Rainmakers. Similar to the Redhawks, they have a lot of football experience and have used that network to recruit new players. As Ryan mentioned, they’re off to another great start and are looking better than ever. My vote for the hidden gem is Francis Toupin (as I’ve mentioned his name quite a few times already this season) because he is a vital part of the defense. Rainmakers have reached three semi finals (Winter ‘08, ‘10 and Spring ‘09) and one final (Spring ‘08). They have managed to stay competitive every season and haven’t missed the playoffs yet. They have faced adversity, challenges and numerous obstacles, but found ways to overcome them. It never gets too old to say this, the Rainmakers are a class act and great ambassadors for FlagPlus Football.

The next segment of Behind The Flag will cover the Demons.

 

Game Of The Week

Demons (5-0) vs. Rainmakers (4-1)

Demons offense (208 points) vs. Rainmakers defense (134 points)

Rainmakers offense (191 points) vs. Demons defense (153 points)

 

This game will showcase two teams, who both rely on chemistry and have average defenses. The receiving core for the Demons consists of Benny Goodfriend, Paul Lapierre, Nick and Dominic Raymond, and Jonathan Lyristis. The Rainmakers’ receiving core consists of Tim Kraemer, Michael Chitayat, Derek Kastner, Bobby Mikelberg, Ben Leger and Michael Samman. I believe both teams have excellent receivers that fit into their system based on their QBs skill-set. The big advantage goes to the snapping position: Benny Goodfriend is the best snapper in FlagPlus Football. On the defensive side, the Rainmakers defense has nine interceptions and the Demons defense has pulled in six. Karl De Nie has 9 sacks whereas Francis Toupin has 3. Therefore both defenses have their advantages.

In their first meeting, the difference in the game was one point (Demons won 28-27). Adi Sharma had a big interception on the Rainmakers’ final drive, trying to punch it in to win the game. What will be the outcome of this game? It will be close and will come down to the wire, however I believe the Demons will pull it out once again.

 

That’s it for this week’s column, hope it kept you entertained while you were doing whatever it is that you do. As usual, if you have comments/suggestions, please email me at [email protected]. Good luck to all teams. I will leave you with the following quote:

“My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. That’s why we put on clinics. The only thing I can do is try to give back. If it works, it works.” – Tiger Woods