Inside the Redzone (Div C) – Week 1

 

The 2010 Spring Division C season is off to an expected start. Most of the teams who should have won, did win. There were quite a few familiar faces, perhaps a bit too familiar. I know we usually discuss, at the beginning of each season, the presence of certain players or teams playing in lower divisions to boost egos. I am here to tell you I will NOT be doing that this season. In my experience, people or teams who try to cheat the system fail about 91.7% of the time. So I will let karma do its thing and keep my focus on what I do best, writing masterpieces. There are a few questions that come to mind, Will there be any perfect teams a la Dirty Birds or Warriors? Will there be any winless teams? Will we see any Cinderella runs? All of these questions and more will be answered in the next ten weeks. Having said that, sit back, relax and to quote the Mortal Kombat, “It has begun!”

 

 

The Good

 

There were a few teams who were impressive last weekend and will probably do well throughout the season.

 

On the top of the list is Point Point led by Richard Shefteshy, Tony Tabet and Phil Ackaoui, all players who have played in the higher divisions in previous Winter seasons. They won their first week’s match up quite convincingly by a score of 42-0. There is not much more I can say about them. Next, Primetime also won their first game by a shutout, 33-0. They, of course, have the Daousts (all three of them) and a player everyone will be talking about soon enough, Doug McKernan. This is probably a good place for Primetime because they definitely do NOT have a Division B roster.

 

Moving on, Mysterious & Magical Men of Terror (MMM) have a strong nucleus of players from Dirty Birds so they are definitely a contender in my opinion. Matthew Bishara was behind center in week 1 and it worked out quite well for them, however, the key to success for MMM will be their depth. They have Eric Bishara, Marco Ritondo and Viktor Kozlowski, a player who can definitely be the QB if it is needed. MMM are my pick to go far in Division C, you read it here first.

 

Darkhorses will definitely be everything their name promises and more. John Roveto of Winter 2010 Love Cows (finalists) leads this team and has a good supporting cast in Kenton Lowe (an unknown commodity in the league but is an incredible athlete and it won’t be too long before he makes a name for himself), Andrew Carruthers of Winter 2010 VPC (finalists) and Matt Clow of Division B Rude Bwoys who is an intelligent player with leadership.

 

Not to forget the Cobras, who are going back to their Pre-Lever era with Frank Grenier as the QB and Jean-Francois Trudeau, Fred Searle, Ben Gendron and Marc-Andre Daigneault as receivers. Given the great job Frank Grenier did with Time Bombs in the Winter 2010 season, I think he’ll have another excellent season with his Cobras in Spring 2010. They will need to use their chemistry more than anything because they do lack an x-factor type player.

 

FOTC are back from the Winter 2010 season, but with a couple of changes. First, they are no longer named Flight Of The Concords but instead Fools Of The Country; what an interesting choice for a name. One would think they could be a bit more creative and perhaps call themelves Fight Of The Chickens/Cats/Canaries? Full Of Tougas’ Charisma? Well that actually leads to the second change, Martin Tougas is the QB. Their roster is better than the 2009 Spring Division C Flying Weasels (semi-finalists) so I will label them to either go to the finals or at worst, semi-finals.

 

Last but not least, Lobster Dinner had an amazing opening week with a win over Chaos. Matthew Young of Lobster Dinner has made it clear that Division C should be aware of this team. The majority of players are from 2009 Spring Division C For Teh Lulz however they have DIP’d into the market for some new players, namely Henri Chelhot and Pablo Savard. It remains to be seen how this team will perform over the course of the season but I definitely have more faith in this team than I did in FTL.

 

 

The Unpredictable

 

There are also some teams, despite a win or loss in week 1, who are very hard to read. It just seems like they can go either way on any given week.

 

I’ll start with Chaos who has a somewhat similar roster from 2009 Spring Division C season in which they were the finalists. They might be missing a player or two but have the chemistry, the x-factors and talent to go back to the dance if they can rekindle the same magic. Their first week loss might be a sign of things to come, especially with Eugene McLaren’s health issue which are a major concern for Chaos. If everyone is healthy and on the same page, they have the potential to go far in the season and playoffs.

 

BOOM! Goes The Dynamite, a team who had a very disappointing loss in the first round of Winter 2010 Division 4 playoffs, started off the season with a loss. They are still an above average team especially since they added David Faucher who is an excellent rusher, and Neville Johnson, formerly of Montreal’s Finest back in 2008. However they need to get a win soon (2 game losing streak) to build up their confidence. Given the fact they have a similar roster from the Winter season and their inconsistency, it is tough to predict which BOOM! team will show up in 2010 Spring.

 

Terror Squad has a couple of players from old Triple Sixers which includes their QB Tam Vilaydeth and Maxime Paterson. The team is full of tackle football players and so far it appears they have done a great job adjust to FPF. It will be very interesting to see how this team does in the next nine games. I do believe they have enough to make the playoffs.

 

Brocassion had a tough time in 2010 Winter Division 3 season, however it appears Division C might be a perfect home for them. They won in week 1 against BOOM and if they can stay consistent, they could be looking at an above .500 record. However the key is consistency and in only their second season in FPF, the before-mentioned task will not be an easy one.

 

Kludgies, or as Moe Khan would call them “The Fighting Bodkins” had a win in the opening week despite their QB, Dylan Taylor throwing more interceptions (4) than touchdowns (3). I can assure you that they will not win too many games with those type of statistics (Dylan had 37% pass completion, it appears he was playing on All-Star on Madden) but because their defense seemed somewhat decent under the guidance of FPF verteran Jeff Brown, I will give them the benefit of the doubt and put them in this category.

 

Last but not least, Vicious Canucks have an interesting roster but I have high hopes for them. Thomas Cesari finally returns to FPF as a player (hasn’t played since an injury sidelined him in 2009 Winter season) and was a little rusty in game 1, however he’ll definitely get it going in a few weeks. His supporting cast consists of Leo Gervais, Robert O’Grady, Angelo Garofalo, Ryan Phillips among a couple others. I think Tom finally is part of a team in which he feels comfortable with and that will be a huge factor in his performance.

The Unsuccessful

 

Briscoe High Hawks, Jets, Those Guys and KGP Champs are all in the same boat. They have an insane amount of talent on their roster but are a combined 0-4 after week 1. In all honesty, I am quite certain that I will not see any one of these teams in the semi-finals, let alone finals. Most probably, two out of these four teams will finish below .500. The talent level is far too good in Division C that these teams will find it tough to compete week in and week out. I think the main problem is their level of thinking. They believe they used to be good so it is enough to just show up and you can chalk up a win. GUESS AGAIN AMIGOS, most games in Division C will be result in a dog fight so get ready to prove yourselves again otherwise it will be a long season.

 

Trojans are thus far the biggest disappointment because they players from the Young Guns dynasty but just can’t seem to do well at all. They’ve been playing mediocre football the last two seasons and if they don’t do well in 2010 Spring Division C, what will they do next? This team needs to find a spark that will bring everyone together and dominate because looking at the individual talent on the roster, they are stacked on paper.

 

It seems that Titans are really there to have fun. Andrija Zecevic really has nothing to prove and wants to try the QB position however he found out very quickly that being a passer isn’t very easy, even in Division C. So hopefully they have a back up plan to make the season a little interesting but regardless, they will not ranked in the top 15 after the season is done.

 

Rounding out the Division C is Vikings whose roster consists mainly of Black Knights players from 2010 Winter Division 2 season. Judging by their first game in which they were shutout 42-0, I don’t see them as any type of a threat even though they have higher division experience. If they want to prove me wrong then by all means, I look forward to it.

 

 

Now that you have an idea of each team’s chances over the course of the season, I’ll start my power rankings from next week which will feature the top 10 teams. The list will be updated every week to reflect which teams belong in the better half of the Division C. I have written enough for the first week but expect great things in the upcoming weeks such as:

 

• Power Rankings

 

• Grinds My Gears (New)

 

• Weekly Polls (New)

 

 

Therefore welcome again to the 2010 Spring Division C season, it will be a fun ride. As usual if you have any comments/suggestions, email me at [email protected]. I leave you with the following quote:

 

“The one thing that I know is that you win with good people.” – Don Shula