Last leg of the divisional round in Tier3

Let’s break down the remainder of the playoffs. We have 4 teams remaining in the higher bracket: Illegal Use of Hands, Idaho Udapimps, West Island Boys and The Penetrators. The two teams who win today fast track to the quarterfinals and guarantee themselves a spot in the semi-finals. The winner of the game between the two winners in the quarterfinals will get a spot in the finals as winner of the upper bracket. The loser of that game will have to win their spot in the finals versus the winner of the lower bracket. The losers of the games tonight will have to fight through the lower bracket. 

In the lower bracket, the teams who win tonight will play each other on December 3rd at 8, and a win in that game will mean another game just after against the losers of tonight’s upper bracket games. The winners in those two games will face each other and the winning team will face the loser of the two upper bracket winners tonight for a place in the finals.

Overall, tonight has a lot of implications for the upper bracket teams, as it could mean 4 additional games instead of 2 with a sweep to get to the finals.

Let’s break down tonight’s games.

Illegal Use of Hands (1) vs. The Penetrators (5)

Pentrators defeated Team Sexy in dominant defensive fashion. They picked off Benjamin Berbier 6 times, notably Jared Boidman with three of those. There’s no way this happens again against Alessandro Barazzoni, so what is the solution for Penetrators? Frankly, probably converts. Illegal Use of Hands only seem to go for 1, and those converts can be huge, especially if Justin Goodman can keep it clean. Illegal Use of Hands are great defensively and surely will find a way to get stops. Goodman has to keep getting Rocco Cristiano involved offensively, and get Nicholas Fon more involved as well. For Barazzoni, he’ll need to not get overtly aggressive against a very good defense led by Cristiano. I think Penetrators are capable of causing the upset, but Goodman can’t throw picks and must play smart. I still trust Barazzoni much more. 32-28 Illegal Use of Hands.

Idaho Udapimps (2) vs. West Island Boys (3)

Division-D2 rematch. Idaho Udapimps won that one pretty convincingly. Ever since then though, both teams have been getting better especially at the QB position. Brady Ohanessian and Zack Stacey are now two of the biggest prospects at QB in the whole of FPF. Both squads are well built and have plenty of superstar power. This game might also get decided on converts where Idaho have the upper hand. I can’t pick this one.

Killer Rays (7) vs. Rico Ryders (14)

After another tough loss to Idaho Udapimps, Killer Rays fall to the lower bracket to face Ricy Ryders. Rico Ryders took care of business by eliminating Lightwork 33-26. Matthew Yanakoulias protected the ball well once again and still hasn’t thrown a single pick this playoffs. He’s got a well rounded team and has shown that he can have those great games. Issue is that Killer Rays are very good defensively and Yanakoulias can get flustered when things aren’t going well. Obviously, Killer Rays’ offense is great and I don’t know how Rico Ryders stop Tyler Gurberg. For that reason, give me Killer Rays by a score of 38-24.

Trapstars (6) vs. Griffnation (15)

Griffnation look solid in that lower bracket after a very solid win against Mengoose by a score of 33-19. Olivier Sabourin was clinical in that one, and used Cedric Amessane with Thomas Moorjani-Houle out in that one. Assuming Moorjani-Houle is back, Griffnation will have the best receiver on the field. The team has also stepped it up defensively recently. As for Trapstars, they fell to West Island Boys, which wasn’t a surprise. Ryan Garber struggling as much as he did, throwing 4 picks was though. West Island Boys have a great defense of course, but we’ve been expecting way more of Garber recently. That performance has shed a bit of doubt there, but I’ll still go with Trapstars here, 35-29.

Team Sexy (4) vs. Bebes Dragons Magiques (18)

Bebes Dragons Magiques were on fire last game against Born in the 80s and it was an absolute masterclass from Guillaume Boulanger. Team Sexy are good and can have good games but their performance against The Penetrators was awful as they basically gave the game away. I know we’ve talked a lot about how Sam Anastasopoulos is a great 2-way player, but to win games, you need a great quarterback, and I’m not sure Benjamin Berbrier is a great one. He just hasn’t been great against good teams. I think this will be closer than some expect, but Team Sexy should still take this 31-27.

Joes Panini (8) vs. Bandits (13)

Joes Panini are one of the best teams in this division, with great talent and depth. Their loss to Illegal Use of Hands was a really close one and they should dominate Bandits. Emile Skaf has played better but Panini are better constructed and have more high-end talent. I don’t see how Bandits win this one. Joes Panini 38-20.

There you have it for this midweek article, good luck to all tonight.