Peeze’s Playbook (Div D) – Week 11 – FlagPlus Football League

My car got stolen. Before I continue, Id’ like you all to know that this isn’t the, usual charming but a somewhat awkward Peeze story that I use as a writing tool and then steer the conversation toward flag football. It is absolute honesty. My car got jacked in broad daylight today. Along with it, is the freedom of having a vehicle and, as such I now begin to worry about how I will get to my game on Sunday. Perhaps I should have been nicer to The Eagle at Master Control.

Yet there is one question that deserves even greater consideration. Have I become a target for crime since I have become an employee of Flag Plus Football? Given my new, elevated, social stature, this must be the case.

No Snakes on Blue Mountain

I’ve been told that in the Caribbean there are very few snakes and that the reason for this is that the Mongoose is their natural predator. Perhaps this is why Gaudet and co. picked Blue Mountain clean. Other than a first half safety Mongoose had a seemingly flawless first half. They went into halftime with a 12-2 lead. In the second half they continued to pile onto the lead despite the fact that Blue Mountain State were making a charge. As threatening as a team can be, winning a game with only 5 players (last week), having Cedric Nuckle back in the lineup is even more frightening. He caught 5 balls for 83 yards and a touchdown and took away half of the field. Marc-André Lapointe and William Tondreau added two touchdowns apiece and Mongoose wins this game 37-23.

BMS started original starting quarterback Kevin Gauthier this game and the QB carousel came to a stop as the endless shuffling in the most important position finally caught up with BMS. Gauthier threw two interceptions despite his three touchdowns and, desperately looking for a spark, the boys in blue made the switch to Yan Bissonnette, who took over behind the snapper. However, with key absences such as Nicholas Lafond and Jad Aridi, BMS simply found themselves unable to compete. Their season ends on a somewhat disappointing note but the team clearly has made positive strides. Look for Blue Mountain State to do some damage in seasons to come.

Hook ‘em Horns

Shortly after the Longhorns beat Le Zoo (by a score of 25-24), Vince Mancini of the Longhorns made the following post on the FPF Facebook wall, “HOOK ‘EM HORNS!!! 1 to go to the show!!!” After a tightly contested battle, the Longhorns had plenty of reason to celebrate. This game was truly a monument to efficiency as both quarterbacks played well and while they were far from perfect, neither made the big mistake that would lose them the game. Both Moodie and Kaye threw 4 touchdowns and neither threw an interception. For the Longhorns it was a good day for all those named Rosen as Adam and Chris scored 2 touchdowns each. In fact, both of Adam Rosen’s touchdowns were 40 yard strikes.

For Le Zoo, an incredible run comes to an end. They made the playoffs despite playing in a very strong division. Last season, Patrick St-Amand emerged as a superstar. This season, he did a lot to maintain that standing. Marcil and Villaincourt, also did their share of damage this game (Villaincourt caught 10 passes for 66 yards in this game). The game actually hung in the balance but with 4 plays remaining Le Zoo’s go-ahead offensive drive stalled at midfield. With only three plays remaining the Longhorns would run out the remaining plays and they will advance to the semi finals. For Le Zoo, it was a very good season that came to a premature end. For those interested in what I think they can do next season, they can tune in to this week’s Calling the Audible.

Gotham in Ashes; Checkmate Earns Permission to Advance

In their first matchup against Checkmate, Gotham Knights won a tightly contested battle. This rematch promised to be one of the best games on Sunday’s card. It did not disappoint. Bruce Candussi did what he does best, protect the ball and move the ball into the redzone. Once in the redzone there are few quarterbacks who are more effective. His two most dependable targets (Chris Rivest and Mikey Candussi) combined for 15 catches, 136 yards and 3 touchdowns. Despite throwing an early interception to Checkmate’s James Floreani, Gotham answered defensively on the same drive and intercepted an errant pass. In the end, with one play remaining, and having just scored a touchdown Bruce ‘The Big Bat’ Candussi missed a wide-open receiver on the following conversion to end the Gotham Knights season. At the end of the game Candussi, still in shock, stated, “I make that throw in my sleep.” Well, sleep will come, but before they know it they will be competing for a championship in winter.

Quarterback of the year Fred Morissette did not have his typical immaculate performance in this game (for the first time in his career, spanning 29 games thus far, Morissette threw more than one interception in a game). However, a less than stellar performance for Morissette still managed to throw 191 yards on 10 completions and 4 touchdowns. On another dubious note, Alex David went an entire game without catching a pass. This was the first time since July 5^th 2009 that David was kept off of the offensive box score. However, Checkmate has shown all season long that they find ways to win games and this game was no exception. Just as in the first game conversions were the difference a both teams scored 4 times in this game. Yet, in my opinion, the difference was the defensive presence of Minh Tôn-Thât. All game long, the Gotham Knights tried to take advantage of Kendal Mayers height advantage over Tôn-Thât, and each time, the defender won the battle. Checkmate wins this battle by a score of 26-25 but the war wages on in the semi-finals.

Playground Closed For the Season

Playground had one of those Cinderella type seasons. That is to say, if Cinderella slapped on a push-up bra, got all dressed up, applied her makeup, never got to go to the ball to meet Prince Charming. FPF’S Prince Charming is the division D FPF Championship and Playground lost their chance to make an impression. The Playground offense is known for efficiency, spreading zones and the ability to take timely shots against the defense. However, Gabriel Côté never got started. Perhaps his most threatening receiver, Laurent Foucault never got completely involved in the game. He caught three passes and earned 44 yards but he never sniffed the endzone. Moreover, Les Affreux seemed to have solved the Playground defense and kept their foot on the throttle for the entire game.

Despite Jonathan Lemieux throwing two interceptions, he did have a strong game overall accumulating over 200 yards and 5 touchdown tosses. When Affreux did turn the ball over, their stellar defense looked as strong as ever. While Bellefeuille did record a sack and Martin Jackson did return an interception for 6, it was truly the team defense that shone brightest for les Affreux in this game. The raging reds frustrated Playground’s offense continually and this feature makes them truly a scary team. They win this game by a final score of 38-20.

Reflctions, Rants and Ravings

Overall, I am pleased with the players named to the All-Star Team. Notable players who were in the discussion but did not quite make it: Devin Daoust, Daniel Bellefieulle, Mike Zenone, and Jon Moodie among others. It is really hard to choose the 12 most deserving payers in a division of 30 teams.
How come dudes don’t wear hats any more. Let’s all be more sympathetic to our bald brethren and help those like, VP of Media Relations, Daron Basmadjian stand up tall.
The Longhorns jersey makes me want to eat a steak. I don’t know why but the dudes make me hungry.
Checkmate’s James Floreani caught a tipped ball with one hand while falling out of bounds. That is the skill required to win receiver of the year.
Frank Kaye gave me hell because I criticized his arm strength. Second time that I’ve been called out by Frank. Between that and his classy post on the Facebook wall, I like him more and more.
I have begun to wonder who will be the BMS quarterback in the future? Either way they won’t go wrong with either Gauthier or Lafond.
How many players will show up for the Mongoose this week. I cannot imagine they will put together some more “5 Man Magic” and beat Les Affreux. Let’s hope they are at least 6 players as they were this week.
Does Garfield still play at 6 in the morning on some cable network? I don’t have satellite or cable so I’ll need FPF nation to let me know.
Matt ‘Twinkle Toes’ Domon made a great toe tapping catch at the back of the endzone. Why couldn’t he do more of that during the season?
Chris Rivest of the Gotham Knights messaged me to tell me that he thoroughly enjoyed playing against Checkmate, regardless of the result. The dude has a lot of class and I have nothing but respect for him and his team.
Do Hershey’s kisses not look like nipples to anyone else? Just me? Fine…

The Tuesday Throwdown

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, there would still be FPF. Get out of the woods, and, even if you’ve been eliminated come check out some high flying division D action at Catalogna on Sunday. My official predictions are coming later in the week but if you want to know what I’m thinking you can always email me at [email protected] or reach me on Twitter @PeezeFPF. If you type more than 140 characters you shouldn’t be tweeting. Terry doesn’t get an article but he does have a twitter handle. You can hit him up @TerryTamFPF.

On this week’s edition of division D’s Calling the Audible we discuss, the playoffs, the all-stars, who got snubbed and we constantly mention something called Forest Cake. Mat Domon joins us for his beloved weekly segment and we make fun of Eagle for no apparent reason. Check us out at http://fpf.podomatic.com or by subscribing on iTunes. See you on the fields, till then, thank you for letting me be myself.