Categories: Co-EdComplementaryDivisionSpring

Playoffs Are Finally Here in Coed!

The playoffs are underway in Coed! Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce have already faced off against the Fightin’ Tigers in the divisional round which means all of our semi-final matchups are set and ready to go Monday night. Before diving into the recap of the SHCS vs Fightin’s Tiger game, let’s take a look at the hottest and coldest teams in Coed.

Hot, Cold or Somewhere in Between?

Power Rangers: Red Hot

Power Rangers are the hottest team in Coed at the moment and the heavy favorites to win the title. I have repeated this almost every week, but they turned their season around in dramatic fashion after losing to Party Mix and that turn around began with them using their whole roster. As long as Power Rangers don’t change that, they will ride this hot streak all the way to another championship.

3rd Down For What: Cold

Yes, 3rd Down For What are 8-2 and have only been beaten by Power Rangers. However, since their two losses to Power Rangers, their performances have dropped off a cliff. To give you an idea, 3DW beat Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce 41-12 in week 2 but when they faced off in week 10, 3DW only won by 5 points. This team is trending in the wrong direction.

Party Mix: Lukewarm

Party Mix are the definition of lukewarm. They consistently beat the teams they are supposed to beat and they struggle against the top teams. The injury to Emma Racine has been catastrophic for this team. They lost one of the division’s biggest matchup nightmares and have not been the same without her.

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce: Hot

If there was an award for the most improved team it would definitely go to Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. Even though this team has been playing together for seasons now, they finally took the next step this year. Camille Ste-Marie and Marie-Anne Landry-Duval finally emerged as threats in the passing game and this team has not looked back since. While SHCS will not be the favorites in their game this week against 3rd Down For What, I think they have a fighting chance at beating them.

Fightin’ Tigers: Frigid

They are already eliminated from the playoffs, it does not get much colder than that.

Funtastic 9: Lukewarm

Funtastic peaked at the halfway point of the season with a series of wins versus Les Semi- Croquants and Yin & Yang. While Funtastic did win just enough games in the final few weeks to clinch the top seed, they have not had a s signature win in quite some while. Yin & Yang have been getting better and better and Funtastic will need to kick things into a higher gear if they hope to win the championship.

Yin & Yang: Hot

Yin & Yang had a horrendous start to the season, but they also had a brutal schedule. I expected them to gather steam over the second half of the season as their schedule got easier and that is exactly what they did. They crushed the Semi-Croquants in back to back weeks and it looks like their defence is finally clicking.

Les Semi-Croquants: Cold

I remember when Les Semi-Croquants were the best team in Coed 2 and Mariève Girard was looking like one of the best quarterbacks in all of coed. Boy, have things changed. After throwing 5 INTs in the first half of the season, she has thrown 12 in the second half. In that same time, she has only thrown 14 TD passes.

La Secte: Hot

Yes, the 0-10 La Secte are hot heading into the playoffs. They are currently playing the best football I have seen them play since they joined FPF. They were within a touchdown of beating Yin & Yang in week 8 and even managed to score a touchdown versus Power Rangers in week 10. While this team still has a lot of room for improvement, they are definitely trending in the right direction.

Quarterfinal Recap

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (31) vs Fightin’ Tigers (25)

As is often the case, the best quarterback won this game. JF Marquis had one of his best games of the season, passing for 214 yards, five touchdowns and only one interception. Fightin’ Tigers’ quarterback Seth Galina struggled. While he was able to move the ball, passing for over 200 yards, he was plagued with the interception bug. He threw three interceptions and turned the ball over one more time on downs.

Hugo Quintin stepped up huge for Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce in this match. After totaling 237 receiving yards all season, Quintin caught three passes for 107 yards and two scores. Talk about stepping it up when things matter the most. Not to be outdone, Vincent Marquis caught 4 passes for 50 yards and two scores. While SHCS’ offence was clicking in this one, there are still a few areas they will need to improve upon if they hope to beat Power Rangers in the semifinals. SHCS struggled on third and fourth down. They converted just twice on third down and were even worse on fourth where they did not convert once. While Marquis might only have thrown one pick, between failing to convert twice on 4th and punting once, SHCS essentially turned the ball over four times. Turning the ball over four times against Power Rangers is a surefire recipe for disaster.

SHCS also turned the corner this season when they started involving Camille Ste-Marie and Marie-Anne Landry-Duval more in their offence. In this match, the two accounted for only two catches. While they only caught two balls, they were targeted ten times. Marquis clearly learnt his lesson and knew that targeting the women on his team was key. However, targeting them is only half the issue. Landry-Duval and Ste-Marie need to catch the targets thrown their way. For SHCS to beat Power Rangers, Landry-Duval and Ste-Marie will need to outperform Power Rangers’ women and the key to that will be catching the targets thrown their way.

Week 10 Team of the Week:

Every week, I will name 12 players to the team of the week. If you make the offensive team of the week, you cannot be on the defensive one and vice versa. Since this is Coed, there will always be a minimum of two women on the offensive and defensive team of the week. When choosing the players for the team of the week, I do not consider the tier that the players are in. I only consider their achievements.

Offence

Quarterback: Sara Parker (3rd Down For What) 19 completions, 223 passing yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT

Receiver: Alex David (3rd Down For What) 11 receptions, 12 targets, 94 receiving yards

Receiver: Quaid Johnson (Party Mix) 5 receptions, 9 targets, 43 receiving yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Laurence Pontbriand (Fightin’ Tigers) 3 receptions, 5 targets, 50 receiving yards

Receiver: Serge Pilon Jr. (Power Rangers) 3 receptions, 3 targets, 50 receiving yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Tyler McPherson (Yin & Yang) 4 receptions, 4 targets, 51 receiving yards, 1 TD

Defence

Rusher: Laurie St-Pierre (Yin & Yang) 2 tackles, 2 sacks

Defensive Back: Edouard Leroux (Funtastic 9) 2 tackles,1 INT, 1 PD, 1 defensive TD

Defensive Back: Constance Millaire (Power Rangers) 3 tackles, 2 INT, 1 PD, 1 defensive TD

Defensive Back: Wader Jr. Shallcross (Power Rangers) 2 INT, 1 PD, 1 defensive TD

Defensive Back: Jason Stephenson (Yin & Yang) 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD, 1 defensive TD

Defensive Back: Alexandre Jubinville (Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce) 3 tackles, 1 INT

Semifinal Predictions

3rd Down For What (8-2) vs Party Mix (5-5)

As I already discussed, 3rd Down For What are not trending in the right direction. In week 10, they just barely beat Party Mix. They scored a touchdown on the last play of the game to tie things up and then scored the extra point to take the win. Over the past few weeks, offence has not been the problem for this team. They have no issues scoring. However, their defence has been porous to say the least. That being said, I think there is a simple solution for 3DW to improve defensively and win this game. They just need to play a ton of man-to-man defence. They clearly have the more athletic roster and they need to use that to their advantage.

Prediction: 3rd Down For What

Yin & Yang (5-4-1) vs Les Semi-Croquants (4-6)

These two teams are trending in polar opposite directions. Yin & Yang are the hottest team in Coed 2 while Les Semi-Croquants have struggled mightily in the second half of the season. Yin & Yang have clearly figured out the key to picking off Mariève Girard. Offensively, Justin Weir seems to be hitting his stride and Les Semi-Croquants have found no way of slowing him down.

Prediction: Yin & Yang

Power Rangers (9-1) vs Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (3-6-1)

In order for Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce to win this game, their women will need to outperform Power Rangers’ and SHCS will need to win the turnover battle. While I can see JF Marquis stepping up big and protecting the ball, I do not see a world in which SHCS’ women best Power Rangers. Constance Millaire, Jasmine Farmer and Marilou Beland are amongst the best female players in the country. For SHCS’ Camille Ste-Marie and Marie-Anne Landry-Duval to outperform the Power Rangers trio, it will take more than Ste-Marie and Landry-Duval playing the best game of their lives. Power Rangers three headed female monster would need to underperform, and I do not see that happening.

Prediction: Power Rangers

Funtastic 9 (6-3-1) vs La Secte (0-10)

La Secte have taken huge strides in improving their game  this year but they are not yet on Funtastic’s level. La Secte also struggle with mental mistakes. There is no team that throws more trickery at you then Funtastic. Ultimately, I think that Funtastic’s trickery will be too much for La Secte to handle.

Prediction: Funtastic 9

Good luck to everyone in the semifinals!