Recapping the Div E Wild Card, Divisional, and Quarter Final Rounds

The Div E playoffs has been nothing short of fantastic so far. There have been major upsets, cinderella runs, massive wins and Overtime classics as we now have our Final 4. Congrats to TuneSquad, Baby Sharks, Freshmen XL and Les Petites Carrottes Jr for making it to the Semi-Finals. For all those who have been eliminated, thanks for a great season and we hope to see you in the Fall!

Speaking of Fall, and before we dive into the Div E playoffs, do note that the Fall season is now open for registrations! I know the top 4 teams are likely the only one’s reading this article, but you definitely don’t want to miss out on what’s going to be another great season of flag football from September to December! For all the Fall season season, click right here (but come back to reading the article if you do click the link!) https://www.flagplusfootball.com/en/fall-season. Or open it as a new tab and check it out after reading this article!

The league has also announced the 2024 Spring Award Winners and All-Stars! Check out if you won an award or made the All-Star selection! https://www.flagplusfootball.com/en/article/spring-2024-individual-award-winners-and-all-stars-recompenses-individuelles-et-equipes-des-etoiles-de-la-saison-printemps-2024

Okay, back to the Div E playoffs!

Here is the updated March Madness bracket for Div E, as we had some upsets we need to talk about!

Wild Card Recap

Like I said, it’s been a wild ride so far. In the Wild Card round, it was honestly a little disappointing. We had 5 forfeits that night. While the teams that forfeited round 1 aren’t reading, check the dates approximate playoff dates at the start of the season to make sure you aren’t planning any vacations or time off around then! That, or, make sure that you get enough guys playoff eligible! That is actually a big part of being a good team captain. It’s not just organizing the game-day roster and checking everyone in and making a game plan each night, but also making sure you are planning for the future (playoff games). People get injured, plan vacations, etc, so it’s NEVER a bad idea to get an extra player or two 5 GP’s. You might need them come playoff time in case someone can’t make it, you’ll thank yourself later.

Most of the favorites won their wild card round matchups, except for Chomedy Chodes losing to The Stables (more to come on them), a surprising result with Bullshigh getting shutout by Sweet Bonanza and STEPBROTHERS who lost BIG, 18-46 to La Mennaise.

Divisional Round Recap

Western took down Practice Squad with relative ease, though Alex Papineau of PS did his best to keep them within striking distance of Western, as he had 3 TDs on 6 catches for 40 yards, 3 rushing attempts for 65 yards on the ground and a Pick 6 on Cameron Wilson. Wilson though, didn’t let the late 1st half Pick 6 get to him, as he would finish the night with 6 TDs for the W.

Freshmen XL played an incredibly tight game against Airs that had to be settled in Overtime. Before the OT period though, defense was the name of the game, as both quarterbacks only threw 2 TDs each, and a total of 4 interceptions. While Folkerson moved the ball more, accumulating 170 passing yards, twice Freshmen XL were stopped on 4th down, while Duncan Cook threw 3 of the 4 aforementioned INTs. Both defenses, namely Peter Berts and Michael Goralski had huge plays for their respective teams, as they not only got a pick, they both took it to the house for 6. Both teams went 0/3 on their converts during regulation which sent the game to overtime. But justttt before overtime started, with Airs having tied the game at 18, Freshmen XL had 1 final play that was caught by Sam “Tae” Anastasopoulos that fell just 1 yard short of the endzone. With Airs scoring a 1 point convert on the first play of overtime, they put some pressure on Freshmen XL to score, which they couldn’t on consecutive tries. Airs would miss their 2nd and 3rd attempt, leaving Freshmen XL 1 more chance to tie it as they went for 1, and that’s what they did. With OT now going 1 attempt each, Airs once again scored a 1 pointer, and Freshmen decided to go for the win by going for 2 and it was Peter Berts who was the hero that connected with Folkerson.

Baby Sharks trounced Sweet Bonanza as the dynamic duo of Jeremy Laplante and Maxime Sharkawi could not be stopped as Max accumulated 133 yards and 2 TDs and picked off Antoine Caron twice. Caron tried his best to run over the Baby Sharks with 68 rushing yards on 7 attempts and 3 passing TDs, but the Sweet Bonanza defense couldn’t stop Laplante who only had 4 incompletions on the night. Sam Aerts had a hat-trick of TDs and a XP1 convert and Jo Caron put up 44 yards with a score, which proved to be too much for SB.

The Stables vs. Mamma Mia was a shootout filled with touchdowns and interceptions. Mamma Mia were without their main QB1 Adriano DiGiandomenico and still kept the game close the whole way through, losing by a single convert point when they failed a 2 point convert on the final play of the game. Maybe they should have gone for 1, with the easier option for a new QB and get the game to OT. Mano Kaliotzakis did a great job under a stressful playoff circumstance and his defense helped him out with pick 6’s from Kaylan Brown and James Scicchitano. But the defense had relatively few answers for the trip of Sean Costello, Ethan Kreuzer and Jakob Daniels, as they combined for 18 receptions on 18 targets for 225 yards and all 6 TDs thrown by Devin Kreuzer. The Stables, as the 12 seed took down Chomedy and the 4 seed Mamma Mia and were writing their version of a cinderella story through 2 rounds.

No Brain No Gain vs. Les Vidanges FC saw Guillaume Lavoie throw 4 costly interceptions as Cédric Frenette, Ian Plourde and Maxime Chayer-Lantier made huge defensive plays for their team in the 2nd half. Offensively, Raphaël Caron was feeling the heat, throwing for 200 yards, rushing for another 27 yards on the ground and threw 5 touchdowns, mostly to Mathieu Fortin who had himself a day. 76 yards on 5 receptions with a hat-trick of TD’s. Fortin was dialed in and Les Vidanges defense had no answer for him. As mentioned, NBNG would show their defensive prowess in the 2nd half as they shutout LVFC, with Vidanges holding an 18-12 halftime lead off a late 48-yard touchdown pass from Guillaume Lavoie to Félix Brouillette. That would be their last score as No Brain would not panic and cruised themselves to the QuarterFinals.

Team Timbo made a mark for themselves and had some heads turning as they put a beat down on the 8-2 Swiffer WetJets. Some believed Swiffer had an easy schedule and their 8-2 record wasn’t a true representation of how strong a team they were and Team Timbo exposed them. As most Div E teams would struggle with, they simply had no answer for Tim Horner, as he snatched 8 balls for 55 yards and 3 TDs, added a 1-point convert and picked off Alex Chin once. Viren Patel would play a composed and clean game, completing 2/3’rds of his passes for 5 TDs and the all-important 0 Interceptions. He doubled up on Horner‘s INT as he picked off Chin twice in the 2nd half, once on the opening drive and again on their final drive to seal the victory for his team; developing a nice playoff run for Team Timbo.

Les Petites Carottes against Vice City wasn’t much of a competition, though early in the game, with LPC Jr up 6-0, and after a Punt by Vice City on consecutive opening drives, Laurent St-Onge gave them an early scare, picking off Div E’s QBOY, Alex Manes. Luckily for Manes, the best defensive unit in Div E would only allow 2 yards on 4 attempts, creating a turnover-on-downs. Shutout by the strong LPC Jr defense, Vice City would only manage 1 score and would go down in a 26-6 relatively smooth victory for LPC Jr and the boys.

TuneSquad got “lucky” this round as they got a forfeit victory over La Mennaise. TuneSquad will take the win, but they know they would have rathered the reps to be better prepared for their next game, but took the guaranteed advancement to the Quarter Finals.

Quarter Finals Recap

Down go the 10-0 Western!

No QB? Big Problem. Baby Sharks took down Western as they were without Cameron Wilson, and without your pivot, your offensive coordinator and main playmaker, the offense crumbled. Still, Jeremy Laplante had to face the tough Western defense and he simply won. 4 incompletions on 22 attempts, 211 yards, 7 TD’s… he carved up that defense and put the pressure on Matteo Tamborriello to go score for score with his Baby Shark squad, which is simply too much to ask of a backup QB in a Quarter Finals playoff game.

TuneSquad get revenge on their season opening loss to No Brain No Gain

TuneSquad got their revenge on No Brain No Gain in the Quarter Finals, defeating them 39-26. This was a rematch of their Week 1 game, which No Brain won by just 2 points. This time around, TuneSquad was too much to handle for No Brain, thanks in large part to their defense. They picked off Raphaël Caron 5 times, which is a cardinal sin come playoff time. 3 of the picks came from QB Chaz Presser, who was the TuneSquad MVP this game. 3 INTs, 16 completions on 22 attempts, 197 passing yards, 4 Passing TDs, 73 rushing yards and another 2 TD’s on the ground. He was simply dynamic and all over the field and No Brain had No Answer. Despite missing a key player in Ben Arno, one of the keys this TuneSquad roster has going for them is their depth and how they have many contributors who can step up. This time around it was Jonatan Lebensztajn-Shahrabani, who has even longer name than me, who stepped up at receiver, with 85 yards and 2 TDs on 4 catches. No Brain No Gain will be disappointed with this loss, but they should be proud of their season. They were a young team that showed a lot of promise. TuneSquad, on the other hand, is peaking at the right time. They are clicking on all cylinders at the right time.

Team Timbo take LPC Jr to Overtime, but fall just short

I was really excited to see Team Timbo take on Les Petites Carottes Jr in the semifinals of the playoffs. Team Timbo had an impressive run so far, but were going up against a really tough team in LPC Jr. I expected a hard-fought game, but I was still surprised that it went to overtime. While Horner obviously played a large role, the pieces around him stepped up big time; Patrick Domsa, Declan Montague and West-Lee Bluesz were clutch offensively, making sure the LPC Jr defense couldn’t focus on just 1 receiver. Both QB’s played clean games, throwing 0 INT’s and 4 touchdowns each, sending the game to overtime when Patel couldn’t get them into the endzone on the final drive. The game was intense and came down to the final play. LPC Jr converted their first and 2nd convert attempts for 1 point, while TT missed their first attempt, putting them up 2-0. Team Timbo made an interesting decision to go for 1 on their 2nd attempt, which is fine, but then why go for 2 on their 3rd and final attempt? If you were going to go for 2, why not do it on the 2nd attempt (tie the game) and if you don’t get it, then you are forced to go for 2 to tie or lose. Either way, it was a heartbreaking loss for Team Timbo, but they should be proud of how far they made it. They definitely improved as the season went along, but it is LPC Jr who would move on and now face Freshmen XL.

Freshmen XL dispose of The Stables and show that experience matters big time in FPF

Congratulations to Freshmen XL for making it to the Semi Finals. It sets up what should be an absolute thriller matchup between them and LPC Jr. Both teams are a mix of that youthful athleticism and have accumulated that essential FPF experience.

That FPF experience showed big time in Freshmen XL’s success over The Stables. Most of the players on their roster have at least a few FPF seasons under their belt, and they know how to perform under pressure, call the right plays at the right time and pounce on teams that are drowning. The Stables, on the other hand, is a newer team with a lot of young players that have great potential. They’ve had a great season, but they just don’t have the same level of experience as Freshmen XL and I think that difference showed in this game.

Freshmen XL’s defense completely shut down the Stables’ offense. They allowed a single touchdown, forced 3 turnovers and most importantly, had Devin Kreuzer with his lowest completion % on the season at 36%. They got their hands and disrupted 10 passing plays; 7 as PDs and interceptions from Sam Anastasopoulos, Keyon Cyrus and Iggy (nah, not me, the OTHER Iggy). It seemed like Kreuzer couldn’t get into a rhythm and the strong defensive play of Freshmen XL played a large role in that. Folkerson on the other hand, was throwing darts and everything he touched turned to gold, even a final heave to Silas Owusu for his first catch and TD on the season. Sam “Tae” was what he was offensively, making crazy catches and lead the team with 97 yards and tied Marcus Kulczycki for TD’s, as they both had 2 on the night. With a good blend of short, intermediate and deep plays, Freshmen XL may have found the right mix to win it all, but will face their toughest challenge yet when they meet LPC Jr.

Epilogue

Alright Div E, that does it for the recaps! Good luck to the final 4 teams in your Semi-Final games and give it all you got. It’s lose and go home or win and make the finals, so leave everything you got on the field. These games are often not remembered, but without them, there’s no way you make the finals.

If you liked the article, have any comments or suggestions for what to talk about, I’m all ears, so feel free to reach out. @IggyManz on IG or find me on Facebook too.

Remember to catch Div E talk on CTA, and if you are starting to become a flag junkie, start listening to other divisions too!