Recaps, Previews and a look at Division C after 3 full weeks.

Heartbreaks.

I couldn’t find a better suited word to describe this week of action in Division C.

Sure, every week has its own share of Cinderella stories and heartbreaks, but I feel like this week was simply overwhelming. Maybe it was just because I felt two back-to-back and I’m biased. So be it.

One of the beauties of this recreational league, in spring, is how certain teams will miss certain players here and there. I know how ridiculous this sounds, but it kind of brings a lot more parity into the league; the lesser teams could show a full roster against a juggernaut who’s missing one or two key players and we’d have an upset on our hands. It’s spring; don’t get mad if people go off on vacations!

I would also like to take a moment and mention how I’ve noticed FPF is not only growing in players, but spectators as well. It’s a great thing to see.

Let’s get to it.

Week 3

What have I learn this week?

Consistency seems to be the redundant factor this season. Or lack of.
I’m not sure how Longhorns and Snatchers scored 58 points in the first half alone, 89 total, but that happened.
DAMPS 25/8 pulled off their first win of the season. Congratulations. Also, thanks for my prediction.
PRIMETIME are nasty. In a good way.
Anton Sakiz is getting used to his new weapons. Scary, but it was about time.
No Fly Zone with Bishara at the helm can remain undefeated.
CREAM Team needs to show up on time if they want Ws.
Old age can still ball.
The herd has reduced. Only 4 teams remain undefeated. One per division. Intriguing.
Be at the fields on time.
Stay classy guys; giving a ref a bad time WILL NEVER GO YOUR WAY.
I have more readers than I expected; thanks for the feedback.
It’s the week of the QB in Division C. My players of the week is simply loaded.
Moe Khan needs a job. His self-titled “Head Supervisor” clearly wasn’t working out.

Recaps

ZOO got a serious breather last week as they faced off against CREAM Team who showed up late. The 6-0 lead they started off with really went a long way as the game finished by a score. Francois Raymond’s presence in ZOO’s roster was also felt as he walked off with 2 interceptions and a batted down ball; the only 2 Humphrey threw that night. It seemed ZOO’s reinforcement ended up a better fit than CREAM Team’s in Yafet Meshesha who gave offense some flash of light, but wasn’t enough by himself to pull through the deficit. Neither QBs were brilliant, but Frank Kaye got the job done and walked away with a W rather than the L they inflicted to their divisional rivals.

I missed most of the game, mostly because my timing was crappy, but I still heard about it and saw some massive plays. PRIMETIME were looking to remain undefeated against an hungry Predators Lite. To be honest, Predators Lite dominated most of the game as SBB kept finding ways to move the chains, if it wasn’t by air, it was with his quick-ass feet. Locking down the two interceptions for his team, he really played with his heart on his sleeve. Late in the game, Predators Lite had the lead, by not as much as they should’ve, and decided to punt on a 4th down to give PRIMETIME a single down to make a miracle. If you haven’t faced the Daoust’s yet, there’s one thing you should know about them; they never give up. Like, seriously, these guys have a rare fire. With a single play, down by 5, guess what happens? Yeah, THAT. PRIMETIME came down with the ball. They remain undefeated as Predators Lite walk away with one of the worst feeling in sports.

Served With Heat were late for their game and were forced to start with 5. Hopefully, they started on offense, right? Well, Karl Lavallée’s first pass of the night was intercepted and there was Killer Instinct knocking at the doors too early. This wasn’t looking good. As Killer Instinct scored, the rest of SWH showed up and we had a game on our hands. Lavallée answered back by looking very comfortable in the pocket and delivering strikes. Jean-Daniel Chevalier emerged with ridiculous catches for huge yardage and gave his offense some light. He, basically, man-handled Killer Instinct’s defense. The turnover really killed Killer Instinct as they tried one too many jump balls against more athletic defenders and SWH ended the night with 3 interceptions and, the most important thing, the win.

When I meant heartbreaks, this really headlines it all. So, TOPSZN showed up with a brand new quarterback and let me tell you, this guy can, and has played QB. His first two incompletions were drops and he looked unstoppable. Chris Moufrage had a night to remember as he kept up with TOPSZN’s offense and never gave up. Down 25-18 at the half, TOPSZN could’ve put this to bed, but, somehow, Hitmen Retro found just enough juice to give it a shot. A bad penalty on a convert gave Hitmen Retro a shot at redemption when they knocked in a single point to reduce the lead to 31-19. Trenton Jay’s offense really stalled in the second half and Moufrage’s bloomed. Using Pollice as much as humanly possible, he got the much-needed scores and there we had it; down by 5, very little time on the clock, Hitmen Retro needed a stop. Forcing a 4th down, in their zone, TOPSZN went for it instead of punting, couldn’t convert and here we had Moufrage, with the ball, few plays left, within the 15 yards of the endzone. Obviously, it came to a 4th down in the redzone and Carmine Pollice came up big, once again. 2 plays left, TOPSZN went for the endzone twice. First one was batted down by Pollice, second one was tipped up and around into the sidelines. Hitmen Retro locked in their first win in a serious thriller.

Laval’s Finest’s game started off late as Mashtoub and Aridi were finishing the Wolverines on the other field. Coming into the game, Laval’s Finest looked unorganized, but got into rhythm really fast. Punisher’s and LF’s were exchanging blows most of the first half, but Punishers’ had the lead due to converts. 22-19 at the half and we had ourselves a ball game. Laval’s Finest’s offense was lead, mostly by Zach Zwirn for chucking up yardage and using Jad Aridi to finish it off or get first downs. Mashtoub looked good, but also wasn’t all that great and Bourbonnière-Morin took it to his advantage. Late in the game, like really late, The Punisher got the ball back, down by 2, with few plays left and needed a miracle. Remember how I started off with heartbreaks? Yeah. Again. Mathew Bourbonnière-Morin is smart and leads an interesting offense. Knocking on the endzone, he was a few yards away with a few plays left. It had to come down to the very last play of the game. It just had to. Punisher locked the score and got the win. I’ll just have to say this here, going for the convert when you already won on the last play is not very nice guys. Its points against that count now, not differentials; respect your opponents; it hurts to lose that way. The extra point will only provoke them or, well, provoke injuries or OCs. Just my 2 cents though.

Players of the Week

Vinny Gualano (Grip n Rip) : I debated putting Gualano here, but he did throw 7 TDs, get an INT and 3 PDs on defense. Can’t ignore these monster stats! Welcome to the club.
Jon Moodie (Longhorns) : 257 passing yards, 7:1 ratio, 45 offensive points and the win. What else do you want from a QB…!
Simon Bosquet-Beaudoin (Predators Lite) : Although he only had 3 passing TDs, he did get another one on the ground. 195 combined yards and 2 interceptions on defense will get you this award.
Anton Sakiz (Game Changers): 7 TDs in only 12 completions. Remarkable and, well, very dominant.
Jean-Daniel Chevalier (Served with Heat) : 111 yards, 1 TD and 2 interceptions is bound to get you noticed. I was there, the yardage was impressive.
Olivier Laberge (Les Blues Branleurs) : This guy can do it all; 5 tackles, 1 sack, 3 interceptions, 2 pass deflected and a touchdown on offense. Congrats.

Power Rankings

Grip n Rip: Another week, another blowout. Hopefully, this won’t last.

Two and a half Dans : They remain undefeated and dominant. Well-deserved ranking.

Longhorns : When defense fails, their offense shows up big. Jon Moodie can still ball.

PRIMETIME : They retain their seeding after last week’s victory. Don’t count these guys out, ever.

No Fly Zone : With Matthew Bishara at the helm, they climb the rankings. Fast.

Game Changers : These guys keep running up and down the ranking. Sakiz is getting used to his weapons and I don’t see them backing down any time soon.

Snatchers : A loss to the 3rd ranked team by a point is a bummer. Their patched-up roster played well, but a loss’ a loss.

The Punisher : Last week’s victory has them re-emerge in my rankings. They showed just how clutch they truly are.

CREAM Team : I’m not off the bandwagon just yet. Their lack of “serious” is costing them. They could still finish with quite a record, it’s only week 3.

Served With Heat : This roster is ridiculous and so are the weapons. Karl Lavallée has the roster to go a very long way.

The 5 Questions

This week, Le Not-So-Great Peeze Della Reeze took some time to submit his 5 questions. Don’t expect too much, he’s not as awesome as some of you like to think.

Which division is the toughest to be in? Can we label it the Division of Death?

Preseason, I would’ve said Conference B West. Now that things have unfolded a bit, I’m inclined towards Conference A East due to how strong every single team is. Same could be said about Conference B East, but I’d rather call that the No-Defense-Division.

Here’s a list of the top 10 teams ranked by Point Against, Points For and Points Differential. Is this representative of Division C?

	Points Against	Points For	Points Differential
1	Grip n Rip	Grip n Rip	Grip n Rip
2	Two and a half Dans	Longhorns	Two and a half Dans
3	No Fly Zone	Two and a half Dans	Longhorns
4	Snatchers	Predators Lite	Snatchers
5	PRIMETIME	Game Changers	PRIMETIME
6	Killer Instinct	Snatchers	No Fly Zone
7	Team Ethnik	PRIMETIME	Game Changers
8	Les Blues Branleurs	CREAM Team	CREAM Team
9	The Brotherhood	TOPSZN	Killer Instinct
10	ZOO	Laval’s Finest	Les Blues Branleurs
11	CREAM Team	The Punisher	Editor’s Note: Nothing was Here

As we can see, many teams tend to repeat. Grip n Rip came out on top and, well, they’ve been dominating the division, quite frankly. Top 3 (GnR, Dans, Longhorns) doesn’t surprise me; they are my top 3 in Power Rankings as well. Certain entries did surprise me a bit (Team Ethnik and Blues Branleurs in Points Against), but I do feel like it’s not just a matter of strength of schedule; we’ve got ourselves a trend.

Do you think Baking Soda has performance enhancing effects? If not, choose a household item that would have an impact on performance that no one would expect.

There is simply no chance of that being true. I will say this though, people have been using decongestant for the longest time and it does help.

Patriots and Hitmen retro have allowed a combined total of 216 points and have 1 win between them. Both feature groups roster corps from FPF’s Golden Age. Are we seeing a changing of the guard where new and dynamic teams are starting to dominate and work their way up the ranks?

We’ve discussed this topic a few times in the past and we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not necessarily that these guys aren’t as good as they used to be; it’s FPF that is growing. Competition is a lot fiercer than it used to be. Étienne Chauvin is as good as he used to be, or close to, but he’s facing tougher opponents and isn’t shining as much as before. Same goes for Hitmen Retro.

Which division has the best qbs in Div.C? To put it simply, who’s winning the “arms race”? Did you see what I did there; with the arms?

Conference A East. With Joey Taylor, Frank Kaye, Mathew Bourbonnière-Morin, Jared Humphrey, Rod Mashtoub and Étienne Chauvin, every team has a franchise QB.

Previews

I scorekept No Fly Zone in their first week and they looked, quite frankly, dominant. My only concern was their QB and that was assessed over the last two weeks, mostly since Bishara stepped in and played phenomenal last week. Facing off against an inconsistent Brotherhood squad, this could end up in more than one way. Receivers match very well against the other team’s defensive backs. Usually, guys like Omar Jackson and Jamaal Gittens, in lower divisions, are pure juggernauts, but they are facing off against similar foes. I believe the battle will come down to how precise Jamie Harry / Matthew Bishara end up being on Sunday. If Jamie Harry plays like he did in Week 2, Bishara will need to lead his team, if Harry plays like Week 3, this blowout will get ugly fast. With similar weapons, it’ll really be a true quarterback battle about who move the chains when it really matters.

Longhorns remain undefeated and it’s a well-deserved record. This week, we have, probably, the oldest matchup in FPF history as Hitmen Retro will pursue their first victory against an undefeated team. Some say age is just a number and by the way these two teams have been playing, I’d be tempted to say the same. The HItmen aren’t the same without Carmine Pollice’s presence and I don’t think they could take down Longhorns without his guidance and abilities. He is that two-way threat that forced the roster in Division C in the first place after all.

I wasn’t very high on Westpark Boys, but I have to say I’m starting to grow fond of them. Their offense is slowly clicking and Matt Bond is working up the kinks. In a divisional battle against Served With Heat, I expect a low scoring game where both QBs will end up struggling for reasons beyond themselves; bad drops, few mistakes and a case of bad luck. Karl Lavallée looked solid in week 2’s performance and a similar show will have his team win almost every week on their schedule, but I don’t see it happening against Matt Bond’s defense, not this week. Call me a fortune-teller, but 4 scores might be enough this week and this has nothing to do with lack of talent; these two squads are loaded.

Grip n Rip are undefeated and look untouchable; boasting a +/- of 101 after 3 games sounds completely absurd. The way Conference B West is heading, this week 4 matchup against Snatchers could be their ticket to seal divisional leader in a bit more than a month time. Sure, there will be other matchups, but with a 4-0 record both in divisional and seasonal record, GnR could really seal the deal earlier than expected. On the other hand, Snatchers are coming off an offensive prowess with a patched-up roster and will give nothing; I’m still bitter about winter’s losses to GnR. I hate giving myself praises, but this is my vote for Game of the Week in Division C.

Predators Lite just came off a very tough loss to swallow on last Sunday against PRIMETIME where they, literally, dropped the ball. Leading most of the night, they gave PRIMETIME a single shot at the endzone and it bit them right in the arse. This week, facing off Damps 25/8, athletism will face off athletism. Predators Lite usually use their speed to win matchups, which is basically what Damps have been doing. PredsLite could have the edge due to experience, but they haven’t played as good as they should have been and Damps are coming off a huge win; this could turn into an upset, if we consider Predators Lite a higher seed.

Predictions

6 / 12 is horrible. This isn’t the kind of standards I set for myself, trust me. On the other hand, GM got 7 / 12 which isn’t THAT much better. He’s ahead in predictions for the first time, but I still own bragging rights on the field, where it really matters.

Here’s a reminder of our totals :

Simon : 19 / 36

GM : 23 / 36

As usual, his picks are in italic, mine in bold.

Les Blues Branleurs vs Top Sauce : Top Sauce

No Fly Zone vs The Brotherhood : No Fly Zone

CREAM Team vs Two and a half Dans : Two and a half Dans

Longhorns vs Hitmen Retro : Longhorns

Westpark Boys vs Served With Heat : Served With Heat

Keyport Lock vs PRIMETIME : PRIMETIME

TOPSZN vs Killer Instinct : TOPSZN

Grip n Rip vs Snatchers : —-

KGP Champs vs STL : STL

Game Changers vs Team Ethnik : Game Changers

Predators Lite vs Damps 25/8 : Predators Lite

The Punisher vs Patriotes : The Punisher

Laval’s Finest vs ZOO : Laval’s Finest

That is it for me for this week. If you have any comments regarding the article, don’t hesitate to hit me up on twitter @DagenaisFPF or at the fields. I’ll be scorekeeping games on Sunday and Tuesday nights, so I’ll get to see most of you guys. My official FPF email [email protected] also works, but get with the times, Twitter is where it’s at. Feel free to yell at me if you see me walking around, always glad to talk some football. Yes, I predict Nardone will have his first Win as a FPF QB this week. Get with the times, Eagle.