Rehan forecasts his award winners; week 8 preview

We’re now entering into our last week of the season and playoffs are just around the corner. Dagwoods have secured a first round bye with 12 points. The only other bye will be decided between Hitmen Retro (5-2) and Monster Football (4-2-1). Hitmen will take on Relics and Monster will face the number one seed Dagwoods.

Receiving a bye might not be a good idea because those teams will have to wait three weeks before playing which can be a big disadvantage. Nevertheless going straight to the semifinals is a great way of looking at it.

If you have wondered why I haven’t had any interviews lately, it’s because we have a bye week coming up before the playoffs begin so not to leave my readers hanging for a week, I’ve decided to save those for then. Also of STARAWARDS will make its return. They go above and beyond the four awards that FlagPlus Football recognizes (more on them in a moment). They contain categories such as Best Hands, Best Route Runners, Best Sportsman, Best Smile and more so stay tuned for that in two weeks’ time.

As just mentioned, FPF will be handing out hardware and I would like to briefly look at those players who are the candidates for our end-of-the-season awards.

Best QB

The clear cut candidate right is Chris Moufrage (Hitmen Retro) who is up by 10 TDs, 400 yards on the next guy (Lonnie Johnson). He had a rough start but lately he’s firing on all cylinders.

Best WR

Carmine Pollice (Hitmen Retro) is the clear favorite, like his teammate. He leads Rob Allen by 150 yards and 2 TDs. Unless he’s shut down tonight by Relics D and Rob Allen goes off against Monster, Carmine will take this award.

Best DB

I am going with Shawn Costello who is third in INTs and playing some great shutdown football all the while playing only 4 games so far. He’s one of the rocks for the Monster Football’s defense.

Two-way Player

Rob Allen is the clear choice. He is second in receiving stats and first in defensive stats (9 INTs and 26 tackles). He’s very dominant on both sides of the ball which as I said makes this an easy choice.

**Now this might change after tonight’s games but most probably this is how it will play out**

 

Recap (week seven)

Monster Football 38 – Relics 26

Relics have been hit by the injury bug (both QBs are hurt and a couple of players too) so they called in the big guns against Monster Football. Rochdi Benabdelkader, Jason Rossie, Jordan Rossie and Andrew Blevings made their debut in the 35+ division. Now there is no way any one of them can qualify however Relics just wanted a competitive game. On Relics’ first drive Rochdi was intercepted but being the veteran that he is, on Monsters ensuing drive, Rochdi had 2 big PDs in redzone to keep Monster from scoring. After that it went back and forth until Kevin Wilson had a diving INT off a tipped ball by Jason Rossie. Then Kevin followed it up by a 24 yard TD by making 2 defenders miss. To close out the half, Andy Peterkin gets a sack on Rochdi and then Shawn Costello gets an INT TD. Monster Football was in complete control of this game and the second half they stay ahead of Relics on the scoreboard. At the end of the game, on the last drive, Monster Football put Joe Cordi at QB to close out the game who just needed to get a first down and he did exactly that.

Now Rochdi Benabdelkader is probably seen at the same level as Cory Pecker, if not better. So this game should have been closer. Furthermore Rochdi Benbadelkader wasn’t short on talent either which means Relics need to address this issue going into the last week and beyond. As for Monster Football, they played their usual brand of aggressive defense and make the opportunities count on offense.

Hitmen Retro 47- Polvige Tech 19

Hitmen Retro scored on their first drive with a 40 yard bomb TD to Andrew Carruthers. Polvige Tech answered back as David Weiss scored the TD and the PAT. He’s been playing great football especially in the last two weeks and proving to be a great option for Jon Moodie. David Weiss would get would get another TD afterwards but on the PAT, Gino Di Fazio bats the ball down to keep Hitmen up 14-13.

As they usually do, Polivge Tech have good starts and play well in the first half and last week wasn’t any different. They are battling injuries as well. One of their superstars Chris Rosen has been out a couple of weeks now. He wasn’t only their snapper but also a tough and gritty receiver. Furthermore he played well on offense. Eugene McLaren was brought in to replace Chris and so far it’s going OK on defense (had a great chance at an INT but dropped it; regardless he was in the right place showing he is positioning himself well) but Eugene isn’t providing the same spark that Chris did which leaves Jon Moodie with only Vince Mancini and Brian Martin as the primary targets. I would like to see Joel Watson get more involved in the offense because he possesses the skill sets to be effective. Also I would encourage Jon to be a little more creative with this offense, it seems like they only have a few plays that they run all the time and defenses adjust to it quickly.

Going back to the game, second half belonged to Hitmen Retro and they put that game away early. Hitmen are playing their best football and it is coming at the right time with the post-season being right around the corner.

Dagwoods 30 – Venom 0

Dagwoods won the game in a forfeit because Venom suited up Rochdi Benabdelkader, who had already played earlier with Relics. Dagwoods had agreed to Rochdi playing but unfortunately league rules don’t allow same player to play on two teams in the same night/week in the same division. The player must be released by their captain and the following week, he is eligible.

Venom just wanted a competitive game against the first place Dagwoods so they were fine with using Rochdi even if it meant the game would result in a forfeit. Also they knew it wouldn’t change much in the standings especially since Polvige Tech had already lost too. Captain Erik Likutis was a class act and totally agreed with the rules and the forfeit loss. As I said before he and his teammates just wanted a competitive game because they were short players. I hoped that Venom players picked Rochdi’s brain and learned a few things to help them down the road. There is no one better they can learn from given his credentials.

Now in this situation the stats are still kept so that’s why I was a little shocked that Rob Allen only had 1 catch for 25 yards given the fact there is a race between him and Carmine Pollice for “WR of the year” award. Nonetheless, the official score was 30-0 for Dagwoods and that’s all that needs to be said about that.

 

Unsung Heroes

Steve Batsos (Venom) – Steve played really well. Maybe he wanted to impress Rochdi? Well whatever the motivation, it worked. He led his team in yards and had a TD to along with it.

Glen Cooper (Monster Football) – it’s hard to pick an unsung hero from this squad but Glen provides consistency on defense week in and week out. His teammates count on him to run the defence and he does it quite well.

David Weiss (Polvige Tech) – He is proving to be more than an unsung hero and becoming a regular star on his team. Look for him to be vital in the playoffs.

 

Week 8 prediction

Dagwoods vs Monster Football

This is a great game between two premier teams and a chance for Monster to clinch a bye. The question is how will Monster contain Rob Allen? Also will we see Rob cover Kevin Wilson? There are many great match ups within matchups here but at end of it, I like Monster’s chances to come away with the win.

Venom vs Polvige Tech

Last time these teams met, Venom earned their first victory. Can they make it two wins? It will be tough because Polvige doesn’t want to finish in the bottom of the basement. Will Polvige put Chris Ackard to rush against Nik Hatziiliou? Last time it wasn’t effective but when they switched to Jon Moodie, that worked a lot better. Adjustments will be the key for both teams and it’s hard for me to decide but I will go with Polvige Tech to even their season series.

Hitmen Retro vs Relics

Last time these two teams met, Relics were on the verge of putting the game away but Cory Pecker was not only playing hurt (hamstring) but also received an OC with 5 plays left when they were in the red zone. Consequently, Tony Lalla replaced him as QB and they weren’t able to score which led to Hitmen Retro driving down to not only score a TD but also get the 2 point covert to win the game 34-33. I mentioned earlier Relics is going through injury issues but Cory Pecker is slated to return tonight and I’m sure he has revenge on his mind. Will and the Relics be able to finally defeat Hitmen Retro and possibly ruin their shot at securing a bye? Yes. I am picking Relics to win tonight.

If you any suggestions for what should be covered, written or done please let me know as I am also your scorekeeper every Thursday night. Aside from tracking me down at the field, my email is [email protected] and I can also be reached on Facebook.

 

Thanks again for reading, good luck in your games and see you next time.