Categories: Co-EdCo-Ed 2ComplementaryDivisionWomen's

Reviews and Previews as Coed and Women’s Reach the Semis

As the season draws to a close, this is probably a good time to mention that these will be some of the last articles of mine that you will be reading for a while. I have covered Coed for years and I have decided to take a break for the Fall Cup. Don’t worry though! Lory Ouellette will be taking my place as writer for the division and she is already getting ready. As a matter of fact, she helped me write this article and the next one. Here is your introduction courtesy of Lory.

The first week of the playoffs has arrived and there are quite a few interesting aspects to cover. In coed 1, the fight between the teams has been really close, with not even a touchdown of a difference. Games have been decided on converts for the most part. With a final win of 23 points for The Justice League and 30 points for Les Petits Phoques, both teams move on to the semi finals. For coed 2, as expected all teams from the left in the schedule (so the favoured home teams) such as Les Princess, 3HUNNAS and Sneaky Snakes won handily against their opponents and are also moving on to the semi finals. In the women’s division, since there are only 4 teams that are battling for the number one spot this season, there have not been any games played in the playoffs yet. These games will start as of next week with Les P’tites Miettes vs Villa and Red Nation vs Strangers.

Quarterfinal Recaps

Les Petits Phoques (30) vs Fast Not Furious (25) – Coed 1

This is the kind of game that, in the regular season, I would call a fantastic learning experience and a sign of great things to come for Fast Not Furious. Unfortunately in the playoffs the only way to describe this game is infuriating. Fast Not Furious were in the driver seat with just five plays to go. They were leading 25-24 and all they needed to do was get a first down and the game was over. If I could choose any quarterback to safely ice the game with a first down, it would be Justin Weir. He is amongst the best runners in this division and there is no safer way to move the chains than with your legs. In his shoes, I would have run on first down, thrown the ball away on second and ran again on third. In the eventuality I did not gain the first down I would punt the ball away on fourth leaving the other team with just one play. That is not what happened. On the very first play, FnFran all hooks and Les Petits Phoques were barely defending. Instead of completing an easy pass to one of the hooks, Weir pump faked and then took off running. While on the run, he decided to force the ball towards James Drysdale. The ball floated and was intercepted by Nicolas Paquin. Dom Lefort and LPP did not waste any time. Two plays later Nicolas Paquin broke FNF hearts for a second time when he caught a five-yard touchdown pass to put his team ahead 30-25. With two plays left, FNF were not able to score.

What makes this victory even more impressive for LPP is the fact that they pulled it off with just five active players. Dom Lefort single handedly carried this team. On offence, he was nearly perfect, throwing for 225 and five scores. The only blemish on his record was the one interception. He did an impressive job of spreading the ball as well. Every single receiver had a minimum of five targets. However, this team’s defensive performance is what impressed me the most. Defending with five players is extremely difficult. If the other team runs all hooks every single play there should always be a player open. When you consider that this team was defending the likes of Quaysie Gordon-Maule, James Drysdale and Marvin Steinberg. It becomes even more impressive.  They had no business winning this game but through a mix of skill, luck and awful quarterback play they pulled this one out of their hat. While they might have managed to pull off a five man miracle in this one, things will not be as easy moving forward. They will need their full team back if they want a chance of staying alive in these playoffs.

Fitsquad (20) vs The Justice League (23) – Coed 1

To be completely honest, I was expecting a full strength Justice League team to blow out Fitsquad. I just did not see a way that Fitsquad could slow down The Justice League and I thought their only chance of staying in this game would be to get into a high scoring shootout. Well,  I was wrong. Fitsquad had no issues manhandling Sara Parker and Co. defensively. They held Parker to just 100 passing yards and a large part of that is due to the performance of Hugo Lepine. It is starting to become common knowledge that Parker struggles versus tall rushers. In addition to being well over six foot tall, Lepine is also extremely fast. While the boxscore might only list him as having two sacks, his impact on this game was probably far more profound. Parker is a quarterback who loves to attack the middle of the field, but she also rarely moves from her spot under centre. What that means is for her to attack the middle of the field she needs to throw over the rusher. Since Parker is used to mostly playing against shorter female rushers, the height of a taller rusher seems to cause her issues and limits her ability to throw in the middle of the field which is the area she likes attacking the most. 

Where Fitsquad did struggle was offensively. Seth Galina was simply outclassed in this one. For a quarterback who is used to facing off against division D level players, to be throwing against the likes of Serge Pilon and Kevin Lubin must be a pretty terrifying proposition. Clearly the pressure of a quarterfinal and the quality of his opponents was too much for Galina. While he threw for 50 more yards than his rival, he also threw for more interceptions (4) than he did touchdowns (3). It is nearly impossible to win a playoff game when you lose the turnover battle. Despite that, Fitsquad were in this one until the very end. With just a few minutes left in the game, Fitsquad tied things up at 20-20. They decided to go for a one point convert to take the lead. Things could not have gone any worse for them. Not only did they not score, Serge Pilon picked off the extra point and returned it the distance for a single to give his team the lead. Fitsquad never recovered. Despite stopping The Justice League on their next drive and giving Galina another chance to drive, score and move onto the semis they were not able to capitalise. 

 Week 8 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. The team of the week will be comprised of players from Coed 1, Coed 2 and the Women’s division. Only stats will be considered when choosing players for the team of the week. That means 100 receiving yards in Coed 1 is equivalent to 100 receiving yards in Coed 2. In the spirit of the Coed division, every team of the week will have a minimum of two female players on the offensive and defensive team.

Offence

Quarterback: Stephen Harripersaud (Kiss My Outlaws) 21 completions, 243 passing yards, 7 TDs

Receiver: Keiya Allen-Beckles (Villa) 9 receptions, 116 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Tamara Boulanger (Fitsquad) 7 receptions, 66 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Marvin Steinberg (Fast not Furious) 6 receptions, 91 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Kerdley Micourt (The Justice League) 7 receptions, 103 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Emil Berthélémy (Les Princess) 4 receptions, 97 yards, 3 TDs

Defence

Rusher: Hugo Lepine (Fitsquad) 2 sacks

Defensive Back: Mélissande Guertin (Les P’tites Miettes) 7 tackles, 1 INT

Defensive Back: Lory Ouellette (EZFun) 5 tackles

Defensive Back: Pauline Camus (Les Petits Phoques) 12 tackles

Defensive Back: Alexi Dubois (Kiss My End Zone) 2 tackles, 3 INTs, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Dimitri Melsbach (Les Princess) 9 tackles

 Quarterfinals Team of the Week:

Offence

Quarterback: Dom Lefort (Les Petits Phoques) 23 completions, 225 passing yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT

Receiver: Emil Berthélémy (Les Princess) 2 receptions, 74 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Rachelle Vallieres (Gorillas) 2 receptions, 53 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: David Gaumont (Sneaky Snakes) 6 receptions, 69 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Florence Leclerc (Les Princess) 3 receptions, 23 yards, 1 TDs

Receiver: Quaysie Gordon-Maule (Fast not Furious) 8 receptions, 86 yards, 1 TD

Defence

Rusher: Jennifer Pérusse (Sneaky Snakes) 4 sacks

Defensive Back: David Brisson (Sneaky Snakes) 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Therese Nguyen (Blue Wave) 3 tackles

Defensive Back: Mohamed Nechchad (3HUNNAS) 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Reka Sivasubramaniyam (3HUNNAS) 4 tackles, 1 INT

Defensive Back: Serge Pilon (The Justice League) 5 tackles, 3 INT

Week 8 Predictions:

Kiss My Outlaws (1) vs The Justice League (4)

A lot about this game will be decided earlier in the day at the Canadian National Touch Championships in Ottawa. Both of these teams have players playing in Ottawa this weekend so the success of teams in that tournament will dictate their availability and level of fatigue for this matchup.

Presuming both teams are at full strength, this will be an extremely interesting matchup. As I already mentioned, Parker struggles against tall rushers and Kiss My Outlaws have one of the tallest rushers around in Isiah Allard. More than just taking away the middle of the field, Allard has the ability to bat down and even intercept passes from the rusher position. In a game that will likely be very high scoring, a single interception can wind up making the difference. The last time these teams played Allard rushed for just a few snaps but that was enough for him to clinch the game with a pick six. If Allard rushes the whole game, Parker will need to find a way to change the areas of the field she attacks and I have a hard time seeing that happen.

Prediction: Kiss My Outlaws

EZFun (2) vs Les Petits Phoques (3)

This is another game that will be heavily impacted by availability. Les Petits Phoques were only able to field a roster of five people in their last game and while that might have been enough to beat Fast not Furious I can promise you that no five person team will be able to get the best of EZFun. On the other hand the big question surrounding EZFun is who will be playing quarterback for them in this matchup. While Jeremy White will be available, he will be missing the finals if they make it. Accordingly, Samuel Emilio Pelchat has been throwing for them in the past few games to warm up for finals in case they make it. This same group plays in division C and they were facing a similar predicament and Pelchat played QB in the semis in a game that EZW lost. I expect Pelchat to start in this one and if he does, teams have started to figure out his playbook. He loves the short passing game and has a phobia of attacking deep. If you take away the short throws he will eventually make a mistake when trying to attack the intermediate levels because his ball placement is not elite.

Ultimately predicting this game is just about impossible because it comes down to guessing who will show up for LPP and who will play quarterback for EZFun. Ultimately my gut tells me LPP will pull off the upset here.

Prediction: Les Petits Phoques

Kiss My End Zone (1) vs Sneaky Snakes (4)

These two teams faced off in the final week of the regular season and it was a lopsided matchup that Kiss My End Zone won 33-6. To make matters worse for Sneaky Snakes, KMEZ won that match without their star player, James Drysdale in the lineup. I have a hard time seeing how  Sneaky Snakes could pull off the upset. They are missing the sort of dynamic playmaker that can flip a game on its head. The biggest question mark for KMEZ is the play of their quarterback Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo. While he had a stellar regular season and did not throw even a single interception, the post season is a different beast. Even the best quarterbacks can crumble under the pressure, especially when you are new to playoff football as a quarterback. All in all, it would take a major meltdown on the part of KMEZ and Valdes Manzanedo for Sneaky Snakes to win this one. While I can see KMEZ slightly regressing from their regular season form, I do not see them losing this game.

Prediction: Kiss My End Zone

Les Princesses (2) vs 3HUNNAS (3)

This is the most interesting matchup of the semis in my opinion. Both of these teams have extremely talented athletes. On 3HUNNAS side of things, Nykolas Pierre-Masse is one of the top three receivers in this division and has the ability to take over games. On the other hand, Les Princesses have Emil Bartélémy who is a freakish athlete. The potential matchup between those two is extremely interesting. In the end, Bartélémy is slightly more of a game changing athlete. He can turn the game on its head with one acrobatic catch while Pierre-Masse is more of a possession based receiver who excels in the red zone. It is defensively that Les Princesses have the biggest advantage. Simply put, Mikael Arseneau is the best defensive player in this division. He has over 10 picks and is a nightmare to opposing QBs. Arseneau will produce more interceptions than he will throw and that is why Les Princesses will win this one.

Prediction: Les Princesses.

Les P’tites Miettes (1) vs Villa (4)

Once again, there are roster questions in this game. If you look closely at the Villa roster, Sara Parker has four games played. That means the best female QB in the history of FPF is eligible to throw for Villa this game. Parker checked in injured four times and did not throw a single pass for Villa during the season. While Parker throwing would be one of the most cowardly moves I have seen in a while, this team is coached by Gino di Fazio so nothing will surprise me. If Parker does not play, this one should be a walk in the park for Les P’tites Miettes. They are the top seed in this division for a reason. They have the best quarterback in Morgane Cosimano-Valois and do a fantastic job of spreading the ball. Defensively, they are loaded with ball hawks and have four players with three or more INTs. Ultimately I would like to think that Parker is a big enough person to not throw in this one, even if that means Les P’tites Miettes will win.

Prediction: Les P’tites Miettes

Red Nation (2) vs Strangers (3)

These teams are tracking in opposite directions. Strangers have lost three straight while Red Nation have been surging. As I have been saying all season, Jade Mchugh Thibault has two major weaknesses. She forces the ball to Sarah-Maude Mathieu too much and is over reliant on the deep ball. Those shortcomings have caught up to her and have led to her throwing just as many INTs as TDs this season. Unless something changes drastically in this game, I do not see things going well for Strangers.

Prediction: Red Nation

Short conclusion Good luck to everyone! A birth in the finals is on the line so make sure you play like it! 

If you have any feedback for Lory or I please do not hesitate to let us know. I can be reached via email at [email protected]