Reviews and Previews for Week 2&3 Action from Coed and the Women’s Divisions

Hey everyone! Sorry for missing last week’s article. I am currently on vacation and I lost track of the days and before I knew it, week two had blown right past me. I will do my best to pack all of the highlights of week 2 and 3 into this article, all while previewing the week to come.

Before we get started, I also have some exciting news! I will also be covering the Women’s Divisions for the season. There are two female divisions, Women’s 1 and Women’s 2. This season, since there are only three teams in the W1 division, the W1 teams will be playing crossover games versus the W2 teams in order to fill out their schedules. Each division will then play its own playoff bracket and crown two separate champions. In case you didn’t know, the Women’s division also has its own set of unique rules. Instead of following the standard FPF rules they play according to international flag football rules. Amongst other notable differences, they play 5 v 5 on a smaller field and it is 4 downs to gain midfield and then another 4 downs to score.

As I did for the Coed divisions, I will be quickly recapping the teams to watch in the Women’s Divisions.

Women’s 1 Teams to Watch

Subzero: Simply put, this is the dream team. The best of the best have all come together to wreak havoc open the Women’s division. Sara Parker appears to be quarterbacking this team and when she isn’t there, Maude Lacasse is there as her replacement. Simply put, Parker is the greatest female quarterback in FPF history and one of the best female passers in the country. So far this season Subzero has thrown for 18 TDs and 0 ints. That is really all you need to say about the quarterback play. At the receiver position this team is also stacked. Caroline Moquin-Joubert is averaging 100 receiving yards and three touchdowns a game. I have heard talk that she might be the best female receiver in the country and with numbers like that I can understand why. Just in case Moquin-Joubert is covered, this team can turn to the likes of Laurence Pontbriand and Lauriane Beauchamp as their other receivers. This team is so good that frankly, they are the only “Team to Watch” as of now in the Women’s 1 division. 

Women’s 2 Teams to Watch

Wildcats: While I might not know a ton about this team I do know that they are off to an impressive 3-0 start to their season. They also lead the division with 87 points scored and 15 conceded for a whopping differential of +72. The second closest team currently is sitting at +5. Catherine Bolduc is currently throwing 7 touchdowns for every 1 interception she throws. If she can keep up producing at that rate, this is going to be an impressive season for the Wildcats. On defence Tamara Journeau is a force to be reckoned with. She has 5 INTs in just three games and is currently on pace for over 16 picks on the season. Simply put, this team scores a ton and has a stingy defence. That is exactly what you want to see in any elite team.

Blue Thunder: What impresses me the most about this Blue Thunder team is their versatility. In their first game they won a shout out versus Les P’tites Miettes by the score of 34-30. That game was all offense and there was barely a defensive stop to spare between both of these teams. In Blue Thunders last game they beat Touch Down For What? 7-6. Despite only throwing one touchdown in the one Blue Thunder still found a way to win. When looking at a team you can look at their players, their stats and even their conversion percentage on third down. However, the most important thing a team needs to learn is how to win those close games and how to win in both an offensive bonanza and a defensive slug fest. Clearly, Blue Thunder knows how to win. I am looking forward to getting to know this team as the season goes on but for now, I am confident that this team will just keep on winning.

Red Nation: For starters, Red Nation’s only loss came against a Women’s 1 team. Despite tying X&X last week I still think that the Women’s 2 division needs to be keeping an eye out for this team. For starters, this team has a ton of experience. This group has been around the women’s divisions for as long as I can remember and they have been getting slowly better each season. The most intriguing thing about this team is the quarterback dilemma. For the longest time, Allyson Sobol has been the one under center for this team. However, it looks like Lamees Aljoundi might also be taking a crack at quarterbacking this season. The first thing you need to know about Sobol as a quarterback is that she is a gunslinger. While she might make some great throws, she also takes too many risks and those risks lead to interceptions. What you need to know about Lamees is that she isn’t a quarterback. She is an FPF veteran and has an exceptional knowledge of the game but isn’t a natural born passer. Both of these quarterbacks bring very different skill sets to the table so it will be interesting to see how the season unfolds. Regardless of who is under center, this team has Rachelle Vallieres and that is a huge asset. As a receiver Vallieres is the only Red Nation receiver to eclipse 100 receiving yards and she has 233 for 4 scores. Defensively she had 4 INTs which is over a pick a game. All in all, this Red Nation team is a team to watch because they have a great set of talented play makers and a wealth of FPF knowledge. The only question is whether or not they’ll be able to get the ball into the hands of those talented receivers.

Week 2 Game of the Week:

Les P’tites Miettes (14) vs The Rock (20) – Women’s 1/2

The Rock and Les P’tites Miettes are two classic teams of the Women’s division and it was great to see them battle it out in this one. For those of you who have not watched or read a ton about the Women’s division before, these games tend to be slightly slower scoring since the only first down you can gain is by crossing midfield so the 20 – 14 score we saw in this one is a classic Women’s Divisions score.

The key to this game for The Rock was playing it safe. In the Women’s division if you turn the ball over on downs your opponents start their drive at their own 5 yard line instead of starting from the previous line of scrimmage. The only way to start a drive from somewhere other than your own 5 is by intercepting your opponents, so interceptions are key in this division. Carol-Ann Ménard did a fantastic job at protecting the ball. She aired it out 36 times and was not intercepted once. While she might have done a good job protecting the ball and leading her team to victory, I still think she has some room for improvement. For starters, she completéed less than 50% of her attempted passes, 47% to be exact. What that means is she was relying on larger chunk plays rather than taking the easy completions underneath. While it worked in this game, she will need to start turning some of those incomplete passes into completed hooks and drags to compete with the heavyweights of this division.  Ménard was also over reliant on Stephanie Langheit in this game. Half of the targets were thrown her way. The best offenses spread the ball so it will be very interesting to see if The Rock can still move the ball when Langheit is covered.  The Rock are a Women’s 1 team and they were competing versus a winless Women’s 2 team. While it was great to see them secure their first win of the season, they will need to start improving if they want to compete versus Women’s 2 teams, let alone in the Women’s 1 division.

As for Les P’tites Miettes, they might be 0-3 and sitting in last place in the Women’s 2 division but things are looking up for them in my opinion. They just held their own versus a team from Women’s 1 and lost the game in the final few plays. As a matter of fact, this team has had a brutal start to the season. The schedule has been doing them no favors. They played Blue Thunder and the Wildcats, the two best teams in W2 along with a W1 team. While I am sure that this team is disappointed to be 0-3 they should be proud to have held their own against the likes of Blue Thunder and The Rock. 

Week 3 Game of the Week:

Kiss My End Zone (30) vs The IG Team (27) – Coed 2

This was a game that I am sure both teams had circled on their calendars for quite some time. The IG Team knocked KMEZ out of the Coed 2 semi-finals during the winter season in a thrilling match that came down to a decisive convert which KMEZ dropped. The IG Team went on to win the finals after that narrow escape in the semis.

This rematch did not disappoint. In the first half  IG dominated and this game had the looks of a blowout. They were up 21 – 6 at the half and Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo was not looking sharp. It is just about never heard of for Iggy to score just 6 points in a half so something was clearly off in his game. On the other hand, the IG team was in high spirits and things were clicking for them. Jeanslee Alexis was chucking the ball deep at will. He only completed ten passes this game but four of those were for touchdowns and he was averaging over 15 yards a completion. 

Things took a drastic turn in the second half and KMEZ came roaring back to life. Iggy finally found a way to make things click offensively and within the first three plays of the half he connected with Luis Begin for a score. Instead of going for a convert, Iggy decided to roll the dice and went for the onside kick. That gamble paid off since he connected with Lory Ouellette for a huge gain and most importantly, to maintain possession for KMEZ. While The IG Team scored on their next possession, that would be their last score of the half. This game came down to a dramatic conclusion. With exactly 5 plays left The IG Team turned the ball over on downs and handed the ball over to Iggy and the KMEZ offense with five plays left to score and win the game and that is exactly what they did. If you ask Iggy, there is no position he would rather be in than with the ball in his hand and having 5 plays left to score and win the game. I have seen him do that so many times it is practically an art form by now. Iggy the magician went  to work. He did not let less incompletions on first or second down deter him. On a pivotal third down play he turned to his fastest receiver, Lucas Quenneville for a crucial 12 yard game. From there on out it was all Luis Begin. On the second to last play Iggy connected with Begin for a much needed 15 yard gain and on the final play Iggy once again found Begin for a walk off touchdown win.

While KMEZ might have escaped with the win in this one and while they might boast an impressive 2-0 record, they have gotten off to a rocky start to the season. In week 1 I called Iggy the best Qb in the division. Well, that might have been a bit too much pressure for him to handle. He threw three interceptions in week 1 against a team he definitely did not expect to struggle against. In KMEZ’s second game of the season he only scored 6 points in the first half. While he might have made up for it in the 2nd, he needed some vintage Iggy magic to secure the win. If you are looking at this KMEZ team, they are built to be an offensive juggernaut. Iggy has the speediest set of receivers in the division and an experienced set of FPF veterans who understand his concept and playbook. This team needs to start clicking offensively because there will be no margin for error as they face off versus Fitsquad and EZFun in the next two weeks. Defensively, this team also needs to tighten things up. They have won their games by a combined total of five points which means that their defence has been leaving very little wiggle room for their offense. As a general rule, if a defence can get one stop the game will be a toss up and if they can get two then they are likely to win. So far this KMEZ defence has been creating more toss-up games than secured wins and that will need to change going forwards if this team wants to maintain their perfect record.

Week 2 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 made up of players from Coed 2, Coed 3, Women’s 1 and the Women’s 2 divisions. Only stats will be considered when choosing players for the team of the week. That means 100 receiving yards in Women’s 1 is equivalent to 100 receiving yards in Coed 2. In the spirit of the Coed and Women’s divisions, every team of the week will have a minimum of two female players on the offensive and defensive team.

Offence

Quarterback: Maude Lacasse (SubZero) 25 completions, 395 passing yards, 8 TDs, 0 INTs

Receiver: Caroline Moquin-Joubert (SubZero) 10 receptions, 147 yards, 6 TDs

Receiver: Laurence Pontbriand (SubZero) 7 receptions, 155 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Luis Begin (Kiss My End Zone) 9 receptions, 113 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Oriola Poirier (Fast Not Furious 3) 5 receptions, 118 yards, 4 TDs

Receiver: Maria Mansseri (B.I.T) 7 receptions, 113 yards, 2 TDs

Defence

Rusher: Jenna Araujo (Thunder Buddies) 3 sacks

Defensive Back: François-Xavier Delorme (Dream Killers) 4 tackles, 3 INTs, 3 PDs

Defensive Back: Nicholas Fon (We Love Big TDs) 1 tackle, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Valéry Shelder (Drink Team) 1 tackle, 3 INTs, 2 PDs, 3 TDs   

Defensive Back: Tamara Journeau (Wildcats) 3 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Brandon Bagley (1-9ers) 2 tackle, 3 INTs

Week 4 Predictions:

Please note that the highlighted team is the one I am predicting to win

Coed 2:

The IG Team vs EZFun

Block Party vs Pig 6

Les Marchands de Vitesse vs Deep Ballz

Kiss My End Zone vs Fitsquad

The Rookies vs Plenty of Fish

Vultures vs Street Runners

EZFun vs Never too late team

Beeftons vs Les Marchands de Vitesse

Coed 3:

1-9ers vs Fast not furious 3

Thunder Buddies vs DreamKillers

TIGRES vs Les Schtroumpfs

We Love Big TDs vs Free Agents

Drink Team vs Les Crevettes

Catching W’s vs Kamikaze

Michael Scott’s Tots vs PIG SIX

Women’s 1/2

X&X vs Wolfpack

Wildcats vs Red Nation

Touch Down For What? vs Les P’tites Miettes

Blue Thunder vs Supernova

B.I.T vs WOS

Subzero vs The Rock

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed your article and good luck this week. As always, if you gave any comments, thoughts of feedback on the articles please feel free to email me at [email protected]