Smells Like Playoffs In FPF Junior

The last week of the regular season in FPF Junior is on our doorstep. While the season might be winding down, the playoff race has never been hotter.

In the Freshman 1 division, the Cougars have already clinched the first seed. They beat FC Saint-Laurent 27-20 and that means no matter what happens this week, they will finish in top place. As a matter of fact, this entire division is already finalized. Even with two wins, APH 1 could not catch the 4-2 FC Saint-Laurent.

While things are all settled up in the Freshman 1 division, the Chomedy Powder Blues and the Chomedy Navy Blues are in a neck and neck race for second place in the Freshman 2 division. That being said, all they are really playing for is homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Huskies have locked up first place whereas the Chomedy White Blues will not be able to catch anyone.

In the Sophomore division the race for first place is nearly sealed up. The 6-0 Musketeers are currently in first place, and they are playing the second place 6-1 Rosemere. Rosemere would need to win and win big to steal first place. Luckily for Rosemere, even if they lose they have already locked up the second seed in the division.

Week 4 Recaps

Chomedy Powder Blues (20) vs Huskies (28)

Cougars (27) FC Saint-Laurent (20)

Week 4 Game of the Week

Wolverines (19) vs APH 2 (25)

The Wolverines are definitely the most underrated team in the Sophomore Division. Despite their 3-3 record, when this team has their full roster, they can go toe to toe with just about any team in Sophomore. Despite losing by a score, the Wolverines proved how good they were in this match vs APH 2. I remember last time I talked about the Wolverines, I critiqued them for overusing Fernando Abrego. Clearly, they listened. In this game, Abrego did catch three passes for 35 yards but six other receivers also caught the ball. All in all, no receiver had more than four receptions. The result was clear, quarterback Zacharie Gadbois was firing on all cylinders. He completed 17 passes on his way to passing for nearly two hundred yards. The Wolverines just had one shortcoming on offence: converting in the redzone. They made six trips into the redzone this game but were only able to convert three times. Scoring on three out of six redzone trips is simply not sufficient. This team has finally started clicking and if they can figure out how to score in the redzone, this team could be a real Dark Horse in the playoffs.

As for APH 2, they did win the game but I was not impressed with their offensive play calling. Very simply, their offence had two settings. Either they passed it deep to Matteo Tamborriello or they checked the ball down to Lucas Rossi. There was no intermediate passing game for this team, it was either the bomb or the two-yard pass. No in-between. Even though I am not a fan of the system, I need to mention that Tamborriello had one of the best games I have seen from an FPF Junior player, and I have been following FPF Junior since the division first started in 2016. Tamborriello finished the game with a herculean seven receptions for 170 yards and two scores. While he had a great performance, I think his team as a whole would benefit from the ball being spread more evenly amongst APH’s receivers. Defensively, while APH may not have registered an interception, they came up clutch in the redzone where they stopped their opponents from scoring three times. Ultimately, it was that redzone defence which won them the game.  

Week 5 Predictions

Chomedy Navy Blues (3-3) vs Chomedy Powder Blues (3-3)

Buckeyes (0-6) vs APH 1 (2-4)

Wolverines (3-3) vs Chomedy Royal Blues (0-3)

Rosemere (6-1) vs Musketeers (6-0)

I have talked a lot about the playoff race, but I thought I should also include a quick recap of the playoff format. All this information is also covered in the league’s email, sent Thursday July 22^nd at 1:45pm.

In the Freshman Division, things will play out as expected. The number 1 seed will play the number 4 seed and the number 2 seed will play the number 3 seed in both Freshman 1 and Freshman 2. The winner of those semi-final matchups will face off against each other in the finals. The only addition to that is that the Huskies and Buckeyes will play a friendly exhibition game prior to any of their playoff games. Both of these teams were formed from individual signups, so we thought it would be fun for these two teams to face off since they had not played each other all year.

In the Sophomore Division, things are just slightly more complicated. The division will be split into two brackets for the playoffs. The top four teams will compete in the winners bracket, while the bottom three teams will faceoff in the consolation bracket. This means that the fifth placed team will get a bye directly to the consolation final where they will face the winner of the game between the 6^th and 7^th seed.