The Cinderella Slopes, Dak is Flexin’ and a Wild Rematch — This is the Div 6 Quarter Finals

We’ve had a wild and whacky post season so far, and here we are, with the elite eight of Div 6. Congrats on making it this far. The further we go, of course, we lose viewers and readers, as the remaining 8 teams have disinterested the eliminated. As you’ve probably noticed, or if you haven’t noticed yet and soon will, the FPF playoffs are HARD, even if its Div 6. Yes, we had a few blowouts, but as the competition gets cut, the weaker teams are eliminated and only the strong survive. Like I said, even if its Div 6, I don’t care, there is crazy talent in FPF and winning a championship is HARD. So it’s time to put your best performance out there and leave everything on the field. Now, time to break it all down!

Division 6 – Quarter Final Round Previews 🔮

X-Men (5) vs. Wild Hogs (6)

Position	X-Men	Wild Hogs
QB	✅	✅
Receivers	✅	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅

Previous Matchup: X-Men 24-26 Wild Hogs

As I mentioned on CTA, this previous matchup was a heated and wild game, with the game coming down to the final possession and Jason Armenti converting two 4th and long situations, and winning the game on the final play. In that game, they had Ashton Thibeault, Stanley Louis rushing and Darcy Jeannis subbing, all 3 who are not playoff eligible. Thibeault in that game had 2 INTs, including a Pick 6 and Darcy Jeannis lead the team with 5 receptions, 64 yards, 1 TD and two XP1 converts. That’s 14 points coming off the board for Wild Hogs that need to be replaced somewhere. Let’s break it down.

Breakdown by Position

QB – Both Quarters are good. Noah has the higher ceiling, as he is a star in the making. He is though, still showing signs of immaturity in his game (but remember, he’s 16-17 years old). He needs to still learn to completely ignore the rusher for the entire game and just read the defenses and pick the spot where the ball should go, given a tried-and-true playbook. I’m not ready to say that Armenti has more overall experience, but he does have more experience against senior players. One thing is true though, Armenti will need to have a better performance than 12/28 for 99 yards, 3 TDs and 2 INTs. While I’m giving this a tie in the QB department, note that the Swaminadhan‘s are great managers, always taking into account the score, the time on the clock, the XP situation and relaying that info to the young players on the field. An edge for that needs to be strongly considered for the X-Men side of things.

Receivers – Man, is this a tightly contested affair or what. The receivers on both teams are great, from top to bottom. Each have their star receivers with 400+ yards and then depth down the lineup, with 300, and a couple of 200-yard receivers. Though, X-Men do have more and stronger depth down the list of receivers; they actually had three receivers in the 200-300 range whereas Wild Hogs had none. Instead, they had two 400+ receivers to X-Men’s one. As player skill though, these young and shifty X-Men do some serious damage with their quick feet, evasive moves and lightning reflexes and acceleration. Again, while it’s a tie, the 0.1 edge goes to X-Men.

Defense – Here’s where the advantage, I see, is in favour of the X-Men. The experience in zone coverage and shooting gaps quickly is a forte you don’t normally see in Division 6 and the coaches have drilled it into their heads how to play a strong defense that stresses communication and not chasing people in zone.

Rusher – The fact that X-Men can send 2-3 different rushers and not skip a beat is a big advantage during a game. It changes the rhythm for the opposing QB that could slightly change an expected look. Advantage X-Men

X-Men X-Factor: Jackson Cooper – One of the taller X-Men players that can make plays that leaves the opposition with their feet and ankles in a crux. He can have a 2 TD, 1 INT kind of game and be a background player.

Wild Hogs X-Factor: Ben Denis – Ben Denis, a.k.a “7-Eleven” is sneaky good and behind the likes of Avery Klimas and Nick Egley, he finds ways to always be open. He will need to take advantage of that and have a 3/4/33/1 stat line on offense.

Prediction: X-Men: 32 – 28 Wild Hogs

LaSalle Warriors Midget (4) vs. Maccabees (8)

Position	LaSalle Warriors Midget	Maccabees
QB	✅
Receivers	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅	✅

Previous Matchup: None

Breakdown by Position

QB – This one ain’t close, and to be fair to Shimmy Cons, it’s not close against many, if not all the Quarterbacks in Div 6. Being compared against Emerson Peterkin is a losing proposition. That said, Emerson is a gunslinger and did throw considerably more INTs (10) than the safer, more conservative, yet effective approach of Shimmy Cons (2 INTs). Emerson loves attacking deep, so if Maccabees can create a turnover and Cons throws none, there is a path to victory for Maccabees here.

Receivers – Princeton Cruikshank alone had more yards and touchdowns than the 2 best receivers in yards (584 vs. 525) and the 2 highest touchdown catchers (18 vs 13). Okay, your argument might then be “that means nothing if 1 guy gets 18 TDs and the rest of the receivers get nothing. That is NOT the case with the LaSalle Warriors Midget. Between Arash Chaychi, Tyrese Leclair and Cohen Champagne, they racked up 16 TDs. Maccabees were more of a WR-by-committee, which I always like as well, but there was no clear cut #1 receiver that stood out. While I love being able to throw out five WR2’s, forcing the defense to be as deep as your receiving core, the Warriors are a team that has that depth on D. Advantage LaSalle.

Defense – He wasn’t voted 2-way player of the year for no reason. Emerson Peterkin is a hawk out there and sure, Div 6 is full of QBs that love just chucking it deep and making cool deep ball plays, where Emerson probably got most of his picks, but Cons will only take the deep when it’s available. Otherwise its the dink-and-dunk, rollout style offense that has proven to be successful in higher divisions, but only by a few teams. The Warriors Midget defense could get frustrated if the Maccabees go on 10-play drives and punch it in on 3rd or 4th down.

Rusher – Jordy Melnik is a great rusher, perhaps a bit too chirpy, but he can throw off teams off their game. The problem is he can just as easily throw his own team off with OC’s that take him off a rusher and snapper for 10 plays. If he manages to stay on the field, he has the incredibly difficult task of preventing a dual-threat QB from doing his thing. If he contains, Peterkin can beat you with his arm. If he bull rushes, Peterkin is 1 miss away from a 40 yard TD run. I’m sure the stats were wrong given to Andy Peterkin here, meaning Tyson Peterkin racked up 8 sacks, and means that Cons only has 1 chance at rolling out and completing passes. If he tries to cut back and go on the counter, Tyson has the ability to change his direction with ease versus the counterpart rushers Cons has seen all season. It’s a tie here, but Melnik has the more important role overall.

LaSalle Warriors Midget X-Factor: Mateo Rosa – On such a deep receiving core and with Princeton almost guarantee to put up WR1 numbers up, it’s all about who can provide that WR2/3 depth numbers that keep drives alive. I think that’s Mateo in this one.

Maccabees 6 X-Factor: Eric Lazarowitz – Eric has the Tight End size to be a redzone threat that could pose a problem for the Warriors. If he can contribute with 2 TD’s, Maccabees will need all the TDs where

Prediction: LaSalle Warriors Midget 33 – 20 Maccabees

Dak To The Future (3) vs. Fiddlers (10)

Position	Dak To The Future	Fiddlers
QB	✅
Receivers	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅

Previous Matchup: None

Breakdown by Position

QB – Justin Gauthier can absolutely sling the rock to his receivers and throwing 14 more TDs and 3 less interceptions in 1 less game than Manny Bizogias is a partial explanation of that disparity. I’m not sure there’s more to say here other than Gauthier appears to be trained as a QB while Bizogias is more an FPF receiver giving his shot at QB. Advantage Dak.

Receivers – Yeah…. Oriola Poirier is a MONSTER in Division 6. Then add last Spring’s MVP in Division E, Jeremy Laplante with François Rochette and Alexis Mailhot-Chevrier who all racked up 242 yards or more and between 6-9 TDs…. yeah, the top receiver is top and the depth runs deep and is talented. I like Andrew Perillo and Kevin Scalia, but when another set of receivers are better, they are just better.

Defense – I get it, both teams ramped up the picks against Why So Serious, but still, 30 INTs to 18 for Dak To The Future is some serious gap in the turnovers created. There’s also 55 points difference in the Points Against, 55 points less that Dak has allowed. And that’s without a lengthy Poirer in the backfield

Rusher – Poirer isn’t in the backfield because he’s rusher that can eliminate any running from an opposing QB. While Nino Lombardi accumulated 14 sacks and PD’d 6 balls away from ever reaching receivers, he will NOT be eligible to participate in the game, as there was an altercation that occurred in their previous playoff game again Win Diesel and he is suspended indefinitely. That leaves Fiddlers with a gaping hole at rusher and the clear advantage going Dak’s way.

Dak To The Future X-Factor: Christopher Ouimet – Look at the stats; he caught 5 balls, 4 of which went for touchdowns. He also intercepted 3 balls, 2 of which he returned to the endzone. Ouimet is addicted to the endzone when the ball reaches his hands. This is a prime X-factor candidate.

Fiddlers X-Factor: Manny Bizogias – Hard to call your Quarterback the X-Factor, but now without Nino Lombardi, Bizogias will need to be extra careful with the ball and play mistake-free football.

Prediction: Dak To The Future 38 – 21 Fiddlers

Baby Rays (2) vs. Slippery Slopes (20)

Position	Baby Rays	Slippery Slopes
QB	✅
Receivers	✅
DBs	✅
Rusher	✅

Previous Matchup: None

I’m not sure where the advantage lies in both teams not having played. There might not even be one, but I think that advantage goes to Slippery Slopes since the Baby Rays would have known what adjustments to make had they seen the Slippery Slopes offense before.

Can Slippery Slopes continue this magical Cinderella run and knock down another FPF heavy favorite? Let’s break it down

Breakdown by Position

QB – Look, Olivier St-Onge had a very good regular season in his FPF debut, but what has Tro Atolikian been taking this playoff run?? If I were the Baby Rays, I would ask for a drug test (although there are no rules in FPF for performance enhancing drugs 🤔). He has simply been OUTSTANDING these playoffs at QB, throwing 8 TDs, 0 INTs, completing 73% of his passes for a 143.1 QB rating. A WHAT? How Much?? 143.1? After 2 games? Bring the guy a cup to pee in, or did he become the fastest QB ever to understand the game of FPF? Honestly, I have seen Slippery Slopes play a few times, but neither time was it Tro throwing. Now it has me seriously intrigued. He did alright in the TD and INT department in the regular season, throwing 11 TDs and 3 INTs in 3 games as QB, but he was only completing 38% of his passes. That said, I’ll take the more consistent St-Onge where I know I’m getting a stable 4 TDs. It is scary though, that a few plays here and there, and Slippery Slopes could potentially make the upset playoff story in recent FPF history, and it would start with Tro. Will he be Tro(p) for the Baby Rays to handle? I’m not a dad, but I had to get my weekly dad joke/pun in with the Slippery Slopes team.

Receivers – We have the usual suspects here… Curtis Ryan, Tyler Gurberg are once again getting their weekly appearance, but Tylar Bianchi has shown he can do it all, with 270 yards and 7 TDs as a receiver. These guys are the next crew who got bit by the FPF bug and making a second team, and extending their FPF arm in the higher divisions as well with Peeze. The depth at receiver didn’t end with Bianchi but the roster was solidified with Aidan Lariviere who in his first FPF season almost had 300 yards to his name. For Slippery Slopes, the offense needs to roll through Jeremy Pelletier and Trevor Ruffner (a reminder btw, to wear a jersey with a number if you want stats!). That has been the case on their incredible playoff run, including a sprinkle of magic from Alek Asatoorian, providing the offense in the form of a 45-yard TD bomb. Overall though, from experience and production, Baby Rays have the advantage here.

Defense – Again, I haven’t seen Tro Atolikian throw for Slippery Slopes, so I don’t know what he likes to attack. I do know though, that Curtis Ryan is a turnover machine that covers a ton of turf out there. He is likely countered with Arto Khatchikian, who we’ve recently discovered is a CFL-level player playing in FPF’s Division 6. I remember St-Onge being a contentious point for a USports QB playing in Div 6, well, we have found the Slippery Slopes equivalent. Once again though, Baby Rays have the depth down the lineup that I just don’t see on the Slippery Slopes side. The Rays also allowed 139 points less than the Slopes.

Rusher – The Rays have a plethora of options to send at rush, whereas it seems the Slopes need to pick between Ash Katch and Arto Khatchikian, which removes Arto from coverage. For the Rays, whether its Jared Arany, Tyler Gurberg or Corey Bianchi, they have a nice, effective rotation that gives opposing QBs different looks.

Baby Rays X-Factor: Jalen Wells – If the Rays can create 2 or more turnovers, this game is done. If Wells can contribute in that department, he helps the team on their way to the Semis

Slippery Slopes X-Factor: Alek Asatoorian – Another surprise bomb would be fantastic. If he can create a turnover as well, the Slippery Slopes will be looking to pull off the ultimate upset.

Prediction: Baby Rays 28 – 24 Slippery Slopes

Epilogue 👋

Alright Div 6, that does it to preview the Quarter Final round. If you want more content, there’s always more! Here’s our podcast, Calling The Audible from this past Friday with Moe Khan, myself and Eagle at Master Control: