The Wrath of Khan, Finals Edition

The FPF football year has come to an end and without further ado, let’s get right into the 3 Finals.

In previewing the Division C finals it was mentioned on the WEPL (and throughout the league to some extent), stop Scott Mironowicz and the opposition will win. However, for the Terminators that was not the case, as Mironowicz served them a good dose of his deadly speed that resulted in an incredible touchdown which had yours truly remembering how former NHL player, Paul Coffey would skate from one end of the rink to the other end to score a goal. Another observation: it did not help that the Terminators turned over the ball which the Stomp capitalized on each opportunity. It was obvious that quarterback Gino Di Fazio was not himself on Sunday night; there were unusual (for him) errant passes and he could not get a read on the Stomp defense. PTC Stomp definitely has the talent to play D3, if not maybe D2 with one or two more established players. The Terminators on the other hand; they have talent and no one questioned whether or not they would make it this far. But once again, it was the lack of intensity that cost them the victory. That being said, they were coming from a tackle game that played a big factor in them not being 100%. Overall Grade of Final: B-

The Division B finals lived up to the considerable hype. It was by far the most entertaining game on and off the field as both teams had stands full of fans. The G-Men played their game plan to perfection, forcing Buckeyes quarterback Nathan Taylor to throw rather than use his legs. Even when Taylor eluded the pass rush, he had to face a plethora of G-Men defenders, which limited him to 6-yard gains per rush. Despite All-Star Garrett Taylor missing the game due to St. Leonard football, the Buckeyes put up a great fight, running out of gas late as some of the players had what in essence was their fifth practice in 2 days since most of them play for the Vanier Cheetahs football team. However, do not discredit the G-Men victory; they came up with big plays like a batted ball on a pass rush which was returned for a touchdown, they had key catches to eat up the clock in the end, and they made sure they did not get into any heated arguments with the Buckeyes, which was the key to staying focused on the task at hand. As for the future of both teams: the Buckeyes will need to add depth to their team, possibly a veteran presence to help keep the players relaxed and focused. For the G-Men, the main question is who will be the starting quarterback in Winter ’09? I think they should use the Florida Gators model, featuring dual quarterbacks. With Daniele Gentile as Chris Leak and Paul Kamel as Tim Tebow, I think this will work to perfection. Overall Grade of Final: A

The Division A finals could have been a classic but it fell short of reaching that level. Some felt that the Rainmakers took this game too lightly from their remarks during the press conference on their approach to the game. But they did put up a good fight, and what ended their hopes against the Kings was allowing Rushdee Benabdelkaeder make a key catch on a 4th and 10 late in the second half, and the last touchdown in which he danced around 3 Rainmakers defenders for the score. What made this victory even sweeter, was my colleague, Rehan Sarwar told the WEPL team that Adi Sharma would first to be presented the trophy for all of his hard work and dedication he put into this league. In fact, I was happy for Sharma, for a great guy like him, he would be ranked as the most friendliest guy in FPF. As for next year, the Rainmakers will surely move up to D1 Winter they have talented players that can compete. As for the Kings, Sarwar knows this was a one shot deal as the players will go back to their original teams in preparation for their seasons. But you must give credit where it is due and Sarwar has done an excellent job recruiting players to win championships. This Kings team reminds me of the movie Ocean’s 11. The leader Danny Ocean(Sarwar) recruited the best to do the Casino heist, just like Sarwar signed the best to win the title. Overall Grade of Final: B

Percentages%

5%, we will see Ross Castleton and Rehan Sarwar become All-Stars next Winter.

5%, is the intensity level the Terminators had on Sunday.

25%, that Buckeyes-G-Men will be on my top-10 most heated rivalries down the road.

30%, that we will see players from the lower divisions move up to play with another team.

35%, that we will see the Kings, G-Men, and PTC Stomp defending their titles next spring.

Future Considerations

In talking to a few players who were on hand for the Finals, there is a lot of excitement in the air for the Winter season. There is something about the Winter league that elevates the game play of this league. Not to discount the intensity level of the Spring league, but simply does not match the passion in the Winter. Here are my Winter predictions on who will end up with a new team.

From the reaction of the Gators players during the DB finals, I could tell they were wondering how I knew about the future signing of Rick Cummins? Initially, they had no comment, but they knew the cat was out of the bag.

The rumour that I keep on hearing is that Mike Roy wants to play D1, and the Wolverines were the lead contender to get his services. Now, since his Conference Finals loss to the Rainmakers, the talk of Roy playing D1 has died down dramatically, unless a D1 team is in desperate need of quarterback, he will be back with the Monarchs.

What will happen to a Notre Dame team 14 months removed from a 2007 D2 Winter title and one game away from making it to the 2008 D1 Winter Finals. Richard Shefteshy will no longer have Carmine Pollice at QB as he will bring his Demons up to D1 from D2, so who will he look to now? Will his team return to D1? With the loss of Pollice, the apparent retirement of Mathieu Roy and J-M Laplante’s commitment to University of Montreal (not removing him from the team but at the very least making him more unreliable), this team needs stability or it could implode. Could former teammate Rodney Charles be back with the team, bolstering team chemistry and providing a talented alternative at QB? The word I hear is he’ll still be in Toronto for at least another year. The most likely scenario here is a drop back down into D2 due to the overhaul.

The Express, the defending D2 champions, are undecided as to whether they will move up to D1 or stay in D2. Now, whichever direction they will go, this will have an impact on a couple of teams in D1, namely Montreal’s Finest and CLR Forces. Star quarterback, Patrick Chenard was an instrumental part to Montreal’s Finest’s success, and Nic Arsenault-Hum plays safety for CLR. Arsenault-Hum says he will be with CLR Forces regardless of the decision from the Express, but what will Chenard do?

To close off this article, it might seem like quite a distance between today and the start of the Winter season, but the recruiting wars will carry on from the autumn season right up to the first week of January. I certainly enjoyed the ’08 Winter and Spring leagues, and I expect even bigger things for Winter ’09. Once again congrats to the winners of the spring league, be good, and please do not be wooed by Ross Castleton to join his Organized Chaos team, that’s comparable to being recruited by Alabama University to play “whiskers” football. Enjoy the NFL, CFL, NCAA, CIS, and Junior and be good!