Tier 3 Power Rankings after Week 1

My name is Jerome Hovington, and I will be writing the articles in Tier 3 this Fall. I currently play for Dime and Bougie in Tier 2, and also play in Tier 3 with Idaho Udapimps. I like to talk about every single team, because I know it can be a bit annoying when an article comes out and your team isn’t mentioned. Shoutout to the CTA boys who do a fantastic job covering every single team in the league, and bring another dimension to FPF. So I felt like the first article of the season should be a long one, where everyone is covered fairly equally. I have some expectations for every team, and a range for where I think they’ll fall in the standings. I end with my pre-season Power Rankings. I know I’ll be dead wrong by the end of the season, but this thought exercise is very hard to get right when only 3 games have been played. Let’s get on with it. 

Joes Panini

Matthew Zeppetelli at QB but his brother AJ is not on the roster. A bit of an unproven roster. Big Fat Bats were a solid Div D team last season, but the loss of AJ is worrisome, especially considering the connection both brothers had. Ryan McNally is also gone. That leaves Joe Morgese as the best remaining player. The team did add Nicolas Knez who did good with 4th and Schlong. I’m not that high on the squad this season. (15-18)

Killer Rays

Went 2-8 in Div C, but were very competitive throughout the season. Lost some close games. Tyler Gurberg is the best receiver on this team and will keep being the main target for Tylar Bianchi. Aidan Lariviere and Curtis Ryan will be used as secondary options, and defensively Jared Arany (15 sacks in spring) will be holding it down and making it tough for opposing QBs. (3-7)

Born in the 80s

Went 8-2 in Div D

David de Andrade back under center. Craig Browning, Bakey Charles, Huge Stensland, Julien Proulx are all back and that is already a very solid base for a roster. The team also added rusher Sebastian Dufour who is a wild card in any given game. Simon Dufort also joins the squad, which gives De Andrade even more depth. This roster is one of the best in Tier 3, and the team will only go as far as De Andrade will take them. (8-15)

Trapstars

Probably one of the most accomplished team in Tier 3, Trapstars went 4-6 in Div C last spring, but didn’t look too great and got outclassed a couple times. Ryan Garber will surely be at QB, and Cooper Young will once again be the main option, and be looking for another award. He was targeted 94 times in the spring and Dylan Garber was targeted 73 times. Dylan doesn’t look like he’ll be on the roster this season. Does that mean Young will have even more targets? Will James Wiseman and David Giroux get a bigger role? While many may look at them as favorites, I must have some reserves, especially since they’re only 6 on the roster. (4-12)

Illegal Use of Hands

This is an interesting squad but I’m personally worried about them. Alessandro Barazzoni and Anthony Lazzara will both be eligible to throw, which means we could see some creative double QB plays, especially on converts. The team is basically a watered down Repeat Offenders squad without Nic Groppini, AJ Gomes and Raff Morelli. You still have Barazzoni who will move to QB, Anthony Lazzara, Anthony Siggia and Dan Lazzara. Repeat Offenders only went 5-5 and this is a worst version of that squad. They could struggle, but the experience they have is almost unmatched in tier 3. (12-17)

Bleue Dry

Frederic Juneau’s squad was one of the best in Div D in spring, especially offensively. Guillaume Dufresne was ridiculously good with 939 yards and 14TDs. Yvan Desjardins is also one of the most underrated players in all of FPF. Samuel Sicard and Philippe Burgoyne also provide depth. This team could cause some real damage, and many teams won’t know how to handle both Dufresne and Desjardins. (6-16)

Griffnation

This is a new team and I don’t know if anyone other than QB Olivier Sabourin has ever played flag. Sabourin’s experience in FPF at QB is not very impressive either. All of those guys played football at the CEGEP level with the Griffons du CEGEP de l’Outaouais. With not much FPF experience, I expect this team to struggle initially and get better as the season goes along. I don’t know exactly what to expect from them but their 48-25 win over Rico Ryders is absolutely encouraging. (10-21)

Wide Open Bar

The team went 7-3 in Div 4 in winter 2023, and that’s probably the best result of any team in Tier 3. Unfortunately for them, the QB of that 7-3 team was Jean Lussier, who is now over the QB cap for Tier 3. Edouard Leroux will most likely be the QB for this team, and Jean Lussier will line up as a receiver. The byproduct will be that Wide Open Bar loses one of its best receivers and Jean Lussier is not as good of a receiver. Louis Lussier and Philippe Leroux will be the main targets. This team will definitely be a playoff team but the uncertainty at quarterback leaves me unsure about whether this team is a contender, but they’re too good to be ranked below that right now. (1-5)

West Island Knights

The first of two teams repping the West Island. The Knights are led by Marc-Andre Reeves, who has only thrown 72 passes in his FPF career, with 59 of them coming in 2018. Most of these guys are unknowns in the male division. Daryl Charles, David Olivier, Jeffrey Romain, Mederice Louissaint have some experience but it mainly comes from Co-ed. With most players having no experience or only a little, I don’t have much to go off of, and will have to assume they’ll be one of the worst teams in Tier 3. (19-21)

The Penetrators

One of the most dangerous teams in Tier 3. They went 8-2 in Div D and were led by Justin Goodman who was fantastic in spring. Nicholas Fon, Jared Boidman and Matthew Caponi were the 3 main offensive weapons. The team also went ahead and added Rocco Cristiano to play receiver. One of the most athletic players in the whole league being added to an already great squad should have most teams worried. This team will definitely make a run and is one of the favorites to win it all. (1-4)

In n’ Out

The team went 1-9 in Div 4 in Winter 2023 with Nicholas Katerelos at QB, who was one of the worst QBs that season. Samuel Deland was perhaps the lone bright spot on that team and will be one of the most dynamic players on the team. Many of the roster players are probably better than their stats indicate due to Katerelos’ struggles during that season. The tier 3 competition will probably be weaker than the Div 4 comp in Winter 2023, and hopefully that makes it easier for Katerelos. If the struggles continue, perhaps it will be optimal to look for someone else to distribute the ball around. (17-21)

The RudeBoyz

The RudeSaks rebrand to the RudeBoyz. The team went 5-4-1 in Spring and generally looked solid. It was Raffi Bastadjian’s first season at QB and he was pretty good. He should keep getting better. Trevor Ruffner, Alex Torossian and Jeremy Pelletier are his main targets. Jeremy Pelletier is also a great 2-way player, as he racked up 7 interceptions in 8 games in spring. This team could surprise, but won’t start off the season as favorites. (10-15)

New Diablos

Francois Martin is probably going to be throwing, but obviously the presence of Luis Begin on the roster suggests double QB plays are on the card. Begin is one of the best receivers in the whole division. Alexis Bessette is also very solid, and so is Frederique Brunnette. Overall, this team looks pretty solid on paper and has a lot of experience. I’m expecting them to be at or above .500. (7-13)

Idaho Udapimps

I’m going to try to be as impartial as possible even though this is my team, but after winning Division D-2, and adding even more key players to the squad, I can’t deny that Idaho is one of the favorites. Let’s just say Brady Ohanessian will have a plethora of options throwing the ball. Manu Allard-Roy will once again be a main threat alongside myself. David Gutkovski, Alex Szalipszki, Eric Christian Schiocchet and Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo are all players that can explode in any given game. The player every team should be worried about if they face Idaho is Rory Kelly. A bit of an unknown in FPF, Kelly can only be described as an athletic freak and will cause matchup nightmares for everyone. (1-5)

Bandits

Emile Skaf’s Bandits squad definitely has the potential to be dangerous. Skaf distributes the ball extremely well and all of the players on the roster are capable offensively. Aridi, Nahra, Sylvain, Jeannis, Labrosse, Mourelatos and Champagne all had at least 5TD receptions last season. Perhaps the only question mark is whether they have a true star player who can create plays out of nothing when the situations seems dark. Perhaps Aridi or Nahra is that guy. (3-8)

West Island Boys

Starting off with a tie against Born in the 80s is a bit disappointing. Zack Stacey is a very good quarterback, and he has a lot of weapons. Mike Collard, Skylar Bayliff, Mike Badibabungi, Micharl Raffoul, Anthony Grotto, Julian Mclaren-Thompson are all back. Now add Ethan Adrian and the comeback of Nicholas Di Maulo and you’ve got something very interesting brewing. It is no question that this team will do well in the regular season, but will they be able to get over the hump in the playoffs? (3-6)

Team Sexy

A Div5B team which went 6-4 in the winter moves to Tier 3, which is loaded this season. I don’t expect much. This team is still fairly new, Benjamin Berbrier has been solid throughout but perhaps isn’t good enough yet, and the competition will be as good as it has ever been for him. Sam Anastopoulos will be a guy to watch for, and same goes for Andrew Steinberg. This team will likely struggle and find itself in the bottom half of the standings. (15-21)

Mengoose

After 2 terrible seasons in Div4 and Div C, Mengoose move down a little bit in terms of competition. Let’s just be honest, Felix-Olivier Lavigne has been bad in his FPF career so far. He throws a lot of picks and he gets sacked a lot, which is never a recipe for success. Perhaps the easier competition will help slow the game down for him but Mengoose should keep struggling. Charles-Olivier Lavigne is going to be a tough matchup for many teams, and many of the players on Mengoose are ballers, but they’ll need Felix-Olivier Lavigne to be better if they want to finally be competitive. (10-17)

Lightwork

They have an unproven QB in Tyler Havlena, but have some proven talent on the roster with Michael Khazaka, Alexandre Delisle and Anthony Mungiovi. The question will be whether they have enough depth, and if Havlena will be able to adjust quickly to the toughest competition he has faced so far. Could be one of the worst teams or a surprising underdog. (16-21)

Bébés dragons magiques

Not the greatest squad out there. Guillaume Boulanger hasn’t perfected his game yet, but he spreads the ball well amongst his receivers. The squad is solid all around, and they have one player in Timoté Nehma-Lacasse who really has superstar potential on both sides of the ball. (10-16)

Rico Ryders

Already 0-1 on the season after losing to new team Griffnation. Rico Ryders are a solid team with a very potent offense that can have a lot of turnovers, as was shown through Mathew Yanakoulias’ 3 interceptions thrown in week 1. Justin Lerner, Greg Kritselas and Daron Migdesyan are the main guys. They’re hit or miss, and can win or lose against anyone. (8-15)

I set the range of the power rankings for all of these teams as I was writing the article, and now it’s time to place them. The teams I saw as potential number one are Wide Open Bar, The Penetrators and Idaho Udapimps. 

1. Penetrators
2. Idaho Udapimps
3. Wide Open Bar

Teams I saw as potential contenders, which means at best top 5 were Killer Rays, Trapstars, Bandits and West Island Boys.

4. Killer Rays

5. West Island Boys

6. Trapstars

7. Bandits

Teams I see as pretenders at the moment, which means at best top 8 are Born in the 80s, Bleue Dry, New Diablos and Rico Ryders. 

8. Bleue Dry

9. New Diablos

10. Born in the 80s

11. Rico Ryders

Now the middle of the pack teams are 

12. The RudeBoyz

13. Griffnation

14. Bébés Dragons Magiques

15. Mengoose

The teams that will most likely be out in the first round are

16. Illegal Use of Hands

17. Joes Panini

18. Team Sexy

19. Lightwork

Now finally the basement teams are

20. West Island Knights

21. In N’ Out

I might be harsh with some of you, and I definitely think I’m gonna be wrong with some of my assumptions, but overall, this is most of what I could garner for this article, since it’s all based on past seasons. Obviously, some teams slightly changed, or improved a lot, which could influence how this season goes. With only 8 games on the schedule, you don’t even play half of the other teams in the division, so it works a little more like college, where each game is very important to get the best possible seeding, and differentials matter. 

This is it for this article, I won’t do predictions this week as we will be doing plenty of that as the season goes along. I hope you enjoyed the first article of the season, write any feedback or segment ideas you’d recommend.

Good luck this week!