Categories: Division 4ADivision 4BGeneral

We Made It – The Div 4 Championship is here and it’s time to shine

Alright, this is it. We finally made it. It’s the Grande Finale. FPF’s toughest season is coming to its conclusion. It’s the first Winter season Finals since 2019. My god, 3 years since the last one. All I can say is that it’s about time! From Winter 2019 to December 2021. The latter date is when teams signed up for Division 4 of the Winter 2022 season, hoping they would be here, about to play in the Division Championship game. While I won’t be playing in the Div 4B finals, I am ready to call me some fantastic games and I’m sure the 4 teams that made it, Mongoose, Small Giants, Vultures and The U (congrats to the finalists) have a little smile on their faces reading this and are chomping at the bit to play on Saturday May 28th in Brossard.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s do a little recap of how the teams got here, their road to the finals so to speak. We’ll start with Division 4B and the playoff run both The U and Vultures have gone through to get here, with an emphasis on the Semi-Finals this past Tuesday at Loyola, where there was a little bit of good, there was bad, and there was some ugly.

Road to the Finals – Division 4B

The U

The U started their playoff journey with the bye week, as they finished the regular season with a strong, but not unusual 8-1-1 record. In their first playoff game, a Quarter Final matchup against a 5-5 Team Ethnik, Ethnik played the U extremely tough that ended up being an offensive showdown. The U narrowly escaped that game with the victory, as they scored the Game Winning TD on the 2nd-to-last play of the game. In their Semi-Final matchup this past Tuesday at Loyola, they had, let’s be honest, a TERRIBLE game against Les Verges Folles. They are lucky that Les Verges Folles were just as bad. Not sure if the outdoor element took them by surprise, as it was their first time outdoors all year, but the high volume of bad passes that were picked off (by both teams) was just jaw dropping. The U stumbled their way into the Finals, but they can thank us, the media team, for needing the Finals to be indoor for broadcasting purposes, because Evan Frank’s game is NOT suited for outdoors. That aside, the playoffs are known to be a war of attrition, and it seems like The U have gotten bit by the injury bug and are hobbling into the finals on one foot. Justin Peress was seen on crutches on the sidelines during the Semi-final game and Nikki Papich appeared to sustain a lower body injury, forcing him to take some reps as snapper since his mobility was limited. But even a Papich at 60-70% is a dangerous weapon, so the Vultures cannot count him out. In fact, he’s the one who caught the last convert for 1 to put The U up 2-0 in the overtime shootout against Les Verges Folles. If somehow those 2 players can heal like Wolverine and come out to play at 80-90% and play like they did against Team Ethnik, then we will have ourselves a game. If not, the Finals could turn ugly.

Vultures

The Vultures Road to the Final story goes back to the Spring 2021 season. They let the Spring Championship slip away from their fingers when they held a 2-score lead against The Bruins with about 4 minutes left in the game. After the Bruins scored to bring the game within 1 possession, Ben McMahon threw a pick over the middle of the field that he still talks about to this day. Well, they clearly all remember that day as they are looking to seek vengeance, and they have been playing lights out football on both sides of the ball. To add to the story, they went 8-2 during the regular season. Their 2 losses? Against Honey Martin and Beer Belly Brigade. Their playoff matchups so far? Honey Martin and Beer Belly. They held a lead in a close 1st half against Honey Martin to subsequently never let the foot off the gas pedal in a convincing win over HM, and then played a very close game vs. Beer Belly Brigade that they were able to come out on top under the arm and legs of McMahon, and Phil Roberts, in back-to-back games, sealed the deal with the interception that iced the game, sending the Vultures to the Finals. They’ve been able to exact revenge and slay their archrivals this winter season, but now they have 1 more team standing in their way to complete the comeback that started in September 2021. Just 1 more hill to climb if they want to crown themselves as champs.

Road to the Finals – Division 4A

Mongoose

Mongoose have steamrolled their way through the playoffs so far, beating The Stoics in the Quarterfinals by 2 scores and Takeover in the Semis by 3 scores. They are by far, the most improved team in the division. They had a 2-4 record after Week 7 and haven’t lost a game since April 10th, so that’s almost a month and a half now of undefeated football, going into the Finals on a 6-game winning streak. Mongoose have been riding on the back of Alex Gaudet, who has been ON FIRE during the playoffs, completing 73.1% of his passes and putting up a 130.7 QBR, with 11 TD passes, 451 yards and most importantly 0 INTs in 2 playoff games. Of course, Gaudet is not alone; his receivers have been exceptional, and it hasn’t been just 1 or 2 guys. The receiving core for Mongoose is as solid as they come, with 3 guys with 100 receiving yards and 5 receivers with 61 or more yards, and all 5 of those guys have at least 1 Touchdown (and a max of 3). The ball is being spread at a perfect level, which never allows the defense to be aggressive and jump routes and the offense has been one of the reasons why they are excelling in their playoff run.

Small Giants

As for the Small Giants, they are living up to their name, as they entered the Conference A playoff bracket as the #5 seed and upset several division juggernauts along the way. They beat the #3 seed Bruins, the #1 seed TOPSZN and the #4 Blackouts, and are entering the finals on a 5-game win streak, so they must feel VERY confident going into their finals matchup against Mongoose. Between them and Mongoose, they are definitely the team that has been more battle-tested during their playoff run, who have won their 3 games by a combined 9 points. I like that because the playoffs are all about how you handle pressure situations and Small Giants have proven in 3 straight games that they can buckle down and make the play in high-pressure situations. So, they’ve got that swagger and confidence coming in, that, and many of the guys on the team are looking for their 2nd FPF championship. I like that, plus I like how a not-so-household name omn the Small Giants roster in David Germain played a HUGE role in their victory over the Blackouts on Tuesday. The guy caught all 4 of his targets for a big 81 yards and 2 TDs, the most by any receiver, on the night. Now they will need him to come up big again, as Moe reported on Calling The Audible, it appears as though the Small Giants will be without John Madimenos, so that is a large void for the team that they will to work around. If there’s a team though, that have created a solid enough roster to make up for a player’s loss, it’s this Small Giant squad. An extra rep for Greg Kritselas, Theo Bekelis, Justin Lerner, and The Wrangler? These guys are well insulated and can make up for the loss of Johnny Madimenos.

Div 4B – Saturday May 28th – The Championship Final

The U (10-1-1) vs. Vultures (10-2)

Alright, let’s start breaking down this matchup, so let’s begin with a look at the last time these 2 teams played each other.

Previous matchup: Vultures 34 – 19 The U (Week 6)

Don’t let the 15 point Vulture victory fool you, The U was without several key pieces in their lineup, including Quarterback Evan Frank, Justin Peress, Joe Kano, and Kyle Pedvis. While The U will be missing or be playing with less than 100% players for the Finals, it’s not like missing 4 players, including the quarterback, which changes the dynamic of an offense entirely. Plus, when you put in Nikki Papich at Quarterback, you lose him as a receiver. The Vultures know fully well that they expect this Finals game to be closer than the regular season matchup, but from their perspective, nothing changes for them, at least offensively. James Drysdale and Kevin Donnet are their 2 star receivers and they combined for over 100 yards and 4 TDs back on March 26th. Defensively, they were able to contain Tim Horner on offense, but that’s what usually happens when you focus on 1 guy vs. The U, is that their other receivers are now slouches, and if there is a mismatch, which often falls in favor of The U, they will take it. In the regular season, that was Dylan Catellier, as he answered James Drysdale’s 3 TDs with 3 of his own, and had an interception to boot.

The Vultures grabbed an early and decisive lead, 28-0 by halftime. If they get a similar lead in the Finals, I can bet you the halftime discussion will be very simple: “Keep the foot on the pedal. DO NOT let up. We play as if it’s 0-0 until the last whistle blows.” They will not allow another meltdown happen, like what happened against the Bruins in the Spring Final.

Keys to Victory:

The U will win the Championship if:

  1. Evan Frank scores on every possession. He cannot afford a turnover and give the Vultures a short field to work with.
  2. They are SOLID with their first tackles. They cannot afford missing the flags of Ben McMahon, James Drysdale and Kevin Donnet and letting him them cut up into the open field for major yardage.
  3. They turn McMahon‘s deep shots into INTs. They need to force a turnover, if not 2, if they want to win this game.

Vultures will win the Championship if:

  1. Ben McMahon keeps playing at the top of his game and stays concentrated for all 44 minutes and 10 plays of the game. A 60+ rushing yard performance with 150+ passing yards and a total of 6 TDs should do the job.
  2. James Drysdale has a big game on both sides of the ball. As a rusher, he can stop Evan Frank‘s play from developing with sacks and bad throws, and offensively, his hands, speed and awareness will cause troubles for The U. A 6-catch, 70 yard, 2 TD performance equals a Vulture win.
  3. The unsung heros play a role. Offensively, give me Anthony Drysdale to come up with another BIG tocuhdown, and defensively, this playoff run it’s been Phil Roberts shutting the door on teams. I say Drysdale has a big TD and Roberts with a game-changing INT.

Biggest matchup in the Finals: Who on the The U can contain Ben McMahon? While The U do have athletes and are big vertically, they have trouble with shorter, faster guys. Take a look at Will Bissonnette’s stats against them in the Quarter Final game vs. Team Ethnik. The guy had 132 yards receiving and 4 TDs… Even with their athletic ability, it is HARD to contain these smaller, shifty guys.

On the other hand, Evan Frank is elusive in his own way, and while he’s focused more on throwing the ball this season, he does still scramble out of the pocket, sometimes intentionally as the play is a designed rollout, sometimes to take off downfield. He does this effectively against most rushers, but most teams don’t have James Drysdale rushing. He’s a rusher than can not only disrupt, but eliminate and kill plays, so if Frank cannot escape from him early in the game, he will need to quickly adjust and make sure he calls plays where he is releasing the ball quickly out of his hands from inside the pocket. In fact, it may be a good idea for them to go in the hurry-up offense from time to time, just to see if he can tire out James so he can have that split second longer to be more effective with the rollout plays.

Because The U appear to be shorthanded for the game, they will need to be very aware of the time situation at all times. They will need to lengthen their drives and make sure that they limit the number of possessions the Vultures get offensively, because they are a lethal scoring machine. The more The U can draw out their offensive possessions and score on them (the critical part of playing a slow game is that you MUST score on your possessions or else you give yourself less time to score). They will also need to carefully manage their timeouts and even take them in the first half if it means they can get an extra possession to score at the end of the half. As the Home team, if they can get an extra offensive possession at the end of the half and get the ball to start the 2nd half, and can convert both possessions into touchdowns, that would be HUGE for their chances to win the Championship.

Prediction: Alright, it’s that time… time for Iggy’s prediction… I just think that Ben McMahon is playing at an incredible level of football right now. That, coupled with the fact that The U are not 100%, leads me to believe that the Vultures are going to exact revenge on the Spring Championship. Had The U been completely healthy with all 7 guys, the game would have been MUCH tighter and The U would have had a good chance at winning it all. Instead, I think the Vultures will be too much for The U to handle and will win it 33-19 and will be crowned your Division 4B Champions!

It’s been a hell of a season 4B, what a crazy division. I loved every second of it, it gave me so much to write about, talk about, and it’s all because the teams are so competitive. Goodluck to both The U and Vultures. I do hope it’s a fantastic game that comes down to the wire, and hell, why not a Championship that comes down to the last play?

Div 4A – Saturday May 28th – The Championship Final

Small Giants (9-3-1) vs. Mongoose (8-4)

Alright, let’s start breaking down this matchup! Let’s begin with a look at the last time these 2 teams played each other.

Previous matchup: Small Giants 38 – 15 Mongoose (Week 2)

Look, it’s true that their last meeting in the regular season was a very convincing win by Small Giants, but like I mentioned in the Road to the Finals, Mongoose are the most improved team in the division and are a team that has built a stronger and stronger chemistry as the season went along. They are now firing on all cylinders and are NOT the same team as they were on February 27th when these 2 teams last faced off against one another. That, and like Peeze mentioned on Monday’s Calling the Audible show, Mongoose are infuriating and are one of the best teams to make adjustments when playing a team a second time. You don’t have to go so far back for evidence. Look at their rematch game against Takeover on Tuesday. Takeover had laid a whopping on them in the regular season, a 39-18 loss, and look what they accomplished when facing them again, a 38-19 (eerily similar score, but this time in favour of Mongoose).

In that game, Alex Gaudet did not play like he has been lately. He threw 2 of his 9 regular season INTs that night, and as I mentioned previously, he’s been very protective of the football, throwing 0 INTs in his 2 playoff games. He also, more than lately, targeted 1 receiver more than the others. That night it was Jonathan Chevalier who got the bulk of the targets, whereas now, they are distributing the ball a lot more consistently. Defensively, Mongoose were unable to stop Small Giants and Justin Lerner was able to move the ball with ease down the field. The main receiver for them that night was John Madimenos, the very one that will not be present for them on Saturday. He had 85 of the 183 yards thrown by Lerner that night, but actually had 0 TDs that night. The most (2 TDs) went to both Greg Kritselas and Daron Migdesyan.

So the big thing here is how Mongoose consumed knowledge of the Small Giants offense and their defensive playbook from that game, and how they will now gameplan for what they’ve already seen. But if the Small Giants follow the media ramblings, they too will slightly adjust their playbook, and voila, the amazing back-and-forth mind games and tweaks to a playoff game that makes football so great.

Keys to Victory:

Small Giants will win the Championship if:

  1. Justin Lerner can make the necessary adjustments against a Mongoose team that has gameplanned for him.
  2. The defense needs to absolutely disrupt the ease with which Alex Gaudet is seeing the field right now. Whichever rusher Small Giants send, they need him to get Gaudet off his game early.
  3. And… I’m sure the Small Giants love it by now… it’s the lucky Key to Victory #3…. Theo Bekelis goes beast mode and gets over 80 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT.

Mongoose will win the Championship if:

  1. Alexandre Gaudet continues to play on the hot streak he’s been playing on for a month and a half now. Evenly distributing the ball, turnover-free football.
  2. The Mongoose defense can create 2 turnovers on Justin Lerner.
  3. The veteran leadership of François Deslauriers comes through on both sides of the ball. If he comes away with 2 TDs and 1 INT, or 1 TD and 2 INTs, he will be lifting his 7th FPF Championship.

Biggest matchup in the Finals game: I think one of the things Gaudet has to worry about are the deep shots he takes. I actually love his decision-making of when to go deep vs. Takeover and the actual arch/trajectory of the ball, however, he will need to be careful about the elusive and slipper Lerner from the safety position. He is one if those safeties that can get to a spot on the field MUCH quicker than most, and faster than what you think he can, based on where he is positioned on the field when throwing a ball. He is a ballhawk that can create turnovers for his team.

Prediction: Okay! This is it! Time for the Final Prediction of the Winter 2022 season! Mongoose know, but I only think that I have picked against them many times this season, and they’ve proved me wrong, all the way to the Division 4A Championship. Well, it’s time to give them some love. Mongoose, I am going with you, but I do think this game comes down to the final possession in nail-biting fashion. Gimme Mongoose with a 28-27 victory over the Small Giants.

Well that’s it, it’s been a hell of a season 4A, seriously, tough, tough competition. I loved covering the division, the storylines were hype, the division was pulsating, and I’m glad you tuned in to get a close vibe of the division. Goodluck to both Small Giants and Mongoose, and see you at the Finals!!

Epilogue

Well, that does it amigos, it’s been a one hell of a ride, so that’s for joining me every week and giving my stuff a read. So for the final time, here is Moe, Peeze, Eagle, and yours truly for the Division 4 analysis on CTA.

Iggy Magnets, signing out for the season, but you can catch me live broadcasting the Finals!

Cheers,