One more before the Finals

All Saturday night winners now have their semis Monday (D2) or Tuesday (D1). With the Finals only a few days away, the excitement is at its highest point. It’s been a great season and a very wild playoff race so far, but it’s only about to get crazier as the final minutes are upon us before the Winter Finals kick in.

Let’s get started,

 

Week 13

Clockwork dominated in the second go-at-it, #NR won an absolute thriller, BYOB pulled away with one over We P.O, Waste Yout gave us a show on the GOTW, Got-Skills and Top Guns ‘forfeited’, Braves won a close one vs a Rod Mashtoub-less Monstars and FMS showed their dominance. All in all, some pretty amazing quarter finals.

 

Thoughts of the Week

• Would Monstars have with Rod Mashtoub?
• Should Got-Skills have tried to play 5v6?
• Is Flag Moi L’Sac the real deal?
• What if We P.O had Vinny Gualano?
• Can BYOB upset #NR?
• This D2 GOTW between Waste Yout and STL ended up being a pretty amazing game.
• Funny how both D2 rematches are from games played in Week 7.
• Troy Trench continues to be a monster in D2. Maybe someone will pick him up for D1 next Winter.
• Matt Kirouac had himself quite the game in D2 for Clockwork; can he do it again?
• Teddy Frenette reminded everyone why he was such a force in D1 not so long ago last weekend.
• With D-Boys and Montreal’s Finest being one of the possibilities for this season’s finals, I can’t help but feel like this could be another one of those Winter Classics.
• In D1&2, ‘only’ Matt Kirouac, Antonio Lanni, Quaid Johnson, Marco Masciotra, Mathieu Lepage, Quaysie Gordon-Maule, Khalil Kerr, Chris Milard, Theo Ojeaha, Jamal Gittens are still eligible for the prestigious double championship award.

 

Players of the Week

• Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze (Flag Moi L’Sac): 5 passing TDS, 263 combined yards and a pick-six on defence. Quite the return.
• Antoine Boulard (Braves): 93 receiving yards and 4 TDs. For someone we haven’t mentioned in a while, here’s a little reminder of how dominant he can be.

 

• Laurent Foucault (BYOB): Someone we don’t necessarily mention enough; he had a monster game finishing with 10 receptions for 132 yards, a TD and 2 sacks in his team’s most recent win.
• Justin McLean (You Can’t Sit With Us): Although his team lost, he left it all on the field tallying 133 yards and 3 TDs over 7 receptions.

 

Playoff Previews

• Montreal’s Finest (1st) vs Braves (4th)

Previous meeting: 34 – 33 Montreal’s Finest (Week 3)

The last time these two teams faced off, Finest won but the margin wasn’t as great as they would’ve wanted. Since then, Braves have been on an absolute roll and their offence hasn’t looked the same. Sure, Finest are known to ‘flip the switch’ and turn into playoff mode once end of March rolls in, but there’s something about this matchup that could prove to be quite the spectacular game. Braves might not have beat Montreal’s Finest this season, but they gave them a close enough game to think this playoff rematch could, potentially, be an upset. With an absolute arsenal at their disposition once again this season, Montreal’s Finest should have the right matchups to exploit the Braves’ defence and Kevin Wyeth isn’t known to make mistakes in the playoffs, but could Braves find a way to stay in this game long enough to turn it into a clock management affair and walk away with their biggest win in franchise history on Tuesday night?

Key factor: Keeping Braves below 40 points

Prediction: 46 – 38 Montreal’s Finest

 

• D-Boys (2nd) vs Flag Moi L’Sac (3rd)

Previous meeting: 59 – 34 D-Boys (Week 11)

This round’s most interesting matchup. Can D-Boys find a way to limit Flag Moi L’Sac’s high-octane offence? In what could be a very special season for FMS, no one can say they had an easy route. D-Boys have been criticized over and over this season for their low scoring offence, but they’ve been true to their #2 status and their defence is the real deal. With a trip to the Finals on the line; the reason people sign up to play in the first place, could D-Boys put a stop to the hottest team in D1 (now that Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze has returned)? Their last matchup was a bit of a fluke, but it did show us that D-Boys can score on this group and even though their defence has carried them most of the season, let’s not underestimate how good they can be on both sides of the ball with their season on the line.

Key factor: Limiting FMS’ big play ability

Prediction: 40 – 34 Flag Moi L’Sac

 

 

• #NR (1st) vs BYOB (6th)

Previous meeting: 45 – 19 #NR (Week 7)

At this point of the season, you’ve gotta play whoever’s left and there’s no more ‘bad draws’. This might be one of the most difficult matchups for BYOB to overcome, but that team has proven us all wrong time and time again. We know their offence is explosive and can score on pretty much everyone at any time, but their defence really kicked it up a notch recently and are playing like a true D2 contender. #NR has been the favorite for quite some time and their most recent performances (that week 11 comeback, this weekend’s OT win) shows that they’ll never give up and no game’s ever out of reach. If BYOB can find a way to get an early lead, they might be able to put enough pressure to hang on for most of the game, but it’ll come down to how both teams react with few plays left in the game and who will make the clutch play to send their team to the Finals and who will go home.

Key factor: Avoiding Troy Trench

Prediction: 43 – 37 #NR

 

• Waste Yout (2nd) vs Clockwork (5th)

Previous meeting: 37 – 31 Waste Yout (Week 7)

Aside from a small hiccup recently, Waste Yout has been on fire leading up to this game. Both teams were early favorites to make it this far and haven’t disappointed when it mattered the most. Clockwork’s very balanced offence makes it difficult to stop and requires the opposing team’s defenders to all be on point; something Waste Yout has excelled at recently. In what could turn out to be a duel between the two best QBs in the division, I’m not sure it’ll be the highest scoring game of the week. Both defences have stepped up recently and I don’t see the trend stopping anytime soon. Will Teddy Frenette have another huge game for Clockwork or will Daniel Lazzara avoid him altogether? Can anyone limit Jarryd Taylor for the whole hour? Will Clockwork’s rush be able to contain Dan Lazzara in the pocket and force a handful of early throws? Will Khalil Kerr finish with more than 10 receptions?

Key factor: 3+ Waste Yout receivers with touchdowns

Prediction: 33 – 26 Waste Yout

 

That’s it for me this week. Hopefully this will trigger you just enough to drop me a message either via email ([email protected]), twitter (@DagenaisFPF) or in person. Remember, I didn’t do this to you, YOU did this to you. Until next time…! Probably your most dreaded week of the year Eags; Good Luck.