Categories: Division CGeneral

Week 3 is in the Books; Who’s taken control over the division, who’s in trouble?

Welcome back Div C and thanks for tuning in to read about the ins and outs of the division this week. I was able to catch a few Div C games, including one Shawn McGrath of TOPSZN who came up to me before his game to give me a shoutout on the articles. Glad to know people are enjoying the articles, so here’s the return shoutout to you dude. Despite playing through an injury, the guy is 2nd in both TDs thrown (22) and passing yards (927) in a division loaded with monster teams. That makes him one of the top dogs in the division and after finally watching him play, he definitely looks the part as he has his team with a 4-1 record, with the 1 loss coming to the 5-0 Vultures by 1 point.

But first, a look at what happened in Week 3 of the the division.

  • If we agreed last week that 0-2 is not an FPF death sentence like it is in the NFL, is 0-4 FPF’s version of it? That’s where Tough Lungs find themselves after losing big to Ravens and after a long, hard battle against TOPSZN, where Justin Lerner was picked off on the last play by Bradley Parent. Looking at their schedule, they have matchups against 3 elite teams, one 50/50 game and 2 games where their experience should win them the games. Will 2 or 3 wins be enough to clinch a playoff spot?
  • I mentioned Vultures and EZW sitting atop the standings at 5-0 and 4-0 respectively, but don’t forget that just because they aren’t at the top of the standings does it mean that we have other teams that can also claim to be undefeated. The Stoics and Hot Sauce Sports fit that bill and are 3-0 and 2-0 respectively. Can’t fault them/praise them less because of the way their schedule was created.
  • Speaking of Hot Sauce Sports, that 2nd win came in high-flying, dramatic fashion. With 2 plays remaining in a game tied 26-26 against Air Force 1 Thursday night at Brossard, rusher Joey Notaro made an incredible, spectacular, Matt Kirouac-level play as a rusher, intercepting Simon Blais while jumping and returning it for 6 to give his team the W. There’s something about that Brossard Field 1 and rushers pick 6’ing quarterbacks….

  • Are you kidding me? Anthony Brisebois is sick at Quarterback too? What CAN’T this guy do?? This guy just touches a football and 6 points spill out in every form. He went in to QB 2 games for Les Montagnards on Thursday night and came away with the split, a 6-point win against Beer Belly Brigade and a 3 point loss to the Vultures. He threw for 530 yards and 13 TDs, 0 INTs and a a combined 132.5 QBR 😱👀.
  • In that Montagnards-Vultures game, Marc-Antoine Viens caught a ball that was thrown behind him with one hand and cut up the Vultures D for a TD 🔥🔥
  • Ravens have now put up 40 points in back-to-back weeks and have outscored their opponents 81-35. Joel Houle finally made his comeback for the Ravens, who also welcomed back Kamba Katchelewa to the squad in Week 2.
  • Despite Xavier Tran-Khanh applying the pressure on Corey Walwaski (The Infantry), and Corey being seemingly off with some of his throws (probably due to 3 Save a Horse/Mad Dog players subbing in), The Infantry was able to come away with a 26-13 victory over Beer Belly Brigade.
  • With the 2 losses, Beer Belly fall to 1-3 and need the win over Hot Sauce Sports on Monday night at Stade de Montreal. But because they need the win, they will get the win, right Moe Khan?
  • In 3 of the 4 games The Commission has played, Gino Di Fazio has targeting 1 receiver way more than all the others. Sitting at 1-3, they need to shake something up before the season gets away from them.
  • James Drysdale and Manu-Allard Roy are simply a mile ahead of the competition for TDs. They have 14 and 12 TDs, respectively; both are having incredible offensive outputs.
  • Forget the One Step Closer Offense putting up 12 points, Luis Begin was missing and Alex Noel is now out for the season. The key to this matchup was that Felix Goulet-Tinawi was able to hit all 7 of his receivers, getting them all involved, putting up the most passing yards in Week 3 (280) and seems to finally have hit his stride with the team. This is the moment in the season now where we’re gonna watch Blitzed Budds closely, as they sit 2-2 on the season. They’ve got Hot Sauce next.
  • Speaking of HSS, those are 2 TOUGH matchups next on their docket. Let’s see if Peeze and the boys can continue their great start to the season.
  • Dernst DuBuisson-Desmornes, the rusher of Blitzed Budds is one hell of a speedy player. He’s now tied with Manu-Allard Roy for 1st in sacks with 7, but has done it in just 3 games!
  • Vincent Cheung of The Stoics leads all players with 7 points off of extra points: 3x 2-pt converts and 1x 1-pt converts. Flag Jesus (Ravens) and Jeff Brown (ESU Timberwolves) are in 2nd place with 6 points. Houle has 2x 2-pointers and 2x 1-pointers while Brown has all 6 points from 1-pt attempts.

Game Recap: Tough Lungs vs. TOPSZN

Tough Lungs: 24

vs.

TOPSZN: 32

After giving up a big 32-yard gain to Bradley Parent, the Tough Lungs had to come up big with their redzone defense, and for the most part they did. They held TOPSZN from 1st and goal to 4th and goal, but Hasani Worrell would eventually open the scoring from 5 yards out. Worrell couldn’t come up with the extra point as Shawn McGrath gave him a jumpball in the back of the endzone against Brandon Aylward, that Aylward would later bring up when going one on one vs. Worrell

Justin Bizzarro Gray was great for Tough Lungs in this game. He had some great catches and timely jukes after the catch to gain extra yards. Throughout the night though, it was Brandon Aylward for Tough Lungs who was the chain (or cone) mover for the Tough Lungs offense.

On the second Tough Lung possession, after a 20-yard first down catch by Aylward, an Andel Thomas-Gordon 7-yard sack left Justin Lerner wanting to go deep on consecutive plays that fell incomplete. With a team with more experience, I would have figured Lerner would try and cut the first down in half instead of going for the first down on both 2nd and 3rd down. The Tough Lungs offense found themselves in a tricky situation and ended up punting it to put TOPSZN at the 1.

Luckily for the Tough Lungs D, Olivier Doleyres came up huge rushing McGrath. His long wingspan on 1st and 3rd down was able to disrupt Shawn‘s passes, as he batted down both passes to force TOPSZN to go for it on 4th. The 4th down pass would fall incomplete to brother Ryan McGrath and give Tough Lungs the ball back with a short field to drive. Lerner would end up hitting the super rangey Brandon Aylward in the back corner of the endzone. The ball was thrown high by Lerner, but Aylward, as he so often does, was able to contort and extend his body to incredible heights to come down with the TD; a catch that 85% of FPF players would not have caught. Funny enough, one of the players that could come down with it is Justin Lerner himself. When Mathew Lerner is there to throw, he has 2 of FPF’s receivers with the greatest range, extension and ability to “climb the ladder”. Must be fun!

The 2nd half began with Tough Lungs down 13-12, but with possession of the ball. The edge though, was quickly turned in favor of TOPSZN, when Quaysie Gordon Maule picked off Lerner on just the 2nd play of the half, 13 yards short of the endzone. McGrath would go on to hit Worrell for his 2nd TD of the night on a slant/in route in the front of the endzone to put his team up 20-12 after converting the XP1.

As much as Olivier Doleyres was batting down balls, Andel Thomas-Gordon was doing his part to disrupt Lerner‘s passes, fueled by Starbucks coffee on the sideline. Despite that, Lerner moved the ball with a combination of Aylward, Bizzarro Gray and The Wrangler, finally punching it in from the 4 to Migdesyan. They made it a 20-18 game but were unable to convert on the 2 point convert.

Throughout the game, the McGrath connection was strong, and the next drive showed that as Ryan took his catch for a 27 yard gain to put TOPSZN in prime scoring range in just 1 play. Like the Tough Lungs D on TOPSZN’s first possession, they forced TOPSZN into a 4th and goal situation (from 16 yards out) but could not stop the TOPSZN offense, as Bradley Parent would haul in the TD to make it 26-18. The Tough Lungs D would however, stop the XP1 to prevent it from being a 9-point, 2-score game. That gave the Tough Lungs hope on the next drive, Lerner was able to score quickly in just 3 plays, as Aylward scored his 2nd TD of the night. Once again though, Tough Lungs were unable to convert for 2, so TOPSZN was still up by 2 points, 26-24.

Having used their timeouts wisely, Tough Lungs needed the stop on D with about 2 minutes left in the game. And who came up big for Tough Lungs, but Brandon Aylward. He picked off Shawn on the 2nd pass of the drive, giving his team one last chance at the victory. Olivier Doleyres‘ 16-yard catch-and-run put Tough Lungs within scoring range on the drive, and the game would come down to the last play. Lerner threw a sideline comeback that was read and intercepted by Bradley Parent. Lerner immediately knew the mistake he had just made as he released the ball, that he barely tried to tackle Parent as he went down the sideline and cut up field to return it for 6.

It was a hard fought battle that came down to the very last play, and there’s nothing better in FPF!

Players of the game:

TOPSZN: Bradley Parent – 3 catches, 3 targets, 52 yards, 1 TD, 2 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD, 1 PD.

Tough Lungs: Brandon Aylward – 5 catches, 9 targets, 94 yards, 2 TDs, 2 tackles, 1 INT

Division C Fantasy Team of the Week

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Anthony Brisebois – G2 (Les Montagnards): 25/38, 65.8% completion, 265 yards, 7 TDs, 0 INTs, 125.5 QBR, 2 for 7 on converts (4 points earned).

QB2 – Benjamin McMahon – G1 (Vultures): 19/20, 95% completion, 224 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 152.9 QBR, 3 Rushing Attempts, 22 Rushing yards, 3 for 6 on converts (4 points earned).

Receivers (5):

WR1 – James Drysdale – G2 (Vultures): 6 receptions, 7 targets, 139 yards, 5 TDs, 2x XP2

WR2 – Kevin Donnet – G1 (Vultures): 7 receptions, 7 targets, 132 yards, 3 TDs

WR3 – Daniel Mancini – G2 (ESU Timberwolves): 9 receptions, 13 targets, 125 yards, 2 TDs

WR4 – Rory Semerjian – G1 (The Infantry): 6 receptions, 7 targets, 88 yards, 4 TDs

WR5 – Nicholas Groppini – G1 (Blitzed Budds): 8 receptions, 10 targets, 112 yards, 2 TDs, 2x XP2

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – Rayan Chalal – G1 (ESU Timberwolves): 3 tackles, 2 INTs, 3 PDs

DB – Gabriel Wiseman – G1 (Ravens): 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def INT

DB – Nicolas Blais (EZW): 6 tackles, 2 INTs

DB – Bradley Parent – G1 (TOPSZN): 2 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD, 1 PD

DB – Mathieu Houle – G2 (Ravens): 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD, 1 PD

Rusher – Joey Notaro (Hot Sauce Sports): 2 sacks, 1 tackle, 1 INT, 1 Def TD, 2 PDs

Week 4 Game Picks 

My Picks are in Bold Green

Hot Sauce Sports vs. Beer Belly Brigade

Hot Sauce Sports vs. Blitzed Budds

Les Montagnards vs. The Infantry

Tough Lungs vs. Air Force 1

Ravens vs. Les Montagnards

Tough Lungs vs. Los Penetradores

TOPSZN vs. Air Force 1

Epilogue

There are fewer games this week with no FPF games this Sunday June 26th, so if your team is off this week, enjoy the time to rest up any lingering injuries you may have! Well, that does it for the Week 4 article. I’ll be on producing Calling The Audible this week, so let’s see if this time around I can at least produce some sound (something you would understand if you read/watched CTA last winter season. In the meantime, enjoy last weeks episode right here. Also, feel free to reach out to me if you are playing outdoors at Loyola on Tuesdays, or on socials @iggymanz or Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo on FB messenger to let me know if you like the articles, hate ’em, what you wanna see more of / less of.