Surprises.

Yes, Halloween is coming, but that’s not the kind of surprise I’m referring to. Although I’m a serious Halloween fan (I mean, who doesn’t love the greatest of holidays), I’ll keep most of the joy for next week’s introduction.

This week’s surprises came on the fields as many teams were forced to have a quick turnaround due to players’ missing games or guys showing up late and, in most cases, it was a good thing. Some guys managed to step up when their teams really needed to and actually won the game (Yes, I’m talking about Simon Richard right now or even Vince Romano).

I guess not starting in a recreational league doesn’t mean you don’t have to the talent to, huh.

Let’s get started.

Week 7

First Braves showed up big vs FPF All-Stars to kick off the week right, but many other teams including Trigger Happy Bunnies, Sons of Mitches, Top Guns, KGP Ra, Bruins, No Name and Dawson Caf’s Finest found ways to turn their situation into a productive one and make the most of their matchup. Well done.

Thoughts of the Week

• I know I was part of it, but that Lightweight vs #NR game was weird for everyone.
• Week 7 was a very impressive week all around for most people’s offences.
• FPF All-Stars has DK and Fine Wine the next two weeks; it’s bound to be a VERY exciting finish.
• That final catch by Anthony Vendrame was spectacular to say the least.
• To hear Sebastien Crisi-Lauzon call Kishon Thompson slow made me laugh.
• I want to wish Jordan Williams a swift recovery. What happened to him is the worst thing that could happen to any of us.
• It’s always good to see old faces come back to FPF; Kevin Lubin and James Floreani at Lachine on Tuesday.
• With tough matchups coming up, No Name won’t have any gimmes. Jonathan Grizzley will really have to work his magic.
• Good to see Danny Aylward back out there.
• Charles-Olivier Lavigne is a special player.
• C’mon, Dan, Wyeth upped you in total passing yardage. I guess 309 this week wasn’t enough.
• Kirkland has reworked their turf, changed the ligthting and ventilation. I know some of you remain highly sceptical, but we’ve got a bunch of games there in the next two weeks. Hopefully the feedback will be better this time around.

Recaps

• Braves vs FPF All-Stars: Starting the game with 5 against Finest isn’t exactly how you should begin the contest, but Braves managed to make it work and scored with only 4 receivers on their opening drive as two of their players (new players, must I add) showed up late to the game. With virtually no stops in the game whatsoever, this was bound to become a barnburner as Braves finally looked like themselves for a second straight week and Jonathan Maheu was making plays offensively. A few questionable calls made Braves’ temper flare up, but it didn’t seem to affect their game as they continued to be productive offensively. Kevin Wyeth got the ball back before half with about 6 plays, but scored within 3 to take back the lead. Knowing he’d start with the ball in the second half, this was the stop they needed. Maheu only got 3 plays to work his magic and a jump-ball attempt from midfield ended up batted down (by multiple players) to allow FPF All-Stars a 22-19 lead at half. With a score on the opening drive of the second half, the 9 point lead became too much to overcome for Braves as they scored on every possession, but the one that got away before half was the real dagger in this great thriller. I guess Braves still have plenty left in the tank.
• Warriors vs Trigger Happy Bunnies: With their starting QB absent, Trigger Happy Bunnies turned to Simon Richard for reassurance and he played quite the game under center as the distributed the ball well and scored 34 points on 5 touchdowns. QB controversy? Most certainly. Warriors were without their star playmaker AJ Gomes, but Stefano Solimene did come back from his suspension to have a quiet impact on this week’s game (5 catches for 37 yards). Michael Solimene did look much better than the previous week, but it feels like something is still missing in their offence and it isn’t quite as impactful as it has been in recent seasons. The story remains that THB might have found their QB moving forward after how well Simon Richard played and it’ll leave a few difficult matchups (X-Men, No Name) to prepare for the Bowl Round.
• Top Guns vs DK: I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t paying too much attention to this game to begin with as I was expecting DK to blow Top Guns out of the water before halftime, but Paul Lapierre won’t be ignored and he played a VERY impressive game to keep his team afloat and ALMOST pull off the upset. As some of you might have heard or seen, Top Guns were in position to knock off DK late in the game with two plays, but a drop by Dan Dick followed by another from Jonathan Lyristis in the redzone killed all hopes. It speaks volume of Top Guns’ offensive prowess with a restrictive cast, but their defence simply couldn’t stop DK as their speedsters simply feasted on deep throws all night long. Although the score says otherwise, this was a serious morale victory for Top Guns and DK walked away with a Win they aren’t quite so proud of.
• Hold My Beer vs All Hooks: Brad Evans was without his most productive receiver Myles Keiller and the offence struggled at times to get moving against a gritty All Hooks defence on Tuesday night. In fact, he only put up 24 points and threw a pick-six. All Hooks took a dominant lead early in the game and never really looked back as Hold My Beer simply couldn’t contain Charles-Olivier Lavigne and allowed him to run all over the place early and set the tone. The game was filmed and the Game of the Week video should be released soon so many of you can witness the impressive display All Hooks put on. Bad outing happen and it just felt like it was just one of those nights for Hold My Beer they’ll shed away and never think of again. On the plus side, Michael Khazaka is slowly carving himself a solid offensive role with Brad Evans at QB.
• Dad Bods vs Friends in Low Places: In Kevin Smuda’s absence, James Floreani made a comeback to FPF playing receiver for Danny D’Amour and had a pretty decent outing catching 3 touchdowns on as many passes and allowed FILP’s offence to put some points on the board although their defence struggled to restrain Sean Avraam’s. Scoring on the last play of the first half (Sean Avraam threw the ball back to Rich Humes who threw it up for Jordan Allard), Dad Bods took a decisive lead 24-13 into halftime and never looked back as their offence continued to roll distributing the targets amongst themselves for good gains. Dad Bods have been looking like prime contenders recently and it’s only a matter of time before we know whether or not Sean Avraam will win a second championship in as many seasons.
• X-Men vs Lockdown: In a game that Lockdown kinda had locked down (see what I did there), Pat Riot simply had to avoid the turnover late in the game and continue to look good out there to hand X-Men their first loss of the season, but a ill-fated pass turned into an interception and X-Men were, once again, knocking at the doors with a short field to work with and tie this game up at 33. Many called me out saying I was crazy to think Pat Riot was having a good outing, but he’s looked rejuvenated in recent seasons (including this one) and this loss isn’t entirely on him. His timing with his new offensive weapons is really starting to click and their offence is slowly becoming more explosive as weeks go by; I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lockdown play for a Bowl Game when it’s all said and done this season. And with this nice little comeback to tie the game, X-Men remain the only team in Tier 2 still undefeated.

Players of the Week

• Samuel Drapeau (Diablos): Known more for his defensive prowess, he showed up big for his team offensively recording 115 receiving yards and 4 Tds. Quite the night.
• Theo Ojeaha (Fine Wine): 88 receiving yards, 3 Tds (one of which was a ridiculous catch) and a pick. All in one night of work.
• Neil Etinson (BearSkins): Making quick work of his opponents, he had himself a pretty impressive outing tossing 6 Tds for 41 points.
• Gianni Settino (Freshii Superfoods): 157.5 QBR, 7 passing touchdowns and 265 yards. The kind of night most dream about.
• Kendal Mayers (#NR): His second touchdown was a thing of beauty diving in the endzone for a long haul, but let’s not undermine his two interceptions and 3 Pds that really changed the game.

• Antoine Huynh (Bruins): In a losing effort, he did score two touchdowns and recorded a pick-six to help his team. There’s only so much one man can do by himself and this was quite the impressive performance.
• Charles-Olivier Lavigne (All Hooks): Running all over the opposing defence (his first two rushes were for 30+ yards TD each) and recording a pick-six (to add to his already solid passing stat line) makes him a lock this week.
• Gabriel Gendreault (North Shore Finners): Looking completely uncoverable, he torched the opposing defence for 140 yards and 3 Tds. Well done.
• Alex Joltopuf (Greendale Human Beings): 8 catches for 125 yards and 2 Tds is impressive, but doing so on the same pattern over and over makes it special.

That’s it for me this week. Hopefully this is what you’ve all grown to love and expect out of me for your weekly readings. If it isn’t, you can send any sort of formal complaint to Paolo Della Rocca via twitter (@PeezeFPF) so I can keep tab and act like I didn’t know about it. Otherwise, if you have any comments, feel free to hit me up either via emails ([email protected]) or twitter (@DagenaisFPF). Until next time.