Categories: DivisionDivision CSpring

Week 9 Article – Playoff Races and the #1 Seed

Hey Div C readers. Before beginning this weeks article, just a little shoutout to Alexi Dubois for keeping the articles alive while I was again away in St. Louis last week. Other than that, let’s dive right into the meat of Division C as the season is coming to a close and some teams are in a thick battle for a playoff spot.

Division Headlines and other Shenanigans

Here are some general divisional thoughts:

  • The Infantry is still chasing the perfect regular season. I’ve been looking forward to this Week 10 matchup since Week 2… The Infantry vs. Blessed… FIREWORKS!
  • It happened in Week 10 but I don’t want to be late mentioning it.. but EZW with the BIG loss to their Mangoose friends for a battle for the 10th and final playoff spot.
  • Despite a crushing Week 9 loss to Top Sauce by 1 point, Mangoose like a darkhorse playoff team when Nic Shaefer is throwing DARTS the way he did against EZW.
  • This happened in Week 10, but Blue Dreamers finished their season with a disappointing 4-6 record… and will likely still make the playoffs.
  • A lack of defensive turnovers led Ballz Deep to a 0-10 season 🙁
  • The Infantry’s +213 point differential is on another level…
  • SHIT punched their ticket to the playoffs by beating Silent Ticklers 41-31 in Week 9, despite losing their back-to-back game vs. The Infantry.
  • Sheeeesh also clinched their playoff spot with their Week 10 victory against Ballz Deep, 41-18.
  • Injury news: It appear DonnDre Borden (Sheeeesh) is healthy enough to resume playing for his team(s).

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Race to the Playoffs

Clinched Playoff Teams:

X – The Infantry

X – Blessed

X – BBALLERS

X – Les Gros Coqs

X – SHIT

X- Sheesh

Key Week 10 Matchups :

EZW (31) vs. Mangoose (37) – *Played on Thursday Aug. 26th*- Big win by Mangoose to leave EZW with no more rope to pull, as EZW has played their entire season and will have to wait and see how the teams around them play out the rest of their schedule, while being in the 10th and final playoff spot.

Les Centaures vs. Silent Ticklers -Les Centaures can clinch a playoff spot with the win over the Ticklers. Conversely, the ST’s can themselves clinch a playoff spot by beating Les Centaures.

Blessed vs. The Infantry – This game has the #1 seed in the playoffs up for grabs, as 2 teams with 1 combined loss go head-to-head to see who the class of the division truly is.

Week 9 Game Recaps

Silent Ticklers 31- 41 South Harmon Institute of Technology

The first half in this game was actually score-for-score, and every time the Silent Ticklers would score in X # of plays, it was as if SHIT and Jeff Rosenblatt made it a challenge to score in 1 less than Jordan Panetta the Ticklers. If Jordan would score in 2 plays, Rosenblatt followed suit with a 40-bomb to Adam Rockman. A 3-drive score for the Ticklers? Matched by a 2-play scoring drive by SHIT. In fact, that 2-play scoring drive were the last 2 plays of the half, which ended up being big for SHIT, as they were able to end the half with a score in which they started the ball with, going up 28-19 instead of 21-19.

It was especially important as the Silent Ticklers did drive their 1st possession of the 2nd half for a score, a 6-yard TD caught by Daniel Mancini, one of his 2 TDs on the night. In fact, Mancini was the leading receiver of the night for the Silent Ticklers with 7 catches on 9 targets for 96 yards, in addition to his 2 TDs. Unfortunately for them, they missed the chance to tie the game after a failed 2-pt conversion. The key for SHIT offensively was Rosenblatt doing a great job of spreading the ball around, as 4 receivers had 30+ yards, and all 5 receivers who caught a ball, also had a touchdown. He has a nice connection with both Mat Lepage and Noah Groper since coming in as the starting QA, but in this one, Adam Rockman and Dan Farag were the leading receivers in yardage, combining for 148 of Rosenblatt‘s 224 passing yards.

From a roster perspective, the Silent Ticklers looked to have called some subs into the game, with François Deslauriers and Cory-Sim Robertson both played their first game with the ST’s vs. SHIT. One of their main roster players however, the speedy Adam Rosen, caught another 2 TDs in the losing effort, putting him in a tie for the receiving touchdown leader in Div C with 15 (tied with Will Paquette of the BBALLERS).

Defensively, there were no real standouts, other than Nick Herve‘s 2 sacks on Rosenblatt, which overally, did not make a big enough impact on the game. If defense wasn’t a game-changer, the extra point converts certainly were. SHIT only scored 1 more TD than the Silent Ticklers, but ended up winning by 10 pts, as they took an extra 5 points off of converts to the Ticklers mere 1.

SHIT took their record to 6-2 with the victory, but fell to 6-3 following a loss to The Infantry in which they kept it close in the first half. As for the Silent Ticklers, the loss is not devastating for their playoff hopes, as they need a single point in their next 2 games to book their ticket to the playoffs.

Silent Ticklers Player of the Game: Jordan Panetta – 20/30, 66.7% completion, 204 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 125.6 QBR

SHIT Player of the Game: Jeff Rosenblatt – 21/28, 75% completion, 224 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 137.5 QBR

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Week 10 Game Preview

Les Centaures (2-5-1) vs. Silent Ticklers (3-5)

Like I mentioned earlier, this is chance #1 for Les Centaures to clinch a playoff spot, and between facing Silent Ticklers (this week) or SHIT (next week), this is the “easier” of the 2 matchups. Les Centaures will obviously want to punch their ticket earlier rather than later, but on top of that, I’d rather be more relaxed and give my best shot against SHIT as a measuring stick, pre-playoff game with nothing really on the line, than the added anxiety and pressure of a “win and your in” matchup.

Les Centaures have struggled all season offensively, with the 2nd least Passing Yards (1405) in Div C and have not had a passing play of 30+ yards all year. Defensively, they have had a tough time forcing turnovers on D, getting pressure on the QB, as they are tied for the 3rd least INT’s (8) and tied for the 2nd least sacks (7), all of which has lead them to allow the most points per game in the division (38). Despite all that going against them, they have a chance to make the playoffs and should focus on the immediate future and not get distracted from their shaky season. The true leadership of Jordan Rossie and Carmine Pollice will need to be on full display in their last 2 games and get the best out of each player to pull out a win and make the playoffs.

From the Silent Ticklers perspective, they too are looking to make the playoffs by winning this game. They are in a slightly better position than Les Centaures, as they currently hold the #9 seed, and their path to elimination is more complicated than Les Centaures. The Ticklers will only get eliminated if they lose to Les Centaures AND Top Sauce, if Mangoose wins their next game, and if the Ticklers themselves allow a certain number of points against and finish with more points against than EZW and Mangoose.

This game will eventually come down to Quarterback play, particularly scoring efficiency. Panetta has an eye-popping 6:1 TD-to-INT ratio on the season compared to Rossie‘s 2:1 ratio. In addition to this, Panetta has simply put up better numbers: more TDs and passing yards in 1 less game played than Rossie. Since both defenses don’t cause enough turnovers to give their offenses additional drives, this underscores the importance of the QB efficiency and emboldens the TD-to-INT ratio difference. For these reasons, give me the Silent Ticklers to win this game.

Keys to Victory:

Les Centaures will win if:

  1. They force turnovers and get 3 picks on defense.
  2. Rossie can slow the game down by marching down the field with 3-4 first downs per scoring drive.
  3. Allamanno, Balla, and Pollice each have 55 yards and at least 1 TD each.

Silent Ticklers will win if:

  1. Panetta keeps up his 6:1 TD-to-INT ratio
  2. They can get 2 stops on defense.
  3. TD leader, Adam Rosen has 2 deep receptions (30+ yards), forcing the Centaures defense to stretch, opening the intermediate game for the ST’s.

Final Score prediction: Les Centaures 26 – Silent Ticklers 35

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Power Rankings – Top 8 (Note: Team records shown are from the conclusion of Week 9 and the previous week ranking is from the last article I wrote, not Alexi’s)

  1. The Infantry (9-0): (This week: #1, Previous week: #1): They are the top spot in the Week 9 Power Rankings until someone can beat them..
  2. Blessed (8-1) (This week: #2, Previous week: #2): A chance to end up as the #1 seed. Good for #2.
  3. South Harmon Institute of Technology (6-3) (This week: #3, Previous week: #3): 3-1 in their last 4 games and the chemistry continues to click with Rosenblatt. They hold onto their #3 spot from my last article.
  4. BBALLERS (7-2) (This week: #4, Previous week: #4): This team will look to score their way out of problems, but nothing is guaranteed for them in the playoffs. If they didn’t score so seamlessly, they might be in the #8 spot or out of the Power Rankings.
  5. Les Gros Coqs (5-3-1) (This week: #5, Previous week: #8): LGC is the hot ticket in Div C right now. They started 1-3-1 and have tallied 4 wins a row, winning in all sorts of ways: 2 blowouts, a tight high-scoring affair and a tight low-scoring game. This bodes well for them in the playoffs and might not be as matchup-dependent as initially thought.
  6. Sheeeesh (4-4) (This week: #6, Previous week: #5): After getting hit with the injury bug, they’ve lost their last 2 against The Infantry and EZW… They went from pre-season contender to middle-of-the-pack team.
  7. Blue Dreamers: (4-5) (This week: #7, Previous week: #6): Blue Dreamers are another team spiraling their way into the playoffs. They started the season strong, beating on the weaker teams and have struggled in the tougher section of their schedule, going 1-4 in their last 5.
  8. Top Sauce (3-5) (This week: #8, Previous week: #7): The final Power Ranking spot was between the Silent Ticklers and Top Sauce, and Top Sauce came out on top with their big Week 9, 1-point victory over Mangoose, while the Ticklers are on a 2-game losing streak.

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Week 9 Fantasy Roster of the Week

Without further ado, here are your stud performers in Div C from Week 9!

Top 2 QB’s:

  1. Jeff Rosenblatt (SHIT): 21/28, 75% completion, 224 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 137.5 QBR
  2. Jordan Panetta (Silent Ticklers): 20/30, 66.7% completion, 204 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 125.6 QBR

Top 3 receivers

  1. Dominic Perron (Mangoose): 8 targets, 6 receptions, 95 yards, 3 TDs
  2. Daniel Mancini (Silent Ticklers): 9 targets, 7 receptions, 96 yards, 2 TDs
  3. Jaylan Greaves (The Infantry): 4 targets, 3 receptions, 71 yards, 3 TDs

Top 4* Defenders

  1. Phil Pharand (BBALLERS): 3 INTs, 2 Def. TDs
  2. Charles-Olivier Lavigne (EZW): 2 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD
  3. Boris Gagnier (Les Gros Coqs): 2 tackles, 2 INTs
  4. *A massive overlook on my part, a 4th defender MUST be added here for a stellar defensive sacking performance* – Terry Babalis (Blessed): 5 sacks

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Week 10 Game Picks – All Analysts

Season Prediction Standings

HOMEAWAYPeeze PickMoe PickIggy PickAlexi PickBrent PickFrank Pick
BBALLERSLes Gros CoqsBBALLERSBBALLERSBBALLERS———
EZWMangooseEZWEZWEZWMangoose——
Blue DreamersTop SauceBlue DreamersBlue DreamersBlue DreamersBlue Dreamers——
Ballz DeepSheeeeshSheeeeshSheeeeshSheeeeshSheeeesh——
BlessedThe InfantryThe InfantryBlessedThe InfantryThe Infantry——
Les CentauresSilent TicklersSilent TicklersSilent TicklersSilent TicklersSilent Ticklers——

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The latest CTA episode is out. Listen to Moe, Peeze and Eagle banter about FPF.

Cheers,

Iggy