Categories: DivisionDivision ADivision BMen'sSpring

Week 9 Recap: Big-Time Players, Make Big-Time Plays, in Big Time Games

Week 10. For some, it’s do or die. For others, this week is simply about securing the highest possible playoff seed and heading into the playoffs with some momentum. For others still, this week is all about playing for pride and perhaps playing spoiler.

Every player has something on the line. All teams have a reason to show up and play their best. Now all that’s left to find out is who will, and who won’t.

Recap

Light Weight, Heavy Hitter

Simon Dagenais couldn’t have picked a better time to play his best game of the season. Taking on Broccasion this past week, he and his Marco Masciotra-less Lightweight took the field and simply dominated.

Well, one player dominated in particular: François Raymond. First, Raymond made one of the catches of the year when he dove for a pass in the back of the endzone, securing the ball while tip toeing along the line to help Lightweight jump out to a 19-12 lead in the first half. Then, in the second half, Raymond put his DB skills to work when he jumped a comeback route by Sean Brophy and picked off the ball, leading the way for a two-score Lightweight with just a few minutes left to play. 

Coupled with some dropped passes and blown coverages on Broccasion’s side, this one never really felt close. And indeed, the 44-25 final score tells you all you need to know.

 

The Controversial Catch Part 2

If the final score of Lightweight’s win over Broccasion tells you all you need to know, the final score of 6+R’s win over Monstars has just the opposite effect.

The scoresheet shows a 37-25 win, but this game was nothing of the sort up until the game’s final minutes. The story of the first half is simple enough – two offenses going drive for drive, marching the field and converting on third down. One 4th down misfire by 6+R and one failed hail mary were the only stops of the half.

The defenses showed up in the second half, with momentum shifting first to Monstars after forcing a turnover on downs early on, and then back to 6+R’s side with a redzone pick by Fred Viens. With 6+R up 31-25 late in the game, Monstars had the chance to tie it, if not take the lead, when Rod Mashtoub found Isiah Allard for a sick one-handed grab on which he channeled his inner Calvin Johnson. But he also did his best Dez Bryant impression when the ball hit the ground as Allard himself fell to the turf, leading to an incomplete pass called on the field and a turnover on downs.

Instead of tying, and potentially winning the game, Monstars allowed a game-sealing touchdown two plays later, bringing an end to one of Div B’s best games of the year. 

 

Players of the Week

Division A:

QB – Kevin Wyeth (Montreal’s Finest): 13 for 21, 211 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs. Apparently he put up these numbers with just five receivers on hand? Not too shabby.  

WR – Bobby Mikelberg (Rainmakers): 7 catches for 52 yards, 3 TDs. Most catches on the week, most TDs on the week. Nothing else needs to be said.

D – Alex Nadeau-Piuze (Gladiateurs): 1 tackles, 2 INTs, 2 PDs, 2 TDs. Hey, he didn’t win two-way player of the year last year solely for his offensive talents.

 

Division B:

QB – Simon Dagenais (Lightweight): 13 for 22, 226 yards, 7 TDs, 0 INTs. I thought I could do it. I thought I could go the whole season without putting Simon in here. But I can’t. Not after he throws the most yards and the most TDs on the week, along with zero interceptions, and all without his security blanket on hand. Props, Simon, props.

WR – Jad Aridi (Monstars): 10 catches for 80 yards, 3 TDs. Kyle Lebofsky gets a mention with his 4 TDs on 5 catches, but Jad Aridi literally was the entire Monstars offense this week. We had absolutely no answer for him. It was frustrating yet beautiful at the same time.

D – Sean Kennedy (Raiders): 2 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD, 1 TD. A big performance for a big man in a big game.

 

Power Rankings

Division A:

  1. Montreal’s Finest 8-1 /–/: They took down Legends with just six guys, and all six made it on both the offensive and defensive score sheet. Now that’s a true team effort right there.
  1. Roosters & Donkeys: 8-1 /+1/: Keeping Rainmakers to their lowest offensive output of the season thus far is a noteworthy accomplishment.
  1. Gladiateurs: 6-3 /-1/: So for whatever reason (brain fart, most likely) I wrote that the Glads’ record last week was 6-2 when in fact they were 5-3. Considering that and the fact I had them ranked second, I think I was feeling a bit generous at the time. Because despite how last week’s game ended, you still never want to put yourself in position to let the refs decide the game for you. They did last week, but they certainly didn’t this week. 
  1. Legends: 3-6 /–/: Cory Pecker was back, but even his presence wasn’t enough to keep things interesting versus the Finest. I hope they’ll give us a better show this week.
  1. Maniax: 1-8 /–/: Maniax outscored the Glads in the second half this past week – the fifth time this season that they’ve outscored or tied their opponent in the second half. They’ve only won one of those games. If Maniax played as well at the first whistle as it does right before the final one, they easily could be in the fourth seed right now as opposed to fighting for their playoff lives this weekend.
  1. Rainmakers: 1-8 /–/: The only team to be sitting dead last in any of FPF’s divisions and still have a chance to make the postseason entering Week 10. There’s still hope.

 

Division B:

  1. Darksiders (7-1-1) /–/: I feel like their latest win was more a matter of the Preds choking than Darksiders imposing their will, but I’ll give them credit for their second half comeback anyway.  
  2. 6+R (8-1) /–/: To have held the Monstars offense, even without Ryan Aridi, to just 25 points offensively is no small feat.
  3. Monstars (5-2-2) /–/: The final score is the final score, but they were one controversial catch away from potentially winning. This is a good team.
  1. BearSkins (5-4) /–/: No Papich, no Peterson, no Bertoldi and not even Neil Etinson. It doesn’t matter who they played – the fact they won regardless is awesome. 
  1. Lightweight (3-6) /+3/: Beautiful passes, few dropped balls, a shut-down defense. Wow. I forgot that Lightweight can win games without Marco.  
  1. Predators (5-4) /–/: I like the fact they put up that many first half points on the best defense in the division. I don’t like the fact that they lost despite that.
  1. Raiders (3-6) /+2/: With their backs against the wall, Raiders stood their ground. If they do it again, and the cards fall in their favor, this will be a very dangerous low seed.  
  2. Broccasion (4-5) /-3/: I’m stealing a line from GM here, but it honestly feels like some weeks they can take on Div B’s best yet other times they wouldn’t even keep up with some teams in Div C.
  1. Wolverines (3-6) /-2/: Wolverines have been held to under 20 points for three times this season. Two of those three have been against Raiders. I guess the good thing is if they qualify for the playoffs, this past week will likely be the last time Tony Tabet faces them this season. 
  1. The Commission (0-8-1) /–/: One more game and the nightmare is over, I promise.

 

Official Standings

A reminder of the tie-breaker rules:

2 teams:

  1. wins
  2. head-to-head
  3. divisional record
  4. points against

 

3+ teams:

  1. wins
  2. divisional record
  3. points against

 

(CP) = clinched playoff spot

(IC) = in contention

(E) = eliminated 

Division A:

Conf A

Team

GP

PTS

W(P-F)

DIV

PA

1

Roosters & Donkeys (CP) 

9

16

8

[8-1-0]

254

2

Montreal’s Finest (CP) 

9

16

8

[8-1-0]

328

3

Gladiateurs (CP) 

9

12

6

[6-3-0]

334

4

Legends (CP) 

9

6

3

[3-6-0]

358

5

Maniax (IC)

9

2

1

[1-8-0]

364

6

Rainmakers (IC) 

9

2

1

[1-8-0]

370

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Division B: 

Conf A

Team

GP

PTS

W(P-F)

DIV

PA

 

1

6+R (CP) 

9

16

8

[3-0-0]

274

 

2

BearSkins (CP) 

9

10

5

[3-1-0]

295

 

3

Darksiders (CP) 

9

15

7

[2-1-1]

202

 

4

Monstars (CP) 

9

12

5

[1-1-1]

236

 

5

Predators (CP) 

9

10

5

[1-2-0]

242

 

6

Broccasion (CP) 

9

8

4

[1-2-0]

289

 

7

Wolverines (IC) 

9

6

3

[2-1-0]

293

 

8

Lightweight (IC) 

9

6

3

[2-1-0]

294

 

9

Raiders (IC) 

9

6

3

[0-3-0]

300

 

10

The Commission(E) 

9

1

0

[0-3-0]

285

 

 

Picks of the Week

Yet another 4-3 week brings me to 41-22 (65%) on the season. I ain’t even mad — two of those three wrong picks helped make Week 10 even more important for the bottom 3 teams still in contention. 

Division A:

Rainmakers vs. Maniax: it’s pretty simple – win and you’re in. The final playoff seed in Division A comes down to this Week 10 matchup. Maniax may have gotten the best of Ryan Kastner’s crew the first time around, but with their playoff lives on the line, I feel obliged to give the edge to the team with the Hall of Fame QB.

Legends vs. Roosters & Donkeys: An upset would be jaw-dropping. A close game would be pretty cool. What I’m expecting is an ugly blowout 

Gladiateurs vs. Montreal’s Finest: I wonder first whether the Finest will even have enough guys show up for this game. If they do, I wonder second whether they’ll be prepared for the train that is coming their way. The Glads are 0-3 in their games versus the Finest/R&D this season, all by a single score. If they’re seriously looking to make a playoff run, taking down the Finest here would be the perfect way to start it off. They know that, and I think they’ll play like it. I can’t bring myself to make the pick, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if the Glads ended up winning this one.

 

Division B:

Predators vs. 6+R (N/A)

The Commission vs. Broccasion: Last week’s matchup vs. a bare BearSkins team (that wasn’t intended, but I’ll roll with it) was The Commission’s best chance to win a game this season, and they couldn’t pull it off. Unless Phil Cutler shows up to this game with a blindfold on, the safe bet says TC are losing this one too.

BearSkins vs. Darksiders: Neil Etinson and company weren’t able to figure out Darksiders’ defense when these two teams faced off four weeks ago. I don’t think the light is suddenly going to come on for the BearSkins offense.

Raiders vs. Monstars: A team fighting for a playoff spot versus a team that has its own spot secured is usually fodder for an upset, but I don’t think that’s what we’ll be seeing here. The last thing Monstars want is to head into the playoffs without a win under their belt in five weeks. I think Rod Mashtoub the safety will keep Leon Holder’s deep throws to a minimum, while Rod Mashtoub the QB will have little trouble marching down the field against the Raiders’ man defense.

Lightweight vs. Wolverines: It seems like when I pick Wolverines they lose, and when I don’t pick them they win. I’m sure Tony Tabet is out to keep my predictions record low, but he’ll have a pretty big incentive to prove me right this week with Wolverines’ playoff lives riding on this game. I like to think that Tabet shows up big in his team’s most important game of the season, while on the other side I can’t for the life of me imagine that Simon will ball out for two weeks in a row. Put those two together and you get a Wolverines win, right?

 

*** 

As always, be sure to catch the Div A/B podcast “The Sack Exchange” with Moe Khan and Matt Kirouac Peeze Della Reeze as well as G.M. Kolethras on the FPF YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/flagplus every Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. or on demand at the same link afterwards. Don’t forget that you can always reach me on Twitter @JBlanchFPF or by email at [email protected]. See you at the fields!