Weekday Quarterback (D3) – Week 8

If you ever wanted to see a week full of games with serious playoff implications then you have to look no further than the week 9 schedule. There are a few games that will decide who will win their division and there is even one that will decide the top seed in Conference A. We all know the importance of divisional games and they have never been more important than this weekend, when many teams will be fighting for survival with only two games to go. We can thank the powers above for accurately predicting who would be at the top of their divisions with a few games left.

Headlines

Briscoe High Hawks and DK face off for division and conference crown

The only two teams with one loss this season will face each other with a chance to solidify their spot as the best team in the conference and potentially the top team in all of division three. We know what we are getting in this matchup as two of the best Quarterbacks in Scott Kelly and Rochdi Benabdelkader will be at the helm for two of the best offenses. Both teams bring a lot of FPF and championship experience to this game. You may have to give the edge to DK in the experience column because of players such as Jamal Pierre and Rochdi Benabdelkader. While the Briscoe High Hawks have veterans in Ben Joseph, Anthony Daponte, and Oliver Philips, they will need more than just experience to stop a team that has been so dominant in the red zone this year. The interesting matchup will be Jamal Pierre and Steve Tassy versus the Briscoe defensive backs. How will the Hawks defense matchup with the size of DK? Most people have pinned DK as the favourites in this game, but I think you can expect a very entertaining game that could come down to who has the final possession.

SWAT tries to cool off a resurgent GPK team

While SWAT began the season as the most terrifying team on everyone’s schedule, GPK has quickly vaulted itself to the top of that list. After beginning the season 0-2, Mike Stagg and the boys have beaten some of the league’s best, including the Dirty Birds last weekend. I, like most people, was shocked by the outcome of the GPK and Dirty Birds game. That is not to say that I did not think GPK had a chance to win, but I did not believe that the game would be as lopsided as the score indicated. In my opinion, GPK sent a message to the rest of the teams in their conference heading into the playoffs, and that message was that they can realistically win Conference B. SWAT is on the opposite side of the spectrum, as they have not played their best football as of late, but in my opinion they are still the most dangerous team because of their athleticism at every position. It is sad to say that most people are disappointed with SWAT because they lost two games this season. For almost any other team, finishing with just two losses is an incredible accomplishment. That just proves how much is expected from this team and that nothing less than a championship is acceptable with the amount of talent available to them. With both GPK and SWAT tied at 6-2 atop their division, this game will also decide who will win it and could potentially be the number one seed in their conference, depending on how other teams fair this weekend.

KGP Champs will try to avoid elimination with a victory over the Snookers

After a very rough start to the season, KGP has turned it around with a solid second half of the season that sees them within reach of the final playoff spot in Conference A. At 4-4, the KGP Champs have a chance to overtake the 5-3 Snookers and move up to third in the South Division. With so many other games getting attention this weekend, the Snookers and KGP showdown has not been getting the publicity it deserves. This could end up being the game of the week, as we are going to see two teams that are in positions of desperation. While the Snookers seem to be in a comfortable spot at 5-3, a loss to KGP gives them the same record with KGP holding the tie breaker. One of the most interesting scenarios this season has been the Quarterback position for the Snookers. It is hard to tell exactly who is at the helm for this team. If you look at the numbers after each game, Vartan Demirdjian and Tony Tabet are splitting snaps. Is Vartan the number one guy for this team or is Tony Tabet running the show, behind the scenes? A decision needs to be made heading into the playoffs as a two Quarterback system will likely not work against some of the better teams in division three. The KGP Champs will do their best to contain Andre John, who is one of the best athletes in division three, using their top guy, athlete Phil Cutler. Cutler has been one of the best two way players this season, and will need another monster performance if the KGP Champs want to make a run at the playoffs. The other question for KGP is who will step up and support Cutler in this huge game? Olivier Saleh is always dangerous and will likely need to be at his best as will Nick Shouela, who quietly goes about his business each week.

Darkhorses look to clinch the North Division with a win over Monarchs

At the start of this season it looked as though the Monarchs were going to have an easy time in the regular season but it seems as though certain people, myself included, jumped the gun on this one. I was very impressed by the Monarchs and their quick start, but it now seems as though they could miss the playoffs entirely, unless they win their division. In order to do that, they will need to defeat the Darkhorses who have been a bit of an enigma. There are times when the Darkhorses look like they could be a serious threat to win their conference, and then there are other times when you are left scratching your head wondering what is happening. The loss to the Rude Bwoys is particularly mind boggling as we have seen that team fall completely off the map of in the last three weeks. For the Darkhorses, they will need a good performance out of Leon Holder who, for the most part, has been very solid for them at Quartberback. If they can get a strong performance out of him and some solid defense from Kenton Lowe and Jason Edwards, we could be looking at the end of the road for the Monarchs this season. If you are the Monarchs, it is important to use all the weapons they have at their disposal. Stephane Chartrand has been one of the best receivers in division 3, all season long, and they will need him to keep playing well. It is equally important for Cory Johnson to use Renaldo Jordan as a deep threat and Mike Majeur in the short passing game. If Johnson can is able to spread the ball out the Monarchs have a much better shot at winning this game.

It looks as though we will have great weekend of games and I hope that I will see some of you there. Make sure to check out the WEPL this week as Alex Porras and I discuss potential award winners as well as make our predictions for some of this week’s games. Have a great week and best of luck to all the teams this weekend