Winter 2022’s Final Week of the Regular Season!

It’s been a long winding road, but we’ve made it to the final week of the winter season. I’m glad we’re here because it was late in December and January that we weren’t sure if and when we would be allowed to have an FPF season. Would the start of the season be too far into the calendar year that we wouldn’t have a winter season at all? Would we have a condensed 7 or 8-game season? And once we did start the season, would it ever cut short once again? All these questions, but like I said, we finally made it. While the season has had its bumps along the way, from being forced outdoors in the cold April weather, to Covid rescheduling headaches, I think most of us will deal with it as long as it means that we get to play our beloved flag football games.

And with an FPF season, comes some great storylines and playoff races, and Division 4 did not disappoint this season. From Quarterback changes, to teams rising from the ashes into top playoff spots, to new teams surprising us by starting in Div 4 with good seasons, Div 4 had it all, and it was a blast following it and writing about it to bring you all up to speed. So let’s wrap up the regular season and look forward to the playoffs upcoming.

Div 4B – The Playoff Picture

So Les Montagnards completed the perfect 10-0 season, congrats! Now that means nothing as their season is now a one-game elimination, but they did guarantee themselves home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the finals if they get there.
Conference A is wrapped up, as all the playoff spots have been clinched. The only thing left to decide is where Mofos will end up. With a win, they will finish in the #3 seed. With a tie, they will finish in the #5 seed. With a loss, they will get the 6th and final playoff spot.
While Conference A is set, the exact opposite is true in Conference B; no team has been mathematically eliminated.
After a rocky season, Team Ethnik ended their season with a decisive 33-14 victory over Bandits. With the win, Team Ethnik clinched a playoff spot and simultaneously eliminated Bandits from playoff contention.
With Peeze Della Reeze on the sidelines, and Hot Sauce Sports inserting with a rookie QB playing in outdoor conditions, Sphinx took advantage and put a chink in HSS playoff chances. HSS’s playoff chances is still alive, but they absolutely need to beat Finessers on Sunday May 1st to keep those hopes alive.
Finessers will not go down without a fight though; they too need the victory (a tie could be enough) to get into the playoffs.
Los Locos called up a ringer QB in Will Trottier to clinch themselves a playoff spot by beating Mofos. But is their playoff berth meaningful given that Thomas Soto wasn’t the one that clinched them the spot?
Damn! Voodoo have survived their 5-game losing streak and have leap frogged themselves into a playoff spot after saving their season by beating Ballers.
Golden Eagles have risen from the last spot to the #3 seed in Conference B. What a turnaround for them as they are on a 3-game win streak and have won 4 of their last 5.
With a win against Ballers, Beer Belly Brigade will finish as the #1 seed in Conference B.
Arouch have 2 games left and with 1 victory, can clinch a playoff spot. They’ve got Vultures and Sphinx to wrap up the season.
The QB of the Year award is going to be an incredibly tight race and will require the guys to put their best efforts in the final games.

Div 4B – Clinched Playoff Teams

Conference A:

Les Montagnards* (10-0)
The U* (7-1-1)
Team Ethnik* (5-5)
Les Verges Folles* (5-5)
Los Locos* (4-5-1)
Mofos* (4-4-1)

Conference B:

Beer Belly Brigade* (8-1)
Vultures* (7-1)
Golden Eagles* (4-5)
Honey Martin* (4-5)

4A – Talking the Final Week and Playoffs

Big Fun got a masssssive win over The BrotherHood, keeping their playoff hopes alive. They now have a win-and-you’re-in game in their final against Backyard Bullies. I love the way the schedule played out with the 6th seed playing the 7th seed in the final game of the season, currently separated by 1 point.
The Bullies themselves had a much easier time with their Week 10 victory, as the Small Giants forfeited their game. At least it would have still led to this sudden death game between the Backyard Bullies and Big Fun.
While Centaures were shorthanded, missing QB Jordan Rossie, Chris Brockwell and Tyler Stewart, LBB’s Minh Ton-That carved the Centaures D for 252 yards, including a 7 yard TD pass to Jonathan Coursimault on the final play of the game to save their season. The win makes their Week 11 showdown against Spera’s Cougars worth all the marbles (because marbles are a highly valued form of currency).
The reason why Spera’s Cougars are in a do-or-die in Week 11 is because they dropped their Week 10 outdoor game against Bruins, 34-26. As good as Santino Sparagna is athletically, he showed his FPF inexperience by going deep on the first of (from what I remember) 5 plays remaining in the outdoors in a game where Spera’s Cougars were down 8. Had they driven the field instead of throwing up a prayer in a cold and windy night, they could have scored, gone for 2, and clinched a playoff spot with the tie.
Loyola outdoors is tricky because of wind pockets that are created on the field, causing balls to curve, change the arc of the ball, or tamper with the spiral. Not to mention when the temp drops and QBs are throwing a lather ball harder, it sometimes feels like a rock is being thrown at you.
Mongoose, with their win against Nomads in the outdoors have now jumped into the #2 seed in Conference B! They were not on many people’s radar and snuck up for the division lead 👀
Takeover got ROCKED, 59-12 by TOPSZN, including two pick 6’s from their D and 7 TDs by Shawn McGrath. With the win, they gave themselves a chance to leapfrog Blackouts for the #2 seed. They would need to win their Week 11 game and Blackouts would need to lose or tie against Small Giants.
With KGP Ra’s 8th win of the season, they eliminated Hurley & Sons from the Winter 2022 playoffs.
Speaking of KGP Ra, there is a potential Conference A Finals preview in Week 11 going down in Lachine’s Dome at 7pm on Saturday, as they face off against TOPSZN. TOPSZN have the most prolific offense having scored the most points in all of Div 4A, without a 30 or 60 point forfeit win. They’ve scored 50+ points twice, 40+ points five times, and have scored 30+ points 8 times. Now that’s scary!
After falling just short against Blackouts, Conference B also has a potential Conf. B Finals preview, as The Stoics face off against The BrotherHood. The Stoics were competitive against Blackouts and are the favorites going in against The BrotherHood by 1.5 points. Good games to get ready for the playoffs for both teams.

Div 4A – Clinched Playoff Teams

Conference A:

KGP Ra* (8-1)
Blackouts* (7-2)
TOPSZN* (7-2)
Bruins* (6-3)
Small Giants* (5-3-1)

Conference B:

The BrotherHood* (6-3)
Mongoose* (5-4)
The Stoics* (5-4)
Takeover* (4-5)
Centaures* (3-6) – N.B: I reviewed all the tie-breaking scenarios and I’m 99% sure they clinched

Game Previews

Note: I’m forgoing the Game Recaps in favor of Game Previews. This week I’ll be previewing the games that matter the most; the one’s where you win and you’re in. So let’s get the preview started with Div 4A.

Div 4A Previews

Les Blues Branleurs (2-7) (HOME) vs. Spera’s Cougars (3-6) (AWAY)

Les Blues Branleurs are the underdog in their final game of the season against Spera’s Cougars. They need to do several things if they want to win this game and clinch themselves a spot in the post-season.

First, they need to limit the running ability of Santino Sparagna. This is MUCH easier said than done. Even if they do achieve this, it’s not like Santino is a bad thrower of the football, so the coverage on D will need to be tight. He is prone however, to want to launch the deep ball. So if LBB can get a turnover or 2 from these deep shots, then those extra possessions on offense will be key.

With those extra possessions, especially if they get the ball back from a pick deep in their own territory (own 10 and below), they will need to look at the ref and ask for when there is 10 seconds left to snap the ball on EVERY SINGLE PLAY because they should be running the clock to the last second. Obviously, they need to convert their 3rd and 4th downs to keep the cones moving on the sideline for this gameplan to be effective. If they can take 7-9 minutes on their drives and punch in the ball for 6, this is the way LBB can come out victorious. This will limit the # of possessions they will give Spera’s Cougars. LBB’s best players will have to put their best performance on the field. That’s Jeremie L’Allier and Olivier Pilotto on offense, along with Minh Ton-That. Minh will have to play a clean game for them to win, that’s 0 interceptions, and will have to score at least 4 TD’s. Defensively, while Phil Angers won’t have enough games to be playoff eligible, he can be a difference maker for them to create turnovers in this game. Olivier Laberge will also need to help Angers in the turnover department, while Guillaume Hamelin may have the most important role, limiting the damage Santino can do on the ground.

For Spera’s, if LBB is going to do that, they should, early on, score quick in 1-2 plays to deflate LBB’s spirits. Once LBB will cover the deeps, they can then hit the shorts and intermediates to keep LBB on their toes and frustrate them. As the game goes along, they can then themselves kill the clock with long drives, since I can see Spera’s being up 1 or 2 scores with 10 minutes left in the game. The clock will be LBB’s enemy by then, and by going on long drives, this will leave LBB on the outside of the playoff picture.

Prediction: Spera’s Cougars: 33– 24 Les Blues Branleurs

**Spera’s Cougars move on to the postseason**

Big Fun (3-5-1) (HOME) vs. Backyard Bullies (4-5) (AWAY)

Big Fun have picked up points in 3 of their last 4 games, going 2-1-1 in that span, so they’ve been playing some of their best football down the stretch. The games have been against very good competition as well, with games against The BrotherHood, Small Giants and TOPSZN in there.

Backyard Bullies have also faced some of the divisions toughest opponents, playing TOPSZN, Blackouts and Bruins. They are entering this game 2-2 in their last 4, but the 2 wins have come via forfeit and against the last place Hurley & Sons.

It’s no secret that Doug McKernan will be the Backyard Bullies’ #1 concern when playing defense. Jordan Allard will likely be covering that, so it begs the question, that in a man defense, who will/can cover Rico Tulino. The depth trip of Tulino, Devin Daoust and Zackary Alberts-Gill will need to be key contributors for Evan Ely Nolet, who himself will need to replicate his game from last week against The BrotherHood. A game where he completes 70% of his passes, goes 4 TDs: 1 INT with 150+ passing yards should be enough for Big Fun to take the game against The Bullies. Defensively, Kenny Boutilier and Rico will need to force the same number of turnovers (or more) than what the Big Fun offense will have. That, along with forcing 3rd and 4th-and-long scenarios by good rushing from Alberts-Gill will help, but is not essential for Big Fun to emerge victorious.

For the Backyard Bullies, Allard will need a repeat performance from early on this season when he carved up Takeover and Mongoose in Weeks 2 and 3. The trio of Rich Humes, Derrick Fontana and Steve Sanner will need to the best offensive players on the field. If they can score on deep plays and lower the confidence of Big Fun and force them to cover deep, that will then open up the whole field and the entire Bullies playbook for Allard. Defensively, they need to prevent the deep strike of Ely Nolet and force him to be disciplined and drive the field. He will want to naturally go deep eventually, and that’s when the Bullies will need to force turnovers.

I anticipate a pretty close game here, one that will be decided in the final 5 plays, but I can see Big Fun squeezing one out to move on to the postseason.

Prediction: Big Fun 27-26 Backyard Bullies

**Big Fun move on to the postseason**

Div 4B Previews

Hot Sauce Sports (2-7) (HOME) vs. Finessers (2-5-2) (AWAY)

A lot of this game, and by extension the HSS season, will depend whether Paolo Della Rocca will be able to suit up for his team. If he is able to play, this dramatically increases HSS’ chances of winning and making the postseason. With him in the lineup, his playbook is one that will tear up the type of defense the Finessers play. As a receiver, no one can really keep up with Justin Blanchard‘s speed, nor Joey Notaro‘s, so that will be a factor that Finessers need to account for going into the game to mitigate that speed. Disciplined zone defense will need to be honored in order to achieve that.

The HSS defense, according to themselves, has been suspect and one of the concerns throughout the season. If that’s the case, Finessers will need to take advantage of that. Alexandre Bachaalani is the best natural receiver on the field, but the depth Finessers possess is where they can take advantage of HSS. Roy Khalil and the Gerin-Lajoie brothers have been very good depth receivers for the team in case Bachaalani gets double-coverage or becomes the primary and secondary focus from opposing defenses. Khalil and brother Gerin-Lajoie will need to come up big if Finessers want to keep their season alive and play some postseason football.

So if you read between the lines, this game will be far from a defensive battle. With Della Rocca in there, it will be a shootout, a 42-39 type of game. If he is not, then I can’t see anyone on HSS keeping pace with Ryan Kharouf and his rifle of an arm. That said, I’ll go with the percentages. It’s a win for Finessers if Paolo isn’t available, and a close game if he is, so give me Finessers to edge out Hot Sauce Sports from the playoffs.

Prediction: Finessers: 39-38 Hot Sauce Sports

**Finessers win and keep their season alive until they find out how Voodoo and Arouch’s final games play out**

Ballers (2-7) (HOME) vs. Beer Belly Brigade (8-1) (AWAY)

So Ballers have an extremely tough, some would say nearly impossible climb towards the playoffs. Their 2 wins have come outside of their South Division, in case of any 3-way tiebreakers and face off against the #1 seed in Beer Belly Brigade, who only have 1 loss in the season way back in Week 2. Not only this, but it appears as though Ballers will even have a tough time fielding a team tonight, so it looks like if they do get guys to come play, it wouldn’t even be the Ballers team out there on the turf. So, not much more analysis I can do if I’m not even sure which players might suit up for them!

Prediction: Beer Belly Brigade

Fantasy Team of the Week (4B)

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Alexandre Fafard (Beer Belly Brigade): 20/23, 87% completion, 173 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, 137.6 QBR, 5 Rushing attempts, 43 Rushing yards, 1 Rushing TD

QB2 – Benoit Lawlor (Team Ethnik): 11/15, 73.3% completion, 166 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT, 121.1 QBR

Receivers (5):

WR1 – Olivier Claveau (Beer Belly Brigade): 8 receptions, 9 targets, 95 yards, 3 TDs, 1x XP1

WR2 – Julian Nelson (Mofos): 4 receptions, 6 targets, 62 yards, 3 TDs

WR3 – Simon Dufot (Team Ethnik): 3 receptions, 3 targets, 60 yards, 2 TDs

WR4 – Arnaud Trudel (Los Locos): 6 receptions, 7 targets, 94 yards, 1 TD

WR5 – Cecil Belenger (Bandits): 5 receptions, 5 targets, 52 yards, 2 TDs, 1 Rushing attempt, 8 Rushing yards

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – Olivier Choquette (Ballers): 2 INTs

DB – Angelo Garofalo (Voodoo): 7 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD

DB – Julian Nelson (Mofos): 7 tackles, 1 INT

DB – Julien Fiset-Cyr (Les Montagnards): 4 tackles, 1 INT

DB – David De Andrade (Team Ethnik): 4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD

Rusher – Antoine Charlebois (Golden Eagles): 2 sacks, 1 PD

Fantasy Team of the Week (4A)

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Nick Pilon (Mongoose): 19/24, 79.2% completion, 221 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 144.6 QBR, 2 Rush attempts, 19 Rushing yards,

QB2 – Shawn Mcgrath (TOPSZN): 15/22, 68.2% completion 203 yards, 7 TDs, 0 INTs, 136.9 QBR

Receivers (5):

WR1 – Ryan McGrath (TOPSZN): 7 receptions, 7 targets, 74 yards, 3 TDs

WR2 – Rocco Christiano (Bruins): 9 receptions, 10 targets, 113 yards, 2 TDs

WR3 – Anthony Mungiovi (Blackouts): 4 receptions, 8 targets, 69 yards, 3 TDs

WR4 – William Tondreau (Mongoose): 6 receptions, 6 targets, 81 yards, 2 TDs

WR5 – Olivier Pilotto (Les Blues Branleurs): 6 receptions, 9 targets, 80 yards, 2 TDs

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – Bradley Parent (TOPSZN): 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 Def TD

DB – Quaysie Gordon-Maule (The BrotherHood): 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD

DB – Charles Verreault (TOPSZN): 2 INTs, 1 Def TD

DB – Kyle Oberfeld (KGP Ra): 3 tackle, 1 INT, 2 PDs

DB – Daron Migdesyan (Small Giants): 4 tackles, 2 INTs

Rusher – Rahman Khan (The BrotherHood): 1 tackle, 2 sacks

The Final Power Ranking of The Year

Note: This will be the Final Power Ranking since next week’s article will concentrate on previewing and breaking down the playoff matchups.

Div 4A

TOPSZN (7-2) – Last Ranked #3: TOPSZN are on a 3-game win streak and are averaging a nasty 47 points in those 3 wins. They are PISSED they lost to The BrotherHood and are showing no mercy. Let’s see if they keep things rolling against KGP Ra.
Blackouts (7-2) – Last Ranked #1: Blackouts add to their own win streak, which is now at 4, and beat a tough Stoics team that was on the rise.
KGP Ra (8-1) – Last Ranked #4: Garber looked like himself and took care of Hurley and Sons.
Bruins (6-3) – Last Ranked #6: I said to watch out for Bruins if they get hot, and they are getting hot! Time to watch out for them. Seemingly out of nowhere, Rocco Christiano is Tied for 1st in TDs and is 6th in receiving yards.
The Stoics (5-4) – Last Ranked #5: Despite losing to Blackouts, The Stoics held a 14-6 half time lead and was up by a score of 20-18 with 3 plays remaining after punting it back to Blackouts. This was a good playoff test, just next time, Rivest will need to convert the first down on offense to ice the game.
The Brotherhood (6-3) – Last Ranked #2: That was a tough loss to a lower-ended team to be considered in the Top 5 teams in Div 4A. Let’s see how they are against a feisty Stoics squad.
Small Giants (5-3-1) – Last Ranked #8: When you forfeit a week, I won’t talk about you 🙁
Spera’s Cougars (3-6) – Last Ranked: #9: Tough loss, but the weather elements, the defense, and end-of-game inexperience prevented Spera’s Cougars from clinching a playoff spot. They did hang in there with a very good Bruins squad though. They can do damage in the playoffs
Mongoose (5-4) – Last Ranked: N/A: The wins are against the basement teams on Div 4, but still, stringing together 3 games in a row is good for the confidence and building trust in receivers, the playbook, and the defensive reads.
Centaures (3-6) – Last Ranked: #10: Tough when your down 3 starters. Still, they made a game out of it.

Div 4B

Les Montagnards (10-0) – Last Ranked #1: Perfect (regular) season: completed. Next mission: A Division 4B Finals appearance.
Beer Belly Brigade (8-1 )- Last Ranked #2: What a season for Alex Fafard. QB of the year nominee and potential winner.
Vultures (7-1) – Last Ranked #3: Vultures have been off for a few weeks, and they got some much needed rest to heal up any lingering injuries. The team is scary good.
The U (7-1-1) – Last Ranked #4: The Rankings haven’t changed much, and despite a strange tie to Eastside Boys, I still believe The U to be one of the top teams in Div 4B.
Golden Eagles (4-5) – Last Ranked N/A: With Felix Goulet at the helm, the team checks off a lot of what’s needed. Size, speed, power, experience. The only thing, like I mentioned on CTA this week, it seems like neither Sara Parker nor Felix Goulet are playoff eligible.
Mofos (4-4-1) – Last Ranked #7: Yeah, they lost to Los Locos, but with Trottier at QB, they managed to pick him off 3 times and comeback in the game when they were down 27-8 at halftime. They showed resilience and have grown a lot in a short amount of time this FPF winter season.
Les Verges Folles (5-5) – Last Ranked #6: They are showing that against the class teams of the division, that they can’t just quite be in the game, losing to both The U and Les Montagnards by 2 scores. Hopefully they picked up a few things from them and can gameplan against them in the playoffs.
Honey Martin (4-5) – Last Ranked #5: Not sure what’s going on. The team has a great offense which has sputtered as of late.
Arouch (3-5) – Last Ranked #9: Arouch haven’t played in a while, so they stay put at #9.
Voodoo (3-6) – Last Ranked N/A: They finally broke out of their 5-game losing streak. The spot was between them and Finessers. I’d say if both teams played today, it’s a toss up, 50/50, coming down to converts (like last time). I would take Voodoo in that case, and they wrap up the final Power Ranking!

Week 11 Game Picks

4A Games (My Picks are in Bold Green)

Les Blues Branleurs vs. Spera’s Cougars

KGP Ra vs. TOPSZN

Big Fun vs. Backyard Bullies

The Stoics vs. The BrotherHood

Bruins vs. Nomads

Small Giants vs. Blackouts

Takeover vs. Hurley & Sons

Mongoose vs. Centaures

4B Games (My Picks are in Bold Green)

Honey Martin vs. Vultures – N/A

Ballers vs. Beer Belly Brigade

Mofos vs. The U

Arouch vs. Sphinx

Hot Sauce Sports vs. Finessers – Changing my pick from CTA!!!

Voodoo vs. Golden Eagles

Arouch vs. Vultures

Epilogue

Well, that does it for this week! I know I will be losing a lot of readers from here on out, now that most players on eliminated teams will stop reading (I know I did when my teams would get eliminated) so I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who read the articles this year, giving feedback. Hope you enjoyed the regular season, and for those making the playoffs, there’s more to cover, so stay tuned! Feel free to reach out to me on socials @iggymanz or Ignacio Valdes-Manzanedo on FB messenger if you’ve got more feedback on what you want me to talk about.

Want more FPF? Here’s CTA from this past week with me replacing Mr. Moe Khan. Oh and Peeze and Eagle were there too.