A little background on Venom and Hitmen Retro

I’ll start by apologizing for not submitting an article last week but I promise to make it up to you guys in this week’s article. So what can I say about the last two weeks? One team has clearly cemented themselves as the top dog in 35+ division and they are Dagwoods. Each week they are winning convincingly by making “timely” plays on both sides of the ball. There are my players who are contributing to their success, but Rob Allen is at the top of that list. Any time Dagwoods need a play on offense or defense, he accepts the challenge. Two weeks ago, they were trailing by 3 scores to Polvige Tech and then Rob Allen started to make plays and rest was history. Then, last week against the Relics he intercepted Cory Pecker, a high level QB, three times. Dagwoods are a complete team with depth and I challenge any team to take them down.

A team that could possibly challenge Dagwoods at this stage are Hitmen Retro who have not only won two weeks in a row but have done outscored opponents 110-37. After going 0-2 in their first two games, they seemed to have fixed their issues relatively quickly and are now firing on all cylinders. Leading the charge for them is Chris Moufrage who has throwing for 15 TDs and no INTs in last two games. Carmine Pollice has accounted 7 of those 15 TDs. Even defensively they’ve had 7 INTs in the last two games alone. It’s going so well that even Gino Di Fazio had an INT TD last game against Polvige Tech (just kidding Gino, you are in the HOF for a reason). All in all, it looks as though Dagwoods and Hitmen Retro are on a collision course.

A reminder for everyone that all teams will make the playoffs. The top two will get a bye while third seed plays sixth and fourth will play fifth. Since the division has only six teams, playoffs will be fun to watch because each will have played and watched each other enough to devise proper strategies. It appears that Dagwoods will grab one of the bye but the other one is up for grabs. With four games remaining, the battle for the second seed might come down till the last week.

Since we are also at the midway point of the season and so far the 35+ division has been a pleasure to cover. However, I would like to provide more content and as such I have decided to profile two teams each week by interviewing a player from each team. For this week, I will be profiling Hitmen Retro and Venom.

Venom

So far they are winless but it’s been a learning curve for them. After having watched all four of their games, I can honestly say they’ve progressed and they are learning to adapt well. Their QB Nik Hatziiliou has only played two games so far but he is learning each drive and making strides. I believe they’re realizing that they have to play to their strengths and that means making a lot of small plays and driving down slowly rather than looking for a big plays downfield. Defensively, they still need some work but once again they have the understanding but just lack the execution. Good news is they have four more weeks to fine tune. I had the distinct pleasure to ask some questions to Eric Linkutis (Venom’s captain and also the league leader in tackles).

What made you guys enter the 35+ division instead of any other division?

The last season we played in Div 6, was incredibly challenging not because of the talent, but the disrespect and non-sense that new teams were displaying in FPF. 

That is why, when the 35+ Div. was created. I gauged the interest of Venom’s former players, and was surprised at the positive reaction I received from them.

Knowing the league was going to be made up of experienced FPF members and players from KTFL, I had a good feeling that 35+ would be a good fit for Venom’s return.

How did you compile the roster? (friends? Colleagues?)

All of the above. The roster is made up of friends/colleagues, family, free-agents, and my current coaching staff.

What were your expectations before season started and now at the midway point?

To re-introduce ourselves back to the speed and competition level that FPF provides, while losing weight and burning off some pent up energy from the work week.

We are approaching the mid-way point and week after week we are making adjustments and game time decisions. 

We do not look back at past performances, as we all believe it is a matter of time before ” it all” clicks and we get our first win. 

What do you feel are your team’s weaknesses and how can you address them before playoffs start?

Right now consistency is our biggest weakness. Everyone on the team needs to step up each week when a play needs to be made.

The roster continuing to play together will form timing and chemistry.

Who is your most underrated superstar?

Football is the ultimate team sport, so there are no superstars on our team.  However, I personally feel that the Snapper holds an important position on our team.

Finish this sentence. We are going to win the Division 35+ championship because we are the under-dogs and nothing will give us more satisfaction than ruining the top teams season.

Eric Linkutis might be a man of few words but he and his team are focused on the task at hand. I look forward to their progression over the next four weeks.

 

Hitmen Retro

Next up we have Carmine Pollice (captain) who is never short on words but that’s because he is driven by passion and intensity. Ask anyone who has played with or against him, he is the ultimate competitor. So I asked him a different set of questions and here are his answers.

If I ranked your roster, it qualifies for Division 3 (with you dressed as a player) however I am confident with you as QB, this team can compete in Division 2. So what made you guys enter the 35+ division instead?

Most of our team actually qualifies for the 45+ division!  This division plays in Kirkland and we are all West Island boys.  Throw in the fact that the complexe (referring to Golf Dome) has a pub in it and the venue played a large factor for us.  The time spent together after the game is just as important to us as the time on the field.  With most of us chasing our kids around we don’t see each other as often.  Playing in D3 or D2 would have had us at different fields on different nights.  Thursdays near home played a factor.

What is history of Hitmen and how did it come to be?

The Hitmen team was founded in 1996 in the Pierrefonds Flag League.  Monster was one of the other teams in that league.  Myself, Chris, Jimmy, Bruce and John were on the original roster while Dave was playing on a different squad.  2 years later Danny and Rob joined the Hitmen.  Having said that, most of us have been playing sports together since high school.  Gino and I started playing tackle together back in 2000 so there is a very long history amongst most of the guys on the team.

What were your expectations before season started and now at the midway point?

The expectation was to have fun and be competitive.  Not knowing who else would be joining the division we tried to keep an open mind.  At the half way point I am happy with the way the team is developing and moving forward.  We had a tough start but have progressed since then

What do you feel are your team’s weaknesses and how can you address them before playoffs start?

Sorry but I am not giving anyone any ideas or concepts to exploit…LOL!!  As you watched us play you noticed that in the first two game we dropped balls and made mental mistakes on defense.  In our last two games we have cleaned up most of the mental errors.  Only 1 drop (me) in the last two games also raises the confidence of any QB which can only help.

Since there is no cap in this division, in what circumstance (excluding injury) could we see you play QB instead of Chris Moufrage?

-Chris is the original QB and the goal was to go back to our roots.  While I have transitioned into the QB role with other teams, I have been catching balls from Chris for over 30 years now (that sounds so wrong just writing that).  Everyone on the team wants to have fun AND win.  Should we ever come to a point in an elimination game where the team felt that I gave us a better chance, then that would be an option to explore. However, Chris has a very talented receiving core in front of him and is playing extremely well and throwing with confidence.  When he does that he is, in my opinion, our best option

 

I also asked Carmine to finish the following sentence “We are not going to win the Division 35+ championship because ____________” but he didn’t answer. There can only be two reasons for that; either he didn’t see it (highly unlikely) or he felt it was a too tricky of a question.

 

Regardless, I thank both Eric and Carmine for taking time to participate in my short team profile segment. I’ll continue next week with Polvige Tech and Relics.

 

Quick predictions for week 5:

 

Venom vs Polvige Tech – Polvige Tech will bounce back after an uncharacteristic loss with a back up QB

Hitmen Retro vs Relics – Hitmen Retro will continue to roll but the margin of victory won’t be as large as the previous two weeks.

Dagwoods vs Monster Football – Dagwoods will continue their dominance and will win this game by two scores.

 

If you any suggestions for what should be covered, written or done please let me know as I am also your scorekeeper every Thursday night. Aside from tracking me down at the field, my email is [email protected] and I can also be reached on Facebook.

 

Thanks again for reading, good luck in your games and see you next time.