Action Gets Started in FPF Junior

The 2019 spring season of FPF Junior got underway this Sunday. It was good to see some familiar faces returning as well as some new teams joining the mix. I am thrilled to see that this season is the biggest season yet for FPF Junior. The downside of that is that there are even more teams for me to cover in the weekly articles and I will not be able to give each team the same amount of attention I did last season. I will do my best to talk about all the teams and all the players equally. As usual, if you have any feedback throughout the season or anything at all you would like to say, feel free to reach out to me via email at [email protected]. I will also be the one scorekeeping all the games in Kirkland this season.

This first week of action has already created its fair share of storylines. The best of these stories has to be the one of Luca Swaminadham. Over the past few seasons, I have become accustomed to seeing him dominate in one division. This season, he is poised to dominate in two divisions. Luca Swaminadham is young enough to play in Atom and talented enough to excel in Mosquito. In Atom, Luca Swaminadham impressed with his legs. He decided to run twice, for a total of 62 yards and a score. Yes, that is an average of 31 yards an attempt. In Mosquito, he was facing better tacklers so Luca Swaminadham got the job done with his arm. He passed for 111 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Not a bad days’ work for the young man. In Pee-Wee, Massimo Moufrage made his triumphant return to the Musketeers. He was the dominant receiver in each of his team’s two wins. In those two wins, Moufrage caught eight passes for a total of 122 yards and three scores. In Bantam, there are a lot of familiar faces and even more familiar results. North Shore and the Dusters are both flying high with two wins a piece. These two teams have something in common; they have figured out their QB dilemma. For North Shore, their #1 guy is Marco Gentile. He proved why he is the starter with his performance over the weekend. In just two games, he passed for nearly 300 yards. The Dusters are one of FPF Junior’s most established franchises. Ever since they entered the league, their man under center has been Adam Malinoff. While Gentile got the job done with his arm, Malinoff impacted the game with his legs. He ran for over 100 yards and scored a rushing touchdown as well to cap off the performance. In Midget, I was slightly more surprised by what I saw. While I was expecting the usual suspects like Coby White of the Mustangs to steal the headlines, it was rather two players from TuneSquad that caught my attention. Despite all the big names in this division like Kaelen Trepanier who are accustomed to stealing the show, it was Garner Ross who stood out. In his game versus the Alaskan Thunderducks, he passed for nearly 200 yards and five scores. Over his two games, Ross tallied 343 passing yards to go with his 8 scores. It was a two-way performance from TuneSquad’s Charles Presser. On the offensive side of the ball, he caught five passes for 88 yards and three scores. While those numbers may be good, I would argue his seven tackles and two defended passes were even better.

Week 1 Recaps:

Mustangs (20) vs Bunnies (18)

In the Mustang’s first game, they impressed. They looked exactly like the team that went undefeated in the Spring 2018 season and won the championship. After the Mustang’s clash with the Alaskan Thunderducks, I expected them to maintain the same level of play against the Bunnies. However, in their second game of the day, the Mustangs lowered their level of play and they played to the level of their opponents. While the Mustangs were still able to escape with the victory, the Bunnies made things very close.

The Mustangs tried to get cute in this game. They won their first match against the Thunderducks with Coby White scrambling around in the pocket and extending plays. In the game versus the Bunnies, White was asked to be a prototypical pocket passer. While Coby White may one day evolve into a pocket passer, he is not there yet. What makes him such a superb quarterback is his ability to improvise. For all those of you who followed the NFL draft, asking Coby White to make throws from the pocket is like asking Kyler Murray to be Dwayne Haskins. While White may not have the arm talent that other passers in Midget have, he has his own skill set which makes him just as dangerous. Having said all that, White still had a very solid game with his 153 passing yards. It was also great to see the Mustangs spread the ball. Five different receivers got their hands on the ball. Out of those five, it was Zach Vaitzner who led the charge with three receptions for 42 yards. In terms of the number of receptions, it was Max Kadanoff and Ethan Brinberg who were tied for the team lead with four a piece. On defence, Spencer Strasser left his mark. He had a great performance with three tackles, an interception and a defended pass. When he wasn’t offside, Aidan Beinstock was pressuring the opposing quarterback. His efforts were rewarded with two sacks.

On the Bunnies’s side of things, it didn’t take long to figure out how their offence worked. They were dependant on the athleticism and talent of Eric Lazarowitz to move the ball. The Bunnies’ quarterback, Ryan Rotholz, passed for 141 yards and three scores. Out of those 141, 103 of those yards and two of those scores came courtesy of Eric Lazarowitz. As good as Lazarowitz may be, if the Bunnies cannot find a way of diversifying their offence, they will not find much success this season. The key to success in FPF Junior is spreading the ball. Once opponents figure out that Lazarowitz is their main weapon, they will do everything in their power to take him out of the game. The Bunnies can use that to their advantage. If opposing defences concentrate all their efforts on Lazarowitz, that means other people will be open. While their offence may need some tweaking, their defence had an extremely strong showing. They limited a dangerous group of receivers and an explosive quarterback to four touchdowns. Leading that defensive charge was Jonathan Jagermann with his seven tackles and one interception.  

Alaskan Thunderducks (32) vs TuneSquad (33)

I already talked about TuneSquad’s Garner Ross’s performance against the Thunderducks. He had a statement game with 194 passing yards and five scores. The only blemish on that record was the one interception he threw. Ben Arnovitz was the main benefactor of Ross’s passing brilliance. Arnovitz led the team in receiving yards with 69. However, the leader in terms of receptions was Jesse Dym. He caught twice as many passes as anyone else. He had eight receptions for a total of 63 yards and one score. When Garner Ross needed a red zone target, he turned his attention to the very talented Charles Presser.    All three of Presser’s receptions were for scores. To go along with his three touchdown grabs, Presser had three tackles on the defensive side of things. He rounded out his defensive effort with two defended passes. The rest of TuneSquad’s defence also impressed me. They were going up against a very talented corps of receivers. They faced blazing speed in Eric Flinker, imposing size in Harrison Oberman and a blend of those two in Dylan Hacker. While no other TunesSquad defender may have amazing stats, it was a fantastic team effort to limit those three.

The Alaskan Thunderducks have an extremely talented group of receivers. Eric Flinker used his blistering pace to make the most of his two receptions. He finished the game with an impressive tally of 74 yards and a score. The second member of the Thunderducks’ three headed receiving monster is Dylan Hacker. He is ideal blend of speed and size. He has the quickness to outrun his defenders and the size to win contested balls. He used his unique skillset to accumulate nearly 50 receiving yards and two scores. The third member of the Thunderducks all-star receiving corps is Harrison Oberman. He is a big bodied receiver who has the ability to win those contested balls. I expected him to have a big game against TuneSquad, but all he managed was a one-yard touchdown reception. However, Oberman made up for his lackluster offensive showing with a stellar showing on defence. He led the team with three defended passes. While Oberman came close to picking off the ball on a few of those defended passes, the only Thunderducks who managed an interception was Dylan Hacker. Not only did Hacker pick off Garner Ross, he also ran back that interception for a score. While an 0-2 start is not exactly the start the Thunderducks were hoping for, I wouldn’t be worried if I were them. They have all the offensive weapons they could dream of and a talented quarterback in Alex Kahan to get them the ball.

With that, the first week of FPF Junior action is already a wrap and the second week is about to get underway. Best of luck to everyone in week 2 and for the teams playing in Kirkland, see you at the field!