Bombsquad’s Breakdown (Div 1/2) – Week 5

Well now that we are all finished with the Super Bowl hangover, we all returned to the field this week for more FPF action. Once the smoke cleared, there is only one undefeated team left in the two divisions. We also had the privelege of seeing not one but two games decided on successful “Hail Mary” passes. Let’s get to it.

Countdown to detonation

D 1

3. The Expos squeak out a one point victory over the previously undefeated Montreal’s Finest 38-37. Both QB’s had very similar performances. And at one point they actually exchanged turnovers as well. Chad Byers threw an interception to Finest corner Marc Champangnie only to have Kevin Wyeth return the favour with a pick to Pierre-Olivier Brunet in the Expos’ end zone. Byers was on the same page with receiver Alexis Charpentier who managed to get open early and often catching 7 passes for 96 yards and 3 TD’s. Kishon Thompson was Wyeth’s go to man this game, catching 9 passes and 2 TD’s. But the story of this game was the incredible catch by Geoff Beauchesne with two plays remaining over two Finest defenders at the back of the end zone to seal the 1 point victory. A great catch and finish.

2. The Demons douse the Rainmakers 52-31. Both QB’s put up big yards but Carmine Pollice showed us what happens when you convert on almost every opportunity and avoid turnovers. Pollice was 24-30 for 291 yards and 8 TD’s. He spread the ball evenly throughout the team with four players catching 2 TD’s a piece. Kastner was 20-29 for 294 yards but only 5 TD’s and a big 2 INT’s. Michael Chitayat had a big game with 6 catches for 125 yards and 3 TD’s. Even fill-in Nareg Yessayan contributed with a score. But Guillaume Ward and Pollice came up with the big two turnovers that really shifted this game. The Rainmakers defense was on a hot-streak coming in to this game, yet they were unable to get a stop all night long.

1. The Redhawks lose another close game 44-38 to Old Skool. That said, we did see the possible evolution of QB Charles St-Martin’s indoor game as he went 15-25 for 295 and 6 TD’s against a veteran Old Skool D. Cesar Sanchez had 93 yards receiving and a TD while Jean-Christophe Viens was once again the work horse with 91 yards and 2 TD’s. It just wasn’t enough on this day as Andy Peterkin led his team to victory again with 7 TD’s through the air. Jean-Francois Leclaire caught 3 of those scores. Mark Delauriers had a big game as well with 5 receptions for 87 yards and 1 TD. The Redhawks seem too been picking up the pace while Old Skool is steady as she goes.

7. Victorious Secret pound O.N.S. 57-37. Paul Lapierre had the game of his life tossing 9 TDs to 6 different receivers! Talk about using everybody on the roster. Kevin Wyeth led O.N.S. with a 6 TD performance but also had 2 INTs. One off a deflection and the other a great play by Godfrey Abu to make the play. Ryan Brewster had a good game for the One Nighters with 6 catches for 92 yards and 2 TD’s and Tony Lalla had a great grab down the sidelines for a great score. But Lapierre was not to be denied as Victorious Secret rolled on to win.

6. In an exciting game that went right down to the wire, the Wolfpack took out the Triple Sixers by 1 point with a goal line stand for the victory. Karim Chaoual saw the return of his All-Star centre JF Marcotte who led the team in receptions. Pat Jerome had 4 catches for 79 yards and 2 TD’s. Chaoual did not have his best game, but matters were made much worse when a collision with the Wolfpack rusher left the QB with a broken thumb. Murray was efficient again with a 6 TD performance and Mikail Davidson was everywhere with 4 catches for 78 yards and 2 TD’s. But the play of the game was the last one where Kishon Thompson was held out of the end zone on a controversial play to end the game and give the Wolfpack a 1 point victory.

5. Oh my. The Blazers fall to the young guys from Top Guns 30-24. Mario Porreca had a great game with 5 TD’s and no interceptions, while Leon Holder struggled again with 3 TD’s and 2 INT’s. Jerome Baker caught 2 of the 3 majors. In the battle of winless teams I really thought the Blazers would step up. But great job by the young Top Guns team for pulling out their first victory. Where do the Blazers go from here?

4. The Wolverines silence the MOMO Nation 31-20.Tony Tabet seems to have found some chemistry with newly acquired Jacques Void who had 5 receptions for 82 yards and 2 scores. It was not Tabet’s best game as he gave up a pick 6 to MOMO’s Fode Yansane. But it was enough to get the job done. Yannick Vanasse once again tried to get the win on the ground, running for 1 and passing for 1. But it was not enough. A momentum shifter happened when MOMO snapper Sebastien Papineau scored late in the game to pull his team to within a few points, however when the referee checked his flag, it took three tugs to unsnap, which led to an illegal flag penalty and a disallowed TD. MOMO was not able to punch it in later on in the drive.It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for the Wolverines, but chalk up another one in the win column.

3. The Air Squad gets grounded by the Trojans 32-47. Vinny Gualano was once again Pollice’s most trusted weapon catching 6 for 89 and 2 TD’s but Mike Ciampini was there as well with 2 TD’s. Even rusher Dan Hilton got in on the scoring action. Air Squad were without QB Lafond but Sebastien Crisi-Lauzon did a decent job filling in tossing 5 TD’s. Maybe they should give him another start. But the team just couldn’t beat the mighty Trojans on this week, even with new Toronto Argonaut Djems Kouame on the roster!

2. The Tomahawks take down the Gladiateurs 56-46. Mike Grilli threw 8 TD’s for his team and 6 of them, yes 6, were to receiver Dany Ostiguy. Any other week and this guy would have had Golden Boy for sure. He also had 134 yards on 7 receptions. But counterpart Francois Lebeau threw 7 TD’s and all 7 went to two receivers!! Phillipe Leduc (4) and brother Marc-Andre Lebeau (3) did all the scoring. The Gladiateurs just do not have good luck in these high scoring shootouts.

1. Wow. I can call them. In the upset of the week, the Mercenaries defeated the G-Men 34-32. We can talk about Garofalo’s pick 6 or Andrew Adams 2 TD’s and the QB’s performances…but we won’t. This is how the game ended. The G-men scored with 2 plays left to take back the lead. They were leading at halftime 25-14 but were down until this point. This left the Mercs with one play. I have heard from multiple sources that G-Men QB Gianni Settino was heard to say, “Who cares about 1 play, we got the W.” I am all for a confident QB. But I am also a firm believer in jinxing yourself. Di Fazio threw up the Hail Mary and none of the Mercs players even jumped. The ball deflected amongst the G-Men defenders and ended up in new Mercs’ player Robbie Robinson’s hands. A spectacular finish. Regardless how this game ended I applaud both sides for a great game.

Boom, like the fireworks that celebrated the Giants Super Bowl victory and the only positive thing about it, is not having to hear about Tom Brady being the greatest ever.

My SHOWSTOPPA this week is the Demons defense who came together and made the crucial plays to put the game out of reach. At one point, the game was very close with the Demons holding a 2 point lead. Then the defense changed all that.

The Golden Boy this week has to be Carmine Pollice who once again dismantled a team’s defense. He threw 8 TD’s for 291 yards. That will do the trick. Great performance.

D 2

My SHOWSTOPPA this week has to be Angelo Garofalo who tried to do as much as possible for his team with a pick 6, a pass defend and 3 tackles. Not to mention he scored on offense as well. Great job and great game.

My Golden Boy this week is Paul Lapierre who must have got sick of hearing me complaining about his lackluster performances. Paul threw 9 touchdowns with 267 yards passing, an 83.3 completion ratio and 152.6 QB rating. Insane numbers. Great game. As mentioned earlier, a shout out goes to the Tomahawks’ snapper Dany Ostiguy for pulling in SIX TD grabs.

By this point in any season, most of the teams have settled in and defenses have begun to perform stronger and hold teams a little more often. But such is not the case this year. Only 7 times have teams not scored 30 points. Out of 30 opportunities. We have had 3 50+ points’ games (2 by the Demons) and 14 games with teams scoring between 35 and 49 points. This is an offensive division to say the least and many games have come down to who had the ball last. Even the QB’s are all bunched together stat wise. Although Pollice is currently atop, everyone else is right behind trying to get there. If anything, it has been one hell of an exciting season to watch as a viewer. I think the team that develops a defensive scheme to stop some of these powerful offenses will be the team to hoist the trophy. Otherwise it is a shootout until the end.

D2 has been very unpredictable this season. Sure, you have the Trojans atop by themselves with some very strong competition. But what seemed like a 4 horse race has now really opened up. The once mighty Triple Sixers now sit at 2-3. The G-men are now 3-2. But the biggest surprises are the Wolfpack, Wolverines and Mercenaries, all sitting at 4-1. I could never have predicted it. I know the G-Men had some bad luck and they will surely climb back up, but the division that seemed to have very little parity, now has some worthwhile topics for conversation. We have six teams with winning records. The bottom of this division is a mess, yet everyone has points. This is a seriously strange season. I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

Now let’s take a peek at next week’s big matchups.

The Demons look to extract some revenge on Old Skool for their week one loss. It was a very close and hotly contested match. Look for the same thing this time around as I am sure Old Skool knows what to expect and will be prepared. But the Demons have been taking their play to another level as of late. Old Skool is still getting their wins but the Demons seem to be scoring at will. With that in mind, I believe this match will go the Demons way this time but by a narrow margin once again.

The Rainmakers take on MTL’s Finest again. These two teams always seem to play it to the bone. Having matches that always come down to the wire. Kastner and company must be getting a little desperate at this point considering they are at the bottom of the division and only have one win to their credit. On other side, Wyeth hates losing as much as anyone and I am sure the Finest side wants to make a statement that losing is a rare occasion and they will want to make their mark. This should be a great match.

In a battle of teacher versus student, the Trojans take on Victorious Secret. Besides the fact that the two QB’s are teammates in D1, Rochdi Benabdelkader, who plays for V.S., also has intimate knowledge of Pollice’s game from playing with him for years. Although it sometimes seems like that knowledge doesn’t make a difference. The Trojans are undefeated and want to keep it that way. Victorious Secret would like to do just that and be Victorious. I think this will be a very close game but in my upset pick of the week, I will take Victorious Secret to upset the Trojans this weekend.

The G-Men take on the Wolverines. These two teams know each other very well. New Hall of Famers Tony Tabet and Paul Kamel face off. Tabet’s QB style is unorthodox yet you can’t argue with the results. Settino is having a great year as well. When you hear the two team names, you assume the G-Men should win easily, but did you know that the Wolverines are 4-1 while the G-Men are 3-2? This will be a great game. But I just can’t see the G-Men losing three in a row. I will take the G-Men in this battle.

The Air Squad takes on the Tomahawks. These teams both have a tie. These teams only have one win with their full-time starting QB’s. Lafond only has one win as the Air Squad starter, but before people start pointing out their record and performance last game, they had a QB by committee system. Both QB’s have interception issues this season. But Mike Grilli has the experience to put this one away. They have just coming off beating the Gladiateurs while Air Squad had a noble showing against the Trojans. But the veteran lineup of the Tomahawks should be enough to win this game.

That’s all she wrote,

For my article this week,

Things are heating up,

This is not time to sleep.

For the mid way point,

Of this season we has come,

Better start winning,

And be ready for a playoff run.

You can email me with complaints of who I have picked or because I just get on your nerves at [email protected] but until then, another week has been defused.