Co-Ed Week 2 Recap: Better Late Than Never

You didn’t really believe league president Rob Campana would leave FPF’s Co-Ed division without any weekly content, did you? Well if you did think so, technical you were right… until now (well, specifically, until he asked me to start writing a weekly Co-Ed division article on Saturday).

So, from now on, every week, you can expect a couple of paragraphs from yours truly recapping all the happenings from the previous week of action, as well as a look ahead to the upcoming week’s slate of games/maybe a few random thoughts/top X list/whatever Co-Ed segment I choose to write about that week.

I could now go on a Peeze-style 23-page monologue about the historicness (if that wasn’t a word before, it is now) of FPF’s first-ever co-ed division, but instead I’ll just say this: it’s about damn time.

Let’s begin.

Recaps

The Test Was Positive: it’s a Comeback!

After completing a second half comeback on opening night, Week 2 saw Served With Girls experience the other side of the coin in a 32-20 loss to Confirmed Positive last Saturday.

Things got off to a hot start for SWG, with QB Karl Lavallée finding receiver Kyle Greenbaum on a 40-yard bomb to open up the game.

But from there, they pretty much flat-lined.

On SWG’s second possession, Lavallée was able to march his offense down the field before DB Émilie Carrier made a leaping INT in the front of the end zone and returned it back to around midfield to turn the tide to Confirmed Positive’s favor.

CP didn’t look back, winning the second half convincingly to earn their first victory of the season.

Despite having such household names as Pat Jérome and Jacques Void on the roster, CP’s true MVP of the night was QB Vanessa Birri, who kept the gameplan simple and forced very few passes as she finished with a 4:1 TD-to-INT ratio.

Game. Set. Match.

Mental errors and rookie mistakes are kind of expected for a team composed mostly of players participating in just their second FPF game. And we saw a lot of them in It’s a Match’s game versus Party Mix this past week –most notably dropped passes and missed assignments.

But none is as most frustrating as when one such mistake comes with a chance to get back in the game on a critical down.

Such was the fate of Party Mix on Saturday. In a hard-fought defensive battle that saw both defenses come up with some big goalline stands, Party Mix, losing in the second half and facing a 4th and long, had drawn up a perfect play-call: a backside out-and-up to receiver Marilou Côté Noël, who made an amazing fingertip catch as she was crossing the goalline for 6.

The only problem? She didn’t have a flag belt on. The result: loss of five yards from the previous line of scrimmage, repeat 4th down. On the ensuing play, Party Mix tried the same play to the other side – only for it to fall incomplete, crushing any hopes of a comeback.

Top 5

It’s a Match (2-0): The only 2-0 team after two weeks, an exceptional +/- of 51, an experienced QB in Alexis Labonté, and a wealth of athletes on both sides of the ball. This squad is solid.
Confirmed Positive (1-0): Take Jacques Void and Pat Jérome and put them on the same team. Match them up with a QB in Vanessa Birri who arguably has a better arm and throws a tighter spiral than most QBs in FPF’s seven other divisions (and definitely waaaay better than Simon Dagenais), and you’ve got one hell of a team.
Served With Girls (1-1): I like what I see on the roster: JD Chevalier, Jordan Panetta, Karl Lavallée, Kyle Greenbaum, and Salim Cherkaoui can all be placed somewhere on an FPF spectrum of “good” to “D1 caliber.” But this is a co-ed division, and that means you’ll need to make sure to have some female studs to ensure a path to success. They seem to have one in Sarah MicKinley, a sure tackler who has made some plays on the offensive side of the ball as well. Now it’s time to see what the likes of Sandra Clement, Rosie Savard-Charette, and Marie-Pier Maheux are all about.
Party Mix (0-2): When QB François Deslauriers starts making quicker reads and more decisive decisions, and the team as a whole keeps unforced mistakes to a minimum, this squad could be dangerous.
Flamboyant Dragons (0-1): Sure, they may have one fewer loss than Party Mix at the moment, but at least François Deslauriers has shown he can move the ball and score some points. Flamboyant Dragons did now show they could do either in their opening week game.

Weekly Picks

Party Mix vs. Flamboyant Dragons: Party Mix

It’s a Match vs. Confirmed Positive: It’s a Match

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That wraps up this first-ever FPF Co-Ed Division article. Questions, comments, criticism? Let me know on Facebook or on Twitter @JBlanchFPF. See you at the fields!