Czikk’s Cover 3: Coyotes, Dad Bod Squad advance to the finals

Wow. Two semifinal games with two unexpectedly wide score margins took place Sunday evening as Coyotes and Dad Bod Squad punched their tickets into the championship.

Coyotes (10-0) beat The Brotherhood (10-0) 30-12 while Dad Bod Squad (9-1) took out F.O.E (4-6) 39-14.

 

Coyotes pick off The Brotherhood four times en route to win

In the first semifinal, two teams with identical 10-0 records went to battle. Given the sterling records alone, one could argue that these were the two best teams in the league.

Kevin Smuda (5 rec, 60 yards, 2 TD) picked off The Brotherhood QB Theo Ojeaha three times and caught two Sammy Feder touchdown passes. One of his TD receptions came in the first half on a 4th-and-10 play.

Coyotes led 16-0 after two big TDs. The Brotherhood answered back with six before the first half expired when Ojeaha hit Jamal Gittens in the endzone.

Most significantly, Coyotes were able to hold The Brotherhood to just six more points in the second half. This is fairly big news given that The Brotherhood never finished with less than 25 points in a game, and five times scored at least 44 during the regular season.

On their first drive of the second half The Brotherhood would get their only points when Ojeaha tossed a bomb to Khalil Kerr (3 rec, 75 yards, TD). 16-12.

After that, Smuda picked off Ojeaha for one of his three picks on Coyotes’ own goalline. Shawn Steen later picked off Ojeaha on a one-handed grab in Coyotes’ endzone to seal the game.

“It was a tight battle most of the game, their D was tough and their rusher was fantastic,” said Feder, who was sacked six times by The Brotherhood’s Quaysie Gordon-Maule. Khalil Kerr also sacked Feder.

“But the key for us was converting some key 4th downs and coming away with timely interceptions. AJ [Rashkovan] did a really good job rushing and containing their QB,” added Feder.

In the second half, “Kevin got another massive interception, tipping a ball that was going out of bounds and kept it in,” said AJ Rashkovan. “We made it 30-12 and the game wasn’t really in reach anymore. [Shawn] Steen had an interception on the next drive.”

“Their D was very good and they got us to 4th down a few times, but we converted when it mattered,” added Rashkovan.

Feder finished the evening 14 for 21, 116 yards and four TDs. Ojeaha finished 13 for 23, 160 yards, two TDs and four interceptions.

Ojeaha told me “I put the loss on my shoulders,” and that his boys kept playing hard even when things were going wrong.

“Some bad throws, some dropped balls and good defense by Coyotes. Feder was really good at buying time which left his receivers open eventually,” said Ojeaha. “Shout out to Steen on that one hand pick looking like a young me, haha.”

 

Dad Bod Squad ends F.O.E’s playoff magic

Sean Avraam threw five touchdowns along with a pick, leading Dad Bod Squad to a 39-14 boxscore. The Dads led 25-0 after the first half as Avraam threw strikes to four different receivers: Rich Humes (2), Vinny Gualano, Jordan Allard and Matthew Petrone.

Humes pick-sixed F.O.E QB Alex Holowach, while Petrone also forced an interception in the big win.

On the Dads’ first drive, Humes jumped a Holowach pass intended for Jordan Moses, who was running a slant pattern. Humes returned the INT for the touchdown. 

“Sean Avraam played some flawless football except for an ill-advised interception on our last offensive play,” said Gualano. “Rich Humes was on fire. He came in full intensity after making the play of the game in the quarterfinals. One of his touchdowns was on a beautiful out and up where he just got free.”

“Once again our defense just locked down. Alex Holowach didn’t play bad but we disguised our coverage on a few plays, which had him a little confused. He still made some nice plays,” added Gualano. “Last night was just our night and things were clicking. I’m proud of our defense, especially playing against one of the top quarterbacks in my opinion.”

Holowach threw two second half TDs to Alex Ganter (6 rec, 63 yards, TD) and Jordan Moses (2 rec, 20 yards, TD). He finished 15 for 37 for 171 yards.

Dilan Daoust caught three Holowach passes and picked off Avraam on defense.

According to Holowach, the game started off poorly for his team with Humes making his heroic pick-six.

“Then on the second drive I made the poor decision to go for it on 4th and 10 from our own 10 yard line, failing to convert and giving them great field position,” said Holowach. “Their defensive game plan was just on point. They took away what we wanted and made us throw into very tight windows,”

“We were definitely outmatched with the loss of our defensive captain Travis Moses. But they still had a fantastic game plan and they executed flawlessly. Most importantly, they had a championship attitude on the field, which we didn’t bring out last night,” added Holowach.

 

The championship game goes this Sunday night at 6:30 PM in Brossard. Coyotes (10-0) takes on Dad Bod Squad (9-1) for all the marbles.