Deuxième et Court (Div D) – Semaine 10 (English)

We may be halfway through Week 10, but the excitement isn’t over yet! Yes, all but one playoff spot has been clinched in the Division. But there are still many seeds yet to be determined, and that alone will make for an interesting Sunday. But before we look ahead at this season’s final day of regular season games, here’s a look back at just some of the FPF craziness that took place this past Wednesday and Thursday.

Recap

Wheel of Fish lock it down

In a battle of win-or-go home, one team simply wanted it more than the other.

It was a game that started off perfectly for Wheel of Fish, with the defence forcing a punt on the game’s opening drive before the offence marched downfield to take an early one-score lead. From there it was a quarterback’s duel the rest of the half, as both sides matched touchdown for touchdown to make for a 19-12 Wheel of Fish halftime lead.

But that’s when perhaps the game’s defining moment took place, as Wheel of Fish, facing fourth and long from deep inside their own territory, converted to move the chains, scoring a few plays later to take a 25-12 lead. It proved to be too great a deficit for Lockdown to overcome, with quarterback Gianfranco Ranaudo’s ensuing deep passes mostly failing to reach their target as Lockdown fell 37-18 in the end, effectively dropping them out of their playoff spot and securing Wheel of Fish’s own.

Playground change name to Playoffs, Baby!

They certainly made is as dramatic as possible.

In a year which has seen them play one of the toughest schedules in the division and shoot themselves in the foot with roster ineligibility issues, Playground’s playoff hopes came down to the last play of their last game of the season—a date with the behemoth that is Blue Mountain State.

The game couldn’t have gotten off to a rougher start for Playground, with BMS quarterback Nick Lafond throwing touchdowns on three of his first four passes to give his side an early 19-7 lead. But Playground kept their composure, playing their game of short pass-short pass-bomb downfield to narrow the deficit to 19-14 at halftime.

Both teams rallied for two touchdowns each to start the second half before Playground found themselves with the ball down 26-31 on the game’s final drive. Using their first few plays to get deep inside BMS territory, Playground quarterback Gabriel Côté led his team to the BMS one-yard line, facing a 4^th down with one play left in the game.

Quarterback Gabriel Cote, who was widely inaccurate for most of the night, made no mistake this time as he took the snap, rolled to his right, and threw a dart to receiver Laurent Foucault in the middle of the endzone for the game-winning—and playoff-spot sealing—touchdown pass.

And just like that, perhaps the most dangerous 5-5 team in Division D is in the playoffs.

Project Demolition: Complete

If Project Mayhem were a building, Thursday’s loss to the Vikings was the explosion that completed its collapse.

The game got off to a good start for Mayhem, with the team down just one touchdown at halftime after a back-and-forth first half. Momentum quickly shifted in their direction after quarterback Alex Holowach led the team to a touchdown drive on the first play of the second half to tie the game at 20-20.

But that’s when things took a turn for the worst, with Holowach throwing interceptions on Mayhem’s next four offensive drives en route to a 40-20 loss, an 0-4-1 record in their last five games after a promising 3-2 start, and most importantly, a blown opportunity to make the playoffs.

But while one team’s collapse is another’s turnaround, with the Vikings, who won just one of their first four games of the season, playoff-bound after going 3-1 to end the season.

Race to the Playoffs

A useless section now that Daron has posted not only the standings, but also the remaining scenarios on the league website. I’ll just post the link for the lazy ones: https://www.flagplusfootball.com/news.php?news_id=87.

Sunday in-depth

I realized that I forgot to do a “Sunday in-depth” section last Friday. I’ll make up for it by previewing the remaining game with the most playoff implications (assuming Shamrocks beat Warriors):

Bearskins vs. X-Men

We could talk about the fact the Bearskins are playing for their playoff lives, while the X-Men have already clinched their spot. We could talk about the fact Bearskins are on a two-game winning streak while the X-Men are coming off a 33-6 thrashing by the lowly 3-6 Ghosts.

As much of a role all of that may have, there’s no question that this game will come down to one name: Alex Papich. In three of his team’s four lossses (he was absent for the other), Bearskins receiver Alex Papich was held to just 12 catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. In four of his team’s five wins (he had to step in at quarterback for the other), Papich caught 21 passes for 237 yards and seven touchdowns.

That’s not to mention his defensive abilities, as Papich leads the team in interceptions (6) pass deflections (8) and defensive touchdowns (1).

If Bearskins quarterback David Souaid is able to find Papich early and often Sunday night, while Papich himself continues to make game-changing plays on defence, this one should be the Bearskins’ for the taking.

FPF Awards

A look at the races for each of the FPF awards of best quarterback, wide receiver, defensive player and two-way player of the season, coupled with my thoughts for each. A reminder to all that I don’t vote on these:

Quarterback

Player	Passing Yards	TDs	INTs	Sacks	Comp %	QB Rating
Fred Morissette (Checkmate)	2180	51	5	11	61.5%	126.6
Avi Yayon (Wheel of Fish)	2006	50	16	3	59.7%	97.5

*I only put the top two players because let’s face it—we all know who’s winning this one.

Wide Receiver

Player	Receptions	Receiving Yards	TDs
James Floreani (Checkmate)	39	828	20
Billy Seretis (Park-X Streets)	48	737	20
Karl Lavallée (Pardon My Swag)	51	634	18

*I think it’s obvious who this one goes to, too, but then again Lavallée does have one game left to play.

Defensive Player

Player	Tackles	INTs	PDs	Sacks	TDs
Justin Melrose (Centurions)	19	15	15	0	1
Mike Zenone (Limetime)	44	7	5	1	0
Daniel Bellefeuille (Les Affreux)	6	0	18	1	0

*18 sacks is pretty impressive, and so is 44 tackles, but at least one interception in nine games and 15 total is even more impressive in my book.

Two-Way Player

Player	Offense			Defense
	Rec	Yards	TDs	TKL	INTs	Sacks	PDs	TDs
Patrick St-Amand (Le Zoo)	42	515	17	20	8	0	4	0
Rico Tulino (Big Blue Wrecking Crew)	29	344	7	27	7	1	3	0

*Not even close.

Random Thoughts

-Jaggerbomb QB Jeremie Gauthier has been sacked a whopping 43 times so far this season. That’s gotta be a record or something.

-Call me biased, I don’t care: shout-out to Wheel of Fish QB Avi Yayon for an amazing season. 2006 passing yards, 50 touchdowns, a near 60% completion rate, just three sacks on 278 pass attempts and a 97.5 QB rating. Pretty darn good for a first-time quarterback.

-Checkmate QB Fred Morissette played against Black Mambas this week. Not only did he make me look foolish for publishing that he was apparently done for the season due to his schedule, but he made the Mamba defence look even worse by needing just eight passes to reach the 200-yard mark for an absolutely 27.0 yards-per-completion rate.

-10 weeks later, and I still don’t know what the name “Wheel of Fish” refers to.

-If you only see five players on the Black Ice stats sheet in their win over Les Affreux, that’s because they only played with five guys. Against six. All game long. And still won. Versus the 8-win Affreux. Wow.

-Rumour has it Adam “Did You Get Tickets to The Gun Show” Santorelli of Hostile Territory has beaten The Hulk in an arm wrestling match.

-After forgetting to do my “Sunday In-Depth” section last Friday, I just realized I also forgot to do my Power Rankings this past Tuesday. I’ll just blame it all on Peeze.

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That’s it for this week. As always, you can email me at [email protected], send me a tweet @Jblanch6, and be sure to listen to the latest version of the Division D podcast at http://fpf.podomatic.com. See you at the fields!