Div E Week three recap: Back on Track

Before I get into this article I’d just like to take a moment to shout out Joe Morgese. Late in Tsizzle’s thursday game vs the Magnetos I made a mistake and gave the Magnetos an extra touchdown. Morgese immediately let me know I was wrong so I went back and checked and turns out I am infact stupid. Moral of the story is; if you think I messed up, let me know. The scorekeeping app is a little jenky and it’s still just my third week using it, so bear with me. 

My observation of the week has to do with timing. Being the scorekeeper I am a middleman of sorts. I work and interact with the referees, but I also speak to the players with a different perspective than a ref. That being said, I will try to relay some insight. Thursday’s games on field 1 in Laval were ahead of schedule because the first game ended early, and both teams for the next game were at the field fifteen minutes before gametime. I’d never seen two happier refs. However, the 9pm game did not start until 9 exactly, we’d lost our momentum, and the happiness was no longer. Honestly I’m getting a bit carried away here and it was not that serious, but in my experience a happier referee is better than one who is pissed. So if you want to make the refs happy be at the field 15 minutes before and you may just get a better call out of it. 

Games of Week – Week 3 

The Penetrators 47 – 6 Brewers 

Week 3 was exactly what the penetrators needed to get their season back on track. They played just one game in both weeks 1 and 2 losing both, but in week 3 they rebounded with a 2-0 week beginning with a 47-21 win over the Scranton Stranglers, and then a dominant win over the Brewers. 

The Brewers got the ball to start the game and their opening drive was promising, using eight plays to get the ball into the opposing redzone. A sack from Jacob Novick set up a long second-and-goal which ended in a Jared Boidman interception and a short field for the Pens. On the fourth play of the possession, Justin Goodman found Nicholas Fon for a 23 yard score, and hit him again for the extra point. The Brewers responded with a 10 yard touchdown from Frank Iantosca, their only score of the game. It was all gravy from then on for the Penetrators. Justin Goodman was excellent in his team’s second consecutive win throwing 179 yards, 6 touchdowns, and just two incompletions. 

Both Nicholas Fon and Michael Caponi were outstanding. Fon recorded; two scores, a 2pt convert, two extra points, an interception and a couple pass defenses. Caponi also scored twice for 83 yards, and was even better on defense with two interceptions, one which he returned for a touchdown. 

Players of the game: 

Justin Goodman: 179 yds, 6 td, 14/16 completion 

Matthew Caponi: 83 yds, 2td, 2 INT, Pick6, 4 TKL 

Nicholas Fon: 32 yds, 2 td, INT, 2 PD, 3 TKL, XP1, 2 XP2 

Honorable mention: Jonah Koifman: 46 yds, TD, 5/5 REC

Scranton Stranglers 48 – 24 TB Elite 

This was the third game of the night for the Refs and myself, and this is absolutely when I felt a shift in their moods. The refs wanted to start early, but a player who shall remain nameless was scorekeeping the previous game on field 2 and did not want to start without a warm-up (reasonable). However, I also understand the refs’ cheesed-nature because he was angry to be in Laval to begin with. The point is that in this game two players were given 10 play penalties and now I’m just proving my point about the refs’ moods. Anywho.

The first half of this game was pretty close. The Scranton Stranglers are a team stacked with FPF veterans while the TB Elite are some young guns in their first season with the league. These are some of my favorite games to watch because it is always interesting to see whether experience will outweigh the pure athleticism and elasticity of these 17 year old kids. 

The game began with Daniel Godenberg finding Aidan Lasry for a 37 yard touchdown. Scranton’s opening drive took a little longer but got the same result. It was not actually very long;  just six plays, capped off with a four yard touchdown pass from Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo to Samuel Aerts. On the next play from scrimmage TB dropped another bomb on the Stranglers with another 36 yard completion to Aidan Lasry who finished the game with 100 yards on five catches… Vince Guerriero punched in the 4 yard score on the following play. The first half was shot for shot. The Stranglers put their own short drive together with a 16 yard pass to Lucas Quennenville followed by a 24 yard touchdown reception from Alexandre Blais. Once again though, TB came back with a four play drive ending in a 20 yard score from Sid Bedi, but here is where experience comes into play. Bedi got a little too excited in the endzone and full on Gronk-spiked the ball resulting in an objectionable conduct penalty putting him out for 10 plays but the touchdown would stand. The first play he sat out, Iggy found Kevin Daniel for a 40 yard touchdown and his only catch of the game. I can’t say for certain that Sid Bedi’s absence caused the touchdown but it certainly didn’t prevent it.

The First half ended 22-18 for the Stranglers, and they played way better in the second. It almost felt as if they’d slept-walked through the first half of the game and suddenly woken up at half. They’d outscore the TB Elite 26-6 in the second, with the final play of the game being a ridiculous full-field pick 6 from Iggy, in which he snatched the ankles of no-less than 3 children. Have you no shame, sir? 

Players of the game: 

Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo: 223 yds, 6 TD, 15/20 comp, Pick 6 

Samuel Aerts: 63 yds, 2 TD, 5/5 REC 

Alexandre Blais: 55 yds, 2 TD, 5/5 REC

Aidan Lasry: 100 YDS, TD, 5/6 REC, PD

Magnetos 28 – 25 Tsizzle 

Magnetos started the game with five people because someone slept through their alarm, but it did not really make much of a difference. Adam Malinoff started the game with three passes for 34 yards, and eventually found Lewis Epstein for a 6 yard touchdown to get ahead early. Tsizzle responded with a 4 play touchdown drive which came by way of a 13 yard rush by QB Carmelo Di Giovanni.  Di Giovanni was pretty efficient running the ball, on four attempts he picked up 57 yards and 2 scores. For a moment things were looking good for Tsizzle, but that was only a moment. Magnetos next drive was just one play, a 40 yard bomb to Matthew Leutner which took back the lead. James Wiseman scored the final touchdown of the half on their next drive, taking a 22-7 lead into the break. The second half boxscore looks a lot different than the first’s, but it is a little deceiving. Magnetos led by double digits most of the game but in the last five plays of the game Joe Morgese put on an impeccable display of athleticism in the form of a 40 yard touchdown. Just great stuff. 

Players of the game: 

Adam Malinoff: 153 yds, 4 TD, 14/23 comp, 2 XP2, PD 

Matthew Leutner: 50 yds, 2 TD, 3/4 Rec, TKL 

Joe Morgese: 61 yds, 2 TD, 4/6 Rec, PD 

Team of the week 

Qb: Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo: 419 yds, 9 TD, 75.5% comp. (2 games) 

Qb: Justin Goodman: 357 yds, 12 TD, 91% comp. (2 games)

Wr: Aidan Lasry: 100 yds, TD, 5 Rec. (1 game) 

Wr: AJ Zeppetelli: 155 yds, 3 TD, 9 Rec. (2 games) 

Wr: Gabriel Wiseman: 91 yds, 2 TD, 4 Rec. (1 game) 

Defense: Anthony Drysdale: 3 INT, 2 TKL. (1 game) 

Defense Matthew Caponi: 2 INT, 4 TKL, TD. (1 game) 

Defense: Tristan Villemure: 6 TKL, PD. (1 game) 

That is all for this week’s recap. Next week I will do my first power-rankings because I think I finally have a decent gauge on the level of competition of many of the teams. I’d also like to mention that I am hoping to get to see the rest of the teams sooner than later. The Praetorian Guard are undefeated and looking like an early favorite to win this division. So just know I haven’t forgotten about anyone, I just haven’t watched you yet.