Division 6 Championship Preview

Here it is ladies and gentlemen, after 13 long weeks, and over 100 games all together, we have finally reached the final weekend of the Flagplusfootball Winter Season. Tomorrow afternoon kicks off the Division 6 Finals, better known as Championship Saturday. After Wednesday night’s Semi-Final games, the two teams left standing who will battle it out for the right to be crowned the new kings of D6 will be the (6-4) the Diablos from Conference A versus the undefeated (10-0) PB n’ Jelly from Conference B.

Before I get into my Finals preview, let me first take a look at how each team got here.

In Conference A, the Diablos got there by knocking off the Smokin’ Axolotls in the Divisional Round. In the Quarter-Finals last Sunday they rode a strong performance from Georges Élie-Voyer and WR/DB Alexandre Levesque, who had a crucial pick-6 off of Olivier Bourgeois to knock off an evenly-matched Team Laval 31-25.

Finally, this past Wednesday night in the Conference Finals against TDs and Beer, as it has so many times this season, the Diablos offense turned into the Georges Élie-Voyer show, as the 8-year veteran exploded for 7 catches for 88 yards, and an incredible 6 touchdowns. He almost added a 7th TD at the end of the first half, but he was only able to get one of his feet inbounds on a 27-yard pass to the front of the endzone as time expired.

In Conference B, PB n’ Jelly got to the party by first ending the season of Fourth and Twenty in the Divisional Round. They followed it up by blowing out a veteran N.W.O squad in surprisingly easy fashion 43-18 in the Conference Finals. They followed that up by taking care of business Wednesday night at Stade Hebert curtesy of a 32-12 win over the Gamecocks in which they were led by the trio of Alex Lufty, Alex Mashaal and Jay Strachan, who had great games on both sides of the ball. More on them later.

That’s a solid slate of teams that had their seasons ended by the two remaining competitors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank

These are clearly the two best teams left from both Conferences. When breaking down both teams, more than a few things stand out. First, for PB n’ Jelly, is the highest scoring team in the entire Division, as they were the only squad to crack the 300 point barrier with 327.

PB n’ Jelly Quarterback Joseph Kano has thrown the most touchdowns in D6 with 45, while being tied with N.W.O QB Michael Sanchez, for throwing for the least amount of interceptions with 8.

Diablos Wide Receiver Georges Élie-Voyer along with PB n’ Jelly WR Dylan Catellier not only lead their receptions, but they both sit in second and third respectively in almost every receiving category.

While he does occasionally rely on it a bit too much, the fact remains that Diablos Quarterback Francois Martin throws the best deep ball in the division. His ability to hit his WRs bot h in stride and on the run is what separates him from the majority of other QBs.

 

Offense

No one is denying that both teams can score points. With some of the weapons that both squads have on their rosters, scoring shouldn’t be a problem.

For the Diablos it starts with Georges Élie-Voyer. In the post-season alone, he has 20 receptions for 250 yards and an eye-popping 12 TDs. If there was an MVP award for the playoffs, G.V.E would have already won it hands down. In all honesty, the saying has become cliché right now, especially with Steph Curry doing his thing, but watching this WR do HIS thing, is like watching a video game sometimes. It doesn’t matter how far the ball is, or how tight the coverage, G.V.E will more often than not come up with the play.

While he doesn’t poses 4.3 speed, his ability to create separation from coverage even in the tightest areas, coupled with his Jerry Rice-like hands and Odell Beckham Jr-esque catch radius make him virtually unstoppable.

After the aforementioned Élie-Voyer, the Diablos have a solid set of play-making receiving options with the likes of Vincent Lajoie, Michael Deguire, Benoit Millette, and Jean Sebastien Rochon. Rochon in particular stepped up his game by making a beautiful over the shoulder diving catch that not only picked up a valuable 33 yards for his team, but also broke the backs of TDs and Beer.

For PB n’ Jelly, it starts with the speedy Dylan Catellier. For what he lacks in size, he more than makes up for in speed, route running and heart. He is Kano’s go-to-guy for good reason.

There is no real drop off with the team’s other WR either as Alex Mashaal and Jay Strachan are dangerous as well. Those two alone combined for 50 catches, 711 yards, and 19 TDs.

The Diablos also shouldn’t sleep on Justin Peress and Alex Lufty, while their regular season stats don’t jump out at you, both players have turned it up a notch so far this post-season. Lufty in particular had a sweet 22-yard TD catch that he made while falling in the right back corner of the endzone off of a go route.

Alex Mashaal, Lufty, and Strachan (he wears #81, and has the name Megatron written on the back of his jersey) all have height, and they know how to use it. While Kano is one of the more accurate QBs in D6, there has been times throughout the season where he just tosses the ball up when he’s been in trouble, and relied on his WRs to make a play. I can definitely see him doing it again tomorrow afternoon.

What makes the team’s 20-point blowout victory over the Gamecocks even more impressive, is the fact that the team didn’t get all that much out of the aforementioned Catellier who had 4 catches for 19 yards, to go along with several drops.

Regardless of that however, the nice about watching this offense, is that once it gets into a rhythm, it can be a sight to see.

 

Defense

Defensively, the Diablos like to play an aggressive style of D. While they only forced 9 turnovers in the regular season, they have forced 6 interceptions in the playoffs, to go along with 6 turnover on downs as well. That shows that their aggressiveness is starting to finally pay off. Look no further than the aforementioned pick-6 by rookie Alexandre Levesque. The TD by the rookie ended up being the difference maker in the game vs Team Laval.

The D also came to play Wednesday night as they played tight coverage all night, and really made it hard for TDs and Beer QB Brad Evans to complete the long ball, and especially the short and simple passes that were his team’s trademark all year long.

The G.V.E factor looms on this side of the ball as well. For as good as he is on offense, the veteran is just as impactful on the other side of the ball as well. His ability to read opposing QBs, provide solid coverage, and come up with momentum changing plays should not be overlooked.

On defense for PB n’ Jelly the height that I previously mentioned works in their favour on this side of the ball as well. Alex Mashaal and Alex Lutfy both recorded interceptions off of Gamecocks’ QB Daniel Richman on the team’s first 2 offensive drives. Later on in the game, the same duo along with Jay Strachan sat back in coverage, and took away anything deep that their opponents tried to go for.

Aiding the purple team’s solid defense in another dynamic duo, this time at rush with Jean-Louis Chen and Michael Smith. What both first year players lack in experience, they more than make up for in speed. They gave Daniel Richman fits Wednesday night, and they will do the same to Martin if he doesn’t get the ball out of his hands quickly.

 

Keys to Victory

Yeah, this is a new section in my article, it the championship game, so why not?

For PB n’ Jelly, they must stay focused. Against the Gamecocks, Dylan Catellier drop several balls on both offense and defense. Quarterback Joesph Kano must focus on his passes and play calling, and not so much on what he perceives as roughing the passer penalties. It is football after all, and more importantly it’s the championship game, so you might expect that the officials will just let the boys play. He got lucky a couple of times Wednesday night, as he tried to jam in a couple of passes that should have gotten picked off.

On defense they will have to find a way to not let Georges Élie-Voyer continue to put up monster numbers like he has the last 2 weeks. Easier said than done…

For the Diablos, they will have to find a way to deal with the size and length of the PB n’ Jelly widr Receivers that I mentioned earlier. While G.V.E has the ups to knock down high throws, the majority of his defensive teammates are under 6 feet. They are fast and aggressive as I said before, but you unfortunately can’t coach size.

Francois Martin the 2x winner of the Brandon Weeden Award in my All-Star articles, will need to use that pretty spiral as well as a lot of touch on his deep passes. The Gamecocks got killed because of turnovers and no deep ball Wednesday night. The Diablos are a better team offensively, but their chances will be few, so they must be able to capitalize of them. Martin will also have to throw to his right earlier in the game than he did last game. Against TDs and Beer, Martin threw predominantly to his left during the first half and a lot of the second stanza as well. He will need to keep the PB n’ Jelly defense guessing, and more importantly, build some confidence in his receivers not named Georges Élie-Voyer earlier in the game.

Speaking of which, the Diablos will also need guys like Levesque, Lajoie, Deguire, and Rochon to step up again, as they can’t rely on Georges Élie-Voyer to do all the heavy lifting by himself. They need to fight and get open early and often, and force their QB to take notice. Against the Gamecocks, the PB n’ Jelly defense held the D6 leader in receiving TDs Kyle Tanzer in check the majority of the game (most of his 60 yards came during the final 2 drives when the game had long been decided) They dared his teammates to beat them. The other 6 Wide Receivers who caught a ball, went on to produce an extremely underwhelming 11 passes for 53 yards, and 2 TDs. The Diablos’ WRs will have to do better.

 

Pick

Despite going into this game as the favorites, I think more of the pressure is on PB n’ Jelly. They are already talking about moving up a division, and more importantly, they are staring perfection in the face. The one thing they have in their favour however to combat that pressure is familiarity. Unlike a lot of first year teams that are usually just slapped together, the guys in purple have been together first as friends, and then as teammates for several years.

No disrespect to any of the other players involved, as there are a lot of good football players in this matchup, including more than a few who should look into playing in a higher division in the near future (I am always scouting lol) this game could very well come down to Catellier vs Élie-Voyer. If the PB n’ Jelly 2-way threat brings his A game tomorrow, that will definitely be a matchup worth watching.

At the end of the day, I think that despite the gritty and aggressive play of the Diablos, as well as the Madden-like performances put up by Georges Élie-Voyer week after week, I don’t think that their defense will be able to come up with enough stops to outscore PB n’ Jelly whose size advantage will be too much for the Diablos to handle.

 

Prediction: PB n’ Jelly 28-26.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s it for the season, and that is also it for my weekly article. Congrats to all the teams and players that came out this year. You guys made it a lot of fun to cover this division. Good luck to both the Diablos and to PB n’ Jelly. You guys are the last two standing, and you earned it. Here’s to a great game tomorrow.  

I had a blast writing them for you guys, and from a lot of the feedback I’ve been getting this season, you guys seemed to like them as well. Thanks for taking the time to read them, and as always thanks for your feedback and support. I appreciate it! It’s been an honor. Good luck this spring!

Cheers!