Division A: Defensive Player of the Year

Hey everyone, hope you had the chance to watch the Senior Flag Football National Championship last weekend. Several FPF teams participated from both men and women divisions. Congratulations to the winners of both men and women Pro and Competitive levels as several FPF players were on these rosters. With Week 8 underway, the race for best seedings in the post-season may be crucial to many teams. For this article, we will look at the potential defensive player of the year candidates I have for this division. A lot of these players are two-way players but I’Ill be focusing on the defensive side of the ball. As someone who has won this award recently, I can see how these exceptional athletes take pride on changing momentum of a game for their teams. Division A is the hardest when it comes to creating stops and turnovers due to the ball security of QBs so when you can impact the game on this side of the ball in this division, it’s a huge momentum switch. Before we get into it, let’s go through my Week 7 predictions.

One Stop – Vultures
Game Info: Sunday July 6, 11:00am, Concordia
Prediction: One Stop 33 – Vultures 25
Final Score: Forfeit win for One Stop
Due to the Senior Flag National Football Championship, Vultures weren’t able to put a team together for this contest against One Stop. It doesn’t matter if it was a close win or a forfeit win, One Stop needed this more than ever. With now 2 wins, they are even closer to making the playoffs and the teams ahead of them should be worried.

Braves – Idaho Udapimps
Game Info: Tuesday July 8, 7:30pm, Marie-Victorin
Prediction: Braves 44 – Idaho Udapimps 40
Final Score: Braves 36 – Idaho Udapimps 34
The Braves were able to squeeze out another close victory, this time against Idaho Udapimps. Not many Braves’ players that we are usually used to were present at this game. Jonathan Maheu had a typical performance with 5 TDs and 0 INT, furthering his position as QB of the Year. Guillaume Beland and Phil Pharand both added 2 TDs each. For Idaho, Brady Ohanessian wasn’t spectacular with under a 50% completion percentage, however, he took care of the ball with 0 INT and 4 TDs of his own. Jerome Hovington was the guy on offence with 102yds and 3 TDs. Idaho mounted a 16pt first half comeback in the second half and on the last play of the game, Ohanessian found Hovington for a TD which with the 2pt convert, would’ve sent the game into OT. Unfortunately, the conversion was unsuccessful. This game showed that Braves are still able to win out close game but for Idaho, being step-for-step with the best team in the country shows promise if they have all their key guys at games.

Award Race

Defensive Player of the Year

Player	Team	GP	TKL	INT	SK	PD	TD
Mendel Joseph	PartyCrashers	3	5	5	0	5	2
Jeremy Murphy	Braves	4	8	3	0	5	1
Matt Bond	The Infantry	6	10	3	0	2	0
Adam Rosen	The Jamesons	5	7	2	0	5	1
Ethan Adrian	The Infantry	6	2	0	10	0	0
Francois Hogue	PartyCrashers	5	1	0	6	0	0

Prediction: Mendel Joseph

Contenders: Jeremy Murphy, Adam Rosen, Ethan Adrian

For this award,I looked at INTs, sacks, pass defended and touchdowns as the main sources to build each of this year’s nominees. Francois Hogue has had a solid year as a rusher for PartyCrashers. His teammate, Joseph, who I predict to win this award, has to thank Hogue for his rushes. I rush from time to time and let me tell you, it’s hard and tiring. I give credit to the rushers in FPF, especially those in the highest divisions for both men and women. Averaging just over a sack a game is nice but would need extremely high numbers to overcome the rest. Matt Bond is a two-way guy who makes plays when it counts. He’s nearly at the top in INTs and has always been a voice on the defensive side of the ball. As he already has 6 games played, he is limited to getting more stats compared to his competition. First contender is his teammate, Ethan Adrian. Leading the division in sacks, Adrian has been a great rusher over the years for The Infantry. The last rusher to win this award in Division A was Isiah Allard in Spring 2022 with 9 sacks and 5 PDs. Adrian does have more sacks and will probably end with 10-15 but with no other stats, it’s tough nowadays to win the award as a rusher. If there is a rusher in Division A to win it, it is him but will need alot more sacks and even PDs, INTs or a TD to build his case. The next contender is Adam Rosen. With 5 games played, Rosen has the ability to get more INTs and he is tied with the lead with 5 PDs and has a pick-6. He isn’t at the top of these stats but with the way he plays and ability to plays when it matters, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the top 3 by the end of the season. The runner-up I have is Jeremy Murphy. Even with 4 games played, Murphy is neck and neck with Joseph for this award. Murphy is an exceptional player that impacts the ball on both sides and if gets on a hot streak, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes the award. I do think Joseph will win his 2nd DPOY in a row. Leading the division in INTs and 2 pick-6s is huge. I had the pleasure of watching him play at Concordia for a few years and he transitions his play style from tackle to flag exceptionally. He is a ball-hawk for QBs and has the speed and explosiveness to return these INTs into touchdowns. I do believe Murphy will give Joseph a run for his money but I expect that we will have a back-to-back winner for Spring 2025.

Week 9 Predictions:

One Stop – Braves
Game Info: Friday July 1, 10:00pm, Laval
Prediction: One Stop 14 – Braves 45

Last time these two teams played, it was Week 3 and Braves won 53-18. If we don’t count the forfeit win, One Stop hasn’t won a game since Week 1. No matter the roster for Braves, it seems that they have built a formula to win. I do believe One Stop will get better compared to the first half of their season but a game against Braves isn’t how you would want to start the second half of the season. Maheu shouldn’t have too much issues moving the ball no matter who his receivers are that night. For Michael Caparelli, the ability to manoeuvre around Phil Pharand or Isiah Allard is already a tough challenge. What Caparelli can do is throw the ball at different angles, not many QBs can make the throws he can. He would need to rely on his main receivers and also limit any chances for a turnover or this game will be over quick.

One Stop – PartyCrashers
Game Info: Sunday July 13, 4:00pm, Laval
Prediction: One Stop 26 – PartyCrashers 39

One Stop is back after their matchup on Friday with another one, this time against PartyCrashers. These two teams played haven’t played each other yet this season. Two very athletic teams are looking towards the bottom of the table, playing for their playoff hopes. Jeanslee Alexis has been playing well this season and for this game to be in PartyCrashers’ favour, he would need to contain the ball and limit turnovers. He has the ability to make plays out of nothing with his legs and having Joseph, Emerson Peterkin and company, PartyCrashers should be able to keep possession. For One Stop, if they are able to pull the upset, I would expect big games from Jahnai Lewis and Charles Cossette. Both these Redbirds have huge impacts on both sides of the ball and if Caparelli can avoid throwing anything near the direction of Joseph and to his top 2 receivers, maybe One Stop can make things interesting or even pull the upset if they can hang with PartyCrashers the whole game.

The Infantry – The Jamesons
Game Info: Sunday July 13, 10:00pm, Laval
Prediction: The Infantry 41 – The Jamesons 32

The Infantry are on a 3 game win streak while The Jamesons just lost to Idaho Udapimps in Week 7. Kevin Wyeth and every other QB for The Infantry has been spreading the ball around with 4 receivers already with over 15 receptions. Their offence can come in different directions and if Wyeth is behind centre, it’s scary to defend. Adrian is the leading rusher and can get to QB quick which also helps with several big time defensive players behind them. For The Jamesons, Jeff Rosenblatt has been playing solid but it’s been hard to predict which receivers will be around him on a game-to-game basis. Anthony Brisebois looks to be the number 1 and Jordan Panetta has been a solid number 2. If The Jamesons have their full actual roster, I actually like their chances but it’s not always the case. I do think because this game has huge implications, I expect the best The Jamesons team to be assembled. This game should go down to the wire but I think the clutchness of Wyeth will prove to be the deciding factor in addition to Adrian’ rushing ability.

Closing Remarks:
That’s all for this article! This rounds out the Week 8 article and also includes my overview of the Defensive of the Year race. Next article will be about another award as we are inching towards the end of the regular season. Reminder that playoffs are approaching and to have playoff eligibility, you will need to have 5 games played or have a medical note approved by an appropriate doctor in order to be exempted. Thanks for reading this article and if you have any questions or suggestions, you can always email me at [email protected], message me on instagram @keyoncyrus or message me from the FPF Facebook page.