Division D – Semi Final Preview

 

D-1

Half-A-Stars (1) vs. Bird Gang (3)

Previous Meeting: Half-A-Stars won 30-6

While it may be increasingly difficult to write about my own team, I know the guys often take a peak and see what I’m writing about them and I also enjoy the challenge. No reason to stop now. Speaking of challenges, that’s exactly how I’d describe the game this week against Bird Gang. Last week was easily our toughest game of the season and Quaysie, Brandon Parent and company were no joke. They’ve improved tremendously since the start of the season and I’d like to commend them on a great game. The whole squad reflects the kind of leadership that Andel brings and it was a lot of fun trading scores with them inside a very hot field in Brossard.

Moving onto Bird Gang, we now have to contend with a whole new set of challenges. We need to do our best to keep the ball away from AJ on both sides of the ball and match the same kind of intensity that Dan Lazzara brings on every snap. Domenico Manno is also a big tough receiver that we’ll need to manage. In short, they have no shortage of ways to beat us and we’ll have to be at our best. The biggest test for us will be to not let their game impact our zone. We may not be as loud and be more of the silent assassin type of team – shit, i’m definitely the loudest. I’ll be happy to be doing the trash talk with Dan for most of the game and let the guys beside be the ones to put points up, that seems like the best plan.

Overall, I expect a close game which should be a lot of fun. We’ll do our best to get Anthony to throw an interception or two and Andrew can’t let AJ have too much of an impact in return. Both sides of a great balance of size and speed and more importantly, some playoff experience. I won’t make any guarantees but I will say that its destined to be fun to watch. 10pm, Papineau and no glare to worry about, can’t wait.

Prediction: N/A

 

Outlaws (1) vs. Super Saiyans (3)

Previous Meeting: Outlaws won 27-24

Last night we saw the Divison E-2 Semi Finals give us two teams in Maroon between the Clinkers and Mambo. Tonight, we get “The Orange Bowl” which is what I will call it moving forward. Two teams that began the season expecting to be in this very position and two teams that expect to be in the Finals next week. Let’s take a quick look at how they got here and what to expect in this game.

Outlaws have been a favorite all season. They have a roster that includes one of the most experience lower division Quartberbacks in the league in Stephen Harripersaud, trustworthy snapper and game analyzer extraordinaire Kevin Koussaie and one of the best one two punches in Isaiah Allard and Shyanne Stewart. While they haven’t lost with a full roster in a long time, I can’t help but feel like they are just narrowly moving through this season and haven’t been able to build any momentum. My gut is torn in two – not wanting to ever bet against them because of their track record, yet at the same time it feels like they are rype for the taking.

The Super Saiyans seem to be on a completely different path. They have a large list of playmakers of their own, both the list being large and the players being large. Led by Jordan Allard, Jared Gallant on offense, they have a great group of secondary targets and the whole team is built to make Allard’s life as easy as possible. While Jordan isn’t always the most accurate, he makes up for it with his speed and ability to make a big play when it counts. The defense, run by Jon McQueen has come up big when it counts as well, only giving up 19 points against a very good Sheriff team. They’ll be in tough against the weapons that Outlaws have, however my gut here tells me they’ll be just fine.

You could literally flip a coin in this game, but I think that Super Saiyans have all the momentum on their side and should ride the wave to the Finals. At least it won’t be against a team in orange.

Prediction: Super Saiyans win by 4

 

D-2

Finessers (1) vs. Buffalo Wild Wings (2)

Previous Meeting: Finessers won 34-26

The best part about this game for the Finessers is that they seem to have just played a very similar team and won. In my opinion, the Underducks are a less experienced version of Buffalo Wild Wings and Finessers just had some practive in how to beat big tough teams. When I say less experienced here, I simply mean that the formula has been a little bit more tried and tested for Buffalo Wild Wings and they are a little bit less one dimensional.

Tristan Rinaldis is having a very good year and seems to be learning the way of the FPF quarterback. His rating is basically right at 100.0 and he’s been using a number of receivers to win games, not just one. He’s been smarter using his legs and doesn’t make as many mistakes, all of which add up to success. The trio of Guillaume’s, Renaud-Dumont, Vezina and Fonatine have all been strong, so has the emergence of Philippe Chiochio. Even a few years ago when I played against them, their defense surprised me and they play well as a unit. They won’t necessarily blow teams out, but they are very comfortable playing in close games.

The Finessers on the other hand are a high risk, high reward team. There is no hiding the fact that Ryan Kharouf wants to use Bachaalani and Suresh early and often and this may bring the Buffalo Wild Wings out of their comfort zone. They prefer to take away areas of the field and not necessarily focus in on one or two guys, so that matchup between the two receivers of Finessers and the Wild Wings defense should be interesting. This all comes down to what do you think will prevail – a run and gun style that’s proven to do well in the regular season, or the fight for every inch style that’s done well for the Wild Wings so far?

The Finessers have been the Conference’s top team all season for a reason, and I don’t think that the Wing’s can keep up with their speed, as good as they’ve played recently.

Prediction: Finessers by 9

 

The Infantry (1) vs. Les Voyous (3)

Previous Meeting: Infantry won 45-6

Coming off a one point victory against Baby Sharks, the question in this game will be do Les Voyous have anything left for the biggest game of the season? Will they be able to shock the FPF world and be the 6-4 team that upsets the undefeated Infantry team? I would never say anything is impossible, but they certainly have a mountain to climb.

My first concern for Les Voyous is their defense. They showed last week that they had trouble slowing down Nic Schaefer and Sebastien Dallaire had to match him beat for beat. This time around, he has to manage to keep the ball away from Rory Semerjian and Two-Way player of the year, Sean Semerjian. Both flock to the ball extremely well and will do their best to eliminate Pierre-Alexandre Tache and Raphael Belice from having an impact on the game. Maxime Ledoux also poses a threat to Dallaire’s running game and he won’t make his life very easy.

There’s not much to say on the other side of the ball. The Infantry have been able to wipe the floor with any test thrown their way including a very good Ballz Deep team, stepping all over them by going for 2 even when they were up by 30. It is playoff football after all and there’s no reason why they should ever think about slowing down. While Les Voyous should do a little bit better than Ballz Deep, I still expect the Infantry to dominate.

Preciction: The Infantry win by more than 2 scores.