Division E: Week 1 Outlook and Elite 8 Power Rankings

After broken hearts, shattered dreams and missed opportunities, all but one team has endured the long off-season that is filled with questions of where it all went wrong, and what they could do differently.

Finally, after twelve long months, or one, if you played in the FPF Winter Season, teams have a chance at redemption, as the Spring campaign is about to begin.

For the teams who are new to the league, let me be the first to welcome you to the FlagPlus Football Spring Season. Instead of giving you rookies a super long information breakdown, I will explain FPF like this. It is the world’s best, biggest, and most diverse flag football league.

There are players from all over the city, and in some cases Canada, that make up the league. Whether you have taken part in other flag or touch leagues, played tackle, or simply just like to throw around the ball at work, or in the park with friends, everybody is welcome.

For those of you that don’t know me, I have been writing for FPF, since the ill-fated Ottawa and Toronto Division days. I have been covering Div. 6/E, for the last 3 years, and I will hosting the podcast once again this season with Peeze and Stef.

While I sometimes have a habit of writing novel-length articles, I like to make them fun, easy to read, and informative.

I have been playing football (tackle, flag, and touch) forever, and I’ve been playing in FPF since 2009.

I’m not here to trash players or teams, but I have no problem calling guys out, I my infamous Step IT UP section. As always, to make it fair, I have no problem calling myself out when I’m wrong, and take the same attitude to you guys doing it to me as well.

Now with all the intros out of the way, let’s get down to business.

I was going to save Step IT UP for next week, but  will include a special edition just for this article. 

 

Step It Up

TBA – How do you not have a name for your team? Registration was a while ago, there’s no excuse guys. If anything, you guys could’very just went with Blitz Babes 2.0, or even something as simple as We Can’t Decide A Name. Seriously, Step It Up guys!!!!

OK, I’m done…

The division consists of 30 teams, nearly fifteen of which either played in the winter season, or last spring/summer.

The other half, is made up of rookie squads, or ones that are a mix of multiple teams.

Since this is the first article, and there are a lot of teams that are new, I am going to reserve putting the new squads in the first edition of the Elite 8 Power Rankings.

Elite 8

1. Greendale Human Beings- The Winter Season champs, will try to pull off the impossible, by becoming the first team to win the championship in both seasons. Armed with arguably the best triple threat in the division, in Alex Joltopuf, and the Aylward brothers (Brandon and Danny), this team definitely has the ability to make history.

2. Smokin Axolotls – Stef Fennes’ team is back again to try and take the final step that alluded them last season, as they literally came within a play of winning the Spring Championship. The return of Jason Rossie, and the continued emergence of Rory Semerjian, should take this team a long way.

3. Pardon My Swag – This team really hit their stride just before the winter playoffs began, and they rode it to the winter Conference Finals. Armed with arguably the division’s best Quarterback in Avery Lalla, and a plethora of playmakers on both sides of the ball, the sky is the limit for this veteran team.

4. Super Troopers – This is a case of the rich getting richer. Already armed with the FPF sacks master in Zachary Alberts-Gill, who is coming off of a 29 sack season this winter, a very good Super Troopers lineup, just got a lot better with the addition of Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Zach Zwirm. The two-way threat, is a difference-maker on both sides of the ball.

5. SPARTANS – The loudest and most entertaining team in Div E is back yet again. Armed with a solid QB in James D ’Andrea, and playmakers in Alexis Bessette and Charles-David Martel, this team has as much talent as anybody in the division. Their inability to perform in the playoffs, is a cloud that will continue to hang over their heads, until they proved otherwise.

6. Los Avocados – After a rough rookie campaign, the team nicknamed lost avocados by Chapman, should find some success, with the addition of Mathieu Guindon, a full season of Thomas Zorko, and more importantly, if Wide Receiver Samuel Damours, can build on his impressive playoff performance, and becomes the dominant threat his potential suggests he could be.

7. One Speed: Power – Peeze ’s team qualified for the winter playoffs, by going 5-0 over the second half of the season. While the final destination of the team will largely rely on the shoulders of their aforementioned QB, they will be aided by the fact that they are bringing back the core of their team, that finally started to come together and play like a solid unit.

8. Dirty Mike N The Boys – Sitting at 0-6 last spring, DMNTB, reeled off 4 straight victories to qualify for the post-season. Not satisfied with keeping the status quo, team captain Jordan Allard, added Jonathan McQueen, from the Division C’s Backyard Bullies, and Derrick Fontana to the squad. Those additions, along with better play in the squad’s second year, should lead to more than just 4 victories.

 

As I said earlier, this is just the first one, and I am going with team’s that I know, and have seen, so don’t get upset that your team isn’t on the list. These rankings WILL change through-out the regular season.

Before I get into the picks section of the article, I would like to give a warm welcome to Div E, and the FPF media family to Marc-André Désaulniers. He will be writing the French article for you guys this season. He’s excited to do it, and we are excited to have him.

Naturally, when he asked me if I wanted to go head-to-head, with the weekly picks, the SUPER competitive side of me jumped at the chance. As the season goes on, we’ll make some changes to the format, to make it more interesting, but since it’s Week 1, we’ll stick with straight up picks this time out.

 

Picks

The Pension Plan vs Little Giants – The Plan Plan

Prime Time vs Homosapiens – Homosapiens

DGC vs Farmers – DGC

Pardon My Swag vs Greendale Human Beings – Greendale Human Beings

Friday Night Tykes vs Striking Samurai – N/A (Since I play for the Striking Samurais, I won’t be making picks for their games)

Hot Boys Hotline vs The Expendables – Hot Boys Hotline

One Speed: Power vs Super Troopers – Super Troopers

TBA vs Fourth & Twenty – TBA

Dirty Mike n the Boys vs Here For The Beer – Dirty Mike n the Boys

Smokin Axolotls vs SPARTANS – Smokin Axolotls

Sons Of Mitches vs YAMAJO – YAMAJO

Los Avocados vs Montreal Raiders – Los Avocados

FACE Jazz vs Raccoons – FACE Jazz

Moss City vs West Delisle Squad – West Delisle Squad

Le choix du Président vs Just For The Reps – Just For The Reps

 

That’s it for this week guys. I’ll be back with next week, with a re-cap of the Week 1 action, and a look ahead to Week 2.

It feels great to be back! Good luck to everyone this week!

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt like I left something out, feel free to reach me at [email protected] , or on Twitter @BADNEWS51