Categories: Division E

Inside the Red Zone (Div E) – Week 5

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Inside The Redzone. We are now at the halfway point in the season which means teams should slowly start thinking about the playoffs. Whether it’s to iron out kinks or make a push, the intensity level is bound to pick up in the second half of the season.

 

As I mentioned in the Monday edition of Inside the Redzone, the teams atop of the standings will most probably remain there so I don’t see a lot of movement at the top. However amongst the bottom 5, there could be some movement and it will be interesting to see it unfold. Technically and mathematically speaking, the N W O are not out of playoff contention and with five games remaining, they can make a push for a post-season berth.

 

I have made a little switch in my content and as such I will do the Division E power rankings in this column and do the mid season preview in tomorrow’s column. I feel it will flow better that way and I always like to keep the readers in suspense. Sometimes the suspense is too long and people have anxiety disorders but I digress. So without further ado, here is a recap of last week’s action:

 

Wednesday June 12th, 2013

 

With the return of GOTW in FlagPlus Football, Division E could not have picked two better teams than Fools Of the Country and the Golden Girls to showcase. Both teams were 4-0 going in to the game and only FOTC came out unscathed at 5-0. I have to give credit to Peeze Della Rocca, he did call the win. Am I surprised that FOTC defeated the Golden Girls? Not at all, there is a reason I had FOTC first in my power rankings. For those who weren’t able to watch the game, it was taped and will be available on our website for viewing. J-Flo and Etienne Guillmain put on a show for the fans, but I’ll let you judge that and the rest for yourselves.

 

Sunday June 16th, 2013

 

Eskimo Brothers were back on track after having lost the week before to the Golden Girls. They won comfortably against Maccabi. Almost as importantly, Shawn Steen was up to his usual tricks. He had 65 receiving yards with a TD and 3 INTs on defense. I know there is a lot of hype around James Floreani as the best two-way player in Division E, but Shawn Steen deserves to be in the same dialogue.

 

As for Maccabi, Patrick Leroux was back at the helm and put up decent numbers. Unfortunately, the 3 INTs were too tough to overcome for Maccabi who fell to 1-4 in the standings. Ofir Levy had another solid receiving and defensive performance. He’s definitely the franchise player for Maccabi and you can listen to him on this week’s podcast with Terry Tam and Peeze Della Rocca.

 

BBQ Time Travellers, who lost a close one in week 4, won last week against the N W O. Simon Lahaie and Yavar Ashrafi are emerging stars for BBQ and they are making things a lot easier for Mike Bagnato. I was also impressed with the ball distribution where 4 receivers caught at least four balls and three receivers caught at least one TD. BBQ must use this game as a springboard to make a second half push because they are showing signs of life but it will come down to consistency.

 

It was a tough night for the N W O who only managed to complete four passes however, there is still a learning curve so they shouldn’t feel bad about anything. I can name many teams who struggled in their early years in FPF. I actually respect them for toughing it out. They are in the right division and will improve in the upcoming weeks and seasons. It is also commendable that they didn’t take any loopholes by grabbing higher division players and using the “friends” justification to stay in lower divisions.

 

The two best games of the night were Dat’s Big vs. Tomahawk Nightmare and Show Me Your TDs vs. Los Banditos. The winners were Tomahawk and Show Me Your TDs.

 

Dat’s Big finally had a great offensive game but their defense couldn’t bail them out and they now fall to 1-4. I never thought I would say this but they might be fighting for a playoff spot towards the end of the season given the way they are playing right now. Tomahawk’s offense just exploded in the second half and Jean-Francois Marquis outplayed Moe Khan the rest of the game. Mathieu Cauchon and Patrice Lalonde were the workhorses for Tomahawk and they now go to 3-2.

 

Show Me Your TDs won in what was the closest game of week 5; the final score was 19-18. It was a heart breaker for Los Banditos because they kept the game close despite the two INTs thrown by Alex Guertin. However in the end, it was The ADONNA Show. I’ll start with Mike Adonna who threw for 2 TDS (and no INTs) and had an INT on defense. And I’ll end with Anthony Adonna who had 61 receiving yards and a TD; he also had a pick-six on defense.

 

The only reason QB Mike Adonna didn’t do any better is because of Los Banditos’ rusher Justin Ibo did an excellent job on the Show Me Your TDs pivot and limited him to a mere 7 rushing yards. Show Me Your TDs will hopefully look at the result of this game and say to themselves that they can play with the best of them because they just beat an all around solid Division E team.

 

As for Los Banditos, I have no doubt that they’ll bounce back and have a better performance in week 6 especially since I am a huge fan and they hate to disappoint me. And with that, the week 5 wrap up report has come to an end.

 

STARS OF THE WEEK

 

Quarterback

Jean-Francois Marquis (Tomahawk Nightmare) 18 of 27 for 262 yards and 6 TDs

Mike Bagnato (BBQ Time Travellers) 16 of 24 for 185 yards and 5 TDs

 

Receivers

Mathieu Cauchon (Tomahawk Nightmare) 5 rec, 74 yards, 3 TDs

Maurice Menassa (Dat’s Big) 9 rec, 115 yards, 3 TDs

Jason Rossie (Golden Girls) 6 rec, 47 yards, 3 TD

 

Defenders

Shawn Steen (Eskimo Brothers) 6 tackles, 3 INT (2 for TD), 1 PD

Anthony Adonna (Show Me Your TDs) 3 tackles, 1 INT (1 for TD), 2 PDs

 

Power Rankings

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last published my rankings and there have been a couple of changes. I’ll start the countdown so here we go:

5. Tomahawk Nightmare – it was a tough call but given their recent play and the fact they sit at 3 wins, they deserve the fifth spot. They will need to tighten up defensively and if they can do that, they can climb up the rankings and the standings.

4. Los Banditos – After I had them at fifth a few weeks ago, they’ve stepped up their game to another level. Alex Guertin is playing like a boss, well not literally, it’s an expression. They’re coming off a heart breaking loss however there is a great lesson that can be learned from such outcomes.

3. Eskimo Brothers – They keep their spot at number three and though they show signs of excellence, they’ll need to defeat a top ranked team to be taken seriously as a contender at this point.

2. Golden Girls – it wasn’t a tough decision to rank them at second however it doesn’t mean they’re not the top contender. They still have all the tools to win the championship and perhaps a loss at this point in season is a blessing in disguise.

1. Fools Of The Country – It was fitting to rank them first overall especially since they’re the only undefeated team left in Division E. They won a close one against the Golden Girls, that’s the mark of any great team, they find ways to win under any circumstance.

 

So that’s it for Tuesday’s column, I hope it was all that you had expected and then some. Please don’t forget to check the website tomorrow when I’ll have a mid-season review of Division E and my pick for yet another great game on a Wednesday night. If you have any suggestions or criticism just contact me at [email protected], inbox me on Facebook or send me a tweet (@RehanFPF). You can also listen to the Division E Calling the Audible podcast at http://podomatic.fpf.com

 

 

This is Ron Starwars reminding you to stay classy Division E!