La Secte Finally Win!

You know it is a crazy week in Coed and the Women’s division when Party Mix beat Power Rangers for the first time in years and that is not the biggest headline of the week.

In case you somehow missed the news, La Secte have won their first game in years, defeating the mighty Y&Y 32-20. This is La Secte’s first win since they defeated the Tigers on February 16^th, 2020. With over two years between wins, this one must have felt damn good for La Secte. With so much to get into this week, let’s jump right into the weekly recaps and I have a feeling you know which game I will talk about first.

Week 5 Games of the Week

La Secte (32) vs Y & Y (20) – Coed 2

This game goes to show you that sometimes the good guys and girls do win. Despite Y&Y fielding one of their strongest rosters ever and maxing out the cap to the point of needing to be adjusted to fit into the division, La Secte still came out on top. While Gino Di Fazio’s Y&Y used every single one of their available cap points, coming in with a rating of exactly 400 on offence and defence, La Secte fielded essentially the same roster that they have been playing with for the past two years. Their offensive rating came in at 356.3 and their defensive one at 370.4.

This win all started with Raphael Beauchamp-Desbois playing the best game of his FPF career. Simply put, he was perfect. He completed over 86% of his passes and did not throw a single interception. He finished the game with 171 passing yards and five scores.

“We added a few plays to our playbook, but in general we did not change very much,” said Alyson Francillon when I talked to him after his team’s win. Clearly, this team has been clicking better and better as the season has progressed. While their playbook stayed largely the same, one thing Beauchamp-Desbois did incorporate more of was the input of his receivers into the passing game.

“He was really exceptional,” said Francillon. Of course, it is much easier to be exceptional when you have a snapper like Francillon. For a team led by defensive guru like Di Fazio, it is baffling that they could not find a solution to stopping Francillon. He went off in this one accounting for nearly 75% of his teams’ passing yards and 80% of their touchdowns. While Francillon is a great player, there is no way an opposing defence should let him run wild like he did. This definitely speaks to a lack of adaptability on the part of Y&Y and that blame has to fall on the shoulders of their defensive play caller, Di Fazio himself.

“Olivier Janninni had a superb, contested catch for a touchdown,” commented Francillon. More than being superb, that catch was also clutch. After Y&Y turned the ball over on downs with just a few plays left in the half La Secte regained possession and Janninni’s TD grab capped off that drive and gave La Secte a commanding 19-6 lead heading into the half.

Equally surprising as La Secte scoring 32 points against one of the best defences in the league was their own defence only conceding 20 points and three scores. “We just communicated better and did not miss our tackles,” explained Francillon. According to him, La Secte’s #1 issue defensively this season had been missed tackles, but they cleaned that up in this game. Y&& averaged just over 6 yards per completion which speaks to the quality of La Secte’s tackling in this game. Leading that tackling effort was the duo of Valérie Frappier and Laurie Ethier. The duo were a menace in the flats and combined for nine tackles and a defended pass. When you can count on your defenders in the shorts to make those key tackles, it makes your whole defence better. Most impressively, they were able to hold the extremely shifty Justin Weir to just three catches for 19 yards. When Weir finishes with just 19 receiving yards in a game, you know it is because the other team was able to limit yards after the catch.

While the fact that Y&Y averaged just 6 yards per catch is a testament to La Secte’s defence, it also exposes a weakness in Robert White’s passing game: he does not throw deep. White completed just one pass of more than 10 yards in this one and it was a 23-yard strike to Matthew Peacock. When you look at the way that this Y&Y team is built, you have to feel like they have a bunch of deep threat receivers coupled with a quarterback who loves the short game. Weir and Peacock are two of the best deep threats in this division and they should be racking in the long bombs. Other than underutilizing his receivers, White’s love for the short passing game also makes this team easier to defend. Instead of dropping two receivers deep, opposing defences can probably get away with dropping a single safety deep and clogging up the underneath with four defenders.

Going forward, Y&Y have all the talent necessary to be championship contenders. They have a blend of experience and skill that would make any other team in Coed 2 envious. To my surprise, what they are lacking is adaptability. They need to find a way to make all the different parts of this team work together and compliment each other. Once they figure that out, and I am sure they will, look for this team to cause serious damage coming down the stretch.

“Everyone played really well,” said Francillon. Despite his heroics, the key for La Secte in this game was getting contributions from everyone. One area I would still like to see them improve is reducing their offensive reliance on Francillon. If an opposing team takes him out of the game, how will they be able to adapt offensively? All in all, things are definitely looking up for La Secte. Now that they have gotten their first win out of the way, they can start aiming their sights a little higher. With five games left in the season, I can easily see La Secte winning two more games.

Power Rangers (27) vs Party Mix (32)

Not only the fact that Party Mix won surprised me, but also, the way in which they won came as a surprise. I had talked with Party Mix quarterback Francois Deslauriers earlier this year about what it would take to beat Power Rangers and very simply he said it took perfection. The second that you make a mistake against Power Rangers, the game is normally over, so when Deslauriers threw an interception on his second play of the game, he must have thought the game was over before it had even really started. It was not.

Both of these teams wound up making tons of mistakes. Neither Power Rangers’ Tam Vilaydeth or Party Mix’s Deslauriers looked like they were playing their best football. Deslauriers’ very first pass of the game looked like it should have been picked and his second was. Throughout the game he looked hesitant. This is normally a quarterback who is extremely decisive in the pocket and gets the ball out of his hands quickly. That was not the case in this game. As for Vilaydeth, his receivers were definitely not helping him out. He threw a perfectly placed ball towards Constance Millaire. Instead of hauling in the catch as she normally does, Millaire fumbled the ball and placed it right in the hands of PM’s Olivier Laberge for what was probably the easiest interception of his career. Apart from that interception, the only other connection that was functioning smoothly on this Power Rangers offence was the one between Vilaydeth and Serge Pilon. The latter accounted for half of the team’s receiving yards and touchdowns. Both of these teams know that this game was an offensive anomaly, and I am sure that they will quickly find a solution.

Perhaps what stood out most for me when watching the footage of this game was just how involved the women on these teams were on both sides of the ball and how good they are. Defensively, they have absolutely no issues dropping female players deep to cover the likes of Serge Pilon who is one of the very best players in all of FPF. Offensively, women accounted for half of the receptions for both teams and the receptions were more than 5-yard hooks and slants. Both of these teams consistently take deep shots to their female players and trust them to get open no matter what route they are running. If you are a Coed 1 team looking at the GOTW footage of this game and wondering what makes these teams so much better than everyone else, it is the quality of their female players.

While both offences might have struggled, this was a great day for the defences of each of these teams. For Party Mix, Alexis Gaumont proved just how much of a difference maker he can be. He provided a spark and aggressivity to this defence that I have not seen in a few seasons. His effort and instincts were rewarded with a crucial interception in the second half. Unsurprisingly for Power Rangers, it was Wad Shallcross who was the biggest difference maker. For a player who does not look athletically very imposing, he consistently finds a way to cause headaches on defence. These two teams are clearly in a league of their own and if you expect to see anyone else playing in the Coed 1 final, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. That being said, this game served as a good reminder that even the best makes mistakes.

Week 5 Team of the Week

Every week, I will name 12 players to the team of the week. If you make the offensive team of the week, you cannot be on the defensive one and vice versa. I will name one team of the week for both Coed divisions combined and a separate team of the week for the Women’s division. You can make the team of the week in both divisions. For the Coed team of the week, there will always be a minimum of two women on the offensive and defensive team.

Coed

Offence

Quarterback: Jean-Felix Marquis (Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce) 19 completions, 237 passing yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs

Receiver: Alyson Francillon (La Secte) 13 receptions, 124 yards, 4 TDs

Receiver: Roxanne Granger (Fitsquad) 4 receptions, 113 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Edouard Gagnon (Team Commandos) 6 receptions, 100 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Alexandre Jubinville (Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce) 5 receptions, 99 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Alexie Galerneau (Fitsquad) 3 receptions, 34 yards, 1 TD

Defence

Rusher: Jessica Bositampen (Bishop Sycamore) 3 sacks, 1 tackle, 2 PDs

Defensive Back: James Drysdale (Kiss My End Zone)  2 INTs

Defensive Back: Guillaume Godard (Fitsquad) 2 INTs, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Janie Séguin (Power Rangers) 2 tackles, 1 INT   

Defensive Back: Tommy Roadley Trohatos (Bishop Sycamore) 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Alexia Vitti (Average and Savage) 4 tackles, 1 INT

Women’s

Offence

Quarterback: Emmanuelle Bronsard (Bleu Poud): 22 completions, 264 passing yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs

Receiver: Beatrice Bouchard (Bleu Poud) 6 receptions, 99 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Laurie Turcotte (Bleu Poud) 9 receptions, 104 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Laurie St-Pierre (Concordia) 5 receptions, 111 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Alexandra Falcon-Korb (The Rock) 7 receptions, 99 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Emilie Pfeiffer-Badoux (Les Bleus) 7 receptions, 97 yards, 2 TDs

Defence

Rusher: Melania Gagnon (Les Bleus) 1 tackle, 4 sacks

Defensive Back: Noemie Olmand (Les Bleus) 4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Jasmine Farmer (Concordia) 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Naomie Charbonneau (Red Nation) 5 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Lamees Aljoundi (Red Nation) 2 tackles, 1 INT, 3 PDs

Defensive Back: Amelia Desrochers (Les Bleus) 2 tackles, 3 INTs, 1 TD

Week 6 Predictions

Bleu Poud (6-0) vs Les Bleus (5-0) – Women’s

This is the game that we have all been waiting for in the Women’s division. These two undefeated teams have been on a collision course since the very first week. The winner of this game will likely finish the season with the #1 seed. The most impressive fact about Les Bleus and their quarterback Sandrine Gobeil-Huot is the fact that they haven’t thrown a single interception all year. In a division where a turnover on downs gives the ball to the other team at their own 5 yard line and not the point of last scrimmage, not throwing any interceptions means that Les Bleus have not turned over the ball once all season.

On the other hand, Bleu Poud’s Emmanuelle Bronsard has been getting better and better as the season has been evolving. In her past two outings, she has been simply perfect. She put on a clinic last week against Concordia and proved that even against uber athletic teams, she can still excel.

Ultimately, I think both of these teams will realize very quickly that playing zone defence is futile. Both of these quarterbacks have been shredding zones all season long. That means this game will come down to 1on1 matchups and who can win in man coverage. I have to give a slight edge to Bleu Poud’s supporting cast.

Prediction: Bleu Poud

Brutes (3-1) vs Concordia (2-4) – Women’s

I have been waiting all year for Concordia’s Sara Parker to have a signature game and last week, she finally had it. Versus The Rock she passed for 305 yards and 5 TDs and did not throw a single interception in the process. I do not care who Concordia is playing against. If Parker is in the form she was in last week, they will win. Simply put, when Parker is on her game she is the best quarterback in this division.

If Concordia wants to win, Parker will need to be playing her best football because Les Brutes’ defence is amongst the best in the division. They have already recorded 13 interceptions this season and Annabelle Chevrier is leading the charge amongst that group with four. Ultimately the question in this one is very simple: will Sara Parker play like last week or will she revert to her bad habits from the start of the season. If my experience writing for Coed and the Women’s division has taught me anything, it’s to not bet against Parker.

Prediction: Concordia

Average and Savage (0-4-1) vs Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (1-3) – Coed 1

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce’s Jean-Felix Marquis did not get the start of the season he hoped for. He had thrown as many interceptions in his first three games as he had all season. All that changed last week when he faced off against Average and Savage. He had a perfect game, throwing for 237 yards and 6 TDs, earning quarterback of the week honors in the process. Clearly, A&S’s very average defence was exactly what the doctor had ordered for Marquis. I fully expect him to have another dominant performance in this one. A&S were not able to do very much to slow him down this week and I don’t see anything changing this week.

Prediction: Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce

Sorry for the late article everyone, this came out a day later than I would have liked. For all those of you who are seeing every other division come out with a half reason recap article and wondering why there is not one for Coed and the Women’s division, I will refer you to last week’s article. I did a complete power ranking last week and I hope to do another one in week 8. These two power rankings are replacing the mid-season recap.

You can always reach me at [email protected] with any questions or concerns.