Mid-Season Award Selections and more

Week 5 is officially in the books. It marked the halfway point of the season not just Div. 6, but for all of FPF football. In the first article this season I wrote that change is in the air. That idea still holds water as we hit the season’s midpoint. Teams have become more comfortable with each other and their play calling, chemistry has been built, teams are in rhythm (for the most part), and most important of all, the contenders and pretenders have started to separate themselves.

Some great football has been played so far this season. In light of that, I am going to change up the article this week (I told you change was in the air). Instead of the Top 11, High Five, and Step It Up sections, I am going to list my candidates, and picks for player of the year so far this season at quarterback, receiver, defensive/two-way, and rusher. In other words, it is time for my first annual Mid-Season Awards. (I can hear roaring in approval as I type)

I will also have a couple other categories, namely, Most Disappointing Team, and Best Winless Team. Not to worry, I’ll still have my picks for this week’s games at the end.

Before I get into the awards, let me mention a few things that caught my eye in the week that was.

After getting spanked by L.A’s Finest in Week 4, Obamacare let D6 know that they are still a contender by knocking off a good Woofpack team 40-19. A second half surge that saw them put up 27 points, was just too much for Terry Tam’s team to handle.

Obamacare pivot Jordan McInnis once again kept plays alive with his feet, and gave his receivers time to get open. One of those receivers was Mike Ambro who was making plays all over the field for his team. The speedy rookie WR had a huge night catching 3 TD passes, none were better than the fade route he ran to the left corner at the beginning of the 2nd half. Ambro also threw a successful extra point conversion too.

There were only two negatives that stood out from Obamacare’s performance Wednesday night. The first was McInnis’ decision making. While as I mentioned above, he is able to keep plays alive with his legs. Sometimes that works against him, and it did this game, as both sacks registered by the Woofpack’s Yacoub Telemaque came on plays where McInnis rolled back at least 15 to 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage and then kept on going backwards because the rush was in his face. The result was instead of having a manageable 3rd down play, Obamacare faced 3rd and forever. Keeping plays alive is a good thing, but throwing the ball away can be as well.

The other negative was the team’s decision to go for it on 4th and 15 late in the game despite the fact that they were up by two touchdowns. Yes they converted on the play, but that’s not the point. Although I’m not accusing them of rubbing it in their opponent’s face, teams have a long memory. If these two teams see each other down the road, maybe things won’t be so friendly.  

After knocking off Team Fourth and Twenty and Balls Deep in consecutive weeks, the Tigerz came back down to earth curtesy of a 30-8 thumping by Beast Mode.

This game was close at halftime with Beast Mode clinging to a 12-8 lead, but the 2ND half was totally different as B.M exploded for 18 points.

Despite the 8 points, the Tigerz couldn’t do anything offensively. Rahul Mohan finished with 6 completions for 9 yards, and Jelani Gittens threw two passes which were caught by Jimmy Bourque…Unfortunately for the Tigerz, Bourque plays for Beast Mode.

We’ll find out quickly what the Tigerz are made of tonight as they face The Sun Bros at 9pm in Brossard.

The Minge finally got their first win of the season. Although they definitely haven’t lived up to expectations this season, (more on that later) they were finally able to stop the bleeding and end their season-long slide with a 21-19 win over TMNB.

The Minge finally got some good quarterback play in the victory, as Noah Zucker completed 21 of 34 passes for 147 yards and 2 TDs. Could Zucker be the answer his team has been looking for all year? We’ll know more after a tough contest with a red hot Jean Guy team this Tuesday night at Stade Hebert.

Will the real Pocketwatch please stand up! After getting embarrassed in 2 out of their last 3 games (L.A’s Finest and Woofpack) and then losing a tight one last week to the Mountain Goats, it appeared like The Pocketwatch were headed for a 4th straight loss as they took on the heavily favoured Mean Machine.

At first glance, it’s easy to say that the reason The Pocketwatch won was because The Mean Machine were without QB extraordinaire Daniel Goloff. Yes his absence played a huge factor, but holding a team to only 1 TD in FPF is impressive, no matter who is playing at quarterback.

Both defenses played great, but hats off to The Pocketwatch on getting a much needed win.

The highly anticipated match between the N.W.O and L.A’s Finest turned out to be a dud as L.A.F laid the hammer down with a 32-6 win.

Standing on the sidelines I came away very impressed with L.A.F’s team speed and their intelligence on defense.

As anyone who has watched the N.W.O this season will tell you, their offense is based on running, misdirection, and the deep ball. L.A’s Finest completely shut all of that down Wednesday night. They forced QB Michael Sanchez to settle for shallow crossing routes all game long.

For the first time this season, the N.W.O couldn’t generate anything on the ground. Even more shocking was that they were held off the scoreboard for the entire first half.

L..A’s Finest’s speed was one reason for the dominant performance, but the other was the great play of rush Ricky Corbein and defensive back Theo Bekelis.

Corbein harassed Sanchez all night long. Although he finished the game with an impressive 4 sacks, he could have easily had 6 as he pulled the N.W.O’s pivot’s flag just as the ball was coming out of his hand. Tie goes to the runner.

While Corbein was chasing down Sanchez, Bekelis was waiting patiently to jump short routes in his zone. On two occasions he was able to pick passes off and run them the house.

It appeared that both players were working together. It was fun to watch.

On the offensive side of the ball, L.A.F’s receivers simply blew by their defenders. Whether it was the aforementioned Corbein or Andrew Grant (he still needs to get the ball more), the N.W.O just couldn’t keep up.

To make matters worse for the N.W.O, quarterback Michael Sanchez works with L.A.F’s Billy Makris. Heading into the game, Makris emailed me predicting an L.A.F victory. In fact, he told Sanchez and I that his defense would be even better than the week before when they beat Oabamacare 38-6. It looks like he was right.

*(In case you’re wondering) Two pick 6s are more valuable than getting 4 interceptions. The interception returns for touchdowns gives you guaranteed points. The 4 turnovers vs Obamacare, just gives you the ball. You still have to go out and score, which no matter how good you are, is never a sure thing.

As promised, here are my mid-season award winners…

Quarterback of the year

1. Daniel Goloff
2. Ross Oshansky
3. Jordan Bellemare
4. Terry Tam
5. Christophe Chartrand

Winner: Daniel Goloff. This one was close. It came down to Goloff and Flagrant Fouls QB Ross Oshansky.

While Oshansky has more TD passes than anybody (24) Goloff did miss his team’s last game against The Pocketwatch,, Based on how the season has gone so far, you would have to think that The Mean Machine signal caller would have either tied or passed Oshansky touchdown total if he had suited up last game.

Receiver of the Year

1. Danny D’Armour
2. Andrew Grant
3. Marty Freedman
4. Jonathan Grizzley
5. Yacoub Telemaque

Winner: Danny D’Armour. The Wax On Wax Off receiver has 383 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also leads D6 in both categories. While the four other names in this category have all been playing lights out so far this season, none of them are averaging D’Armour’s 22.5 YPC either.

Defensive/Two-Way Player of the Year

1. Jad Aridi
2. Danny D’Armour
3. Theo Bekelis
4. Mike Ambro
5. Jordan Allard

Winner: Danny D’Armour. There’s a reason why I call him dangerous. I already talked about his offensive output, but once you add in the fact that he also has 7 interceptions, with a pick 6, the case is closed. Honorable mention to Balls Deep’s Jordan Allard.

Rusher of the Year

1. Simon Laporte
2. Andrea Riccio
3. Matthew Barsetti
4. Justin Santillo
5. Jordan Itzkovitz

Winner: Simon Laporte. Besides the point that 14 sacks is 14 sacks, Laporte has notched at least two quarterback takedowns in 4 of 5 games so far this season.

Most Dissapointing Team

1. The Minge
2. The Pocketwatch
3. Smokin’ Axolotls

Winner: The Minge. The two other teams definitely deserve to be on this list, but I am going with The Minge for two reasons. First, they have a veteran FPF quarterback in Matthew Young. Experience at the pivot position is such a key thing, especially in D6 where a lot of teams are going with either rookie or inexperienced options.

The second reason is because this is predominantly the same team that made the championship game in D6 last season. While making a return trip to the finals is never a guarantee especially with the addition of new teams in this Division, you would have to assume (at least I did) that going into the season, this team would at least be among the contenders.

Best Winless Team

1. TMNB
2. Goon Squad
3. Orange Crush

Winner: Goon Squad. They’ve come closer than the other two teams to getting a check in the win column. If their regular quarterback Massimo Cicchini had played in their Week 4 27-13 loss to the Diablos, maybe Goon Squad wouldn’t even be on this list.

 

Picks

The Mean Machine vs Diablos – The Mean Machine (Provided they have Goloff)

Smokin’ Axolotls vs Pardon My Swag – Pardon My Swag

The Sun Bros vs Tigerz – The Sun Bros

Beast Mode vs Orange Crush – Beast Mode

Goon Squad vs Balls Deep – Balls Deep

The Pocketwatch vs Flagrant Fouls – Flagrant Fouls

N.W.O vs Woofpack – N.W.O (First off, this is my pick for Game of the Week. Secondly, am I the only one getting some WCW nostalgia right now?)

TMNB VS L.A’s Finest – L.A’s Finest

Mountain Goats vs Obamacare – Obamacare

The Minge vs Jean Guy – Jean Guy

Wax On Wax Off vs Team Fourth and Twenty – Wax On Wax Off

Last Week: 8 for 11

Season: 32 for 12

 

That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed the Mid-Season Awards article. Next week will be back to normal.

Don’t forget to listen to the Super Flag Bros Division 6 podcast on Thursday nights at 6:45 at www.theunclemikeshow.com The show is hosted by Peeze Della Reeze and David Della Rocca. Feel free to tweet either one or both of them at @ PeezeFPF and @DavesRepublic respectively.

I’ve been checking my e-mail and twitter regularly for feedback and suggestions from you guys, so keep it coming. If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt I left something out, don’t be shy. You can shoot me a tweet at @BADNEWS51, or do it the semi old fashioned way and e-mail me at [email protected]