Reviews and Previews for Co-ed and Women’s Division

The co-ed and the women’s seasons are already winding down. Teams in co-ed 2 have just one game left to play and ATH Squad are still undefeated. However, they will be facing Yin & Yang in their final match, their toughest competition yet. The winner of that game will finish the season in first place. In co-ed 1, there are still two games left to be played and the standings are still up in the air. Midtown is in first place for now, but they are facing 3rd Down for What and Power Rangers in their final two games. If they win either of those games, Party Mix has a shot at claiming the top seed. Finally, three teams have really broken away from the rest of the pack in the women’s division. Team Texas, Fleur de Lys and District have only four losses between them. While nothing has been decided yet, Team Texas have the easiest road to finishing first. They are facing the 0-6 Rookies as well as the 2-4 Ahuntsic Girls. If they win both these games, they will finish in first place.

In the women’s division, The Rookies may not have won their first game of the season yet, but they did score their first touchdown!. On the opening drive of their game against Spartiates, Juliette Simon marched her team down the field. Despite being sacked on the first play of the drive, Simon bounced back and completed a short pass to Flavie Montpetit. Thanks to a Spartiates penalty and a nine-yard run by Simon, The Rookies got a first down. On the next play, Simon connected with Marie-Éve Larrivé for an 18 yard touchdown pass. The Rookies celebrated their first touchdown like they had just won the championship! You have to give this team credit. They signed up for the women’s division thinking it was a flag football beer league. Instead, they wound up facing some of the very best players in the country. Despite the fact that this team  wound up facing team Canada, they never gave up. Even after their quarterback dropped out, they kept on fighting. It was great to see this team score their first touchdown and now I can only hope they win their first game very soon.

Staying in the women’s division, Team Texas won a crucial match 19-12 over District. Sandrine Gobeil-Huot had no problems moving the ball for District. She passed for 200 yards, 30 more yards then her opposing number and completed 22 passes, nearly twice as many as Team Texas completed. However, what plagued District in this match was turnovers. Gobeil-Huot threw three interceptions and only one touchdown. That is ultimately what cost District the game. All the blame cannot be placed on Gobeil-Huot’s shoulders. Team Texas has an infuriatingly impenetrable defence. They have Marilou Beland marauding the shorts. She is a tackling machine, no one got past her in this game. She finished with ten tackles. After a while, opposing offences get frustrated with Beland tackling everyone short so they look deep. That is when Team Texas’ ballhawks come into play. Lauriane Beauchamp, Virginie Aubut-Ménard and Amélia Desrochers all took turns dropping deep and each finished the game with an interception.

In co-ed 2, the Rhinos gave ATH Squad quite the scare. The game finished 19-18 for ATH Squad, but the Rhinos were within a point of handing ATH squad their first loss of the season. Rhinos quarterback Yan Dominique did everything he could to move the ball. He passed for 144 yards and two scores. When he wasn’t able to advance the ball with his arm, he had no qualms about tucking the ball and running. As a matter of fact, he ran for 35 yards and a touchdown. I think the key to the Rhinos’ success was spreading the ball. They had four different receivers, all with three or more receptions. Mathias Cofsky led the charge with five receptions for 52 yards and a score. The Rhinos other score came courtesy of Simon Frappier who also finished the game with 52 receiving yards. As for ATH Squad, they will need to step up their game before they face Yin & Yang. While a mediocre showing may have been enough to beat the Rhinos, they will need to bring their A game if they are to have any chance of beating Y&Y.

 

Week 8 Game of the Week:

Co-ed 1:

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (31) vs Speed Academy (32): To be perfectly honest, I expected Speed Academy to crush Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce in this one. While Speed Academy did eventually come out with the victory, Sriracha gave them a run for their money.

Speed Academy are aptly named, they are a team with a ton of speed and athleticism. Despite the fact that they only completed 14 passes, they were still able to tally 180 yards and five scores. Most of those touchdowns came courtesy of Jimmy Marneris. He caught six passes for nearly 100 yards. Half of his receptions were for touchdowns. When you look at a team like Speed Academy, you expect them to want to throw deep every play. Often, the younger more athletic teams like to get greedy and rely too heavily on the deep ball. Speed Academy have been successful this season because they are hesitant to air it out for 40 yards. Instead, they complete short and intermediate range passes and rely on their elusive players to rack up the yards after that catch. That smart football is what led them to victory over Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and largely explains their 3-2-1 record. The other factor that led them to victory this week was their secondary. They picked off SHCS three times and Jeffery Parker was responsible for two of those picks.

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce were so close to winning their second game of the season. They started the game off with a bang. On the first play, Alexandre Jubinville caught a 40 yard touchdown pass. The rest of SHCS’s drives finished with either an interception or a touchdown. Despite throwing three interceptions, SHCS still had a chance for victory on their final drive. They were down by seven with time running out. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce quarterback JF Marquis slowly but surely marched his team down the field before completing a three yard touchdown pass to Camille Ste-Marie. SHCS were only down by one. Instead of going for 1 to tie the game, they decided to go for 2 and the win. They failed to convert and Speed Academy won this one.

 

Week 8 Team of the Week:

Each week I will choose the top performers from co-ed to create the team of the week. There will always be two girls on offence and on defence. If you are on the offensive team of the week, you cannot be on the defensive one.

Offence:

Quarterback: Sara Parker (3rd Down for What) 25 completions, 83% completion percentage, 253 passing yards, 6 TDs, 2 INTs

Receiver: Alexandre Blais (Kiss My End Zone) 7 receptions, 75 receiving yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Marilou Beland (Power Rangers) 6 receptions, 77 receiving yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Keiya Allen-Beckles (Yin & Yang) 4 receptions, 56 receiving yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Alexandre Jubinville (Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce) 7 receptions, 98 receiving yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Hugo Lacroix (Dream Crushers) 3 receptions, 88 yards, 3 TDs

Defence:

Rusher: Zeitha Biney (3 Hunnas) 2 sacks

Defensive back: Jeffery Parker (Speed Academy) 5 tackles, 2 INTs

Defensive back: Gino Di Fazio (Yin & Yang) 2 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive back: Alexia Vittia (Dream Crushers) 6 tackles

Defensive back: Angelo Mourelatos (Kiss My End Zone) 3 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive back: Guillaume Gagné Labelle (Dream Crushers) 4 tackles, 3 PDs

 

Week 9 Predictions:

Since there are no co-ed 2 games this week, here are my predictions for co-ed 1 and the women’s division.

Co-ed 1

Party Mix (4-1-1) vs Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (1-5): While Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce showed signs of improvement in their loss to Speed Academy, they are still not ready to compete with a heavyweight like Party Mix. If JF Marquis turned the ball over three times against Speed Academy, he might turn it over five times against Party Mix.

Prediction: Party Mix

3rd Down for What (4-2) vs Midtown (5-1): This is definitely going to be the best game of the week in co-ed. While Midtown lost in week 1, they have been on a tear ever since. However, I have to give the edge to 3rd Down for What in this one because they use all their offensive pieces. Midtown are built around one or two dominant players while 3DW have an all around solid group.

Prediction: 3rd Down for What

Speed Academy (3-2-1) vs 3 Hunnas (0-6): To their credit, 3 Hunnas are less disorganized then they were at the start of the season. They appear to have found their quarterback in Ralph Najem. However, they are nowhere near the level of Speed Academy. Speed Academy are more athletic and experienced players.

Prediction: Speed Academy

Michael Scott’s Tots (2-4) vs Power Rangers (4-2): Michael Scott’s Tots’ two game winning streak was put to an abrupt halt by Midtown. While MST have been struggling to find their legs, Power Rangers have been steadily improving. Newly minted hall of famer Tam Vilaydeth led his Power Rangers to a massive victory over 3DW last week.

Prediction: Power Rangers

Women’s Division

Spartiates (2-4) vs Ahuntsic Girls (2-4)

While these two teams have identical records, I have to give the advantage to Ahuntsic Girls because they have a more consistent roster. Spartiates have been changing quarterbacks and adding new players just about every game. On the other hand, have a talented group who are starting to develop great chemistry. I think that chemistry will prevail.

Prediction: Ahuntsic Girls

District (4-2) vs Fleur de Lys (5-1): District might not have the weapons to compete with the other heavyweight teams in the passing game. However, where District excels is in the running game. Jasmine Bethelmy is electric with the ball in her hands. If they can hand the ball off to her enough, I think they might be able to win this one. That being said, I do not think this District team will run the ball enough to be successful, so I have to give the edge to Fleur.

Prediction: Fleur de Lys

The Rookies (0-6) vs Team Texas (5-1): While The Rookies may have scored their first touchdown of the season, I do not think they’re ready to compete with the best team in the division quite yet.

Prediction: Team Texas

 

The playoffs are right around the corner and since everyone in the co-ed and the women’s division makes the playoffs; it is never too late to make a playoff push. If your team can dominate in these final two weeks, who knows what might happen in the playoffs.

Best of luck to all the teams down the stretch and as always, I hope you enjoyed the article. If you have any concerns or comments, feel free to reach out to me by email at [email protected]