One more time.

Spring season is almost at its peak! We’ve got 9 weeks down, 1 more to go before the real season begins.

With everyone locked in already and no more spots up for grabs, it’s essentially the last week of practice before things get serious.

Let’s get started.

Week 9

With Spring Cleaning and Le Sports Campus’ win in Week 9, the playoffs for Both Div A and Div B are locked in. Spitfire, Freshmen, Prospects Squad and LGM are officially eliminated from playoff contention.

Thoughts of the Week

Monstars are looking more and more like the favorites.
Braves vs Monstars final?
How would Spring Cleaning have fared with Craig O’Brien QB the whole way? And Pat Chenard playing WR obviously.
Khan Artists vs Monstars this week is poised to be THE game to watch
Can Sam Mashtoub have a HUGE week 10 game and lock that 2-way player of the year award away from Justin McLean?
Predictions for #1 Seeds: Dad Bods and Braves.
Even if Dad Bods lose, as long as Meta Mayhem wins, they’ll be in a 3-way tie for first and their PA will allow them to finish 1st overall.
I’m not sure who’s the scarier team to face: Meta Mayhem or Khan Artists.
Crazy how missing one guy can really change a team’s dynamic and production.
If you haven’t tuned in yet for the Division A/B podcast, this week’s show was worth it. At least, just for Moe Khan’s hot take on Le Sport Campus anyways.
With only one week left before the playoffs, I can’t wait to see the playoffs matchups and how everything is bound to turn out.

Players of the Week

Rod Mashtoub: With a 148.1 QBR and 6 passing TD on Sunday night, Rod Mashtoub looked real good against Kevin Wyeth out there.
Jarryd Taylor: He continues to be a beast on both sides of the ball as he finished with the sole INT of the game, 3 offensive TDs and 95 yards on the night.
Jean-Christophe Morin-Phaneuf: Led the team in yardage with 82, scored 2 touchdowns and got himself two interceptions on defence. It was a good night for him.

Joey Taylor: Perfect QBR with 8 combined TDs. Joey Taylor looked as good as it gets on Sunday night.
Dynell Pierre: With 99 receiving yards and all 3 TDs, there’s no doubt he’s an absolute baller for this division.
Sean Avraam: His stats were good (179 combined yards and 6 TDS), but he somehow played better than what they show here.

Recaps

Monstars vs Outsiders: I’ll leave the bench/side line talk off this article, but Outsiders’ looked way too calm for how things were panning out during this game. I love to see their more laid-back look compared to recent season’s MTL Finest, but Outsiders are slowly drifting away from the top spot and this Sunday’s game vs Monstars was just another proof that they aren’t quite the top dog we’ve envisioned them to be. Monstars kept up with Outsiders most of the game going score for score with them, but with a 4th down redzone stop, they managed to give themselves the opportunity to put the game away and did exactly that as Rod Mashtoub marched the field calmly and scored his 6th TD to go up by 2 scores. On a night that looked a lot like a potential playoff matchup, Monstars can feel real confident in their ability to slay Kevin Wyeth in the playoffs moving forward.
2HD vs LGM: Without their starting QB, LGM were stuck calling yours truly to sub in and it didn’t quite go as planned. With the pressure to keep up score for score with 2HD, LGM’S offence couldn’t keep up the pace and 2HD took a dominant lead right after halftime. Joey Taylor was near perfect on night and made that LGM’s defence look MIA for the full 44 minutes. Distributing balls to pretty much everyone, 2HD feasted most of the night and look like the sort of team everyone would hate to face in the playoffs. Could they turn into a darkhorse team now that they are left out of the top 3 seeds?
Underachievers vs Spring Cleaning: With Dylan Taylor stuck in traffic and unable to be there for the start the game, Underachievers had Theo Bekelis throw for them, but it wasn’t exactly the same thing. With Dylan showing up late and not warming up, it’s crazy to think he managed to go 10/11. Spring Cleaning had Craig O’Brien throw for them on the night and Pat Chenard play the WR position and the team looked like a real Div B contender with that setup. Spring Cleaning played well and were lucky enough (all things considered) to come out on top and win this football game to secure their playoff spot. Are they just pushing back the imminent problem? We’ve all seen crazier things happen in the playoffs, but I wouldn’t count Underachievers quite ‘out’ in a potential rematch in two weeks time.
Victory Royale vs Dad Bods: Starting off the game on the wrong foot, Victory Royale suffered from a handful of drops early that killed their drives and Dad Bods were opportunistic. In fact, the first score for VR came off a pick-one from Marco Masciotra and next thing we knew, it was 18-1 for Dad Bods. Although Victory Royale were able to rally in the 2nd half and really kick things into 2nd gear to try to make a game out of it, Sean Avraam kept his cool and continued to deliver TDs out there as Dad Bods maintained their lead and didn’t allow VR’s momemtum switch to phase them. If it wasn’t for the early drops, we were poised to have an absolute barn burner on our hands, but VR killed themselves early by digging a 18-1 hole pretty much no one can climb out of.

Power Rankings

Braves (7-2): Back at the top. One more win to finish #1 overall and have the playoffs run through them.
Khan Artists (6-2-1): Even without their QB1, they’re a serious contender. And that’s scary.
Monstars (6-3): Slowly climbing back up the ranks; Monstars are poised for a nice playoff push.
#NR (5-4): Locked in and getting one more week of practice before the big dance. How much damage can #NR do in their first ever DivA playoff run?
Outsiders (5-4): Could Kevin Wyeth finish .500 for the first time in a VERY long time? Hmm.
Ocean’s 12 (4-4-1): Moe Khan said it best on the podcast this week; this is the perfect roster for Ryan Kastner to get it done. Now get it done.
Spitfire (2-7): They kept it REAL close against Braves this week which shows they’ve got just enough fuel left in the tank for a potential week 10 upset!
Freshmen (0-9): This new QB tandem is somewhat interesting. One can only sit back and wonder what will be of Freshmen next season.

Dad Bods (8-1): It pains me to put them #1 this week, but they’ve deserved it time and time again.
Meta Mayhem (7-2): Still the most complete team in Div B; Meta Mayhem is the scariest team to face in the upcoming weeks.
Underachievers (7-2): A bad loss seems them drop a handful of spots, but their big showdown with Dad Bods this week could really give them the momemtum they need for a deep playoff run.
Victory Royale! (6-3): Phil Cutler wasn’t the problem this week and if he keeps playing the way he has, VR may live up to their current ranking!
2HD (5-4): With their full roster, 2HD can be a true darkhorse team in Division B. Will they have all their guys for the playoffs, though?
Drop The Mic (3-6): Back to back losses isn’t exactly how you want to set yourself up for a week 10 game. Can they win their last one and enter the playoffs on the right note?
Spring Cleaning (3-6): With Craig O’Brien, they’ve been a pretty good team. Can Pat Chenard find his rhythm again in his final week of practice?
Le Sport Campus (3-6): They’ve won the must-win last week, but they aren’t out of the woods just yet as everything is about to get more and more difficult as we progress towards August.
LGM (2-7): Not having their starting QB this week hurt them. With the recent loss and the others’ teams win, LGM is now officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Prospects Squad (1-8): The dream scenario did not come to fruition. This won’t stop them from trying to finish their season on a high note.

Predictions

Spitfire vs Outsiders: Outsiders

Freshmen vs #NR: #NR

Khan Artists vs Monstars: Monstars

Ocean’s 12 vs Braves: Braves

Spring Cleaning vs Prospects Squad: Prospect Squad

2HD vs Victory Royale!: Victory Royale!

Le Sports Campus vs Drop The Mic: Drop The Mic

LGM vs Meta Mayhem: Meta Mayhem

Dad Bods vs Underachievers: Underachievers

That’s it for me this week. I know it might not have been the longest of articles, but, to be fair, you guys haven’t even started playing yet! I’m looking forward to Sunday and the season’s kickoff. I’ll be scorekeeping Tuesdays in Brossard, feel free to stop by and say hi! Until next time…! Eagle, still no list? Really.

Week 9: One more rep before the show starts