After years away from playing at Park Arthur Therrien, we finally made it back to where the league started to grow exponentially. We have been playing at Le Ber for years now and the last few seasons we have been looking for a second location and now we have one. With 50 teams in the league a second field was needed. Moving forward we will be playing games at both each week, so captains look at the schedule and make sure that you let your team know where you are playing.
What will be the hardest thing for players this weekend will be for guys who play on multiple teams having to travel between locations, but it’s only a few minutes drive and you shouldn’t have any issues. Plus, maybe if you are heading from Le Ber to Arthur Therrien and want Wille to give you a shout out on the podcast, stop by Centre Pizza and grab him a slice, you might get a new fan as well as a new Bestie.
The best part about the new field was all that grass. Like any field that isn’t synthetic, the upkeep is tough on it and might not be leveled everywhere, but it beats playing in the dirt.
This weekend was great weather and it only rained for a little while, wasn’t too hot, and we had a nice breeze all day. I hope for the same this upcoming weekend.
One thing that I want to mention is that on June 23, the Als have their home opener and the league has been offered tickets at a cheaper price. If you want to go, message Jon and he will have more info for you. The league does something like this once or twice a year and its always fun. We get together before the game, have a few drinks, eat some food, go watch the game, and once Jon is drunk it’s time to make some deals. Anyone who has been before knows what I’m talking about.
Week 4 Recap
Division 1
Outlaws vs A-Team (24-41)
I won’t talk much about this one. I do have to say that I was stupid and changed my pick Friday night and went against A-Team. This is the first time that I have ever seen A-Team cheering on their teammates when something went wrong, but after all those fights and yelling matches with refs, other teams, and themselves, they finally played a complete game and showed what they can really do when they play without distractions. Let’s hope this is a turning point for them. I’m sure Will let Terry know all about this on the Podcast.
Trollers vs Bitter Boys (54-18)
What do I say about a game that was over very early in the game? All off season there was talk of moving Bitter Boys down to D2. Bitter Boys were missing their rusher along with probably their best player and Trollers took advantage and beat up on a weaker team. I’m willing to bet that after the game, the Trollers were very proud of the way they played. After the way Max played last week this was a good sign for them that he looks to be back and playing well. All game whenever a play needed to be made, Max looked towards Phil who got it done having an outstanding game, scoring 3 times. I’m not saying that Bitter Boys would have won, but I will say that if Guillaume and Felix are there on defense this is a different game, but at the end of the day you can only play the team that shows up not the players who don’t.
Division 2
Tannantes vs Iron Wolves (31-30)
I just want to mention that this game was fun to watch. I now wonder if ending the first half with 2 plays left was the right call for Iron Wolves. Yes, they were up and maybe felt that they had this game, but you weren’t inside your own redzone, and you had space, so you didn’t have to worry about a safety. Second half was more back and forth, but once we reached 3 minutes left is when it got exciting. Tannantes made the only convert of the day. Jon used all but 20 seconds of the clock before scoring. You had to figure that Iron Wolves would be playing soft coverage trying to take the deep ball away, and that’s what they did. Vincent hit Simon short, and he made a bunch of yards then Vincent had two more short completions before hitting Simon for the game winning score with zeros on the clock.
Marvels vs Redzone (32-24)
The first half of this game was dominated by Marvels. Redzone started out fast scoring on their first possession with a big play, but they cooled off right after that. The big thing that stood out to me was the poor clock management from Redzone as the first half was winding down. With three and a half minutes and all 3 time outs, you should get more than 7 plays off. I know that time warnings were given, but like all refs when something doesn’t go the way a player wants it to, we get yelled at and by we I mean the refs. Second half, Redzone started to make a game of it but it was too late. Max and Marvels made the score look better than what it was when Max wanted to end the game by getting a first down on their own 5 yard line and failed. Mike took one play to punch it in, but at that point Marvels knew it was over and just didn’t want to get hurt. Redzone started out slow after their opening drive and they had a too many drops that were easy catches. When theses teams play again, I think Redzone comes out on top.
Division 3
Chiefs vs Jagerbomb (27-34)
I was there for this game and it was early in the day, but after seeing so many games over the weekend I can’t remember much about this one. I can tell you it was closer than I expected it to be. I do remember Simon connecting with Loic on a big play only for Loic to get tackled with 2 yards left to go. After all that Simon got Loic in on the very next play. What ended up making this game close was that Chiefs scored to end the half and then scored to take the lead when they started with the ball in the second half. With just under 6 minutes left Jagerbomb went up by 7 and I expected their defense to make a play to end the game and they did, but not when I thought. After chewing clock and marching down the field Chiefs had multiple chances inside the redzone to win the game. After an incomplete pass, Avery hit James for 2 yards and on the next 2 plays Jagerbombs defense stepped up and knocked away Avery’s passes and ended the game.
RawSauce vs Iron Wolves (7-31)
Let me start by stating that RawSauce were only 6 players and were without their QB, so I don’t really see this as be a meaningful game to judge a team on. Ludovic is up north for work taking care of people in need. This was a typical Jon game, run the same few plays take a shot here or there, but nothing too fancy just enough to keep the defense guessing. I would say that the Iron Wolves defense played great getting 1 sack, 2 picks, and 1 of those going back for 6 points, but they were playing against a back up QB so that doesn’t count. The biggest question I have about this game was Gabriel from Iron Wolves showed up late and my bet would be he went to the wrong field. Which makes me wonder, did Jon the commissioner of the league not tell his team about the field chance or did Gabriel forget (ed’s note: it had nothing to do with the fields!). This is something that needs to be looked into by the higher ups. Jon was missing a few players this week, but it gave him an opportunity to work on timing with some of his other players and the one player that seemed to benefit from all this extra time was Chanwoo, who would end the day with 6 catches for 91 yards, a td, and a convert. Chanwoo also jumped a few routes on defense, but wasn’t able to come up with the ball.
Division 4
Sooners 45 vs Bouchers (8-20)
Sooners 45 started out by scoring on their opening drive and then the wheels feel off the wagon and they couldn’t move the ball. I thought that Sooners were going to be a good solid team, but after a performance like this I don’t know where to put them. After the game I spoke to a few people, and they had mentioned that on key downs Diego would throw an incomplete pass or try and run on short yardage and he just couldn’t maintain his footing and would slip. On the other side of things, Bouchers and their enormous roster couldn’t play worse than last week and wanted to prove that it was a fluke. Lukas did the smart thing this week and used his checkdowns and didn’t force the ball deep. He also did a better job of getting everyone involved on offense. On the defense they did a good job containing Diego and not allowing him to run and they also batted a few balls away. To me Sooners 45 is all about getting big plays. As for Bouchers, they are more of the conventional team that will suffer because of the size of their roster. I thought Sooners 45 were going to be a better team, but after this one I have no clue where to put them or how I feel about them.
Flamboyant Flamingos vs Airborne (13-18)
I can tell you that Airborne is officially on a winning streak, but how long can it last? They really like those tight games this is their second game in a row where it went down to the last play of the game. Last week they went to OT and this week they won on the last play of the game. I wouldn’t say that it was a pretty game from either team, but it was a close game with excitement in it. Gabriel got an interception with under 2 minutes left and having the lead all Flamingos needed to do was get a first down and the game would have been over. Airborne stepped up on defense and was smart using their timeouts to make sure they had time on the clock to try and score. Guillaume was able to get a 10-yard completion before hitting Max for a big 34 yard gain and putting them on the 1 yard line where Guillaume hits his son on a drag route for the third time on the day and wins the game. And just like that Airborne is 3-1 with the best record they have ever had to start a season? Will it continue? Probably not.
Division 5
Cyclones vs Bucks (49-0)
This game was over 5 minutes into the game. Cyclones had way more size than Bucks and all Yann had to do was keep throwing it deep and allow his taller receivers to just catch the ball. Yann has a really good player in Lazar, he is tall fast and will get better over time. I know Yann spread the ball around, but at a certain point you need to stop worrying about stats and start thinking about the integrity of the game. Bucks are a nice bunch of women and have a few players who really know what they are doing and how the game is played, but what they are missing is size. I had mentioned to their QB Pascale that she was allowed to use a smaller ball and she said she was ok with the one she had. To me if she were to use a smaller ball it would make a huge difference. It would allow her to get a better grip of the ball and add yards to her throws and it would also make it easier for her players to catch the ball.
Phoenix vs Knight Triangles (19-8)
Knight Triangles were without their QB and maybe it would have made a difference in the game, I’m just not sure. The first half was scoreless and then the first points were scored by the defense of Knight Triangles when Tyler sacked me for a bogus safety, but I’ll just leave it alone. Then when Knight Triangles got the ball, they were able to march the field and score after only a few plays. They missed the convert which would have made it a 2-score game. Once Phoenix got the ball back, they scored on 3 consecutive drives and sealed the game. I was able to hit Vince on a short 5-yard TD, followed by a 13-yard run for a score, and then put the game out of reach hitting my guy Joey on a 7-yard TD. With the game winding down and phoenix being up 10 we needed a first down to end the game, but Knight Triangles stepped up and forced a 3 and out, but didn’t use any of their timeouts and this allowed the seconds to bleed off the clock which they could have used if they were able to score quickly enough. In the end none of that mattered. The one play that sticks out to me was when Myriam caught her first pass ever and the defenders were chasing her and the scream or yell she let out was great and it put a smile on most of our faces.
There you have this week’s recap. I might not have covered your game this week, but maybe Terry and Will will talk about it, so give the Podcast a watch on Wednesday night.
Player of the Week
This week I don’t have to apologise for screwing up and giving the award to a plyer in the wrong division. This week I had a few easy choices and a few that I wasn’t sure who to go with until I started writing who I feel earned this week’s award. When I am making my picks, I try to avoid giving it to players who played in blowouts since most of the time the matchup isn’t favorable going into it, but there are those rare occasions when I have no choice but to give it to a player in one of those games. Here are this week’s winners.
Division 1
Offense
- Phil Pharand hauled in 10 passes for 152 yards, 3 TDs and 1 1point convert.
Defense
- Ashton Thibault made 3 tackles, had 2 picks and returned 1 for 6 points.
Division 2
Offense
- Simon Anctil caught 10 passes for 92 yards, 1 TD(game winner with no time left) and a 1point convert.
Defense
- Tameem Riman mad 1 tackle and had 2 picks.
Division 3
Offense
- Simon Duchesne went 20 of 28 for 213 yards, 5 TDs and 2 2point converts.
Defense
- Jerome Hovington made 4 tackles and had 2 picks.
Division 4
Offense
- Victor Davis Made 5 catches for 63 yards, 3 TDs and 1 1point convert.
Defense
- Jerome Lavallee had 1 tackle and 3 picks.
Division 5
Offense
- Kayla Gauthier made 5 catches for 39 yards and 2 TDs.
Defense
- Benjamin Malette had 2 tackles and 1 pick which he returned for 6 points.
There you have the winners from week 4. I know that there might have been a few players who felt they should have made my list, but I can’t put everyone up here just because you feel you played well. I put players up on my list who balled out and if it’s close, I look to see you performed above expectations and let’s not forget to be on my list you have to be the best of the best, there are no points for second place.
