Let me start by saying I’m so glad we are playing this season at soccerplex in Lachine instead of Concordia Stinger dome. I had to go there last night and of course there was no parking on Sherbrooke like always. I ended up driving around and parked down the hill on De Maisonneuve, but with gas at almost $2 a litre, it’s almost worth double parking and taking the ticket.
We can all tell that the weather is getting nicer and by now you should know that we will get at least one more snow fall for the year. Let’s hope it comes early and then it melts quickly. Jon and I will need at least a few weeks of nice weather before we can go fix up Le Ber, where we hope to finish up the winter season and playoffs.
Other than gas being ridiculous, have you seen how much your groceries have gone up? $200 doesn’t go far anymore.
Talking about things being overpriced, I have a good one for you here. Anyone that watched the super bowl saw the outfit Snoop was wearing, well now you can buy that same suit in blue and yellow or black and yellow for a price of $1275. You will have to preorder it and shipping starts on April 20. Oh, and let me mention, no returns, refunds or exchanges on it. I’d buy one on the condition Snoop hand delivers it and we get to smoke a blunt together. I haven’t smoked in years, but how do you turndown smoking with the Dogg Father himself. (ed’s note: this column is slowly turning it “Things I thought and Things I did this week”)
Week 3 Recap
No Punt intended vs Les Petits Phoques (27-28)
Going into this game I didn’t think Petits Phoques had any chance at walking away with the win. I also didn’t expect to see No Punt Intended missing a few players including their QB. Jonathan switched from WR to play QB and he didn’t play badly, just the Petits Phoques rushers were on him all day long. Charlie did a great job at not allowing Jon to run around and even when he did, she was right behind him. At one point Dom went into rush and got 2 sacks. This was back and forth all game long and when Petits Phoques scored on the first play of the last 5 plays they needed to convert to take the lead, and just like all their other converts on the day this one was good as well. Jonathan now needed to drive the field and score to win the game. He couldn’t get anything done on the first two plays, but then hit Max for a 13-yard gain. Now with the extra room and it being the last play, he can run around and give his team a chance to reach the endzone. Petits Phoques double rushed and had great pressure, but ended up hitting Jonathan’s arm and giving No Punt Intended one last chance. On the extra play it was thrown into the endzone and the ball fell incomplete. Game over.
Villains vs Pardon My Swag (8-27)
Predicting this match up, I thought it was going to be way closer. Villains had played well the first two weeks of the year, but now facing a team with loads of experience they looked mediocre at best. Brad was able to pick them apart finding guys open all day long. I like Justin and he is one guy I wouldn’t want to see rushing me, but as a QB you need to know how to sidestep him and let him run right by you. I also would love to have him as a receiver on my team, he might not have the best hands in the league, though they are getting better, but he can take the top off a defense with ease. Throw it up and let him run under it, no way to overthrow him. Brad put a good team together without any real weaknesses. I just wonder how they will look once Myles gets back out and on the field with them again. (ed’s note: that sounds like you think he’ll make them worse)
Bread and Circus vs Ataboy (21-32)
This was the first time I got to see either of these team play this year. Both teams only had six players show up so there was no subbing or a chance to get water. With both teams being only six players, I thought Bread and Circus was going to have a huge advantage. I won’t lie at first glance I was wondering how Benoit, Cesar and Mederic were going to be able to keep up. It didn’t take long for me to see that these guys were ballers. Benoit, a guy I never heard of, showed me why you never judge a book by it cover. He was the game’s leading receiver in yards and TDs. When he was able to catch the short passes, he made a few guys miss. Ataboy scored at the end to make it more than 9 points and end the game while into the last 5 plays. The only mistake that was made in this game was poor clock management by Ataboy. What they did was let the 45 second clock run then called a timeout, and then ran the next play with 20 seconds on the clock, JC forgot that a timeout only resets the 45 second clock and that the game clock is still running.
Division 2
Bines vs Idaho Udapimps (12-32)
In a rematch of last fall’s semifinals that looked more like a practice, this still wasn’t a good game to watch. Last year’s Bines mopped the floor with Idaho and this year Idaho was looking for revenge and got it. I spoke to Brady after the game, and he said that it was an easy game, and everything was working for them. I still don’t know who is playing QB for Bines as David has taken snaps and so has Albert. They can win with both guys playing QB. but need to figure who their guy is. Simon has always been the guy for Bines and this week he wasn’t there, and it showed. Simon can take even a short pass to the house, plus he normally makes at least one or two plays on defense as well.
Mean Machines vs Panaches (12-20)
I know nothing of this game (ed’s note: looking forward to your thoughts on it!). I was able to catch a few plays from the other field. What I saw was Felix using his legs to get yards. The defenses for Panaches played decently, but not fantastic. They managed 3 sacks and made plays to end drives. I’m not sure who was referring or scorekeeping this game, but the game should have been called and ended at 20-6 not 20-12. When we have more than a 9-point lead and it’s into the final 5 plays the game needs to be ended to save time.
69ers vs Manitoboys (32-18)
In what I labeled the underachiever bowl, it was surprisingly a decent game. I have two takeaways from this game, the first being that Adam needs to stop going deep on every play except when he should have but instead checked it down on last play of the half hoping his receiver will make everyone miss. That is when you should just throw it up if you’re going to go for it instead of ending the half. The other thing was Rob seemed to find his legs this week and was able to run all day on Jeremy. I know that there is talk on Manitoboys needing a QB for the playoffs and moving forward. If they keep playing like this, it will only be for next season as they will miss playoffs.
Average Joes vs Westies (20-19)
Because of this game we had to adjust the timing of the game. Converts before didn’t count as a play when we were into the last 5 plays, now they do. First half of the game we had some big plays and some offense. The second half was all about the defense. At one point in this game Jason got hurt for Average Joes and we all thought it was his knee only to find out it was his ankle. After he got banged up, he took off running and the other team figured he was faking the injury. I spoke with him after the game, and he was telling me that Westies are a team for real. This game came down to the very end. Westies had the ball and were driving and on fourth down from the ten-yard line the ball was thrown and went incomplete. Both teams were talking a lot in this one and at half needed to be warned that if it continued players would start to get thrown out of the game, that shut both teams up fast.
Division 3
Phoenix vs Airborne (32-19)
Phoenix showed up with 6 players and Airborne was 8 with 2 subs. Knowing the subs they had and how Guillaume can play, I expected this to be a way closer game than it was. (ed’s note: but Kevin has just too good!) For Airborne I want to know how much of a real threat is Joey (ed’s note: captain burn!) that you needed Julian to stay on him most of the game. That was fine by me since all Joey did was run hooks all game long. They also didn’t have an answer for Rob, who went off with over 100 yards in the game plus 3 TDs. This game could have been even more lopsided if I had made a few better throws and if my receivers made a few extra catches that were dropped. Airborne needs to figure out their defense as well as playing with more urgency than they did in this game. Everyone was just there, but not really trying it seemed. On a fourth down play, I avoided the rush (ed’s note: great job, Kevin!), rolled out, and was going to run, but the defense stepped up and allowed Nick to sneak behind them and go for a first down and big yards. Airborne scored with very little time left in the game and needed a quick stop to get the ball. All I was trying to do at this point was get a first down to end the game. I had Rob run a route while everyone else ran hooks and he was wide opened and was easily able to walk into the endzone to end game.
Black Diamonds vs Primetime (34-19)
After playing against Primetime last week and seeing the strides they took and how much they improved from week 1, I was expecting more of the same. Black Diamonds were missing a few players and Jon had Julien sub for them and he provided most of Jon’s 78 yards of passing. Regina who seemed to have trouble in week 1 when I saw them play, came up big with 2 TDs. Watching this game was like watching the Cowboys play one week where they are great and the next week they shit the bed and that’s exactly what happened this week (ed’s note: or maybe, based on the numbers, Black Diamonds are just way better than Phoenix...). Jacob was making poor reads and couldn’t get in a groove. If you add the 2 pick 6s he threw he had 5 TDs on the game. On one of those picks it was thrown right to the defender with no one around and the second one Samuel made a nice break on the ball and had to fight for it a little. If Samuel wasn’t there for Black Diamonds, it might have been a different game since he had both pick 6s. (ed’s note: and if none of us where there and we instead fielded a team of electric eels and required the game be played underwater, it would have been a very different game)
Sneaky Snakes vs Battlehawks (24-18)
I want to know how this game turned out to be so close. Battlehawks were missing there two best players in Julian and Manuel. They had subs in Simon and Nico who are both ok, but I would much rather have Julian and Manuel. From the looks of how the game went Yann started to figure it out right before half when he led a game tying drive and then starting with the ball in the second half, he chewed up a ton of clock and went in for another score giving them an 18-12 lead. Once David got the ball, he was able to take Sneaky Snakes down to score and left just under 7 minutes in the game. I was thinking Yann was just going to use the clock and try and score, well on the first play with the game tied at 18 he threw a pick. It took Sneaky Snakes 1 play and no time to punch it in. Yann still had time to go back down the field but on fourth down couldn’t convert and turned it over on downs. Battlehawks still had a slim chance at getting the ball back if they didn’t give up a first down, which they did, and the game was ended. After the game I asked Yann what happened, and he was telling me how he threw a bad pick and it ended up costing them the game. It also showed him that they can compete even without their best players playing.
That is, it for this week’s recaps. I’m sure I missed some things that happened, so I’ll make a little suggestion to everyone. If I didn’t see your game, you can reach out to me and let me know what happened or if there was a big, exciting play that I need to mention. I won’t put it all in there, but maybe I’ll add something. And if you try to mention how you balled out and it was all about you and not the team, just don’t do it you, won’t like what happens.
Gold Star Performances
It’s that time of the week again where you get to see if you earned a Gold Star for your play this week. Win, lose or draw or maybe if you put up some crazy numbers or made a game changing play you might see your name up here this week. Remember these are my picks and no one else’s. I have all the say here. Sometime Jon and I see eye to eye and other times I’m right and Jon is so far off the wall that it leaves you scratching you head. Now let’s see if you did enough to get a star.
Division 1
No Punt intended vs Les Petits Phoques
- Dom Lefort went 16 of 25 for 151 yards, 4 TDs, 4 1point converts, ran 3 times for 21 yards and made 2 tackles on defense which were both sacks.
Villains vs Pardon My Swag
- Brad Evans was able to complete 25 of 35 passes for 227 yards, 4 TDs, 1 1point convert, also throwing 1 pick on offense. Defensively Brad managed to make 2 tackles.
Bread and Circuses vs Ataboy
- Nicolas Blais dominated this week at QB going 22 of 30 for 195 yards, 5 TDs, 2 1point converts and making a total of 1 tackle on defense.
- Benoit Chabot pulled in 6 balls for 75 yards and 2 TDs on offense. While also leading his team in tackles with 3.
Division 2
Bines vs Idaho Udapimps
- Ryan Lee made 2 catches and both went for TDs for a total of 49 yards. On defense Ryan had 1 tackle to go along with his 1 interception.
Mean Machines vs Panaches
- I couldn’t bring myself to pick someone from this game. No one really stood out and the players that had decent numbers couldn’t find the end zone. Sorry teams, better luck next week.
69ers vs Manitoboys
- Robert Prudhomme finally looks like the old Rob going 15 of 24 for 135 yards, 3 TDs and 2 1point converts. He also ran 6 times for 59 yards and 2 TDs.
Average Joes vs Westies
- Even being banged up Jason Armenti was able to finish the game, going 13 of 25 for 107 yards, 3 TDs and 2 1point converts. He also hobbled on his 1 carry for 3 yards. Jason if you didn’t get hurt in first half you wouldn’t be here, but you stuck it out knowing the team needed you and you got the job done.
- Jarod Boudreau had 3 catches for 38 yards, 2 TDs and a 1point convert. Jarod also made 1 tackle on defense.
Division 3
Phoenix vs Airborne
- Robert White killed it this week going off for 113 yards, 3 TDs on a total of 5 catches. He also had 1 pass defense which was more like a dropped pick, but Rob is here because of the offense.
Black Diamonds vs Primetime
- Samuel Moore-Bouchard didn’t do anything on offense (he caught a convert!), but on defense he killed it with 2 tackles and 2 picks which he took both back for 6 points.
- Shamar Parkinson was the one bright spot for Primetime this week. Shamar hauled in 3 passes for 51 yards and 2 TDs. Shamar also had 1 pass defense while he was rushing.
Sneaky Snakes vs Battlehawks
- Felix LaLonde caught 4 passes this week for 84 yards and 1 TD. He also made 7 tackles on defense.
- David Brisson completed 11 of his 20 passes for 192 yards and 4 TDs. He also ran 3 times for 4 yards, then made 2 tackles and 1 sack on defense.
There you have it, this week’s gold star performances. I know a few subs balled out this week, but if you’re not on the roster I just don’t feel it’s fair to add you up here. Maybe next season you’ll decide to join and when you play great you can make the list. Hope you liked my list and just keep giving it your all and you might see your name here in the next few weeks.
