
Word from the Mouth: Goodbye 2022! edition
After having a great weekend for week 1 of the playoffs, week 2 was more of a slip and slide out there. When I arrived at 7:30 in the morning the field only looked bad in a few spots and luckily, I was able to get a hold of Jon before setting up the third field, since Jon wanted it on the baseball field that had at least an inch of water on it. I could only imagine how much Kris would have complained about having to play on that.
All week it was calling for rain and all we got was a light drizzle early in the first game, but after that it was only the mud players and refs had to deal with. At the end of the day, we were able to get all the games played and no one getting seriously hurt except maybe me, but I don’t go to doctors so I wouldn’t know.
Finals Recap
Division 1 Finals
Gros Coqs vs A-Team (27-26) OT
I wasn’t able to be there for this game, but from what I saw in the stats and heard, this game was close all the way through. From the stats, the one thing that was surprising was that Dom only had 6 yards rushing. Was that because Hinsley was on him all day or because Dom wanted to show his arm off? The only other thing that I saw about this game was on Facebook and was posted by Mike, which was a picture with the ball out of his hands that he says was called a sack. I can only tell you from the looks of it the ball was out of his hand. Also, nowadays when you see something on Facebook you never know if it is a real picture or not.
Division 2 Finals
Thunder Buddies vs Nice TDs (35-12)
I was only able to see a play or two of this game, but I do have a few things to say about this game. For starters, once Dave got hurt, Kris played QB the rest of the way until the finals where they brought Iggy in at QB. Why would you do that all season the team-built chemistry with you as a QB and you decided to change it up for the finals? Secondly, I heard a lot of whining coming from that field on almost every play.
Division 3
I was away for the Semifinals and Finals so I have no clue what happened, but Terry and Willie will fill you in this week on MFL Total Access.
Division 4
Semifinals
Pocket Rockets vs Revenants (37-0)
This game turned out how most people expected it to go. Pocket Rockets walked all over Revenants with ease from start to finish or at least until they called the game.
Mustard Tigers vs Bines Low Fat (32-26)
Bines jumped out to a huge 20-0 lead and it looked like it was going to be a runaway, then Mustard Tigers woke up and made a game out of it. At half it was 20-13 for Bines. Second half, the teams just trade scores, but Mustard Tigers did get a stop late in the game with a chance to go down and win the game, but Michael had other ideas and picked off the second pass Brian threw to seal the game and head off to the finals.
Finals
Pocket Rockets vs Bines Low Fat (8-32)
This was a game that most of us knew was coming for weeks and most were expecting Pocket Rockets to win with ease. I can tell you from seeing this game that I wasn’t impressed by Pocket Rockets at all. I think Pocket Rockets had two big plays, both coming in the first half and both being made by Alexis. I did notice that it seemed all PO wanted to do was go deep and to the same few players. I also saw that later in the game when plays needed to be made, PO was going to some of his weaker players instead of his studs. Bines on the other hand had no issue all game. JF was able to find an open receiver on almost every play and defensively they picked PO off 3 times. I said it after week 1, the Bines had the best defense in the division and this game just proved it.
Division 5
Semifinals
Fighting Armadillos vs TD Hunters (20-12)
I said it last week that it needed to be wet and sloppy for TD Hunters to have a chance and that’s what happened. PO struggled to find his receivers and was picked off 4 times and Goldrick was able to run scoring twice, but couldn’t get things going through the air. At the end of the day Fighting Armadillos showed why they were the number 1 team and pulled out a close victory.
Sour Peeps vs Phoenix (6-12)
This turned out to be a defensive game, but you might not have thought that if you saw how the game started. To open the game Phoenix was forced to punt and Sour Peeps didn’t take long to open the scoring, with their second possession Phoenix was able to punch it in to tie it at 6. The game stayed this way until Phoenix players ran the wrong route and somehow on the same play the Sour Peeps defense had a blown coverage. Instead of hitting a 2 yard drag on third and two for a first down, Brandon was wide open for a 44-yard TD. That play and the fact that I was able to run almost at will in this game was the difference.
Finals
Fighting Armadillos vs Phoenix (18-7)
This game, just like the other games played in D5, wasn’t pretty. The game started with Phoenix on offense, and they were able to move the ball but were forced to punt because of dropped balls. Armadillos went and scored on their opening drive and on the convert, Nick picked it off and ran it back for 1 point. Phoenix was able to move the ball on multiple drives, but weren’t able to convert on third and fourth down with short yardage and anyone that was at the game could see I was hurt and hobbling around and wasn’t able to run. This played a factor on defense as well. When Ali caught a quick slant, I was in good position to make the tackle, but he ran and just got out of my reach and took the play 45 yards for a TD. Late in the game Phoenix was inside the redzone and looking to score, but Phil and his long arms had other plans as I tried to float the ball over his head and he went up and pulled it down with one hand. It was a great play, but Phoenix did score a few plays later with a pick 6 from Dave to make it a 18-7 game. That’s how the game ended, but if Phoenix had caught 2 passes that were in the receivers hands the game would have been 19-18 Phoenix, but that didn’t happen which meant that Mike and PO got 1 of 3 championships they played in on Saturday.
Congratulations to al the winners this season and better luck to everyone else next season.
Finals MVP
Normally you would get my player of the week here, but I figured that I would just go with Finals MVP to make it easier for myself. I also want to let you know that I have thrown out my rule for players only getting it in the highest division they play in since it’s the last week of the season and you shouldn’t be penalized for it at least not this week.
Division 1
This week Dom Lefort went 24 of 37 for 173 yards, 4 TDs, 3 1point converts and threw 1 pick. Dom also ran 5 times for 6 yards.
Division 2
Manu Allard caught 5 passes for 40 yards, 2 TDs and 1 2point convert. On defense Manu made 3 tackle and had 1 pick.
Division 3
Rory Kelly made 5 catches for 85 yards and 3 TDs as a receiver and on defense he made 3 tackles had 3 picks and took one of them back for 6 points.
Division 4
Thomas Cote-Parent made 7 catches for 71 yards, 3 TDs and 2 1point convert. Thomas also made 2 tackles on defense.
Division 5
Phil Charpentier made 6 catches for 101 yards and 2 TDs. Phil also made 1 tackle and had 1 pick on defense.
There you have it my Finals MVP for the fall season. I think it is funny how for once Jon and I have all the same players picked as MVPs. I guess great minds do think alike (ed’s note: and fools rarely differ) even if one of those is Jon’s.
Final Thoughts
This is my final article of 2022 and what a year it was. Outlaws didn’t win a title in Montreal, but did win one in Brossard. A-Team finally figured out how to play as a team, even with a few arguments here and there and went 1-1 in the finals. Thunder Buddies moved up a division and won another title, and now have 1 in D5, D4, D3 and D2.
D2 is almost 1B with how competitive it has become. D3 is probably the toughest division to judge because there are so many players in that division with so much athleticism still learning the game, but it can only get better as those players figure the game out and how to use their talent properly.
D4 was fun and very competitive again this season with multiple teams finishing at 6-4 once again.
D5 is where things get a little funky and there needs to be help with setting proper player ratings for new players in that division, bringing in new players who dominate the division and don’t have their ratings adjusted doesn’t make it fair for the rest of the division, especially if D5 is for lower rated players to come have some fun.
At the end of the day I hope everyone had fun this season, because that is all that really matters.
I want to remind everyone that we are having MFL Fall Season get together this Sunday, November 20th starting at 1 pm and we'll be having it at Champs sports bar located at 3956 St Laurent. Everyone is welcome and, in the past, it has been lots of fun.
One last thing before I let you all go until 2023. Winter season is almost, if not completely, full by now, but if you want to play or have a team you might want to message Jon ASAP to see if he has a place for you or your team. Don’t get left out in the cold.
Once again, thank you all for making the MFL season a successful one. We wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for you players.