Monthly Archives: October 2016

Bruizers win thriller in the 2016 QJFL Championship

After upsetting the Chateauguay Raiders in the semi final, the upstart Montreal Royals nearly pulled off an even greater upset in the championship final, but in the end a single point from a missed convert cost them a victory or at least forcing an overtime.

After going two-and-out and punting on their possession, the Royals started their second drive from their own 1-yd line after a great punt by Jr. Bruizers’ Louis-Philippe Simoneau. After managing to move the ball only two yards in two plays, the Royals opted to err on the side of caution and conceded a safety, which gave the Jr. Bruizers an early 2-0 lead. On the ensuing drive, the Jr. Bruizers appeared poised to score the game’s first TD when they moved 57 yards in seven plays to get a first down at the Royals 23-yd line, but they could only advance five more yards on the next two plays and they had to settle for a 25-yd field goal by Simoneau.
The Royals responded by scoring a single point on a punt by James Arénas Michel to make the score 5-1 for the South Shore team at the end of the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Royals conceded another safety while the Jr. Bruizers attempted to add to their lead with another field goal from 27 yards out. Unfortunately, the ball hit the goal post and the score remained 7-1 for the Jr. Bruizers.

With only five minutes left to play in the first half, the Royals were punting from their own 20-yd line but the ball was blocked by Max Verna Gagné and recovered by Gabriel Leduc-Corriveau, who returned it all the way to the 1-yd line. From there, it took the Jr. Bruizers two plays before they scored the game’s first touchdown on a 1-yd run by Xavier Noel to increase their lead to 14-1 (Simoneau convert kick).

It looked like the score would hold up until the half time when the Royals decided to go for a “Hail Mary” pass on the last play of the half. However, the ball was intercepted by Verna Gagné and returned to the Royals 15-yd line as time ran out on the game clock. Since the Royals were assessed a major penalty on the play, which placed the ball just one yard outside the end zone, the Jr. Bruizers chose to take advantage of the opportunity to try a field goal. The 8-yd kick by Simoneau was good and the Jr. Bruizers had a 17-1 lead at te half time break.

It was a completely different game in the second half.

After the Jr. Bruizers punted on their first possession, the Royals started their first drive of the second half from their own 43-yd line. Using mostly passes, in nine plays they had a first down at the Jr. Bruizers 1-yd line. Then, on second and goal from the 6-yd line, they used play action throw the defense off guard and had Jeanlee Alexis throwing a pass to James Arénas Michel in the end zone to narrow the gap to 17-8 (Francesco Spanti convert kick).

They got the ball right back when Ralph Louis recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return at the Jr. Bruizers 49-yd line and then got a first down in the red zone. However, a field goal attempt from 20 yards out was blocked and then recovered by Jean-François Moquin and the score remained 17-8 until the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Royals defense kept the Jr. Bruizers pinned deep in their own zone and eventually the South Shore team had to concede a safety to make the score 17-10.
After the two teams traded punts, with less than four minutes left to play in the game, the Jr. Bruizers were punting again and the ball was fielded by Dynell Pierre at his own 20-yd line. He managed to evade a few Jr. Bruizers defenders and returned the punt 68 yards all the way to the Jr. Bruizers 22-yd line. After a major penalty was applied, the Royals offense went on attack from their opponents’ 37-yd line and in four plays they were just 13 yards away from the end zone but facing a 3rd and 2 yards to go situation. They called a time out to plan their strategy and they went with a wildcat formation. Manu Crisi Lauzon took the snap but then fumbled the ball. Luckily, he was able to pick it up and then scrambled through the Jr. Bruizers defense into the end zone to make the score 17-16. Everyone expected the game to be tied but the convert kick failed as the ball sailed low and hit players on the line.

With barely two minutes left to play in the game, the South Shore team had the ball but on their second play it was fumbled and Olivier Charles-Pierre recovered it at the Jr. Bruizers 29-yd line. The Royals offense, however, got the ball at the 39-yd line due because of a penalty that was called against them after the fumble recovery. Two plays later, they were faced with a 3rd down and one yard to go situation at the Jr. Bruizers 30-yd line and instead of calling for one of the run plays that were working so well for them the entire game, they called for a pass play. The Jr. Bruizers defense was prepared and they easily knocked the ball down to force an incomplete pass and a turnover on downs with only 44 seconds left. They were then able to run out the game clock and win the Joe Pistilli Cup for the first time.

After the game, league officials selected the following players for outstanding performance:

MVP defense#7 Maxime Dupuy from the Jr. Bruizers
MVP offense#29 Xavier Noel from the Jr. Bruizers
Game MVP#21 Kerven Laguerre from the Royals

Montreal Royals dethrone the reigning champions

The Montreal Royals have accomplished what the ÉTS Le Génie team did two years ago by making it to the Joe Pistilli Cup final in their rookie year in the league. The team with a short bench – only 26 players were dressed for the game – but a lot of heart used the right strategy to beat the defending champions 16-0 at the Raiders home field. They will now face the South Shore Jr. Bruizers in the championship game on Saturday, October 29 in Ste-Julie starting at 7 pm.

The Royals started from their own 42-yd line after the opening kickoff and threw a 14-yd pass to James Arénas Michel on their first play from scrimmage. They would throw only five more passes for the rest of the game but the catch by Arénas Michel would stand as the only pass completion for the entire game. After that, they kept pounding the ball on the ground, using 56 rushing plays to gain 311 yards. On the opening drive, Kerven Laguerre did most of the work, helping the Royals get a first down at the Raiders 5-yd line. They went for it on 3rd and goal from the 1-yd line with a QB sneak but the Raiders defense shut the door and forced a turnover on downs. The Raiders then seemed to take advantage of the opportunity and they started moving the ball towards the center of the field but after six plays their drive stalled with two consecutive incomplete passes and they had to punt. The first quarter ended in a scoreless tie as Raiders were going two-and-out while the Royals were turning the ball over on downs.

However, early in the second quarter, the Royals moved 50 yards and into the red zone by handing the ball off to Dynell Pierre and Arénas Michel gave them all the points that they would need by kicking a 22-yd field goal for a 3-0 lead.
After the Raiders went two-and-out again, the Royals used the same offensive strategy that worked before and got into the red zone again. Their field goal attempt was blocked but the Raiders were called for offside, which gave the Royals a new set of downs. On the next play, Dynell Pierre got the handoff again and scored a touchdown on an 8-yd run to increase his team’s lead to 10-0.

On the ensuing possession, the Raiders started from their own 2-yd line, but on the first play the ball was fumbled by the receiver after making a catch in the flat and Max-Henley Philogène from the Royals picked it up and walked into the end zone for a defensive TD to make the score 16-0 (convert kick blocked).

In the second half, while the Raiders defense kept the Royals off the scoreboard and forced three turnovers, the Raiders offense continued to rely on the passing game, which was extremely difficult given the adverse weather conditions, and they could not put together any scoring drives. Their best opportunity came early in the fourth quarter when they got the ball at the Royals 20-yd line after Daniel Mancini recovered a fumble by the Royals punt returner. They got as close as five yards from the end zone but on a third and goal play, Nicholas Findlay got the ball but he was stopped two yards short of the goal line by the Royals defense.

The Raiders only got the ball one more time in the game as the Royals used up most of the clock on the ensuing possession, running 10 plays for 94 yards before finally turning the ball over on downs at the Raiders 14-yd line.

The Royals ground game was the story of the game with Dynell Pierre carrying the ball 21 times for 153 yards while James Arénas Michel had 12 carries for 75 yards.

Photo information:

01 – Medley Joseph breaks up a Raiders pass attempt
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02 – Royals turn the ball over on downs near the Raiders end zone
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03 – Royals QB under pressure from Raiders defenders
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04 – Dynell Pierre carrying the ball on one of his 21 rushes
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05 – Raiders defenders collide trying to make a interception
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06 – Ryan Forest makes an interception
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Semi Finals: Royals vs Raiders Preview

The 2016 Joe Pistilli Cup playoffs start this week.

Nine weeks of play in the regular season determined the winner of the Cyril B. White Trophy – congratulations to the South Shore Jr. Bruizers – but the battle for the coveted Joe Pistilli Cup is just beginning this weekend as the Montreal Royals play against the Chateauguay Raiders in the semi final game.

The Raiders held the upper hand in the season series between these two teams, winning two of the three games, but each match was very close and could have gone either way.

For the Raiders, the key to winning will be the ability of their offensive unit to move the ball effectively both on the ground as well as through the air and to stay on the field for more than two plays so that the defensive unit can get some rest.

For the Royals, the biggest question is who will play at the quarterback position. When #2 Tshitshi Bukasa came in to play QB in the second half of the game against the Raiders two weeks ago the Royals offense mounted several credible drives, but he hasn’t played since then and instead three other players played at the QB spot.

The kickoff for the semi final game will be at 2 pm on Sunday, October 23 at the Louis-Philippe-Paré field in Chateauguay.

RSVP to our Facebook Event here

Week 8: Raiders lock up second place with a win over Sabercats

The Chateauguay Raiders have locked up second place in the standings and home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs by beating the visiting Rive-Nord Sabercats 38-17 to improve their record to 5 wins and 3 losses.

Even though the Raiders had 21 penalties called against them during the game, the Sabercats could not take advantage of them and instead they helped the Raiders’ cause by turning the ball over eight times. On three of those occasions, the Raiders were able to score a touchdown and the points scored from the turnovers provided the Chateauguay team with its margin of victory.

After punting on their first possession, the Raiders went back on offense for the second time in the game starting from their own 39-yd line following a Sabercats turnover on downs. Ryan Forest then got the ball on each one of the next four plays to get to the visitors’ 1-yd line and he finished the drive with a 1-yd plunge into the end zone to give the home team a quick 7-0 lead (Remi Hort convert kick).

At the start of the 2nd quarter, the Raiders doubled their lead when they got the ball again after a Sabercats turnover and Daniel Mancini caught a 35-yd pass from Mario Porecca to score a TD.

Early in the 3rd quarter, the Raiders went in front 21-0 thanks to a 1-yd TD run by Nicolas Findlay before the Sabercats were able to score their first points of the game on a 35-yd field goal into the wind by Joel Viel.

The game then opened up with the Raiders first increasing their lead to 28-3 thanks to the second TD of the game by Mancini on another 35-yd catch, but that was followed immediately by a 60-yd TD run by the Sabercats QB Dominic Beaudet to make the score 28-9 (convert kick blocked).

In the 4th quarter, Remi Hort showed off his kicking leg by booting a 42-yd field goal into the wind but the Sabercats responded with another TD run by Beaudet and a 2-pt convert catch by Xavier Almonte to make the score 31-17. Findlay then closed out the scoring with his second TD of the game on an 18-yd scramble to make the final score 38-17.

Photo information:

1 – Ryan Forest carries the ball on a scoring drive
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2 – Kevin Cronn breaks up a pass attempt
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3 – Sanders Armand puts pressure on the Sabercats QB
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4 – Daniel Mancini makes a TD-scoring catch
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5 – Dominic Beaduet and Roumel Saget try to recover their own fumble
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6 – Shawn Carignan blocks a punt attempt
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7 – Dominic Beaudet evades a defender at the start of a 60-yd TD run
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