FrogBoy's first season of high school football (a RL dynasty) [Archive]

FrogMan

08-31-2009, 11:17 AM

The school system in Quebec is a fair bit different than the US system. Kids aged 5 by September 30 enter kindergarten. It's the case of our youngest son this year.

After that, there's primary school from grade 1 to grade 6. Andrew, FrogBoy in this dynasty, graduated from grade 6 last June.

After that comes High School, or Secondary School as it's often called around here. It runs for five years, from Secondary 1 to Secondary 5. We don't really have any denomination for years like frenshmen, sophomores and so on. Andrew will start his Secondary 1, or first year of high school, next Monday at age 12. I'll be back in a few to expand on the levels of football we have in high school.

For sake of information, after High School comes a mandatory prep school type, called CEGEP. It's derived from Collège d'Enseignement Général Et Professionel, which loosely translates to College of General and Professional Education. At that point, kids are 17yo and can either take a 2 year preparation program to go to University, or a professional/technical 3 year program that would allow them to go straight to work. There's some football at that level too, with a good program in our area, but I won't expand on that, since we're a good five years away from him getting to that level.

After that comes College (or University) football. Laval University is the local college and my alma mater, and reigning Canadian National Champs. It's been said their level is maybe Level 2 of the NCAA. They have the highest crowds in the CIAU (Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union, or the equivalent of the NCAA in Canada) averaging more than 15,000 fans per game, which for us is quite good. The emergence of that great program has been the catalyst to seeing so many new high school football programs in the area. From there being only 20 high school football teams (teams, not programs) in the area in 1996 when The Rouge et Or (literally translated, the "Red and Gold", the name of Laval's team), that number was more than doubled by 2001, up to 42 teams to finally peak at 96 teams in 2008. These 96 teams were split among 42 schools. Only 11 schools had a football program back in 1996...

Now back to high school football in Quebec. There are three categories of play, based on age, and to some extent weight: Benjamin, Cadet and Juvenile, from youngest to oldest.

Benjamin is for kids entering Secondary 1 or 2 (basically first and second year of high school). There's also a category called Benjamin-minor that is restricted to only players in Secondary 1. Andrew's school will be playing in the regular Benjamin category.

To the age restriction, a weight restriction is added. A player in his first year cannot weigh in at more than 160lbs. A player in his second year cannot weigh in at more than 120lbs. A player who's over the weight limit has to go play in the Cadet category. This lower weight limit for second year players means that players returning to play football in Secondary 2 and that play in Benjamin are all the smallest players. Other way to see this is that most linemen positions are filled by first year players. I don't know exactly how much Andrew weighs at the moment but he weighed at 130lbs at the start of Sumer and I remember him telling me he had lost 3 lbs with soccer and playign outside during the summer vacations. It wouldn't surprise me that he'd weigh in at 125lbs right now. This means he's below the weight limit for a first year player, but will probably only play one year in Benjamin.

As with many other sports leagues, the Benjamin teams are split in divisions that range from B and A for smaller programs, or programs that are just starting, to AA for better established programs. Andrew's team will be playing in Benjamin AA, the highest possible in the extended Quebec City area. It's a regional league with most teams within 45 minutes from one another at most, one other being maybe 1h15 away and one out of region team that's about 2h30-3h00 hours away.

To give some information as to what kind of football school he'll be attending, they will be fielding a team in Cadet BB (ranging from B-A-BB-AA) and Juvenile AAA (ranging from A-BB-AA-AAA). Reason why they kept their Cadet in BB might be because many of their Benjamins from last year are returning to Benjamin this year, added to the fact that they went 2-7 last year in Benjamin. Their Juvenile AAA team is moving up from AA this year and will be playing in the provincial league.

That's about it for the school system and the football levels.

Let me know if there's any question, or if you want to compare it with what you're used to see in the US in general or your area in particular. I just read BYU14's description of what they have in AZ and it did sound quite a bit different.

Next up will be some talk about specific rules and such, given that they'll be playing with some Canadian and some American football rules.

FM

FrogMan

08-31-2009, 11:21 AM

I'll be tuning in...

welcome aboard, hope you'll enjoy the ride :)

FM

JonInMiddleGA

08-31-2009, 11:40 AM

DaddyTorgo

08-31-2009, 11:49 AM

wait a second - you went to Université Laval ? So did almost every Canadian I work with. Hahahaha...small world.

BYU 14

08-31-2009, 12:10 PM

This will be cool, I am very interested in the differences between US and Canada HS ball. I will be following!

FrogMan

08-31-2009, 02:08 PM

Okay, so Secondary 1 is roughly equivalent to the US 7th Grade.
That'd be the early/middle stages of the typical middle school so I've got some basis to compare from.

Benjamin = 7th & 8th graders. Here that would be either one team or in considerably larger schools you might split them into one per grade or ability. It could & probably does gets split differently in other states which may be more organized than the Middle School level is here in Georgia. It's really about on the club level here, only loosely organized with a lot of leeway with regard to scheduling & the like given to the schools. There's also no attempt made to divide them into classifications (unnecessary since there are no official championships), it's almost entirely geographical. Every team our MS program will play this year in their 8 game schedule is within 30 minutes or so and unlike the HS they will repeat a couple of opponents in a home-and-home regular season series.

thanks for the comparison re: age group and levels. Having never been through the American school system, I was never able to get a good grasp of what the equivalents were to what I grew up with.

Our Benjamin will be playing for a championship, with a playoff system.

What isn't allowed in Georgia (and as far as I know isn't allowed in many places) is for those students to play up regardless of weight or ability at the Junior Varsity/JV/B-Team level, which is what Cadet seems roughly equivalent to. Here, you've got 4 years of HS sports eligibility (grades 9 through 12) and that's it and since HS is usually defined as 9 through 12 that's what sets the bar for that Varsity level (which seems pretty clearly the equivalent of your Juvenile level)

Interesting. The whole playing up thing is a provincial rule as far as I learned.

Are there any weight limits/restrictions in Georgia?

The biggest difference is almost certainly the sheer number of teams. In Georgia, give or take, there'll be 300-320 varsity/juvenile teams playing this year, probably 200-250 JV/cadet teams, and I hestitate to even guess about MS/benjamin level teams, maybe something in the 400-450 range.

I base that on my nephew's county, where there's only one high school but they're fielding 2 middle school teams. For every one of those, you've got another county that's 1:1 but another that's a 3:1 ratio and still others that don't organize that age group at the school level but rather play in recreational or private leagues.

I knew the number of teams could never compare but these numbers are astounding. Always good to remember that Canada, Quebec in particular I'd guess, is a hockey nation. There are tons of hockey teams and leagues, but most are not school driven.

Football remains a fringe sport so to speak although it has picked up considerable interest as reported by the increase in the number of teams. One tidbit of information I forgot to mention earlier is that the football program at Andrew's school only started back in the Fall of 2002.

One comparison I'm curious about that I didn't pick up enough info to make is that what you described seemed to be for Quebec, what about the rest of the country? Here, every state has it's own unique way of classifying teams, even down to the existence & popularity of 8-on-8 football in a few states. How similar is Canadian football's organization to what you described from province to province?

I doubt I'llbe able to help you there. Just did a bit of googling and came upon this website (http://www.schoolsincanada.com/Canadian-Education-System.cfm) that tells me that most other provinces follow the American system. I'd assume that football might follow the same type of system too, but I wouldn't be able to tell you.

FM

FrogMan

08-31-2009, 02:09 PM

wait a second - you went to Université Laval ? So did almost every Canadian I work with. Hahahaha...small world.

hehe, small world indeed. Were they all Quebecers or from elsewhere in Canada? I'd be pretty surprised if they were from elsewhere in Canada to be honest, as Laval is a French speaking university, in fact the oldest Non English University in North America. :)

FM

Poli

08-31-2009, 02:10 PM

IN.

FrogMan

08-31-2009, 02:10 PM

This will be cool, I am very interested in the differences between US and Canada HS ball. I will be following!

Glad to have you on board as I just discovered your Freshmen dynasty. Please do realize there's no way I'll be able to even scratch your level of detail. ;)

I really don't have your background as a coach, nor do I pretend to. I'm just a dad, really proud of his son, who's got about nobody to talk to at work who will understand a quarter of what he's talking about when he's talking football. Seriously, when I tell most people around here that Andrew practiced at center last week, all I get are mostly blanked stares which prompts me to explain that the center is the guy snapping the ball to the QB (which they do know about, thankfully) ;)

I'll mostly be writing as a dad watching/living his son's high school football debut. :)

FM

JonInMiddleGA

08-31-2009, 02:36 PM

Are there any weight limits/restrictions in Georgia?

Nope, at least not at the school organized level. That's something that you'll see with recreation department leagues or private leagues (it's mentioned frequently & in some detail in Poli's youth football threads as well as a few others) but once you get to high school the bigger the better. It's actually not all that uncommon to see the elite schools fielding lines that are similar or even occasionally larger than college football lines.

Once you hit HS age though, virtually everything of note lands under the auspices of either the Georgia High School Association (the main sanctioning body, all public & nearly half the private secondary schools are members) or the smaller Georgia Independent School Assocation (60 or so smaller private schools). There are a couple of other very small groups, an 8-man league that's got a handful of private school or home-schooled teams together as well as small Christian school league but between them I don't think they even have as many member teams as Quebec.

Really looking at it, I don't think the structure is all that different, it's just the terminology that makes it hard to decipher at first.

DaddyTorgo

08-31-2009, 02:39 PM

hehe, small world indeed. Were they all Quebecers or from elsewhere in Canada? I'd be pretty surprised if they were from elsewhere in Canada to be honest, as Laval is a French speaking university, in fact the oldest Non English University in North America. :)

FM

is that so? i do believe they're all Quebecois by birth (or at least all those who went there are).

DaddyTorgo

08-31-2009, 02:40 PM

Glad to have you on board as I just discovered your Freshmen dynasty. Please do realize there's no way I'll be able to even scratch your level of detail. ;)

I really don't have your background as a coach, nor do I pretend to. I'm just a dad, really proud of his son, who's got about nobody to talk to at work who will understand a quarter of what he's talking about when he's talking football. Seriously, when I tell most people around here that Andrew practiced at center last week, all I get are mostly blanked stares which prompts me to explain that the center is the guy snapping the ball to the QB (which they do know about, thankfully) ;)

I'll mostly be writing as a dad watching/living his son's high school football debut. :)

FM

hey that's cool - it'll be cool to have an outlet to share your pride and eventual frustration i'm sure.

FrogMan

09-01-2009, 09:09 AM

Nope, at least not at the school organized level. That's something that you'll see with recreation department leagues or private leagues (it's mentioned frequently & in some detail in Poli's youth football threads as well as a few others) but once you get to high school the bigger the better. It's actually not all that uncommon to see the elite schools fielding lines that are similar or even occasionally larger than college football lines.

interesting. I never said anything since it wasn't of use for Andrew's Benjamin category, but there are no weight limits at higher levels, at least not in in teh division that his school's Cadets and Juveniles will play. There's certain weight limit for signle letter Cadet school (A & B) but since his school already plays in BB and might probably move up to AA by the time he's playing at that level, it will bever be applicable.

Once you hit HS age though, virtually everything of note lands under the auspices of either the Georgia High School Association (the main sanctioning body, all public & nearly half the private secondary schools are members) or the smaller Georgia Independent School Assocation (60 or so smaller private schools). There are a couple of other very small groups, an 8-man league that's got a handful of private school or home-schooled teams together as well as small Christian school league but between them I don't think they even have as many member teams as Quebec.

There's the same type of governing body around here, called the Association Régionale de Sport Étudiant, Québec-Chaudières Appalaches (ARSEQQCA or something like it). It's from their website that I got the weight limits.

Really looking at it, I don't think the structure is all that different, it's just the terminology that makes it hard to decipher at first.

I agree with that assessment. If anything, putting that thread together helped me demistify some of what I was reading about High School football in the US. You know, having watched a movie like Firday Night Lights, or reading the dynasty threads we have here (which I'm just starting to really enjoy, given how close to home they are hitting), I was always a bit confused as to how they were relating to what we have here in Quebec. Sometimes is simply in translating the terms, but sometimes it's also in putting stuff in relative terms one to the other. Thanks for the help you provided here.

is that so? i do believe they're all Quebecois by birth (or at least all those who went there are).

Well, yeah, UL is the biggest French university in North America and my guess would have been that yeah, they were all Québécois by birth, at the very least, and possibly French Canadian. Having been there for a while, all classes were given exclusively in French and we didn't see too many English speaking students back then. Anyway, that's pretty cool. :) I went to business school there, graduated in 1993.

hey that's cool - it'll be cool to have an outlet to share your pride and eventual frustration i'm sure.

Oh definitely the main reason behind me creating this dynasty. Seeing him so involved in the whole thing and so passionate about it is inspiring, and a great source of pride. But I'm sure there'll be many moments of frustrations too. ;)

Icy

09-01-2009, 10:38 AM

JonInMiddleGA

09-01-2009, 11:08 AM

The main difference is that sports and education are not tied at all in Spain. If you want to practice organized sports, you need to join a club/team in the appropriate category based on your age. Depending on the club level, you might need to tryout first.

That actually leads to another possible confusion that I actually worried about when I posted it up the thread.

I referred to some youth teams as being "about club level" but wasn't at all comfortable with whether that phrase means the same thing everywhere. What I had in mind was akin to how it's used at the college/university level, basically fairly loose organizational structure that is affiliated with the school in some way but not subject to the degree of restrictions of a much larger organization. Would also be called intramural sports, playing opponents from within a general geographic region as opposed to intermural sports where the competitors & opponents are all from the same campus.

Examples in the US in many places would be sports such as rugby and ice hockey (in the south and parts of the west), at the high school level it varies even more by state but some examples from Georgia would be rodeo and bowling (which are big deals in some other states I believe).

FrogMan

09-01-2009, 11:39 AM

I'm in!

I'm surprised that we use almost the same terminology in Spain for categories in kids sports, Benjamin, Cadete and Juvenil. Probably comming from your French heritage.

The main difference is that sports and education are not tied at all in Spain. If you want to practice organized sports, you need to join a club/team in the appropriate category based on your age. Depending on the club level, you might need to tryout first.

Welcome aboard! :)

Spanish and French are very close so it makes sense. Still interesting that in a case like this, it ends up being so close.

Football is pretty much the only sport in Quebec where it's more associated with school than club. Most of all other sports can be found in school sports, hockey being one example, but their main group of participants will be playing in club organized competitions. Take hockey, it's open to anyone on the club level, absolutely not associated to any school but more on a city by city (or group of cities) basis, but you have to tryout if you want to make the more competitive divisions.

FM

FrogMan

09-01-2009, 11:40 AM

IN.

had missed that before. Very glad to see you on board. :)

FM

FrogMan

09-01-2009, 11:41 AM

That actually leads to another possible confusion that I actually worried about when I posted it up the thread.

I referred to some youth teams as being "about club level" but wasn't at all comfortable with whether that phrase means the same thing everywhere. What I had in mind was akin to how it's used at the college/university level, basically fairly loose organizational structure that is affiliated with the school in some way but not subject to the degree of restrictions of a much larger organization. Would also be called intramural sports, playing opponents from within a general geographic region as opposed to intermural sports where the competitors & opponents are all from the same campus.

Examples in the US in many places would be sports such as rugby and ice hockey (in the south and parts of the west), at the high school level it varies even more by state but some examples from Georgia would be rodeo and bowling (which are big deals in some other states I believe).

yeah, it's very similar to how it's done around here too.

FM

FrogMan

09-01-2009, 02:10 PM

I had planned on talking about rules differences or what specifics I know about them next but I'll change the order a bit.

Since a new week is starting, and with it a practice today, and since I didn't to fall behind too much, I've decided to go ahead and introduce you to my son Andrew and do some retro-reporting of how his preseason has gone so far.

Andrew turned 12 last March and has been playing tackle football for four years. From what I've learned, the football program started at his high school in the Fall of 2002 with a team in Benjamin and Cadet, only to be followed the next Fall (2003) by a Juvenile team. They've had all three teams ever since. Back before 2004, they used to hold some sort of Summer camps, on Saturdays for grade 6 kids that were about to enter the high school and were interested in playing football. There are no civil football of that age in the area so for many of them, it was the first time they'd strapped some pads and and helmet to play football. In 2005, they started a Summer league that included kids grade 5 and 6 and in the Summer of 2006, that league got expanded to included a second division for kids grade 3 and 4 to play together.

Summer 2006 is when Andrew was to finish is grade 3. One day he came up from school with a sheet announcing the start of that league, he was all excited about it. For some backstory, I gotta say that back in 2001-2002, I had played contact football in a senior league. Andrew being Andrew and being like many other kids, he really, REALLY wanted to do like his dad and play football. It automatically made me proud, and somewhat nervous. I mean football is not badminton and while he was already taking karate classes, I didn't know how he'd cope with being hit, or hitting someone else.

Anyway, he fell in love with the sport immediately. The league were coached by kids from the Juvenile level or from the local CEGEP (Junior College type level) and I was seriously impressed with the how cool it was to see him have fun in a team sport. The game was adjusted to play 9 on 9 on an 80 yard long field by maybe 40 yards wide.

He's always been a strong kid and while not real tall or superfast, has always had strong balance and good legs. He seeked out to play on the defensive line cause, well, daddy was a defensive end. ;) Season lasted from mid-May to end of June, or about the last 6 weeks of school. His team ended up winning the championship that year.

His second year in the grade 3-4 league, he played a tiny bit of O-line at times but sorta looked lost. He understood the concept of hunting the ball on defense but was not grasping the blocking after his first block had been made. Again had lots of fun and again won the championship, in overtime that time.

Then came his first season in the grade 5-6 league. We could already see some big size shifts there with kids getting ready to go play Benjamin in the Fall. Andrew started that season a bit slow but ended up playign both ways, O-Line/D-Line, by the time the last game came. By the end of that season, he was well known by many of the coaching staff, part for him showing some ability, which certainly made mommy and daddy quite proud, and part for him beind a well behaved, disciplined kid who listens when he's being taught somethign, which made mommye and daddy even prouder. :cool:

This last June, getting ready to posibly playing this Fall with the Benjamins, he played both ways on the line from the getgo. There were some games when he would only come out for one series, not that he was really whining about staying on the field, but the number of linemen on an 18 player team isn't always high and some kids were asking to stay out in order not to play line. Gotta say that these leagues were pretty recreational in their approach, although they were practicing twice a week and playing a game on every Saturday for 6 weeks. That last season of Summer football ended with him stealing a handoff and running it off for a TD. That's right, coming from the defensive end spot, he went in unblocked and stole the handoff between the opposing QB and RB and ran off with it for some 30 yards for a touchdown. I tell ya, I cried in the stands that day, and my wife pissed her pants off. :D

For the fun of it, I've included scans of his player card from the last four seasons. Pretty impressive to see how much he's grown in the last four years... :)

This Fall, the Benjamin team at his school will welcome the first group of players who'll have the chance to play through four Summer seasons of the Primary school league. They currently have 39 players on the team, compared to 25-27 players last year.

The Summer league's Championship Sunday was on June 28. They had set to practice without equipments once a week to put in the offensive and defensive playbooks, starting on Monday July 6. Andrew went to that practice but it turned out that linemen were not needed, since they were only running plays. He had some Summer camps and vacations for a few weeks anyway and was to miss the next few Mondays. When he went back on August 33rd, he was the only lineman there and he ended up helping out by filming plays. :) They told him he didn't have to come until the start of preseason camp.

Preseason practices started with two big days on August 18 and 20. On those days, we left Andrew at the practice field at 9 in the morning and picked him back up at 4 in the afternoon. He said they ran plays, pratice in units and took much need breaks here and there. I couldn't be there (work you know) and it was hard for me to imagine they'd practice for 7 hours in a day but Andrew's not the most talkative so I have to go with what he's giving me. :)

Andrew's the kind of kid that'S a bit introvert and he will sometimes wait for someone to ask him to do something instead of taking charge and taking a spot. I had told him going into the two days of practice that if he really wanted to play D-line, he had to make it known. He doesn't mind playing O-line, but has always said to us he liked playing D-Line more. I was pleased to hear at the end of the first day that he had gone to the line coaches and had specifically asked to play D-line. He said they'd put him on the right defensive end spot and that they played a 3-3 defense which kinda surprised me a bit. He practiced in that spot for the two big first days.

After those two days came a weekend retreat camp. On Friday August 21st after dinner, the whole team left for two days by bus to a camping ground about 90 minutes away from school. I'm sure it's nothing to many of you, but I'd never seen that, and Andrew had never experienced anything like that in his sports life before. He told us they practiced for 90 minutes on Saturday, that the practice was filmed and they met individually with their coaches in the evening that day. He was told that they were not sure if defensive end was the best place for him and that they would like to have him start practicing at right guard. He said he was a bti disappointed by the announce but it was okay, he still would have fun playing O-line. I could see in his eyes that he was really disappointed by it though, but he was putting up the strong front and soldiering on. He said they had another 90 minutes practice on Sunday before heading back home. Other times were filled with team fun like swimming in the lake at the ground and with two big campfires on Friday and Saturday nights. Overall, he looked like he enjoyed the weekend, despite the bit of negative news. He said he practiced at right guard on Sunday and it went okay. I told him to work hard and that if they ever put him back on the D-line, to work his butt off to show how effective he can be. Always learn something from a disappointment...

Back to their decision, looking at it with a cold head, I can see why they went the way they went. See, Andrew has a decent sense of what to do when playing defensive end but he isn't really super tall or super explosive or super fast. He's strong though, with a good balance and can hold his own against kids bigger than him. On the ride back home that Sunday, he told me they had given him something to work on that they had picked up on the films. They said he had a tendency to give up his pursuit once the play had seemingly gone the other way. I had told him to never give up, especially on running plays. You know, when daddy says it, it's not has impressive as when your coach says it. ;) I'm not saying it was the main reason why they said they'd try him at right guard, but it might have contributed to it.

One other thing that might have had a little to do with it could be an apparent lack of aggressivenes due to a sprained pinky finger. The Wednesday before going to that weekend retreat, he played soccer and when goalkeeping, received a strong shot that he block with his right hand. At first I didn't know he was injured until I saw him from the bench (I was the coach of his team) and he was holding his right hand. First thing I thought was a broken wrist and my heart knotted. When I got to his goal running, I took off his keeper glove and his pinky finger was dislocated, crooked to the side. I pulled on it and put it back in place. He was able to move his finger, although with great pain. He put ice on it for a couple days but it was still swelled when he went to that camp. I taped two of his glove fingers together but he was still not able to be as feisty as he usually is. Again, it's not a major reason, but could have contributed...

Last week was their first week of regular practices. Practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 6:30. This is how a regular week will go for them from now on, three practices a week, right after school. I get home at about 4:45 and have had many little things to take care around the house so I usually am only able to attend maybe 15 to 20 minutes at the end of practices.

Anyway, last week started with him back to defensive end on the Tuseday practice. For some unknown reason, when he got to practice and asked where he was playing, they told him to take a spot on the D-Line. Was fun to see his face when he told me that he put into practice what they told him and it paid off. He told me in vivid details about how on one play he kept his motor running once the QB had broken out of the pocket on the run and that when he tried to cut back in, Andrew found himself with a linebacker there to make the tackle for only a small gain. :)

Anyway, to see him happy to be back at defensive end made me happy, but also got me slightly worried. Worried that he'd be bumped around and they'd end up plugging him back into an O-line spot only a few practices before their first game and he'd end up looking like a fool. I told him about it and asked him if he understood when "looking like a fool" could mean. He said yeah, that he could lose playing time. I wasn't really pushing him, simply nudging him to assert himself, so that he learns to take his place, on the the team, and eventually in life. Wherever he'll end up playing, I'll be cheering him on. I simply want him to not let others push him aside.

My wife was the one who went to pick him up on Wednesday and how surprised she was to see her boy calling huddle, standing in the middle and then snapping the ball. I'll be damned, he was now playing center! Their current QB was in his class in 6th grade last year and in June, they had an activity day in which they ended up playing touch football all day, and all day long, he played center, snapping it shotgun. I remember Andrew telling us that the kid QB had told him he was better than their Summer league center (they were also on the same Summer league team). Apparently at the start of Wednesday's practice, they were looking for more guys to practice at center and Andrew's name came up. He told them sure he'd like to try, which in itself is pretty surprising to me. As I said, Andrew is a bit of an introvert and once he gets good at something, will have a hard time trying stuff outside of his comfort zone. For example, even though I told him he should try playing linebacker, simply for the fun of trying another position in the Summer league, he never even tried. To see him trying his hand at center was a step forward for him. He said they will rotating among three centers, with each of them snapping the ball for one full practice at a time. When not playing center, he seems set to keep on playing on the D-Line, rotating between end and tackle.

He played on the D-line in their last practice last Thursday. After that practice, they gave each kid a yellow silicone wristband (à la Livestrong) debossed with the team logo. The coach told them to wear it everyday at school and that evry player on any of the three levels of play would have one. Andrew was so proud to wear his band, I've never seen him like that. Football has this way of bringing pride out in a kid.

This was a crazy long post but it rounds up where we are now. Yesterday was his first day of school and tonight is practice night, the first practice of the week. Their first game will be on September 13, so in two full weeks of practice time. They told them last Thursday that there's a possibility that they might practice on Fridays for the two weeks before the first game, sort of in hope of really putting in the playbook which seems a bit intricate.

FM

JonInMiddleGA

09-01-2009, 03:02 PM

Boy things really are different from one place to the next. 'Round these parts, most kids end up with a position somewhere around the time they get their "big boy underwear" ;)

I keed, I keed.

Good stuff, keep it coming.

FrogMan

09-02-2009, 11:42 AM

We're fielding quotations to get some landscaping done around the house so I wasn'T able to get to the field as early as I would have wanted and only saw maybe the last 15 minutes of it yesterday.

When we got there, Andrew was with a group of offensive linemen and he was at center. Most of the rest of the team were practicing their punt/punt coverage plays. From what I was told, he practiced at center for most of the practcie.

The most intersting tidbits happened off the field. First, they had some informal, unofficial weigh-in. Andrew is apparently the lightest of their linemen at 136.5 lbs. I thought he had lost weight from his early Summer 130 lbs weight. Guess he's still eating well. ;) Him being the lightest has me concerned a bit, but I'll expand on that a bit later. In other weight news, there's a lineman who'll have to shed a pound or two to make the 160lb limit since he weighed in at 162lbs, but the most interesting story in my eye involved a scrawny second year linebacker. The kid's a Secondary 2 player who's back with the Benjamins this year and as a second year player, he has to weigh les than 120 lbs. The kid in question is quite tall, but seriously without much meat on his bones, if you know what I mean. I heard his mom talking to another mom about how he had to be careful. Without getting into specifics, I had to assume that he was either a couple pounds over 120 or very close to it. I saw the coach come and talk to the mom of the kid which led me to assume he was probably over the weight limit. Looking at the kid walking toward his mother, I had a hard time imagining how he could lose weight. He was maybe 5'7" or so and as I said, not really "meatty". Will be interesting to see how if he can make the weight.

From what I understood, there's only one official weigh-in and it should happen in the week before the first game of the season. Players can go over the weight limit during the season as far as I can tell.

Back to Andrew, I had a cool little chat with his O-line coach when waiting for him to change out of his pads. That's when I learned about him being the lightest of all linemen. He didn't say it in a warning kind of tone though, simply mentioned it when talking about how his line was coming. I asked him how Andrew was working, if he was doing okay. His answer was the kind of answer you always want to hear, that he was a good kid, hard working but especially a good student, eager to learn and correct mistakes. Seriously, the "almost to good to be true" kind of answer. While talking, I mentioned to him that Andrew really loved playing the game to which he replied that it showed. He said Andrew had a good sense of the game and seemed able to see where he went wrong, for example when he blocked the wrong guy or something like that. He added that if it was only up to him, he'd keep him on the O-line full time but Andrew really wants to play some D-line. I asked him if he knew where Andrew would play on the D-line when/if he'd play there and he mentioned nose or tackle which surprised me a bit. But then, just as he'd said that, the defensive coordinator happened to pass by and confirmed that Andrew would play in a 1 technique or 3 technique, basically shade in or shade out to one of the guards. Interesting, and even as the lightest of their linemen, I'm pretty confident that if taughtwell, he could learn to plug the gaps. As some news website will say, story developping... :)

As they wrapped up practice yesterday, I heard the offensive coordinator saying he needed some players to get to the field as soon as they could for today's practice (and I assume for the next few practices). Among them were all three centers. I heard Andrew asking a question whihc I assume was something along the lines of "but I only ge here at 4:20" because the OC replied "if you get here at 4:20, I want you taking snaps starting at 4:20". His classes ends at 4 and he has to walk a couple blocks to get to the practice field which is located at another pavilion. He told us on the way back home that he got the field that day at 4:20 and that there were maybe 8 or 9 other guys already there. He said he'd try to get there as soon as he could today and would be aware not to waste too much time in the locker room, or talking prior to the start of practice... Can't ask much more from the kid. :)

FM

Icy

09-02-2009, 12:41 PM

Nice read so far.

I'm also surprised that with him being the lightest of all linemen, they are playing him as C and NT that are usually the biggest men.

JonInMiddleGA

09-02-2009, 01:32 PM

BYU 14

09-02-2009, 01:51 PM

Nice read so far.

I'm also surprised that with him being the lightest of all linemen, they are playing him as C and NT that are usually the biggest men.

Interesting observation, just because I've probably seen more undersized players on the line at those positions on their respective sides of the ball in HS than any other.

Our Center this year is smallish as well. (converted FB actually) I like a shorter Kid with quick feet and some savvy. Teams like to blitz our A Gaps so I like a kid who can cut off the approriate gap and get under the pads of the Lineman/Linebacker.

For Nose Guard I lean short and squatty there as well, but will user smaller tough kids. The NG plays a 1 technique in our scheme so he only has 1 gap responsibility and quickness is desired over strength. If we played him head up on the Center or offset I would go with a big, strong kid who could stalemate the center and handle two gaps.

Icy

09-02-2009, 01:54 PM

Interesting observation, just because I've probably seen more undersized players on the line at those positions on their respective sides of the ball in HS than any other.

Ah ok, didn't know, for me being the lighter linemen makes more sense on offense than on defense, specially if he plays NT that are usually the biggest guys meant to stop the run in the middle, but have on mind i can only watch the NFL here, never watched an HS football game ever, unless Friday Night Lights counts :)

FrogMan

09-02-2009, 02:01 PM

Nice read so far.

I'm also surprised that with him being the lightest of all linemen, they are playing him as C and NT that are usually the biggest men.

thanks, and I agree to some degree about the weight vs playing position, it surprised me too at first when I heard the 1-technique and 3-technique terms. I was loosely familiar with them but when it sorta sunk in I had to think twice about seeing him in the middle of the defensive line.

Then I thought about it more in the line of what Jon said and was unsure if weight was so important at that level. One thing I thought I'd mentioned but now realize I have not is something his O-line coach said about how stable he can be when he gets in his low stance. He said he felt he had good basics and despite being a bit lighter than some, was able to hold his ground better, and with better footwork. To some extent, this doesn't really surprise me. He's been doing karate for 7.5 years now, in fact got his black belt this past Saturday, and there's a stance we called horse stance, in which you pretty much stand with feet wide apart on both side of your body and you sink in low. It's a pretty strong stance and I'm sure his practicing of that stance over the years has given him good basics that are helpful in playing on the offensive line, or plugging gaps in the defensive line. Maybe they are seeing something I have not seen yet, by lack of attending practices. I really wish I could see more of his practices and it might happen at some point, like me getting there for 5:15 of 5:30, allowing me to see about an hour of practice, but it won't be tonight as we're meeting with yet another landscaping guy and it'll be very tight to simply make it before the end of practice. :(

Thinking about it furthermore, I'm not sure if the "big guy/strong dude" idea we have of a nose tackle is not biased by what we see in pro football, lending lots of validity to the point Jon brought in his post.

FM

FrogMan

09-02-2009, 02:03 PM

Our Center this year is smallish as well. (converted FB actually) I like a shorter Kid with quick feet and some savvy. Teams like to blitz our A Gaps so I like a kid who can cut off the approriate gap and get under the pads of the Lineman/Linebacker.

For Nose Guard I lean short and squatty there as well, but will user smaller tough kids. The NG plays a 1 technique in our scheme so he only has 1 gap responsibility and quickness is desired over strength. If we played him head up on the Center or offset I would go with a big, strong kid who could stalemate the center and handle two gaps.

Good points. I've not heard, or seen if they've been blitzing in practice so far but I'm sure it'll come during the course of the season. As I said, the comments from his O-line coach were that he was good at recognizing who he was assigned to block and it might be something they like in him.

FM

JonInMiddleGA

09-02-2009, 05:39 PM

Thinking about it furthermore, I'm not sure if the "big guy/strong dude" idea we have of a nose tackle is not biased by what we see in pro football, lending lots of validity to the point Jon brought in his post.

And then to be fair too, I was thinking of something fairly specific with regard to the defensive side of the ball.

While centers do tend to be the smallest of the OL as far as high school ball that I've watched goes, the D'Linemen I was picturing were really more NG's than NT's, using their quickness in five man fronts to shoot the gap & disrupt the backfield. A couple of teams I followed in particular had a good bit of success using guys between 190-195 that way and especially on third down.
As I sit here & think about it, I've probably seen a lot more 50's & 54's with NG's than 34's with actual NT's and may have fallen into the trap of mislabeling them at times.

FrogMan

09-03-2009, 11:41 AM

Meeting with the landscaping guy took a lot less time than first expected so we were able to make it to practice about 45 minutes before the end. By "we" I mean my wife and I. She's really into this and while she couldn't care less about his soccer playing, she caannot get enough of Andrew's football. :)

He practiced at center the whole practice yesterday. He'd told us there were three of them rotating at center but apparently one was the regular center, but the other one only did one practice and has not taken a snap since. Odd, especially since his name was mentioned when their coach asked the centers and QB to be on the field as early as possible at the start of practice.

Anyway, I could see he would have wanted to play at least a little D-line yesterday, simply by his demeanor when I asked him if he'd been at center all practice. You know, a sigh and shrug of the shoulders. I told him to make the best of whatever playing/practicing time they're giving him.

Back to the practice time we saw, they ran a sort of no huddle/quick huddle offense. Snaps were all shotgun and most of his snaps were pretty much in the hand of the QB except a bad sequence of two or three snaps. You know when you get out of synch. Snapped one really low (like knee level), the next snap one hopped before getting to the QB and he got some heat from the OC and the third one he snapped the ball on the back of his thigh, causing a fumble. That sequence made me cringe as a dad. I was mumbling behind my breath, telling him to snap out of that funk, and he did. The rest of the snaps were good.

He usually blocked well although he let a couple through and was told to watch it by a coach. On a play, one of the guys that slipped through (a tackle or linebacker I think) was clear to the QB but the QB avoided him by sidestepping in the pocket, making the guy run past him. I liked that Andrew, despite having first been beat by his man, kept his eyes on him and blocked him when he ran back toward the QB. I thought that was a good hustle on his part, and good recognition that his work was not done because he'd been beat once.

In off the field news, we learned that there will be practices for the next two Fridays, leading into their first game on Sunday September 13. They told them to bring a dinner for after next Friday's practice because they will walk on down to their playing field to watch the home opener of the Juveniles with the Cadets. Andre will only be able to watch part of it since that night (Sept. 11) will be his first night of drumming class. He's quite the busy man, our little boy...

Yesterday was also team apparel try out day where they had the off field type of clothing available for kids to try. It's not mandatory, but Andrew, like many other kids I assume, is really big on showing his colors. We ended up ordering a tuque, a couple t-shirts, a polo shirt, a hooded sweatshirt and matching sweatpants and a pair of shorts. They're supposed to pick numbers tonight and we'll have them put on his pants. I asked him if he had a number in mind this morning and he immediately said 77, which has been his number for the last two Summer football seasons.

Their team name is "Les Corsaires (http://www.lescorsaires.ca/)", although I doubt the link to their site will be of much help to many of you, as it's all in French. :)

Their their team logo is attached below.

FM

FrogMan

09-04-2009, 06:27 PM

Saw maybe the last 15 minutes of the end of their practice yesterday. Andrew was still playing center and from talking to one dad I know, he'd been there pretty much the whole practice. Saw maybe 20 shotgun snaps with one of them going to the QB's ankles but otherwise they were all reasonably well done.

When practice ended, Andrew told us he would be playing O-line all year finally. No shrug of the shoulders this time though, as if he was okay with it. I guess he was disappointed when they told him he'd play guard at the retreat camp, then had a bit of hope when they put him back on the D-line and he kept hanging to that hope. Having done three practices as center, maybe the position is growing on him and he's living with the coach's decision. Anyway, my positive comment to him was that maybe it would be better that way, would probably help him get better at one spot, perfect his techniques, instead of doing two things a bit half-way. He nodded.

Later on, when I asked him if his O-line coach was happy with his work, he said that yeah, he got praised and encouraged. I thought he looked lively in the middle and looking for a guy to block when nobody took him on.

Numbers, and jerseys, were given out. He'll wear number 55. He seemed cool with it.

Coaches decided against practicing today. There were only too many kids who couldn't make it, probably since they only confirmed it halfway through the week.

No practices until next Tuesday. First game is Sunday September 13 at 10am.

FM

Young Drachma

09-04-2009, 11:21 PM

Cool dynasty. I'm following.

FrogMan

09-05-2009, 07:06 AM

Cool dynasty. I'm following.

thanks, welcome aboard. :)

FM

FrogMan

09-09-2009, 02:02 PM

They practiced yesterday but there's not much to report. Andrew practiced at center most of practice. I got there with maybe 30 minutes to go in practice and he stayed at center for all of scrimmage. He later told me that they are back to three known centers on the lineup but that he took most of the snaps. He said another guy snapped the ball when they ran drills for their ground game but that he was at center for all of their 12-on-12 scrimmage.

Yeah, 12-on-12 since that's how we play football in Canada. :)

I'll put together something about the differences in rules and plan on posting it at some point before they first game.

Back to practice, I saw his O-line coach do quite a bit of teaching and thought it was nice. He said his coach had good things to tell him although their offensive coordinator got on his case for a few low snaps. I did see some of those and they always make me cringe. "Practice makes perfect" is what I told him.

Their practices so far have all been on a small field behind their school. They will be practicing on their regulation size game field today. That's another difference in rule. Their regulation size field is based on Canadian rules, i.e. 110 x 65 yards with 20 yards deep end zones and goal posts on the goal line. That field is the home field of the local CEGEP (see earlier) football team and is where are three teams of his school will play their home games. It's a nice field, maybe 5-6 years old with good quality artifical turf and nice seating for a couple thousand people or maybe a bit more. You can see the field from up top in this Google Map (http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=46.81852,-71.1526&spn=0.001542,0.005493&t=h&z=18).

Their current practice field is the same field they played their Summer League games on and can be found in this Google Map (http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=46.806966,-71.172792&spn=0.001542,0.003449&z=18). It's 80 yards long by about 45 yards wide. They are practicing sideways on it, i.e. they've made marks to show the regulation 65 yards width and have about 45 yards of length to practice plays.

FM

FrogMan

09-10-2009, 04:06 PM

Really not much to report today as they practiced at their gameday home field and were brought back and forth by bus, so I didn't get to see a minute of practice.

Andrew told me that he started at center and then they tried back one of the other centers and from then on, he went from guard to defensive tackle. He said he thought the OC liked the other guy's snaps more. I try not to get too down on it, but I have this nagging feeling he will end up being moved around. I know, I'm probably making a bigger deal than what it is but as a parent, you know how you want the best for your kid. I want him to have fun and not end up being more often on the sideline than on the field. Oh well. He told me he was okay about it, but I never know if the long face after practice is simply cause he's tired or bothered by something. Andrew's not the biggest of talkers...

It's still unclear if they will be practicing in pads or simply reviewing films and going over plays this Friday. Will have to enquire after tonight's practice.

FM

FrogMan

09-11-2009, 11:56 AM

Was kinda confused when I got to practice yesterday. There was about 30 minutes left in it and they were scrimmaging 12-on-12. So far pretty regular stuff, right? Andrew was lined up at right defensive end, pretty regular, right? But on the other side of the line, the QB was under center, not in his usual shotgun position. At first I thought they had simply decided to put in some plays with the QB under center although I thought it was a bit weird to do so only three days prior to the first game of the season. Then it hit me when I heard a backup WR on the sidelines ask the offensive coordinator "and these are all their plays?", to which the OC replied "I don't know all their plays. These are plays I've seen them run in the past." They were practicing their D with the O acting as a scout team, mimicking the team they'll be playing this week.

About Andrew, as I said he was in the right DE spot on a three man line and was always cutting in, quite probably because it's what they were asking him to do. Had a nice tackle on a slow developing run where he slided from tackle to guard to the hole and came fac to face with the RB just as the RB hit the hole. Kept his ground and wrapped the tackle all good. Well done kiddo!

He later said he ran some plays at center at the start of practice, but without the D in front of him. Then he played a bit at one of the guard position to finally end the practice the RDE spot. Doesn't know where he'll play on Sunday and that's got me worried a bit. Simply hope he'll get enough playing time to have fun and feel like he contributed. Again, maybe I'm just worrying too much but I just want him to be able to show what he can do, cause I know he can do stuff and be helpful to the team.

They wrapped practice with a good speech from their coach about always going full speed from snap to whistle. He said they'd been looking at films of some practices and mentioned that some guys give up on plays a bit early. To get the mentality in, they finished with some stop and go running mixed with some pushups. A good 5-8 minutes of running had them all say "YES!" when the coach asked "WILL YOU RUN FROM SNAP TO WHISTLE ON SUNDAY?". Probably all cute to you all, but I thought it was funny, to see these 12-13 year olds getting drilled like that.

They'll be practicing tonight from 4:30 to 6:30 and will all get together at 8, with the Cadets, for the home opener of the Juvenile team, their first home game as a Juvenile AAA team, up from AA last year.

Mommy will take Andrew to his first drum lesson around 9 but I'll stay and watch the game and they'll get back around 10 to catch the end of it.

FM

Senator

09-11-2009, 08:34 PM

Interesting observation, just because I've probably seen more undersized players on the line at those positions on their respective sides of the ball in HS than any other.

Reading along. Just FYI, my smallest lineman every year seems to be a center. I play my smartest kid there, who won't get rattled. Being the smallest rarely is an issue, because he is getting help with a double team block usually from either the left or right guard.

Senator

09-11-2009, 08:40 PM

Also our 1 technique are on the smaller big kid side, because they bear crawl though the gaps and get in the knees of the big nasties.

FrogMan

09-12-2009, 07:38 PM

Reading along. Just FYI, my smallest lineman every year seems to be a center. I play my smartest kid there, who won't get rattled. Being the smallest rarely is an issue, because he is getting help with a double team block usually from either the left or right guard.

Also our 1 technique are on the smaller big kid side, because they bear crawl though the gaps and get in the knees of the big nasties.

thanks for reading, and for your very interesting comments. I'll post an update in a few minutes.

FM

FrogMan

09-12-2009, 07:47 PM

Big day is tomorrow. Curfew/lights out time set by the coach to 9pm tonight. :)

They had a shorter practice yesterday, when I got there around 5:50, they were running special teams trick plays and Andrew was on the sideline with his O-line coach. He got in for one play then got out, I simply assumed he's not really part of the special teams. He said he took some snaps but mostly played defensive line and guard. He said Alex, the other center who had been snapping the ball all the way back to their Summer practice without equipment, is supposed to play center tomorrow. When I asked him if he knew for sure where he'd play, he kinda shrugged a "not really". I could only tell him to be ready for anything and give his best.

They wrapped practice at no later than 6:05.

Their offensive coordinator gave the offensive linemen and running backs a little homework to do and bring back for the game. Two simple pages consisting of all their possible lineups and blocking schemes. He said they could use their playbook and simply needed to trancsribe to those sheets what the corresponding blocking schemes were. I'm just guessing he wanted them to siply crack that playbook and force them to look at the plays and not simply rely on others on the line or in the huddle to tell them their assignment.

The team they play tomorrow is called Petit Séminaire de Québec and is a rather smallish private school but with a long history of good football teams. They didn't field a Benjamin team last year but had a Benjamin-minor team (no players from Secondary 2). That team finished 7th out of 7 teams, losing all six of their games. Looking at their registered players, they only show a lineup of 23 players to our 39. Four of their heaviest players are listed as OL-DL and three OL. Of those 7, Andrew would be the third heaviest, with a 140lbs and a 150lbs ahead of him. What is odd is that based on the birth months/year of their players, they only show 9 players that are in Secondary two out of their 23, so still plenty of first year players.

We didn't have a Benjamin-minor team last year but had one two years which is the last time I can find a game between the two schools. Corsaires ended up winning that one 36-24, their only win of that season however.

Next up I'll have something about rules, Canadian vs American and rules specific to their league.

FM

FrogMan

09-12-2009, 08:02 PM

I'm now gonna try to put together something about rules they'll be using. Most of the stuff you probably already know (or can find online) since it's Canadian vs American football and lots of it comes from this wikipedia page:
Comparison of Canadian and American football - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canadian_and_American_football)

I could let your go read it but I'll try to bring the most important points here. I'll put in blue the one specifically relating to their league and/or the Benjamin level of football.

Field size:
As said before, their home field is a regulation Canadian Football field that is 65 yards wide by 110 yards long. Minimum size for a Benjamin field is 50 yards by 90 yards alhtough I'm pretty sure all team in Benjamin AA will play on regulation size fields.

The distance between the hasmarks in Canadian football is also quite wider than in the American football, or at least what it is in the NFL.

Players on the field:
Again, as said before, they will play with the Canadian rule of 12-on-12. Both games have the same number of players required at the line of scrimmage, so the twelfth player in the Canadian game plays a backfield position.

there is no tight end in most formations in Canadian football. The typical offensive arrangement in Canadian football is for there to be two slotbacks instead of the American tight end, while on the defensive end of the ball, two defensive halfbacks and one safety are employed instead of two safeties.

I'll add some lineup rules specific to Benjamins below.

Number of downs:
Everybody knows that you only have three downs to advance 10 yards in Canadian Football, well it'll stay at four downs for Benjamin, and all high school football too.

Scrimmage:
In Canadian football, the distance between the line of scrimmage and the defensive team is a full yard. Because of this one-yard distance, teams will tend to gamble on third and one in teh CFL. If a team has possession within one yard of either goal line, the line of scrimmage is moved to the one-yard line.

There was this interesting comment on the wikipedia page: "While large, immobile offensive line players who cannot be penetrated by the defence are valued in American football, the extra distance from the defensive team means Canadian football finds value in more nimble athletes."

Interestingly enough, there is no yard between the two lines in Cadet and Juvenile, only in Benjamin

Motion at the snap:
In Canadian football, all offensive backfield players, except the quarterback, may be in motion at the snap – players in motion may move in any direction as long as they are behind the line of scrimmage at the snap. In addition, the two players on the ends of the line of scrimmage (generally wide receivers) may also be in motion along the line. If you've seen some CFL highlights, you know how much movement is sometimes happening behind the line of scrimmage. Andrew's team also has movements from the backs and slotbacks on almost every play.

Fair catches and punt returns:
There is no fair catch rule in Canadian football: instead no player from the kicking team except the kicker or any player who was behind him when he kicked the ball may approach within five yards of the ball until it has been touched by an opponent. If they do, a "no yards" penalty is called against the kicking team. This also mean that there could be a sort of "onside punt" where an offensive backfield player could go around the punter and try to challenge to field the punt, stealing it from the defense.

In other words, on any kick, the kicker and any member of the kicker's team behind the kicker at the time of the kick may recover and advance the ball. On a kickoff, since every member of the kicking team must be behind the ball when it is kicked, this effectively makes all twelve players "onside" and eligible to recover the kick, once it has gone ten yards downfield. On a punt or missed field goal, usually only the kicker is onside, as no one is behind the kicker. All of the players offside at the time of the kick may neither touch the ball nor be within five yards of the member of the receiving team who fields the kick; violation of this rule is a penalty for no yards. The penalty for no yards is more severe if the kick is in flight than if it has been grounded.

Time rules:
Timing rules change drastically after the N-minute (where N=2 in the NFL and N=3 in Canadian Football, including Canadian high school) warning in both leagues. In American football, the clock continues to run after any tackle in bounds, but stops after an incomplete pass, or a tackle out of bounds (in the NFL, the clock stops on out of bounds plays inside five minutes remaining in the half). If the clock stops, it is restarted at the snap of the ball. In Canadian football, the clock stops after every play, but the starting time differs depending on the result of the previous play: after a tackle in bounds, the clock restarts when the referee whistles the ball in; after an incomplete pass or a tackle out of bounds, the clock restarts when the ball is snapped.

In American football, a period generally ends when time expires (though any play which is in progress when the clock reaches 0:00 is allowed to finish); in Canadian football, the period must end with a final play. Consequently, a play is often started in Canadian football with no time (0:00) showing on the game clock.

Speaking of timer and clock, I have volunteered to be in charge of the game clock for the Benjamin's three home games. The visiting team can, but are not required to, have somebody in the booth with me. The team needed volunteers for a few little tasks and I figured I'll be at every game anyway. I'd rather be up there taking care of the clock, than cooking hot dogs at the cnack bar. ;)

Time of play will be four quarters of 12 minutes each. Quarters 1 & 3 cannot last more than 35 minutes in continuous time while quarters 2 & 4 cannot last more than 35 minutes before the three minute warning, meaning that if that 35 minutes mark is reached, the clock will be brought to 3 minutes and the last 3 mintues will be played according to rules.

Field goals, singles, and touchbacks:
In general, in Canadian football any kick that goes into the end zone is a live ball, except for a successful field goal or if the goalposts are hit while the ball is in flight. If the player receiving the kick fails to return it out of the end zone, or (except on a kickoff) if the ball was kicked through the end zone, then the kicking team scores a single point (rouge), and the returning team scrimmages from its 35-yard line or, if the rouge is scored as a result of a missed field goal attempt, the receiving team may choose the last point of scrimmage. If a kickoff goes through the end zone without a player touching it or a kicked ball in flight hits a post without scoring a field goal, there is no score, and the receiving team scrimmages from its 25. If the kick is returned out of the end zone, the receiving team next scrimmages from the place that was reached (or if they reach the opponents' goal line, they score a touchdown); in the amateur levels of the game, they are given the ball at their 20-yard line if the kick was not returned that far.

That one is a rule I kinda feel is rewarding you for failing. I mean, you miss a field goal but if you kicked it far enough, you'll get a point.

Following a successful field goal, in Canadian rules, the team scored upon has the option of receiving a kickoff, kicking off from its 35-yard line, or scrimmaging at its own 35-yard line.

Points after touchdown
Now what, a PAT is a PAT, right? It sure is, but the position of the ball is. From the 2-yard-line in American professional football (3-yard-line in amateur), the ball will be at the 5-yard-line in Canadian football. You gotta remember though that the Canadian kicker is actually closer to the goalposts, which are on the goal line in Canada and on the end line in the United States.

In Benjamin, a kicked PAT is worth two points while a passed/rushed PAT is only worth one point, no doubt to encourage the use of kicking early on in the kids' high school career.

Hope you at least learned one new rule or two and that I didn't bore you to death. I did actually learn a few myself, or at least clarified them since I was unsure of their application.

Here are some rules that are specific to the Benjamin league...

Specific lineup limitations for Benjamin
DEFENSE
1) A maximum of 7 players can be in the defensive box which is comprised of defensive linemen and linebackers. Accepted alignments are: 43-34-52-25-61-16-70

2) The presence of a safety is mandatory and he must line up at least 10 yards from the line of scrimmage.

3) Maximum defensive pressure with 7 players. Pressure must come from players in the defensive box. No defensive pressure to come from defensive backs or the safety.

4) If an offense uses a tight end, the opposing defense can include an extra (8th) player in the defensive box. This extra player cannot be the safety. If a second TE is used, the defense can put in a 9th player in the defensive box which also cannot be the safety.

5) On a fourth down, there are no limitations on the number of players in the defensive box. There's also no limitation on the number of players putting pressure.

6) When the line of scrimmage is at less than 10 yards from the defense's goal line, the safety can lineup on the goal line.

OFFENSE
1) No more than two running backs can be in the backfield at the same time.

2) This limit on the number of running backs stands also on fourth downs.

3) No limits on the number of motions from wider receivers and running backs, according to what is allowed in Canadian football.

FM

FrogMan

09-12-2009, 08:05 PM

oh, and in other news, we went to the Juvenile home opener last night. Was a bummer cause they lost it 28-23. They were only losing it 7-0 at the half and would have had the chance to score early on but they got denied a fourth and one on the opposing team's 12 yard line or the like. Seems like it they struggled after that.

They lost one of their running back from late in the first quarter until right after the half. Kid is our QB's brother and suffered a broken bone in his foot this Summer. Was afraid it was something to his foot again. Was glad to see him back in the game later on although he didn't seem as aggressive as he was early in the game...

FM

FrogMan

09-12-2009, 08:38 PM

not sure anyone would feel the need to check, but if you want to see team lineups, you can go to this website (http://www.arseqca.com/ADMIS/index.php?arse=qca).

It's all in French, so I'll try to guide you. Once there, click on the "Athlètes" tab, then on the "Sélection" dropdown menu right under the three tabs, then go right to "Par regroupement..." which gives you many school boards. Andrew's team is under "Navigateurs-Sec." and his school name is "Champagnat/G.Couture".

The team they'll play tomorrow falls under "A.S.I.P." and is called "Petit Séminaire de Québec"

I just went back cause I was curious to see if PSQ had added new players, or more information on their players, since it was not all there when I checked earlier in the week. They added weights for some OL that didn't have their weights earlier on. From heaviest to lightest, their OL weights (and size) are the following:
5'2", 150
5'6", 125
5', 125
5'4", 119
5'5", 113
5'2", 110
5'4", 106
5'4", 103

considerably lighter than what Andrew's team is presenting, but they do have a running back who's listed at 5'5", 140lbs.

Can't wait for tomorrow, can you tell? ;)

FM

FrogMan

09-13-2009, 04:51 PM

Big, big day today. :)

Meetup time was set to 7:45 for a kickoff time of 10am. They were taking both team and individual pictures and that's the reason for the early arrival. I think two hours prior to game time will be the norm from now on though.

I dropped Andrew off and since our home field is about 10-15 minutes from home anyway, I went o McDonalds to get some breakfast and a coffee. Got back a bit later and helped other parents set the snack bar tent. Honestly, for a Benjamin level game, they had a nice the whole thing going with chocolate bars, sodas, gatorades, juice, coffee, and even hot dogs on the grill.

PSQ arrived at about 8:45 in a yellow school bus, all geared up and ready to warm up. They didn't even go to the locker room, even though we had one available to them. As they were walking to their bench on the side, what I had seen on paper yesterday kinda got confirmed to me. They were a lot less in numbers than our team, and looked smaller.

Our team came out of the locker room about 45 minutes prior to kickoff and did their warmup routine that includes positional drills and such. They went back to the locker room with about 15 minutes left before the game and came back for kickoff.

As I said, I had timekeeping duties for that home game and that kind of blurred my recollection of the game. :) Lots of fun doing it though

The game, oh the game! Great win, 44-0!!! From what I could tell, the kids executed well, with a good playcalling that blended a nice mix of passing and rushing plays, maybe a bit more passing than rushing which is surprising in a way for kids that age. QB ran a couple TDs and had a couple passing TDs in the win. The punter/kicker will probably turn out to be a great asset for the team. He's a kid with whom Andrew has already played soccer, and he's got a good leg. As I said in the rules section, kicked PATs are worth 2 points while rusing/passing PATs are worth only 1 point. We went with kicks all game long and he only missed one, IIRC.

Their D had a very good game with the shutout and all but the other team's offense was definitely weaker than ours. Still, the kids were on the ball, swarming and putting pressure.

Andrew looked so frigging proud when he ran out on the field in his glorious blue jersey. He flashed me a smile that was worth a million dollars. :) He played all game on the D-line, as DT in their 43, then moving to DE when they switched to a 33. He was in there for all defensive drives except the last one of the game and overall, I thought he had an okay game. Not outstanding, nor outplayed. He looked a bit slow on the snap and I told him to keep his head on the ball in order to be able to launch as soon as the ball is snapped. He said he was doing that, but he definitely looked like he was looking at his opposing o-line and waited for him to make a move before he made his. Then, I thought he was not applying as much pressure as I've seen him do in the past. And it's not really because the guy in front of him was much bigger than him. Not sure how to say this, but he looked like he gave a good push, then sorta stopped and waited, even if only briefly, to see if the QB had passed the ball or if the runner was coming his way, even sometimes taking a step back instead of going forward. Finally, I felt like he took on his o-line every time without trying to shed the block in any way, as if he'd forgotten how to do a swim or a rip move. Maybe all the time he's passed on the O-line has somehow mixed his instincts.

I didn't really knock him down on any of these points, simply reminded him of things to work on. Don't get me wrong, he had a good game overall. Best of all, he looked extremely happy, and had fun. Heck, he got to play D-line! :)

FM

FrogMan

09-15-2009, 02:06 PM

Here are the scores for this first week of activity in the Benjamin AA division:
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr class="blanc-rouge"><td>No.</td> <td colspan="2"> Date</td> <td> time</td> <td> Visitor</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> Home</td> <td> Place</td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td> 913 </td> <td> Sam </td> <td align="right"> 12-Sep-09 </td> <td> 13:00 </td> <td> ODYSSÉE-LAF-DR(SL) </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 42 </td> <td> ANC.-LORETTE</td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td> 912 </td> <td> Sam </td> <td align="right"> 12-Sep-09 </td> <td> 10:00 </td> <td> BENOIT-VACHON </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 26 </td> <td> CLÉ-DU-BOISÉ</td> <td> Stade ESLE </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td> 914 </td> <td> Dim </td> <td align="right"> 13-Sep-09 </td> <td> 10:00 </td> <td> P.SÉM.QUÉBEC </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 44 </td> <td> CHAMP.-G.COUTURE</td> <td> Stade Cégep LL </td></tr></tbody></table>
And here are the standings after one week of activity:
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr class="blanc-rouge"><td align="center">pos
</td> <td align="center">Tteams</td> <td align="center"> GP</td> <td align="center"> W
</td> <td align="center"> T
</td><td align="center"> L
</td> <td align="center"> FP
</td> <td align="center"> PF
</td> <td align="center"> PA
</td> <td align="center"> PTS </td></tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td> CHAMP.-G.COUTURE </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td><td align="center"> 44 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 3 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 2 </td> <td> ANC.-LORETTE </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td><td align="center"> 42 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 3 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 3 </td> <td> CLÉ-DU-BOISÉ </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td><td align="center"> 26 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 3 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 4 </td> <td> BENOIT-VACHON </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td><td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 26 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 5 </td> <td> ODYSSÉE-LAF-DR(SL) </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 42 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 6 </td> <td> P.SÉM.QUÉBEC </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 44 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td> N.D.TRINITÉ </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td></tr></tbody></table>
FP stands for "Fairplay Point", a point your team is given unless something really usportmanlike happens.

To be quite honest, this being my son's first year in high school football, I don't know much about the other schools, like who's a powerhouse or who are doormats. Before the game, I was pretty sure we could handle PSQ, maybe not to the extent of what we did, although confidence went up as we watched them warm up before the game. I expected Anc.-Lorette to be able to beat Odyssée easily. Odyssée is the only team we were able to beat in 7 games last season, with them ending the season winless.

For a bit more background here are the standings as they stood after the 2008 season:
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr class="blanc-rouge"><td align="center">pos</td> <td align="center"> Teams</td> <td align="center"> GP</td> <td align="center"> W</td> <td align="center"> T</td><td align="center"> L</td> <td align="center"> FP</td> <td align="center"> PF
</td> <td align="center"> PA
</td> <td align="center"> PTS </td></tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td> ACAD.ST-LOUIS </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 232 </td> <td align="center"> 22 </td> <td align="center"> 21 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 2 </td> <td> N.D.TRINITÉ </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 6 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 230 </td> <td align="center"> 116 </td> <td align="center"> 19 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 3 </td> <td> BENOIT-VACHON </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 4 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 3 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 113 </td> <td align="center"> 82 </td> <td align="center"> 15 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 4 </td> <td> CLÉ-DU-BOISÉ </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 4 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 3 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 157 </td> <td align="center"> 134 </td> <td align="center"> 15 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 5 </td> <td> ANC.-LORETTE </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 3 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 4 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 158 </td> <td align="center"> 178 </td> <td align="center"> 13 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 6 </td> <td> S.ST-FRANÇOIS </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 3 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 4 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 128 </td> <td align="center"> 152 </td> <td align="center"> 13 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td> CHAMP.-G.COUTURE </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 1 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 6 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 104 </td> <td align="center"> 236 </td> <td align="center"> 9 </td> </tr> <tr class="blanc-bleu"> <td align="center"> 8 </td> <td> ODYSSÉE-LAF-DR(SL) </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td> <td align="center"> 0 </td><td align="center"> 7 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td><td align="center"> 44 </td> <td align="center"> 246 </td> <td align="center"> 7 </td></tr></tbody></table>

While they can't explain everything, I thought they'd at least give some insight into what to expect a little. Acad. St-Louis and S.St-François have pulled out of the Benjamin AA division, opting to only field a Benjamin-minor team instead. It's sort of a shame cause Académie St-Louis has the reputation of being a powerhouse of football in the area and it would have been kinda nice to see if we would have been able to hang in there against them.

We will be playing Odyssée-Laf-Dr next saturday on the road and after seeing Ancienne-Lorette beat them with such a high score, it'll be interesting to see if we can match them. Even more interesting with the fact that Ancienne-Lorette will be visiting us the following week, after playing Petit Séminaire de Québec this weekend, a game which I can only assume they will win by a high score. A meeting of two unbeaten teams is quite possible there...

As for Clé-du-Boisé, Benoît-Vachon, and Notre Dame Trinité, I honestly still don't have a clue where they'll end up or how the Corsaires will match up with them. Might have a better idea after a couple weeks. This weekend might give us a better idea of how they match up with one another as Notre Dame Trinité will play host to Clé-du-Boisé. Benoît-Vachon have a bye this week.

FM

Senator

09-15-2009, 10:18 PM

44-0 is a pretty solid start. Congrats. You may have a pretty good team!

JonInMiddleGA

09-15-2009, 11:28 PM

One down, presumably six to go.

FrogMan

09-16-2009, 09:05 AM

It's always a little joy for me to simply go and pick him up after practice. Again got to watch maybe 30 minutes of scrimmage yesterday. Andrew was back to playing center and I went WTF? Played all game on the D-line on Sunday and he's back at center??? First thoughts on his play were that his snaps looked tighter, remember that they're snapping the ball exclusively from shotgun. He did snap a couple to the QB's ankles very late in practice but I assumed they were more out of being tired and such, since it was really close to the end of the two hour practice. The first several snaps were straight at chest level of the QB and looked to be coming with some speed, i.e. not too wobbly, which is good.

He told me after practice that the starting center injured his leg, he was unclear if it was ankle or knee, so it was why he was playing center during scrimmage. When asked if he'd been at center all practice long, he said the other guy started at center when they were in unit but he did all of scrimmage. I asked him where he was in said unit section, he simply said with the O-line. When asked if he'd taken some reps as a guard he told me he was looking on from the sideline. I almost got worked up there. I mean, why would you just stand on the sideline when working with your unit? He then explained that they were putting in a new blocking scheme called CHAIR where the center was the one who pulled and trapped. Ahhh, I then asked him which side he was gonna trap to and he answered matter of factly "to the right, see the R at the end. If the center was asked to pull to the left, the scheme would be CHILL". I couldn't help but be somewhat impressed by his understanding of it.

I asked him if he'd had fun and he nodded enthusiastically. It's important to me that he's having fun. Sure, it's a lot of work, it's three evening a week, but there needs to be fun involved in there. He's too youn at 12 to have to be forced to play a sport. He then went on to say that he got complimented by their D-line coach on his play at center. Said the coach told him he was a good center, he particularly liked his stance and his work after the snap. Andrew also told me his O-line taught him of a better way to grip the ball to snap him, which might be the reason for the tighter snaps.

Finally, injuries might be starting to show up a bit. Besides the center who was limping a bit, a guard had a severe limp while getting off the field. She (yeah, the guard in question is a 149lbs girl ;)) apparently hurt her leg during scrimmage and while Andrew was unclear as to what part of the leg she injured, he said she went down hard and was in obvious pain when it happened. Given those two injuries, early guess would have him play O-line this weekend...

Sadly, I won't be picking him up tonight as I will start giving karate classes on Wednesdays again, starting tonight. Will have to question on how it went when I get back hom. :)

FM

FrogMan

09-16-2009, 09:06 AM

44-0 is a pretty solid start. Congrats. You may have a pretty good team!

Thanks. Yeah, I think they could do well on the season. There were a couple of kids from the Cadet team in the booth on Sunday and all they kept saying was how much better this team is compared to how they were only a couple seasons ago.

FM

FrogMan

09-16-2009, 09:07 AM

One down, presumably six to go.

Season is six regular season games with regional semi-finals and possibly regional finals. Don't know if there's a provincial finals at the Benjamin level though.

FM

FrogMan

09-17-2009, 11:43 AM

As I was saying yesterday, I didn't get to pick up Andrew after yesterday's practice. Still got to question him a bit to get some info on how it went though. :)

His answer: "well". Heh, the joy of speaking with a 12 year old.

Questioned some more, new answer: "yeah, practice went well".

I got out of him that he practiced at center all practice long. The starting center, while dressed, didn't practice much, if at all. When asked if his snaps went well, or if had some bad ones, he said that yeah he had a few but he got better at other times. I asked him if he thought he'd play center for the game and he said for now, it looked like it but nothing had been confirmed.

My wife is a bit paranoid and she's hoping the other center is not the type of player to take it easy in practices only to be really happy to show up for games. I gotta say this has sorta been in the back of my mind. I told her that heck, it's not like he's a superstar running back or even the QB and that his snaps are all that much better than Andrew's. Practice time will, at some point, give Andrew a definite advantage. Again, Andrew told me it enjoyed his practice, it's all I wanted to hear really.

The guard that was injured the day before didn't dress for yesterday's practice. Turns out it's a knee. He said her knee was all wrapped up in elastic bandage. No idea how severe it is though.

Their QB also didn't practice yesterday because of some back pain and that's gotta be a bit worrisome. They have this one QB who's a real star, very good and can read the game well but after that, up until this week, I had not seen any other kid take snaps. Maybe they did before I arrived to practice, but still. They have a smallish kid who only started playing in the Summer league this year but has been playing baseball for four years as a pitcher, I was told. Saw him take a few snaps on Tuesday and while yeah, he had the arm, he's still learning in his reads and has some obvious holes in his knowledge of the playbook.

I'd think if we ever get to a big lead in this week's game, it would be a good time to give the backup QB some playing time...

FM

FrogMan

09-18-2009, 02:10 PM

Saw 30 minutes of practice yesterday and it was more of the same. Andrew was at center and the snaps I saw were reasonably good. He switched with their other center with about 5 snaps to go in scrimmage.

When asked about his practice, he said he did most of practice as the center but got pulled whenever he did a bad snap, which he said happened a few times. But this time, he said he was snapping too high instead of to the QB's ankles which I thought was interesting. Matter of finding a balance between the two I guess.

He said the OC told them the other center was still considered the starting center and when I asked Andrew where he thought he'd be playing, he said he guessed it would be on the D-line, a place where he's not taken a snap all week long. I saw the starting center walk around gingerly, favoring a leg quite a bit when walking up the small hill to the practice field. I told Andrew about it and to keep himself ready for anything comes gametime, to stay focused and practice his snaps when the offense is on the field on Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised he ends up playing center at some point.

Andrew also admitted blowing a couple of blocking assignments. I reminded him it was his duty to study his playbook which he agreed.

Now, as a dad, and his #1 fan, I only hope he won't look too bad on the D-line, after focusing so much of his effort on the O-line. He's still young, and the mindset between the two lines is quite a bit different. I'll make sure to remind him to go on the hunt if he ends up on the D-line, and not only engage his offensive lineman and push.

The injured guard was again out of practice but he said he's not taken one snap at guard during the week. Like the day before though, the most worrisome thing was the fact their QB didn't practice. Andrew said he stopped by for maybe 30 minutes at the start of practice but didn't dress. Let's hope he'll be ready to play tomorrow since their backup QB really is not on the same level.

Their Head coach had a few choiced words for them when they wrapped up practice. He told them that their level of intensity or quality of work for this past week of practice was complete crap compared to last week's practices. He said he didn't know if it was because they'd won their first game 44-0 or what, but he reminded them that they had only won one game, not ten. That even in any case where an easy game might be coming, they still had to give themselves goals and achieve them. I had kinda seen that brashness with some kids, mostly DBs and WRs from what I could tell.

About tomorrow's game, they'll be playing on the road, at the only out of region team. It'll be about a 3 hours ride to get there (http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=%C3%89cole+Sec.+Champagnat&daddr=Chemin+Saint-Thomas,+Chicoutimi,+QC&hl=en&geocode=FQA2ygIdWfnB-yG-Z3lSQFlZaQ%3BFWDP4gId49LD-w&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=47.583823,-71.147759&sspn=1.771095,3.521118&ie=UTF8&ll=47.632082,-71.213379&spn=1.769466,3.521118&t=h&z=8). Kids will leave by bus at 8am while we'll probably leave in car at around 9am. Kickoff is at 1pm. The school they be playing lost their first game 42-0, as I reported earlier and was our Benjamins' first and only win of the season last year.

You can see their stadium if you zoom in on the destination. Looks like a pretty nice stadium. FWIW, UQAC stands for Université du Québec À Chicoutimi, so it's really a University campus.

Will be a long day, but I'm really looking forward to the road trip. :)

FM

FrogMan

09-21-2009, 02:01 PM

The weather was great and the kids looked ready. And ready, they were, as they showed with the great kickoff return that started it all, followed with three quick plays that resulted in a first TD only 3 minutes into the game. They followed it up by recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and one more minute later, they were ahead 14-0. They never looked back and won it big time, 42-0.

Great game by the team overall. We had a TD on a kick return, many big pressures by the D resulting in them conceding 2 or 3 safeties instead of punting the ball away out of their endzone, and finally a nice 15-20 yard long TD pass.

As for Andrew, well, it was a bit disappointing. Not so much his play, but how much playing time he got and how he was moved around a bit. Turns out that all injured players were back on the lineup and Andrew was not a starter on either side of the ball. In fact, he didn't step on the field until there was maybe 9 minutes to play in the second quarter (12 minutes long quarters) and even then, it was as a DT and they recovered a fumble on the first play of the drive.

After that, he played some more on the D-line and then played at right guard. He was called for a dubious holding while at right guard but 2-3 plays later he did a key block going up to the middle linebacker, opening the way for their running back to run in a 12 yard TD.

After the game, I got to talk to him as he was walking off the field. He said he was happy with the win and he didn't look too disappointed in not playing as much as he was used to. He simply told me he learned he was not starting right before the game and knew he would be going in only later in the game.

I think we, his parents, took it a bit harder. Then again, not so much me, but my wife (his mother) more than anything else. I could see how him having practiced at center all week long took him out of contention for a starting spot on the D-line, or maybe as a guard once the starting center spot was given to the other guy, but sometimes it's just how it is. It's not always fair, but life rarely is. She was incensed that Andrew didn't ask to practice elsewhere during the week, that he "apparently" didn't practice as hard as he could, or whatever else she think he should have done. Basically, he should have been able to become a starter, at least in her opinion. We had somewhat of an argument Saturday evening (leading to me only posting this report today, had to let the dust settle down in a way ;)) where she did make a good point. She's a perfectionist and in her eyes, she really believes that Andrew has a lot of potential, in football and in other areas in life, but that he's always only doing just ever so much to only "get by". I do agree that he often frustrates me in that aspect, but aren't all, or almost all 12yo kids just about that way? I mean, sure he could be planning out his homeworks in advance and such, but again, when we were 12, weren't we much more interested in playing than in doing homeworks?

Oh, sure, I felt he could have been practicing his karate harder in the weeks leading to his black belt test, but I also know he felt he was ready, and I saw that the other kids getting ready to test didn't really practice much harder. Same goes with football practice last week. The other linemen (O or D) didn't really practice that much harder than he did. Could he have been overzealous and kick all sorts of butt to impress the coaches? Maybe, but again, he told me after the game that he was happy with how much he played.

In our discussion, my wife told me I couldn't blame her for wanting to see her son play, not only practice. Sure, but that's sorta selfsih in a way was my reply. I mean, I asked him if he was happy with his playing time or not and he genuinely replied he was okay with it. Said he was a bit disappointed when he learned he wasn't starting but that he was okay with how involved he got to be later on in the game. It's not really about if I'm the one who's happy, but more so, was he happy. What else could I do? Smack him behind the head so he would practice harder or whine to get more playing time? To me, that would be akin to forcing him to play a sport he doesn't like, which is something I have never done and will never do. Way we've always done is be there for our kids when they want to play a sport and make sure they know what they're getting into when they sign up so that they don't stop midway through a season. Right now, Andrew is giving his all from what I can see in practices. Sure he could work on some parts of his playing, and I'll push him to try and be better, but I don't think we could be doing more. I offered him to be his QB so he could practice his snaps maybe a week ago and he told me he wanted to go play with his friends. Was it wrong of him? I don't really think so.

One other thing that I think has my wife worried/nervous is that she's got apprehension for next season already. He'll be moving up to Cadet where he'll be a Secondary 2 kids among a bunch of Secondary 3 kids, or probbaly Secondary 2 kids who might be bigger than him, and then again could be trying real hard to get playing time. I told her not to get ahead of herself, a bunch of stuff can happen in a year.

For me, if there was one thing I thought could have been handled better by the coaches, and it could have been said about last week's game too, it's that they could have given Andrew some playing time at center when the score got to 35-0 with about seven minutes to play. Seriously, why not give him a chance to show what he's got then, instead of in a big game when your starting center gets injured and your backup has never played a snap in that position. I guess they're not thinking that their center will ever be injured enough not to play, then why do they have Andrew practicing there then? Simply cause they need a practice squad center? That's the bit that's bugging me a bit...

I am rambling. If you've read up to now, thanks a lot. I said this would be about expressing my moments of pride, but also the frustrating moments. I guess you got a bit of everything in this post. :) Feel free to share your thoughts on the matter at hand.

Next up, results from elsewhere in the league as well as standings.

FM

FrogMan

09-21-2009, 02:03 PM

Here are the results of this second week of activity in the Benjamin AA division:
<table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 377pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="502"><col style="width: 146pt;" width="194"> <col style="width: 14pt;" width="19" span="2"> <col style="width: 203pt;" width="270"> <tbody><tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 146pt;" x:str=" N.D.TRINITÉ " width="194" height="17"> N.D.TRINITÉ </td> <td class="xl26" style="width: 14pt;" x:num="" width="19">46</td> <td class="xl26" style="width: 14pt;" x:num="" width="19">16</td> <td class="xl27" style="width: 203pt;" x:str=" BENOIT-VACHON " width="270"> BENOIT-VACHON </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl25" style="border-top: medium none; height: 12.75pt;" x:str=" CORSAIRES " height="17"> CORSAIRES </td> <td class="xl24" style="border-top: medium none;" x:num="">42</td> <td class="xl24" style="border-top: medium none;" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl25" style="border-top: medium none;" x:str=" ODYSSÉE-LAFONTAINE(SL) "> ODYSSÉE-LAFONTAINE(SL) </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 13.5pt;" height="18"> <td class="xl29" style="border-top: medium none; height: 13.5pt;" x:str=" P.SÉM.QUÉBEC " height="18"> P.SÉM.QUÉBEC </td> <td class="xl28" style="border-top: medium none;" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl28" style="border-top: medium none;" x:num="">48</td> <td class="xl29" style="border-top: medium none;" x:str=" ANC.-LORETTE "> ANC.-LORETTE </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
As expected, Ancienne-Lorette trounced Petit Séminaire de Québec although I thought they'd be able to shut them down in the same way we did last week. I expected Notre Dame Trinité to be stronger that Benoît-Vachon and that result was expected.

Here are the standings after two weeks of activity:
<table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 520pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="694"><col style="width: 26pt;" width="35"> <col style="width: 170pt;" width="227"> <col style="width: 36pt;" width="48" span="9"> <tbody><tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 20.25pt; width: 26pt;" width="35" height="27">Pos</td> <td class="xl25" style="width: 170pt;" width="227">Teams</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">GP</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">W</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">T</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">L</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">FP</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PF</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PA</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">DIFF</td> <td class="xl24" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PTS</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">1</td> <td class="xl28">Corsaires</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=44+42">86</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H2-I2">86</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D2*2+E2+G2">6</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">2</td> <td class="xl26">Ancienne-Lorette</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=SUM(D3:F3)">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=42+48">90</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+6">6</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H3-I3">84</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D3*2+E3+G3">6</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">3</td> <td class="xl26">Notre Dame Trinité</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">46</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">16</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H4-I4">30</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D4*2+E4+G4">3</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">4</td> <td class="xl26">Clé-du-Boisé</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=SUM(D5:F5)">1</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">26</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">7</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H5-I5">19</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D5*2+E5+G5">3</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">5</td> <td class="xl26">Benoît-Vachon</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=SUM(D6:F6)">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=7+16">23</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=26+46">72</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H6-I6">-49</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D6*2+E6+G6">2</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">6</td> <td class="xl26">Odyssée-Lafontaine</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=42+42">84</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H7-I7">-84</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D7*2+E7+G7">2</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">7</td> <td class="xl26">Petit Séminaire de Québec</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=SUM(D8:F8)">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+6">6</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=44+48">92</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H8-I8">-86</td> <td class="xl29" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D8*2+E8+G8">2</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Corsaires play Ancienne-Lorette at home next week. That'll be our first big test. Wonder how the kids will get ready for that one. I know Andrew told us their coach said that the easy games were over when they huddled after their big win this weekend. Remains to be seen if they understood the message or not.

In one of the other two games next week, Clé-du-Boisé (1-0) will be playing at Notre Dame Trinité (1-0) in a game which I expect to be kinda close but that NDT should win. In the other game, Odyssée-Lafontaine (0-2) will be visiting Petit Séminaire de Québec (0-2) in a battle of the winless. Hopefully it'll be a close one and the kids on both side can find some fun in not getting beaten into a pulp for once.

FM

FrogMan

09-23-2009, 11:34 AM

Again saw the last 30 minutes of practice yesterday and sometimes, I honestly don't know what to think. When I got there, Andrew was playing center in their 12-on-12 scrimmage. I thought he did quite well in his time there, with not one bad snap. He got slightly chewed up for missing a blitz from a linebacker when he thought he had to stay with his assigned block but he understood what was asked of him. I say "slightly" cause the offensive coordinator didn't really get upset at him, and I chalked that up to learning the ropes.

When I say I don't know what to think it's all pertaining to where the position they had him practicing in. He said he started practicing with the defensive linemen, in unit drills. I thought it was good for him, I mean, he gets to work at a spot where he has fun and can be useful if he ends up being called to play D-line in their next game. Then came the unexpected part that led to him being at center for the 12-on-12 scrimmage. He said it's their offensive coordinator who asked to "have Andrew take the snaps with Alex (the other center) on the D-line". Really? Hrm, don't know what to think, really. They can't be having him practice at center for him to be simply their main backup, huh? Maybe they are seeing some potential in him that they think they'll be able to use long term, that's the only thing I can think of. That, or they think he really needs practice at center, just in case. I mean, their center is not hurt, at least he didn't look hurt when rushing as a defensive tackle.

Anyway, I'm probably seeing more than there is to see in all this. Simply putting my thoughts here. Feel free to bring your real life football thoughts to help me see something, if there's anything to see.

Overall, he said he was happy, that he had fun at practice and he's looking forward to the game on Saturday.

They will be practicing at their gameday field this afternoon. As with all Wednesdays from now on, my wife will be picking him up, but she will not get to see any of the practice as the kids will be transported by bus from their regular practice field to their gameday field.

FM

JonInMiddleGA

09-23-2009, 05:19 PM

FrogMan

09-23-2009, 08:52 PM

In all honesty I'm kind of stumped about his practice routine at this point. Is there some sort of personality issue with the other center, for example he has to think he's in danger of losing his job in order to perform to expectations? Any indication he simply doesn't like playing center & they're trying to mollify him by not making him work there (which doesn't make much sense as I don't perceive him being head & shoulders better than Andrew at the position, not enough so that he doesn't need the practice time there himself).

I mean there's a lot of different scenarios but on the face of it I haven't been able to make much sense of how it's being handled.

I'm just as stumped as you Jon, as I said, I honestly don't know how to take it.

My impression of the other center, as there's only one left now, is that he doesn't really care about football. I'm not even sure if he wanted to play to be honest. Don't think I ever reported that, but Andrew once told me, in the early weeks of practices, that one of the other center wasn't sure he if he wanted to play this season. I just asked him a moment ago to make sure and he said yeah, that the other center is the one who sounded unsure about wanting to play. Looking at the kid, he's not really, I don't know how to say it, maybe sharp in his movements could describe it. You know, like a big guy who's a bit soft and never really pushing hard.

And tonight's practice isn't giving me anything to convince me that he really wants to play, or maybe that he doesn't care about practicing and only wants to play games. Andrew said he played right offensive tackle when they were running non-contact plays (offense only) as the tackle was missing at practice. He said the other center was snapping the ball for that part of practice. Andrew said they remained that way until they started 12-on-12 scrimmage at which point their offensive coordinator saw the other center kind of wander away and asked him if he was not going to come snap the ball, to which the kid apparently replied that his knee was hurting him and that if Andrew wanted to snap the ball, he could do it. Andrew was only too happy to oblige and did all of the scrimmage plays while the other center stayed on the sideline and practiced his snaps. Andrew said his snaps went well, but I didn't see a minute of the practice.

And back again to the other center, no he is not head & shoulders better than Andrew at the position, although I obviously might be biased. ;) Seriously, other than an obvious height advantage (5'4" for him to 4'10" for Andrew), and better snaps early on, they're probably on equal footing now. Even in weight, Andrew's 135lbs isn't far behind the other center's 143lbs. Andrew's snaps are now probably just as good, or at least more regularly around chest level, while the other center snapped a few balls above the QB's head to the point where the QB had to extend the arm to grab the ball in our last game.

As for wanting to mollify (thanks for making me look that word up btw ;)) him, also doesn't make much sense to me. Even when he played defensive tackle yesterday, I didn't see much fire in his performance, although it could have been because of the apparent knee injury.

Oh well, Andrew said they didn't give any indication as to where he'd play on Saturday. I told him to keep on giving his all and that at some point it would pay off.

Coaching staff said tonight's practice went like crap and because of it, they've booked a practice for this Friday.

FM

FrogMan

09-25-2009, 09:05 AM

Again saw the last 30 minutes of practice but really not much to report today. The offense was running plays as a scout team mimicking what the coaches think Ancienne-Lorette will do on Saturday in order to give some practice to the defense. Defense looked good, real good.

As a scout team, the offense ran all their snaps with the QB under center and as such, their left tackle played center. When I got there, Andrew was on the sideline but they switched a lineman out every five plays and he played some at left tackle. I liked how alive he looked at the position.

They ended practice with some 12-on-12 scrimmaging in which Andrew and the starting center alternated at center every 5 plays. I liked how matter of factly it was that they simply switched one for the other and the offense kept on playing without it making any difference. Andrew said they didn't give him any word as to where he'd play on Saturday. Wait and see I guess.

They do practice this afternoon, from 4:30 to 6. Helmet only, no pads kind of practice, I assume as a simple walkthrough to make sure all kids know what they have to do.

Big game is tomorrow morning at 10.

FM

FrogMan

09-25-2009, 09:42 PM

they practiced mostly special teams today, with maybe a few plays to refresh everyone's memory, but really nothing special.

Andrew wasn't really told where he'll be playing but everything points to the other center again being the starting center. Andrew played some tackle again today, mostly cause a tackle had to leave from practice early. This is frustrating cause I get the feeling he again won't start anywhere and will end up only playing in the second quarter, if for no other reason than the fact that he backed up the other center all week long and again never really practiced elsewhere. So, by default, he becomes the overall backup of the whole O-line while I think he looked much more lively out there than some of the others.

He still looked okay and said he's having fun in practice and very much looking forward to tomorrow's game so I guess morale is holding up well.

FM

FrogMan

09-29-2009, 09:09 AM

Well, that was a nailbiter of a game. Our kids started off strong, forcing then recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff. That gave their offense a great starting position that they didn't waste and they were up 8-0 after maybe 3 minutes. The other team came right back but really only had one big weapon, okay maybe two, in their running back and fullback. They tied the game before the end of the first quarter. We got a one score lead back early in the second quarter when we returned a punt for a TD. Up 16-8 at the half, it remained that way until about halfway into the fourth quarter when the other team started running outside all the time and we had a hard time coping with it. They scored once more but fumbled the snap on the PAT which ended being blocked. We gave them the ball back with maybe 2 minutes left and after we got penalized twice fifteeen yards for facemask penalties on consecutive plays, they were at our 15 yard line with a 4th and 2 with 10 seconds to play. We tackled the runner in the backfield to end the game. Final score: 16-14 win for the Corsaires.

Since it was a home game, I had timekeeping duties again so I didn't pay as much attention to Andrew's play as I would have liked. One thing I noticed though is that he didn't come into the game until there was a little less than 6 minutes to play in the first half and didn't play at all in the fourth quarter. He played defensive tackle, again in a spot he had barely practiced at during last week's practices. Because of that, he looked out of place at some times and maybe not as quick off the snap as I've seen him when he's been in a D-line type of zone, if you know what I mean.

Don't know where to start to express how the weekend has unravelled from there. I'll start with him relating that their coach had explained to them that they did play their best players more, something I think is unfair to someone like Andrew, since I honestly believe that given practice time at D-line, he would be better than some of the guys who played there. But there's his reaction to not playing. When asked if he was disappointed with it, he simply nodded and shrugged a "yeah, a little". And it's not really only that reaction which is hitting hard for us (wife & I) but how he seems to be getting into a pattern of laziness, of being okay with what's given to him instead of wanting more. I'll go on a tangent here to give you a bit of background. Late August, my wife came to me telling me she had found a place where he could take drum lessons, something he looked interested in after playing Rock Band so much. Nice classes too, private classes. But, you know, to practice, he'd need a drum but she had also found a place where they rented drum sets, so off we went and rented a new one with option to buy. It's been three weeks since his first class and he's practiced an average of one or two 15 minutes sessions per week. Oh, his teacher has told him and my wife that he's got potential, but we don't see him practicing.

That trend goes back to many years but I'd say it irked me a bit more this past Summer when he was getting ready to test for his black belt. As we got closer and closer to the test and I kept asking him if he was ready, he kept replying "I'm okay dad". Oh sure, he was okay, but he could have really killed it. Instead, he simply passed the test, but I felt he had the potential to do so much more, to look so much sharper.

Then last week, the week leading to this most recent game, the fit hit the shan. Wife went to a school meeting and met his French teacher, boom, she learns then that he's been late going into class, that he's talking and disturbing others and have already given a homework late. Then the very next day, his phys ed teacher (phys ed for crying out loud, something young active boys just love!) calls me at work to tell me he'd been late to class twice already, this in only three weeks of class. He was apparently talking to a classmate and forgot to check time and change quickly enough. This may not look like much, but he's in a special program in which he goes to regular class in the afternoon and takes English-as-a-second-language class in the morning four days of the week, a program he's told us he loves numerous times. Too many of those bad notes and he could be kicked out of the program.

Now, I don't know what to think anymore. Could he be not playing cause he's also lazy in practice? From what I saw, he was active when I was there, although as I pointed out earlier, had to be reminded to keep on running until the play is over during their first camp and I had to tell him to not simply make a screen in front of a linebacker but to push him back more. I know he's got potential, maybe he's not showing it and is just content with how it's going. I'm ranting now, and maybe I'm aksing too much of my 12yo boy, but I'd like to see some fight from him. Would like to see him go at it harder in many little aspects of his life. Is that too much to ask?

Again, I know he's in a weird situation as far as football go, but there's more to it for us. I don't want to be one of those crazy dads that I've seen too much of with young hockey players. I know he will never earn a living playing football, but if you say you like playing, and you act like you love playing the game, then maybe you should give it your all and fight for playing time.

And again, it's not only with with football, we simply see a kind of pattern developping that we don't like. Maybe I should have posted this in the parenting thread after all... ;)

FM

FrogMan

09-29-2009, 11:58 AM

Elsewhere in the Benjamin AA division, Notre Dame Trinité won at home, 42-20 over Clé-du-Boisé. Pretty much the result I expected. While it's difficult to really assess them since they've not played any common opponent with us or Ancienne-Lorette, I'd expect Notre Dam Trinité to be our next big threat. We'll play them at home in the final week of the regular season, on October 24. In the other game, the two bottom team played each other and Petit Séminaire de Québec shut down Odyssée-Lafontaine by a score of 22-0. Gotta be pretty sad for the kids of Odyssée-Lafontaine who've not scored one point after three games played this season.

Here are the standings after three weeks of action:
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 520pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=694 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 26pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 1280" width=35><COL style="WIDTH: 170pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 8301" width=227><COL style="WIDTH: 36pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 1755" span=9 width=48><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 26pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=35 height=27>Pos</TD><TD class=xl23 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 170pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=227>Teams</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>GP</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>W</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>T</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>L</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>FP</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>PF</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>PA</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>DIFF</TD><TD class=xl22 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 36pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2pt double; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=48>PTS</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" height=27 x:num>1</TD><TD class=xl26 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399">Corsaires</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num x:fmla="=44+42+16">102</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num x:fmla="=0+0+14">14</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num x:fmla="=+H2-I2">88</TD><TD class=xl25 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333399" x:num x:fmla="=+D2*2+E2+G2">9</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=27 x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Ancienne-Lorette</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>1</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=42+48+14">104</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=0+6+16">22</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+H3-I3">82</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+D3*2+E3+G3">7</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=27 x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Notre Dame Trinité</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=46+42">88</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=16+20">36</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+H4-I4">52</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+D4*2+E4+G4">6</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=27 x:num>4</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Petit Séminaire de Québec</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>1</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=0+6+22">28</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=44+48">92</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+H5-I5">-64</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+D5*2+E5+G5">5</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=27 x:num>5</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Clé-du-Boisé</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>1</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>1</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=26+20">46</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=7+42">49</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+H6-I6">-3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+D6*2+E6+G6">4</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=27 x:num>6</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Odyssée-Lafontaine</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>3</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=42+42+22">106</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+H7-I7">-106</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+D7*2+E7+G7">3</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 20.25pt; mso-height-source: userset" height=27><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 20.25pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=27 x:num>7</TD><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Benoît-Vachon</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=SUM(D8:F8)">2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>0</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num>2</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=7+16">23</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=26+46">72</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+H8-I8">-49</TD><TD class=xl27 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" x:num x:fmla="=+D8*2+E8+G8">2</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
As for week 4, we'll be visiting Benoît-Vachon (0-2). They are usually known for having a strong program but have struggled so far this season. They'll be coming off a bye week though and our kids will have to watch out for complacency after winning the big win this week.

The other two games will be Petit Séminaire de Québec visiting Clé-du-Boisé and Ancienne-Lorette visiting Notre Dame Trinité. That last one will give us some interesting insight as to what we could expect for when we'll play NDT later on this season. I expect Ancienne-Lorette should be able to come out of it with a win. As for the first game, I'd expect Clé-du-Boisé to walk away with the win.
Also, we're supposed to have a bye in week 5 but I've heard talks that there could be an exhibition game that week. This remains to be confirmed though.

FM

FrogMan

09-30-2009, 11:20 AM

Again saw the last 30 minutes of practice yesterday. Andrew was rotating every five plays with the starting center and they were scrimmaging. Interesting thing is that they seem to have now added some plays with the QB directly under center instead of playing all their plays from shotgun. I guess they saw that the word had started being passed around that it was how they were playing and mixing things up is never a bad thing.

Andrew told me he spent all practice at center, rotating with the other guy. We'd told him that maybe it would be a good idea to go ask their offensive coordinator what he should be doing, or improving, in order to have a shot at being the starter. I wasn't too sure he'd do anything with it, based off pas behaviour, but he did. He said he talked to the OC, effectively asking him just that, what should I do better in order to have a shot at starting? He was told he had not mess any snaps, something he's gotten much better with lately, and that he needed to know his blocking assignments better. On that later points, not knowing all the plays and not seeing every minute of every practice, it was hard for me to judge but Andrew told me he did mess up on some plays, one in paricular where all the linemen were supposed to slide right but went left. Well, now he knows what he has to do. Crappy thing is he really got put into a sort of no-win situation. I mean, he practices at center all week long, the only spot on the O-line where there is a backup. All other four O-linemen practice at their spot and don't really have a backup. So he's pretty much left to be backup center, not really the sixth OL as when he comes in, if the center is doing okay, he goes at DL, not to sub for one of the other OL. That's just silly if you ask me.

Anyway, I've also seen another opportunity for improvement on his play only watching the end of practice, and it was reinforced by the end of practice speech their coach gave them. Coach mentioned how the game their last game could have been won by more, but that little things remained with something to be desired. Be it a DL not holding his contain, or an OL not holding his block on a running play, leaving the runner exposed to be tackled for only a 2 yard gain instead of a 4-5-6 yards gain. I'd seen some of that from Andrew. He doesn't seem to switch his lineman behavior from passing to rushing much. I've seen him on running plays simply block the guy in front of him for maybe a second, second and a half, then let him go. Twice in the half hour I was there yesterday, that player went on to either make the tackle on the ball carrier, or at the very least disrupt the play enough that instead of getting a comfortable 4-6 yard gain, they only got a couple. I tried to instill in him the idea that if it's a running play coming up, he's gotta go forward, not simply hold his ground like he would do for a passing play. I think he understood that. We'll see in future practices.

But then again, if he practices as an OL all week long, but plays as a DL when comes gameday, it's all lost. I also told him we'd work at home on his reaction time on the defensive line. We'll try to find some time on Saturday where I'll play center and I'll line him up accross me and will have him move on ball movement. We'll see.

FM

JonInMiddleGA

09-30-2009, 01:52 PM

FrogMan

09-30-2009, 04:15 PM

I gotta admit, the practice routine isn't making a whole lot of sense. To my knowledge it isn't common to play someone pretty much exclusively at a position they don't get any real practice for. Sometimes sure, it happens for various reasons but this seems like an extreme case that's very consistent.

Re: practice routine, we've talked about it and I'm still just as baffled as you are. Simply doesn't make sense to me other than the fact that they might want him to take as many reps as possible at center "just in case" to the detriment of his DL play. I said that to my wife last night and here's what I believe. Andrew can't really hurt them when he's on the DL. I mean, sure he might not get the sacks, but he can apply pressure and plug a hole, all that even without practicing there. In other words, he won't shine out, but he can play there. Stop him from snapping the ball and then boom, injury to your center in two weeks and you are in a mess, especially with their primary formation being shotgun. But then again, he probably wouldn't hurt them at guard either, even without practicing there at all during the week. Now, that's really what baffles me, not so much the practice routine but more their use of him during games. You can't have me believe that any of the two "out-of-shape" (relatively speaking, how out of shape can a 12yo be, let's say they don't have the best cardio, just as you'd expect from a bigger sized O-line) guards couldn't use a breather at some point during the game.

Out of curiosity, and I'm not even sure if you'll know the answer but I'll ask anyway, are the coaches dealing with a larger than usual number of players this season? Or significantly fewer than usual? Or less practice time than they're used to? It almost sounds like they don't quite know how to manage training up their personnel either by having too many players or too few to actually rotate multiple backups through positions at practice.

You might be on to something here. It's crossed my mind that their football program is kind of going through a boom, all thanks with the kids coming up from the Summer league. As I said before, Andrew's first year of Summer league football was the year they started that league, four Summer ago. While they might have had 29-30 Benjamin players last year, they are now dealing with 42 of them this season. Sometimes I'm guessing that the coaches are also learning how to cope with the whole situation. Maybe some of that is playing a part into his whole playing time pattern. They probably were used to having no backups at OL/DL and even having many of them playing both ways at some point. Now you end up with, at last count, 5 guys listed at DL and 6 more at OL so two or even three on the bench for when they go with a 33 setup. While have a couple backup DL and one backup OL might not look like a whole lot, it's still more than what they've been used to in years past and I guess that it's understandable that one of them might end up being overlooked. It majorly sucks when that one of them is you, or your kid for that matter.

I will say, given the apparent shortage of backup on the OL, I suspect they've decided his future is on the DL since they aren't cross training him at any of the other OL positions. Thing is, I can't come up with any explanation for why they don't have him practice on the DL and be done with it.

As for that, I go back to the risk/reward calculation of having him practice exclusively at DL, given the fact I've not seen anybody else take snaps. Coaches must know they are one-guy-rolling-over-your- center's-ankle away from having to use a backup in there. Andrew might have been put at a disadvantage by the fact that he started practicing at center way later than the other guy, but the coaches must feel much better knowing how much he's improved since taking over that spot, and must feel in confidence if they ever need him to take over in the middle of a game, given how close I think he is to the level of play of the starting center.

One thing I didn't mention in my earlier post is something I told Andrew to ask his coach, maybe on Thursday when they'll wrap up the week of practice. I told him to seek out his OC and ask him to keep him in mind in any case they'd ever get a good lead late in the game. I planted the seeds for him to argue how good it would be for him to get some "real" playing time at center, that it would help him immensely. Guess it's something they could have done in either of the two big wins (44-0 & 42-0) but it can't hurt to have him show the coach he's interested in playing at center and not only fill in on the DL. If they do win by a big score and they still don't use him AT ALL at center, I plan on talking to their coach/OC myself. Calmly, respectfuly. I can be calm... Sometimes. ;)

Oh and thanks for reading, and for taking time to comment. I appreciate your input.

FM

FrogMan

10-01-2009, 09:07 AM

Yesterday was Wednesday, the day I give a karate class so mommy went to pick Andrew up after practice.

He said practice went well, but he always says that. PWhen prodded a bit, he did acknowledge that he messed a couple of blocking assignments and got picked on because of it. When asked if he thought about holding his blocks a bit longer, he said that yeah he did, but that he also let a couple go early and again got picked on about it.

At this point, I can't do much more for him. I mean, he's been told what he needed to improve on in order to have more playing time and he's got to step up and deliver. I made sure he understood that and received the typical "yeah dad, I know dad, sure dad" answer. I can't do it for him at this point.

This might sound selfish, but it kinda makes me sad. I want him to get more playing time cause I like seeing my son ON THE FIELD, not on the bench on gameday. But as much as I like that, it won't happen until he decides that it's important enough for him to put in the extra effort. I'm still convinced he has all the potential to be the starter at his position. The decision is his now.

FM

FrogMan

10-02-2009, 11:41 AM

Same old, same old at practice yesterday. Andrew rotated with the other center. He said he's been trying to hold his blocks a bit more, and I saw evidence of that in the 30 minutes I was there, but he also said he screwed a couple of block assignments. However, he also said that the other center also screwed up a couple.

I asked him if he'd talked to their OC about maybe getting into the game late if they have the lead and he said he had not talked to him. Just reminded him it could be a good idea.

Weather's getting colder around here. It was a wet 43F yesterday when I got to the practice field. Lots of rain is forecasted over the weekend but temperatures should go up a bit over the next couple of days. Expected temp for Sunday's game could be as high as 60F which is pretty warm for us in early October. Honestly, I think we'd be quite okay with something around 50F without any rain. By we, I mean us spectator parents. :)

No practice tonight, but a one hour video session has been booked. The other two Corsaires teams play at home this weekend and the kids were told to go support them. Juveniles play tonight but I think we might instead go see the Cadet tomorrow afternoon after our karate classes, depending on weather/rain.

Our game this weekend is Sunday morning at 10.

FM

FrogMan

10-02-2009, 11:44 AM

Also, we're supposed to have a bye in week 5 but I've heard talks that there could be an exhibition game that week. This remains to be confirmed though.

to follow up on that post, there won't be any exhibition game the week after this week. Week off for the kids. Kinda nice too, since the Monday after that weekend is our Thanksgiving and everybody's got the day off. :)

FM

FrogMan

10-05-2009, 11:34 AM

It was a misty Sunday morning yesterday but it didn't matter since the stands at Benoît-Vachon High School were covered with a nicely set up roof with a back wall. The ongoing mist combined with the fact that it was our kids' first game on a natural field made for much slipping and sliding early on. It slippery field played games on both offense though. Our defense came out real strong early on and we held a 22-0 lead at the half.

More of the same in the second half, well even more domination from our defense, always providing the offense with great starting positions drive after drive. Despite numerous offensive penalties (offsides, illegal blocking and holding) we kept on marching forward, and scoring. Final score: 48-0.

The kids will certainly have to cut down on a specific type of penalties. As I said before, multiple motions from receivers are allowed prior to the ball being snapped and any receiver can be running forward when the ball is snapped, as long as he does not cross the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped. If he does, an offensive offside penalty is called. We had more than five of those in the game yesterday with at least a couple of them negating two big plays that would have resulted in first downs. These are mental mistakes, or at the very least timing problems. I can see a kid too eager to block in the heat of the moment and blocking in the back, or holding a defender, but a receiver just not timing his steps with the QB's count, it's just sloppy play, or well, sloppy coaching. By that I mean that it didn't develop during the game. The kids must have been making these mistakes during practice, but no coaches are standing right at the line of scrimmage to check if anybody crosses it before the ball is snapped so nobody realized it was happening...

As for Andrew, his team received the opening kickoff and started on offense. He wasn't part of the line at that point but that was expected. When the defense took on the field, I saw that they were in a 3-3 formation and he wasn't one of the three down linemen. I pretty much expected it to be the same as for the last couple of games, i.e. not seeing him get in the game until mid second quarter, but in their next defensive drive, they were back to a 4-3 and he was in there at DT. He played regularly after that, being subbed out for a couple drives in the second and fourth quarters, replaced by a backup linebacker. Turns out a defensive lineman was missing for the game and Andrew told us after the game that he was named a starter at DT prior to the game. He had a good game, holding his ground and applying decent pressure from the middle of the line. He knocked a guard down on his ass once, got in on a couple of tackles (assisting) and came ever so close to recovering a fumbled ball. The ball bounced off his knee and was recovered back by the running back.

Again, I would have liked to see him at center in the last couple minutes of the game, when the score was already 40-0, but he stayed at DT until the very last drive. Still, it was a fun game with him coming back home happy that he contributed, and his parents happy that they were able to cheer him on.

Speaking of cheering, the setup for the field was pretty nice with the stands on one side and the team benches on the other, like you see in many places. Thing was, there was a small forest right behind the team benches and my first call of "GO CORSAIRES!!!" reverberated back to us in echo. There really was no noise as it was right before kickoff and all parents in the stands had a good laugh about it. When asked if they could hear us cheer for them during the game, Andrew later told me that he didn't really hear during the game, but that he knew that the first "GO CORSAIRES!!!" just prior to kickoff was me. He said he could recognize my voice clearly. :)

Kids have a bye next weekend and I wondered to my wife how the coaches will do to keep them motivated this week. Coming off a 48-0 win, I'm sure the coaches have seen plenty to work on, especially on the offensive side of things, but I'm sure some of the kids will have their heads ballooning to big sizes with this 4-0 start.

FM

FrogMan

10-05-2009, 11:35 AM

Elsewhere in the Benjamin AA division, an interesting result in the Ancienne-Lorette vs Notre Dame Trinité game where Notre Dame Trinité got away with a 32-24 home win. This win moves Notre Dame Trinité up to second place and deals Ancienne-Lorette a second loss in two weeks, after a 2-0 start against the two weaker teams. We will play Notre Dame Trinité at home in the final week of the regular season.

In the other game of the week, the next Corsaires' next opponents, Clé-du-Boisé beat Petit Séminaire de Québec severely, 48-6. Previously, Clé-du-Boisé had won over Benoît-Vachon by a score of 26-7 but lost to Notre Dame Trinité, 42-20. That next game should provide our kids with another good test prior to taking on Notre Dame Trinité.

Odyssée-Lafontaine had a bye this week.

Here are the standings after four weeks of activity:
<table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 520pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="694"><col style="width: 26pt;" width="35"> <col style="width: 170pt;" width="227"> <col style="width: 36pt;" width="48" span="9"> <tbody><tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 20.25pt; width: 26pt;" width="35" height="27">Pos</td> <td class="xl23" style="width: 170pt;" width="227">Teams</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">GP</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">W</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">T</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">L</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">FP</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PF</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PA</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">DIFF</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PTS</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl25" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">1</td> <td class="xl26">Corsaires</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="" x:fmla="=44+42+16+48">150</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+0+14+0">14</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H2-I2">136</td> <td class="xl25" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D2*2+E2+G2">12</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">2</td> <td class="xl24">Notre Dame Trinité</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=46+42+32">120</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=16+20+24">60</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H3-I3">60</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D3*2+E3+G3">9</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">3</td> <td class="xl24">Ancienne-Lorette</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=42+48+14+24">128</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+6+16+32">54</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H4-I4">74</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D4*2+E4+G4">8</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">4</td> <td class="xl24">Clé-du-Boisé</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=26+20+48">94</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=7+42+6">55</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H5-I5">39</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D5*2+E5+G5">7</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">5</td> <td class="xl24">Petit Séminaire de Québec</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+6+22+6">34</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=44+48+0+48">140</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H6-I6">-106</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D6*2+E6+G6">6</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">6</td> <td class="xl24">Benoît-Vachon</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=7+16+0">23</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=26+46+48">120</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H7-I7">-97</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D7*2+E7+G7">3</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">7</td> <td class="xl24">Odyssée-Lafontaine</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=42+42+22">106</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H8-I8">-106</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D8*2+E8+G8">3</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

First four teams make it to the main bracket of the playoffs and with a 4-0 start, the Corsaires have clinched a spot in the playoffs.

FM

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 09:04 AM

Well, I got swamped and lost the beat when that bye week rolled around. Follwing that weekend, I sorta decided I was done with the dynasty and would let it die but I feel like picking it up again so I'll go back and report on everything that has happened since week 4. Be ready for a few posts to bring us back to speed...

FM

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 09:06 AM

As I said, the Corsaires had a bye in week 5. That week had results that were very much in line with what was expected. Following our trouncing of Benoît-Vachon, they went to Ancienne-Lorette and were delivered a similar loss, tis time losing 52-8. Notre Dame Trinité played at Petit Séminaire de Québec and destroyed them 62-8 and finally, Clé-du-Boisé beat Odyssée-Lafontaine soundly, 52-6.

I don't have a standings after week 5 but by then, we were undefeated, in first place in front of the other undefeated team, Notre Dame Trinité.

The pretty high scoring game by Clé-du-Boisé was cause for concerns at the time since we were gearing up to play them on their turf in week 6.

As for Andrew, it was same old same old, i.e. practice a bit everywhere on the offensive line, with regular reps at center. He seemed to practice less and less on the defensive line but was being rotated wherever a guy was missing on the offensive side of the line.

FM

Izulde

11-02-2009, 11:11 AM

Glad to see this dynasty coming back. :)

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 11:37 AM

Glad to see this dynasty coming back. :)

thanks, although I think you already know the results through Facebook. :)

Hopefully I'll bring some more info you'll be able to enjoy...

FM

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 11:38 AM

Something started happening for Andrew in practices leading up to the week 6 game against Clé-du-Boisé. Well, it actually started on their last practice before their bye week. At that practice, their right offensive tackle missed practice for some unknown reason so Andrew spent a big portion of that practice at that spot. He only did a few snaps at center.

Then on their first practice leading up to week 6, their left tackle missed practice so Andrew ended up at left tackle while everybody else remained in their spot. That left tackle kid ended up missing all practices that week with some back pain/injury. Thing was, while Andrew started every practice at that spot, he was never confirmed as a starter, and he always ended up rotating to other spots on the line later on during practice, including some very limited time at center.

The Corsaires were to play Clé-du-Boisé on their turf that week. Clé-Du-Boisé is a school that's not very far from ours, maybe a 15 minutes at most but the kids were to get together at their school where they were to warm up and then they would ride the a school bus all together to the other school's home field. It was the first time the coaches planned it that way. They usually would ask our kids to gather at their school from where they would ride the bus to the other team's field where they would warm up. I dropped Andrew off that morning and went to get myself some coffee. When I got back, they had not even come out of the locker room.

Defense came out first and Andrew was not with them. Then came out the running backs, then the receivers and the QB. Sure enough, the big guys came out last and with them came Andrew. They all went through some team warm up and then split into units.My heart sank when I saw him not line up with the other offensive linemen to practice the first few plays. "Oh crap, not again" were the exact words that came to mind at that time. I was sure he would start the game on the bench, backing up whoever would have to come out first.

I had to leave to go pick up my wife and get ready for the game ourselves. It was a coldish morning, around 32F with good winds so we had to gear up properly.

We got to the field and took a spot in the stands having not seen the team finish their warmup, or even seen them line up in pregame warmup on the playing field. Corsaires started on defense and gave up a touchdown on their opponent's first drive. They had never been down in a game and there they were, down 0-8 less than 4 minutes into the game. Then came my biggest surprise of the season. When the offense trotted out on the field, there was Andrew, lining up at left tackle. He later told us he had been given the starter spot because he was holding his block better than the other backup O-line. The other backup O-line is that girl I already talked about. She's not very tall, listed at 145 lbs (compared to Andrew's listed weight of 135 lbs) and I always thought she was not very mean, or feisty. Nothing against the fact that she's a girl, really as there's another girl playing defensive back on the team and she's REALLY good. That O-line girl was a started ahead of Andrew in week 2 when he barely played and we just couldn't understand it. Even though I could seem biased over this, and I probably am, I honestly thought Andrew should have been the starter ahead of her despite him not practicing much at guard (her regular position). Now to see that he was given a chance, I was simply hoping he would make the best of it. That's how we'd been drilling the whole experience into his head. Kid, you might not fit anywhere on the line or the coaches might not have had a chance to see you at another position than center, but if they ever give you a chance, make it worth your while. Looks like he had done just that during the week leading up to the game.

Back to the game, the offense struggled a bit but regained control and the lead before the end of the half. Score was 16-8 at the half and the defense took over at that point, barely allowing any yardage to the other team's defense. Final Score, a 22-8 win. Not a particularly impressive score, but it really didn't reflect the domination that the kids had during the second half.

Andrew had a good game but I felt he was letting go of his blocks a bit early, probably because he had just started practicing the position and was used to work in a confined aread at center. He did do a very good jobs on a couple of block to the second level, where he sealed in a linebacker on one particular run that ended up in a long TD in the second half. He had lots of playing time, only being subbed out for a drive out of four throughout the game. I did tell him about the blocking after the game.

Elsewhere in the league, Benoît-Vachon beat Petit Séminaire de Québec 46-8 while Notre Dame Trinité remained undefeated, beating Odyssé-Lafontaine, 66-16.

Next up was a battle of the undefeated between us and Notre Dame Trinité to close out the regular season. And as if they had foreseen it, the schedule makers had booked the two teams figting for positions 3 and 4 in the standings, Clé-du-Boisé and Ancienne-Lorette, to play one another.

FM

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 02:02 PM

As I just said, we were to play the only other undefeated team in week 7. Notre Dame Trinité came into that game with more impressive offensive totals, at least in terms of points scored having scored 248 points in 5 games to our 172. On the other hand, they had also allowed many more points that us. While we had only allowed 22 points over five games (including 3 shutouts in 5 games so far), they had allowed 84 points. Incidentally, they had given up 16 points to NBenoît-Vachon, 20 to Clé-du-Boisé, and even 16 to and Odyssée-Lafontaine team that never got close to menacing us. They had also won a last minute game 32-24 against Ancienne-Lorette so they were to be taken seriously.

Andrew spent the week practicing mostly at left tackle as their regular left tackle was still being held out with back pain/injury. I was feeling more and more confident that he would start again there but he was still being shuffled around in practice and well, it made me nervous. I guess the coaches saw the same thing I did with a few of their O-linemen because I heard them drill into the kids the importance of holding their blocks and going to the second level with intent whenever asked to.

The game was on Saturday and there was a pretty good snowfall just a couple days before the game, on Thursday, leaving some 6 inches on the ground. They had practiced in the snow on Thursday, but at their practice field.

When we got to their home field for the game, while temperatures had gone up a bit in the last couple of days, they had gone back down that morning and there was still a couple inches of snow on the ground. Even worse, at 8:30 that Saturday morning, it was borderline freezing but just warm enough that the crap we were getting from the sky was rain and not snow. As I said before, I have timekeeping duties during our home games, but I also volunteer to help set up the amenities prior to kickoff. This usually includes setting the two gazebo type tents for the snack bar but that Saturday it also meant shoveling the yard lines and hashmarks, in the rain no less. It was a miserable time. Not really super cold, at least not cold enough to keep me from getting really warm when shoevling. For me personally, it meant I was all wet when I got into the booth to do my timekeeping. For the kids, it meant they were playing on a slippery snowy field.

Going into the game, it all looked like the perfect matchup of big offense (theirs) versus big defense (ours). I must admit that their big offense made me nervous, especially after how shy our kids looked at the started of the previous game.

I guess the coaches had a good talk with them though, as they came out fighting. Details for the game are a bit hazy, since I can't watch the game the same way when I'm taking care of the clock, but the kids were never in trouble. Maybe the bad weather played some tricks on our opponents, or we adjusted better to it, but we came out of the game with a huge, huge win. Final score, a 28-0 shutout, sealing home field advantage through the rest of the playoffs and sending a big message to the rest of the league. Never has a Corsaires team been this dominant and even though you might never have expected us to kick your ass, we are ready to do so. :)

Andrew again came out for warmup and wasn't part of the initial five O-linemen for the first few warmup reps but he was the starter at left tackle and played about as much as the previous game. I actually thought he struggled at times with some blocks, but their D-linemen were probably just better than the previous team's linemen. He again nicely sealed a linebacker in to allow a long gain from a running back just behind him. That's the kind of stuff I probably would never have seen in the past but that I'm more aware of now. Thanks son. :)

In the other game of interest, the other two teams already qualified for the playoffs, Ancienne-Lorette and Clé-du-Boisé, both 3-2 at that point, were fighting it off to see who would finish 3rd and pay a visist to 2nd place Notre Dame Trinité or who would finish 4th and have to come play at our field the following week. I expected Ancienne-Lorette to come out of it victorious, given how they had only lost to us by two and to Notre Dame Trinité by a late touchdown while Clé-du-Boisé had lost 22-8 to us, again being dominated later in the game much more than what the score indicated, and 42-20 to Notre Dame Trinité. Ancienne-Lorette delivered, also winning by shutout, 26-0.

In the other game of the week, meaningless that one, Odyssée-Lafontaine recorded their first win of the season, 26-8 over Benoît-Vachon.

The regular season final standings are as follows:
<table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 489pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="652"><col style="width: 26pt;" width="35"> <col style="width: 139pt;" width="185"> <col style="width: 36pt;" span="9" width="48"> <tbody><tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 20.25pt; width: 26pt;" height="27" width="35">Pos</td> <td class="xl23" style="width: 139pt;" width="185">Teams</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">GP</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">W</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">T</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">L</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">FP</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PF</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PA</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">DIFF</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 36pt;" width="48">PTS</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">1</td> <td class="xl25">Corsaires</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="" x:fmla="=44+42+16+48+22+28">200</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+0+14+0+8+0">22</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H2-I2">178</td> <td class="xl24" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D2*2+E2+G2">18</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">2</td> <td class="xl26">Notre Dame Trinité</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">5</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=46+42+32+62+66+0">248</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=16+20+24+8+16+28">112</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H3-I3">136</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D3*2+E3+G3">16</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">3</td> <td class="xl26">Ancienne-Lorette</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">4</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">2</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=42+48+14+24+52+26">206</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+6+16+32+8+0">62</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H4-I4">144</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D4*2+E4+G4">14</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">4</td> <td class="xl26">Clé-du-Boisé</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">3</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=26+20+48+52+8+0">154</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=7+42+6+6+22+26">109</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H5-I5">45</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D5*2+E5+G5">12</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">5</td> <td class="xl26">Petit Séminaire de Québec</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">5</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+6+22+6+8+8">50</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=44+48+0+48+62+46">248</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H6-I6">-198</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D6*2+E6+G6">8</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">6</td> <td class="xl26">Benoît-Vachon</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">5</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=7+16+0+8+46+8">85</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=26+46+48+52+8+26">206</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H7-I7">-121</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D7*2+E7+G7">8</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 20.25pt;" height="27"> <td class="xl27" style="height: 20.25pt;" x:num="" height="27">7</td> <td class="xl26">Odyssée-Lafontaine</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">1</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">0</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">5</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="">6
</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=0+0+0+6+16+26">48</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=42+42+22+52+66+8">232</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+H8-I8">-184</td> <td class="xl27" x:num="" x:fmla="=+D8*2+E8+G8">8
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

The 22 points the Corsaires allowed came in two games, meaning they won four of six by shutouts.

Given those standings, the semi-final weekend will have the Corsaires playing at home against Clé-du-Boisé and Ancienne-Lorette visiting Notre Dame Trinité.

The season was over at that point for the remaining three teams.

FM

Big Six

11-02-2009, 02:28 PM

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 09:42 PM

I just read through your dynasty today, and I'm really enjoying it. It sounds like Andrew's versatility and adaptability really paid off when your team's LT got hurt.

It's not easy to thoroughly learn the assignments for as many different positions as Andrew has, especially for a 12-year-old who's new to football. Offensive line play can be very complex, even at his level.

It looks like the Corsaires have a tremendous defense. That should be a huge, huge advantage during the playoffs. After all, you can't lose if the other team doesn't score.

Good luck with the playoffs! The Corsaires have a new fan in Virginia, USA. :)

thanks for reading the whole thing, and thanks for the kind comments. :)

I agree about how it's finally paying off for him although, as you must have read, it was really hard to go through, especially when he looked like he had no place anywhere, only because he was not practicing anywhere long enough to be seen as useful in that spot. I tried to stay positive, knowing how it can be in a team. We had a few arguments, my wife and I, about what he could, or should do better to show his coach how much he wanted to play. I always thought that hard work eventually pays off to which she was replying that he should be doing more, and more. Glad to see how it's turning out.

Their defense is indeed very, VERY good. They had some tiny containment problems in when they played Ancienne-Lorette and it resulted in them scoring two TDs, but I think they have worked on that a big deal.

They are also well coached. I'll have a bit more on that later on, but the kids coaching them are good, at least according to our standards...

FM

FrogMan

11-02-2009, 09:42 PM

I mentally went "oh crap" when I got to practice around 6:15pm last Tuesday and saw that the left tackle was back. I feared that Andrew would be relegated to backup status. Even worse, he reminded me after that practice that they were now 7 offensive linemen and that he didn't really know where he stood on the depth chart. He said he practiced a bit everywhere on the line in that first practice.

It went that way most of the week and I kept reminding him to give it his all, that he had to make the best of whatever practice time he was getting. What else could I tell him? I mean, he had been shuffled around most of the season and got playing time when they were down a man, but the coaches didn't seem to think he was good enough on his own. Okay, mayb I'm dramatizing a bit, but that was how it felt to me.

All week he said it went well during practice, but he's been saying that all season long.

Then came the game. While weather turned to all crap later on in the day when trick-or-treaters were out, it was a perfect football weather in the morning. Temperatures upwards of 50F, not one bit of wind, and no rain at all.

Team came out for warmup and Andrew took some turns at left guard in the pre game reps. I was ecstatic to see him start the game at left guard and he had a great start to his game, as did the team. They took an early lead, not leatting Clé-du-Boisé score early on, or at all actually. Another shutout win, 56-0 in a semi-final game no less.

Andrew played well, and a lot. When one of the backup OL came on, Andrew stayed on and shifted over to left tackle. He even subbed in at defensive tackle in the third quarter and finished the game playing both ways (left offensive tackle/defensive tackle) on the last 3-4 drives. He again sealed a linebacker in for a nice long touchdown run to the left side and stormed through the line while at DT to make a nice tackle for a 2 yard loss on a running play.

Really, I thought it was his best game of the season, by far. Made daddy real proud with that game. And daddy (and mommy) would only get prouder, read this. After the game, when I asked him what the coaches told him, he said he was name the starting left tackle. Hrm, left tackle? But he came out at left guard. :confused: He said that yeah, during their week of practice, they had a scrimmage with the cadets (whose season is over since they didn't make the playoffs) and while he was lined up at left tackle, he had a trap play called for him, where he was to pull and trap all the way to the right side of the line and take out the defensive end. Their offensive coordinator told him personally that he made the DE freak out in fear (made him shit his pants if the closest translation from French I can come up with, you get the idea) and that if he did that to a cadet, he deserved to start at left tackle. Wow, talk about making the best of a his practice time. Just what we had told him to do. WAY TO GO KID!

But then again, why was he not starting at left tackle but was at left guard??? :confused: He said the starting left guard kid had a stupid argument with their offensive line coach regarding how his pants were not holding up (they were going down on every play and he had to pull them back up) and the fact that the coach told him he would tape them up at the belt level. Kid fought with the coach so to speak, he didn't want to be taped up. The coach told him he was benched end would not play the first quarter. Seems harsh to me, but we don't know how the kid is with the coach, might not be his first breach. They were left with two kids to fill that left guard spot: their previous left tackle and the girl who used to play left guard. The left tackle had never practiced at left guard and I guess they thought it was better for the team to slide Andrew inside and put the left tackle back at tackle than to start the girl at guard. So that's how Andrew ended up at left guard.

Then later on in the game, one of his coaches asked him if he wanted to go kick some butt on D to which he replied "hey sure" and that's how he ended on defense too. I actually saw him come on in the game in the middle of a defensive drive where he got on to replace a smaller d-lineman that was playing tackle. They rarely sub in the middle of drives but it was a 3rd and one and in my proud heart of a dad, I simply thought they needed to make a stand and they thought Andrew was their best shot among the remaining linemen (O or D) to plug in there. the other team ran it off tackle and got the first down anyway but Andrew still stayed in the game at DT and they forced them to punt four plays later.

Interesting how nice a turn of event that was, him going from part-timer linemen, come from the bench, practice center, hole-filler on the O-line to being sought after as a starting OL and both ways lineman. Yeah, lots of pride in this daddy's heart. :)

As they gear up for the championship game, to be played next weekend (date/time still to be determined), they practiced tonight (more on it tomorrow), and all the way through to Thursday. It's their first week where they will practice on a Monday. Their coaches are not letting them inflate their egos. Would the team bring back a championship banner, it would be the school's first banner since the start of the football program some six years ago.

You are probably wondering right now who they will play in that championship game. Well, Ancienne-Lorette visited Notre Dame Trinité in the other semi-final. Looking at previous results, I knew they were very close to them and could cause the upset, even though I'd been told that Notre Dame Trinité is really tough to beat on their own turf. Well, upset they did, Ancienne-Lorette coming out of the game with a convincing 24-14 win over Notre Dame Trinité.

Combined that with the fact that we only beat Ancienne-Lorette 16-14 when we met them and the coaches won't need much to keep the kids' feet on the ground. This should make for a great, if nerve wracking championship game.

FM

Izulde

11-02-2009, 10:06 PM

How awesome! :) And what a great lesson for the kid, too, about how staying focused and sticking with it as best as he's able, can produce great results in the end, even if takes a long time.

FrogMan

11-03-2009, 09:12 AM

How awesome! :) And what a great lesson for the kid, too, about how staying focused and sticking with it as best as he's able, can produce great results in the end, even if takes a long time.

You wouldn't believe how good it felt to me as a parent, to see it coming to fruition as it did in the last couple of games. You know, especially after a certain time and when you've seen your kid beginning to let go of your teachings, starting to do his "own thing". To see the whole "work hard and it'll pay off" mantra become true was a blessing for us. We can now reinforce it as an example in many other little aspects of his student life... :)

FM

FrogMan

11-03-2009, 02:03 PM

Yesterday's practice was a light one. Andrew told me they had a one hour blackboard session and one hour practice session. The practice session was mostly special teams, in which Andrew is not involved, except for PAT kicks and field goals (which they've not tried one of this season) and their jumbo formation which involved snaps with the QB right under center as opposed to being in the shotgun. He's also not part of that setup.

During the blackboard session, they went over the scouting report for Ancienne-Lorette, probably based off what they did in our last game against them. Andrew brought back a one page report with maybe 10-12 diagrams of plays with a percent value next to each one of them. According to it, one play was run 34% of the time while the next two came with 17% or so each meaning that 2/3 of their offense consisted of three plays. I know this is probably just par for the course but for me, new parent of a kid playing competitive football (is there such a thing as non-competitive football?), I was impressed with the amount of work that was put into preparing the kids.

From what I gathered from Andrew (my wife picked him up after practice), it looked like that practice was the kind of practice that they usually run on Friday evening.

Andrew told me he played a bit of defense when they ran the jumbo offense and while he was not told anything about where he'd play on offense, their D-line coach told him to be ready to come in as a sub on the DL later in the game. He looked quite happy when reporting that to me. More positive recognition for him. Glad to see them the coaches seeing him worthy of being used late in the game. Kinda different from the first time they played Ancienne-Lorette, when I expressed how discontent I was with the coach telling them they'd played their best player more (and Andrew had not played that much, see this post (http://www.osatwork.com/fofc/showpost.php?p=2129500&postcount=61)). I always thought Andrew deserved to be playing more and it looks like they are realizing that now...

Championship game has been scheduled for Saturday morning at 9h30. Early weather forecast are that we could expect some sleet type snow or rain with temperature around freezing.

FM

FrogMan

11-05-2009, 11:39 AM

Not much to report about the last two days of practice. Tuesday was a cold, rainy practice where Andrew practiced mostly at left tackle, rotating with the other left tackle with a few bits of center play, but only when the offense would play scout team for the defense.

Yesterday was much of the same but had a funny reaction from Andrew when I got home. I give karate class on Wednesdays so my wife picked him up. When I got back hom from karate class and asked him how practice was, he replied "good for me". Hrm, good for you? Please do tell how. He said he thought he'd had a strong practice but some got chewed up for taking it lightly. They might end up practicing on Friday evening.

There was a cool little article in a local weekly newspaper about their undefeated regular season and how they totally crushed their opponents in the semi-final game. You can read it here (http://www.icilevis.com/fr/index-lecture.aspx?sortcode=1.34.34&id_article=2282) although it's all in French so you might need babelfish. :)

Coolest thing was that there was a picture with the article and Andrew can be seen on it. He's at left tackle, the one with his helmet in line with the referee. Here's the picture:
http://www.icilevis.com/images/contenu/plus/2282_465_310.jpg

Oddly enough, the picture is clearer in the printed version of the paper mostly because they cropped it and kept only the players. We can clearly see the first five of his number (55) on the printed picture.

In other stuff, with the championship game coming and with it, the last week of practice coming to a close, my wife and I realized yesterday that at this day next week, he won't be practicing anymore. Will feel kind of weird not to be on the type of family schedule we've been since August 18. Oh sure, Andrew has been practicing sports for a while now, since he was about 4 actually, but it's never been this intense.

FM

FrogMan

11-06-2009, 10:01 PM

I was about to call it a night and realized I had not posted anything prior to the big game. Tomorrow morning it is, 9:30 am. Weather should be nice if a bit cold. It's currently 32F outside and could go as low as 19F overnight with possible temps around 26-27F tomorrow morning. Not much rain is forecasted, something like 10% probability.

They wrapped up their last week of practice yesterday with a practice that Andrew said was more intense than the day before but that he said his coach wasn't completely happy with. He told them they would have to kick it up a notch if they want to walk away with the title.

I feel that if they can come out strong like they have done for the last couple of games, they'll be in good shape.

As for Andrew, the left guard missed that last practice, being sick with a cold of the flu. Because of that, Andrew was at left guard for all of practice yesterday. I'd expect he could be starting at either left guard or left tackle. Or should I say, I'd hope he can start, and have mucho playing time. Go kick some ass son. :)

FM

FrogMan

11-08-2009, 09:19 PM

Weather was perfect for football yesterday. At least as perfect as it could be at this time of year in Quebec. A couple degrees below freezing at 8, it would eventually get up to freezing point by the end of the game. A cloudy sky over our heads although no rain showed up.

The kids came out of the locker room padless, but with their team shirt on, at about 8:15 to work on some special teams and do a quick roundup of a few things. The other team showed up 15 minutes later, all dressed up.

Corsaires went back to the locker room at about 8:45 and back out at about 9:05 fully geared up for the formal warmup session. Kickoff was set for 9:30.

My parents were there for the game, as was my mother in law, my sister and her husband (they're Andrew's Godparents) with her two year old daughter (my Goddaughter as well). About 15 minutes prior to kickoff, as I was chatting with my parents and getting ready to head up to the booth for my timekeeping duties, the wife of our Juvenile coach came to me and told me that if I wanted to stay down with my family and enjoy the game, she could do the timekeeping. She's the one who actually showed me how to operate the clock and has been doing it for years. I asked her if she was serious, that was too much of a nice offer, I simply couldn't refuse. Don't get me wrong, the booth is a very nice place to watch the game, but as timekeeper, you watch the game in a different way. You can't pay attention to all little details cause your focus is on the referees, in particular the head referee as for when he wants you to start the clock.

I was ecstatic to sit with the crowd and ready to enjoy what I hoped would be a great win for my boy and his team.

They started out strong on defense, actually pushing the other team back on a solid three and out. The offense was next and with it, Andrew setting down at the left tackle position. He was a starter. I'm sure you can feel my pride gushing out over the interwebs. :)

They had a solid first drive that culminated with a TD and just like that, they were up 8-0.

Defense kept the other team in check drive after drive but it was no walk in the park for our offense after that first drive. They did add a second score before the end of the half, but I knew the kids couldn't take it easy with only a 14-0 lead at the half.

The third quarter was a bit uneventful as was the start of fourth quarter, then it all got crazy, as it often does. With maybe five minutes to do, one of our DB intercepted their QB on a third and long, only to make a couple steps and as he was going down, coughed up the ball that they recovered only our 35 yard line. From there on out, it looked as if they had found new life, and our kids looked simply befuddled. A couple penalties here, a blown tackle there and they scored with 3:15 to go. Kicked conversion for 2, we were now only up 14-8 after missing our kicked conversion on our second TD. One more converted TD and that game was theirs...

By that time, I was screaming at the top of my lungs on every defensive play, trying to get the impressive crowd (in numbers at least) to make noise with me.

Following their TD, I saw them lining up for the ensuing kickoff and immediately saw some shifting on their side and I screamed "ONSIDE! WATCH THE SHORT KICK!!!" Not that I thought the kids could hear me or anything, but hey, I had to yell something. They sure did try the onside. The kick didn't make ten yards and I swear I saw it hit the foot of a player from the other team inside that ten yards. Unfortunately, the referee didn't and only saw the fact that it bounced off the leg of one of our player before one of theirs jumped on it. Their ball around midfield at the three minutes warning.

Remember what I said about the clock inside three minutes of a half? Well, the time stops on EVERY PLAY and it restarts only when the referees signals that the players are set. This was looking to be the longest three minutes of my life...

Their offense started driving down the field and our defense looked exhausted. Turned out one of our best defensive tackle, a kid listed at 5'5"/155lbs at the start of the season, was at the ER with a fever of 104F, with fear that he had contracted swine flu. A linebacker was playing in his place and probably was not used to the kind of grinding that a lineman takes.

That being said though, our D kids stood them up on a fourth and 8 around the 30 yard line and our QB finished the game with three kneel down.

CORSAIRES STAY UNDEFEATED AND ARE CHAMPIONS!!! :D

I tell ya, I had a frigging headache from screaming and yelling and cheering, but I didn't care. Definitely the most intense experience I've lived as a parent.

I'll post some pictures later on this week and you'll see the pride in Andrew's smile. Priceless.

About him, as I said, he was the starter at left tackle and apart from one drive where they put in their jumbo line setup, and one more drive where he was subbed out, he didn't miss one offensive drive. Whenever the previous starting left tackle would come into the game, the left guard would come out and Andrew would slide over. He had a strong game, worthy of the trust his coaches put in him. He played exactly one play at DT, but I guess they simply valued him more on the OL.

About the kid at the ER, I spoke with his dad today. Met him and his wife unexpectedly at the store this afternoon. He said he was doing better and that the fever had gone down. His dad was the person in charge of filming the team's games this season. He mentioned that his son watched yesterday's game twice while wrapped in a blanket. That led to him sorta mentioning he still had all the other games of the season on his recorder and he agreed to make me copies of them at some point in the offseason. Very much looking forward to that.

I hope you enjoyed these little writeups. There have been some frustrating times, but also some great lessons to be learned by my son through all this. Next season might be even harder, as he will be moving on up to the Cadets.

FM