Gridiron league cancels quarter-final match-ups

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

The Chronicle

Local North Shore Football League (NSFL) inter-park fans looking for playoff action to mix with their Thanksgiving turkeys on Monday were plum out of luck.

In a last-minute decision, members of the NSFL executive committee decided to cancel a slew of atom, mosquito and peewee quarter-final games scheduled to unfold over the course of the day throughout the West Island.

Instead, the league will move right into semifinal play this weekend, beginning on Saturday. The top-four finishing teams during the regular season in each division will battle for the right to advance to the NSFL final on Oct. 21, while the rest will lock horns in Alumni Cup, or consolation, play.

Knowledgeable observers agree the big losers out of the decision to forgo quarter-final play will be teams that finished in fifth or sixth place in each division. Had they pulled off victories against third or fourth-place teams on Monday — a completely plausible scenario considering the parity in the middle of the pack in at least two divisions — these clubs could have qualified for a chance to play an NSFL semifinal game this weekend. Instead, these squads now have no choice but to head for Alumni Cup play.

“Teams like the Ile Bizard Vikings,� said NSFL inter-park vice-president Alan Dobby. “If you look at the standings after regular-season play ended on Saturday, they finished in fifth place in atom and mosquito. Their mosquito team, in particular, felt they had a shot of advancing to at least to an NSFL semifinal game, and maybe even an NSFL title game. If you look at the scores between fourth and fifth-place teams during the regular season at the mosquito level, 40 to 50 per cent of those games were decided by six points.�

The reason behind the decision to eliminate quarter-final play, said Dobby, was because the Quebec Football Association wanted to put all three Montreal-area leagues on an equal plane as far as post-season scheduling went.

“Unbeknownst to us, a little while ago, Football Quebec decided the other two leagues would not have quarter-finals,� said Dobby. “Their reason they gave us is the Montreal Regional Football League (MRFL) and Montreal Metro Football League (MMFL) are bigger than ours, and scheduling quarter-finals would have put them too far behind in the schedules. Last year for example, the MMFL had to cram double-headers in order to have quarter-finals. They felt it just wasn’t fair.�

Meanwhile, in other inter-park news, Football Quebec has decided either an atom, mosquito or peewee team from each of the three leagues will not have to play an extra game on either Oct. 28 or 29 in order to qualify for the provincial final. Over the past few years, in order to make the provincial final, league champions at each division have played off against each other in regional finals the weekend before. However, with three leagues now in place, that would have been impossible. As such, divisions from each league were drawn out of a hat on Saturday, and the NSFL drew the peewee division.

Note: In NSFL championship semifinal play this Saturday morning, the Lakeshore atom Panthers host Alexander Park at 9:30 while Alexander Park peewees say hello to the Lakeshore Cougars also at 9:30. On Saturday afternoon at 5, the Lakeshore mosquito Cougars host Alexander Park. On Sunday morning, A Ma Baie peewees travel to St. Lazare to take on the Stallions at 9:30 while the Stallions’ mosquito club welcomes Sunnybrooke at 11:30. On Sunday at 1:30 p.m., St. Lazare atom Stallions host Sunnybrooke.