Great day for football yesterday.  Weather was fantastic in Albion.  First night game I have attended.  Lights were a welcome addition a couple of years ago. 

I too was surprised by the Trine/Olivet result.  I figured Olivet would have won by a touchdown or so.  Maybe Trine is not as down as I thought.  Should be an exciting game next week in Holland.

Albion came out hitting on all cylinders.  They had just shy of 500 yards of total offense at half time.  Kzoo may not win a game this year.  They moved the ball on Albion through the air but keep shooting themselves in the foot.  We had way too many penalties (O line must have had 6 holding calls on them).  Both teams came away injury free which is always good to see.

Ex-Tartan,

Thank you for your input and clarifications.

To be quite clear I do not think I ever mentioned nor implied that you were lying.  All I was saying and I 100% stand by is that I heard nothing sitting in the home stands from the field, and I still stand by that I saw nothing that could be taken as taunting.  I am not going to get into a he said/he said banter.  I do not know your capacity in association with Hope for you to be on the field.  It does not matter.  Again, all I was saying is that from the Albion side of the field, nothing was heard nor seen that could be taken as unsportsmanlike.  If you want to take that statement as being called a liar, so be it.  I am sure a lot of things were said on the field given the rivalry, but from a fan standpoint, it was not visible.  Been put to bed.

I also think the league will be a close one as well.  Olivet could and probably will be a fly in the ointment.  Their coach has them headed in the right direction.  Looking at their coaching staff (Olivet) it appears a good share of Trine's staff went with him.  Which might explain Trine's slight slide of late.  I am not sold on Alma as of yet.  Time will tell.  We have Kzoo this week and then a night game at Adrian the following week.  Fun times in the MIAA.

Whoever comes out of the MIAA this year I do not think they will fare to well in the tournament.  I can't speak for the other schools in the MIAA but I have heard that our enrollment is down quite a bit this year.  On a side note, I have never understood how they determine the D3/D2 distinction.  I understand the scholarship issue, but I remember when we played UW Whitewater my son's junior year and we traveled to WI is was like men playing boys.  Their enrollment was it that time I think just over 10k where Albion and most MIAA schools are around 1500-2000.  Quite a difference.

On to better and more peaceful matters........

Yes as a fan I was in the stands and not on the sidelines.  And as anyone who has been to Albion knows the home side is elevated and behind the track.  I was in the East end next to the band, and not at the concession stand (please).  I heard nothing what so ever from the field.  And as far as your so called taunting by Albion's players, I saw nothing of the sort from either team.  It was an emotional game no different than the last five years that I have seen.

If I recall Albion immediately lined up at the 50 to shake hands with the Hope players after the initial celebration.  I know from my son's playing at Albion for four years that Hope along with Adrian are Albion's main rivals, and this year was no different.  The game I watched was cleanly played by two fairly closely matched squads.

Best of luck to Hope the rest of the season.

Not sure what you saw that was unsportsmanlike.  I was at the game and in the stands and did not see anything I would call unsportsmanlike.

All in all a very close game that was decided by both teams special teams. 

Formerd3db,

I agree 100% that I am sure not all of the Adrian players behaved in that manner.  It was just sad to see the lack of control from my perspective.

I have to say that we (Albion) have been lucky as far as our officiating goes.  Wait.....now that I say that, when we lost to Trine, the fumble recovery that was returned for a TD, which wound up being the difference in the game, when I watched the game film, our RB was clearly down when the ball came out.  But, you have to remember that the refs have to call things in real time.  No replays.  What is obvious on film I am sure is close when it happens.  That being said, again, we have fared pretty well as far as the officals goes.  My biggest 'bitch' has been the injuries.  Which is no one's fault and a part of the game.  Just makes you wonder 'what if'.

Either way, weather in Albion this Saturday is supposed to be slightly overcast, high of 58, 20% chance of rain.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  I for one am tired of sitting in the rain to watch football.

Best of luck to both teams this Saturday as we close out the 2012 season.

formerd3db, I was in the stands at that end of the field approximately at the 30 yard line.  I could not tell from my angle.  I have even watched a different video, same angle mind you and you can not tell.  Like I said in my previous post, my son was on the field during that play and he thought Darren had gotten in.  Gutsy call either way.  I have not seen the view from the platform lift in the end zone.  I would think that might be more definetive.  Mute point either way, the call was what it was.  I do not think it was a poorly officiated game.  Not the best but not generally I feel all of the calls made were correctly Saturday.

As to my comment agreeing with the commentators in the video, I stand by my statement.  I was at the game and witnesses first hand what I saw.  If you rewatch the video, right after the play at 3:13 a fan comes into frame from the end zone, how he got there that fast I do not know.  He was dressed in a yellow/black Adrian jacket.  He walks up to our players crossing his arms and in a censored quote, he was telling our players they were 'freakin female genitials'.  It went down hill from there.  At 3:33 you see our AD in Khaki pants and a lt grey jacket.  At 4:00 at about the 40 yard line an Adrian 'personel' in team gear came over was trying to get into an altercation with our team.  He and the AD can be seen 'talking and pointing fingers'.  Again, I witnessed this first hand and was told by our players what was being said by this person.  I am sure not all Adrian players were acting in this way, but I do know that the coaches did not have control of their players and they did not line up to shake hands.  To top all of this on the field off, some time later, after we had visited with our son on the field, in the parking lot next to the Kellogg Center, two Adrian players, still in the uniforms mind you, and 3-4 people in team sweat outfits walked through the parents tailgating area yelling and getting in verbal rants with parents. We were walking back to visit our son at his Frat house and did not stick around to see where this went.  I can only imagine how bad it could have gotten.

I will say how proud I am of our team the way they have played these last few weeks with the injuries that we have incurred.  They could have packed it in a couple of weeks ago but have soldiered on.

Quote from: waxx on November 04, 2012, 08:16:03 PM
[quote author=formerd3db link=topic=3548.msg1460947#msg1460947 date=1352064847
What was controversial about it?  Was it an incorrect i.e. botched call or are you calling it controversial because they went for two?  If you are alleging it was an incorrect call, will the films show it and/or were you or any of your colleagues down on the sidelines close enough to make the observation?  Just curious.

It was a controversial call because of how close it was. You can view the final play here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/albionsports, it starts at about 2:45. We obviously have a terrible view of it, so there is no way to say if he made it or not, but you can see how close it was.

I am curious to know from anyone that was there what was "classless," as the announcers put it, about the Adrian celebration.  By the time the camera panned over, it just looked like Adrian was celebrating midfield. Did the Adrian players do something before that? If that's all that took place, I don't see what's wrong with that.
[/quote]
I was at the game and it was impossible to tell if he crossed the goal line.  My son who was on the field for that play said he thought he got it but it was very close.
I think what the announcers were referring to was the fact that Adrian would not line up to shake hands after the game.  Which I agree with his assessment 100%.

Albion held an inter squad scrimmage last Saturday night under the new lights.  Looked very good on both sides of the ball.  I believe they are having one more later this week.  Can not wait until September 1st!

http://nflmocks.com/2012/04/15/name-to-remember-chris-greenwood-cb-albion/

Another nice tidbit about Chris Greenwood.  Big week for Chris.  Wish him all best for the upcoming draft.

Downtown Albion is a shell of what it used to be.  Still a couple of good places to eat but the main drag has more than it's share of empty storefronts.

I really hope things work out for Chris.  He is a great young man and will be greatly missed next year.  It has been a joy watching him these last three years for me.  One of his most impressive plays I have witnessed was against UW Whitewater in the playoffs.  It was on a long pass play late in the game if I remember correctly where he closed on the ball in the last 15 yards to bat it away at the last second.  Closing speed was very impressive.  Anyway, hope everyone has a good weekend.

Cascarelli's it was.   Good places to eat in Albion are limited.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/08/small-schooler-greenwood-attracts-plenty-of-pre-draft-interest/

Still trying to figure out how to post here, as my post for the MIAA showed up in the main North list, but here is an article about Chris Greenwood of Albion.

I was having a pizza with my son a week ago in Albion and Chris was there at the pizza joint meeting with two scouts from the Dallas Cowboys.  My son said they worked Chris out at Albion the next day.

Good luck to Chris!  He will be dearly missed next year at Albion.

Poscodna has done a nice job at Michigan Center.  Took a few years, but has things going in the right direction at MC.

Chris will be sorely missed next fall.  He did an outstanding job at Albion these last few years.