Here's hoping the Bates coaching staff finally lets these QBs air it out this Saturday.  That triple-option puts me to sleep.

Quote from: Nescacman on October 17, 2013, 10:25:57 PM

Quote from: lumbercat on October 17, 2013, 06:52:43 PM
NESCACMAN -
Another great report. Really enjoy reading your posts. You have a great handle on the conferences as a whole. Wish we could get this kind of quality coverage in some of our local papers.

I also saw the Wesleyan Bates game and agree with most of your points but take issue with a couple of things that I will throw out to you.

Bates has just 2 300 pounders- RT O'Neil and RG Bernstein- O'Neil was all NESCAC last year. Both are big and athletic and are the reason Bates has been able to run the ball very well when everybody knows what's coming given their non existent passing attack. I take friendly issue with the "soft" remark.

You would be surprised that a lot of good athletes are choosing Bates these days. Lewiston certainly is no garden spot but the college is in a decent and has a lot to offer like all NESCAC schools. In terms of these 2 Off linemen I know that both had strong Ivy interest and offers from multiple NESCAC and Patriot league programs. They chose Bates presumably because they were attracted to the school and the Football program. Believe these guys would start on any NESCAC line.

Wesleyan is athletic and deep on both sides of the line of scrimmage- I couldn't agree more. They are a better team than I imagined- cant see them losing a game but who knows.

The game story was the talent and depth of Wesleyan with their great balanced attack that just wore Bates down early in the second half. Bates D line very small having lost 2 of their front 3 to injuries. Wesleyan really dominated the young kids Bates had to use on Saturday.

Bates faces a challenge for the remainder of the season with an inordinate number of key injuries.
No excuses here because they have played well until last week but have lost 2 more starters. Injuries are to be expected but these guys have really lost a number of key people at a point when they had won 5 or their last 6 and were really building some momentum as a program.

These are lost STARTERs this year-
QB
Slot Back
OT
DE
DT
ILB
ILB
OLB

They face a stiff challenge this week with Middlebury. They will need to regroup and figure out a way to replace these people and remain competitive for the remainder of the year.

My take only NESCACMAN- keep your fine reports and previews coming, much appreciated!

Thank you for your kind words Lumbercat. I just write it as I see it.

I think Bates is a decent football team (and Colby too). They are on the cusp of something special, I believe, if they get rid of that wacky offense and played the second QB a bit more and let him throw the ball (he does throw a nice pass). I think Colby is also improving and may be onto something as well. I am sure you will recall a few years ago they were on the cusp of breaking into the leagues top tier when the team ran into some issues off the field. They certainly proved that you can recruit good players to play in Maine.

People are not giving Wesleyan's squad enough credit and respect which perhaps if they are able to beat Amherst, they will finally get. Being a D III aficionado for many years and understanding the relationship of the NESCAC to other D III football conferences around the country, I am actually of the opinion in most years that the top 1 or 2 teams in the NESCAC could compete with and should be a part of the national D III rankings. Look how the top NESCAC teams do in other sports where they compete in the national playoffs against those other conferences and teams. The top NESCAC teams not only hold their own, they do quite well.

One last point that I forgot to mention last night about the Wes-Amherst game. Amherst's longest run from scrimmage this year is only 20 yards. Given Wesleyan's tremendous team speed on defense, Amherst will have a tough time breaking any long running plays against the Cards.

Lumbercat, sorry Mr. Davis and I missed you for a cocktail and cigar. Perhaps next year in Lewiston.

I agree completely on the second Bates QB being their best QB.  LaSpada is a very athletic, highly touted freshman who will get expanancially better with each game rep he gets.  I also agree that Harriman has to start throwing the football more and the freshman LaSpada is the best option for that.  This dinarsour offense he runs out there with that Watch Paint Dry offense has to be revamped to utilize more passing plays to keep defenses honest.

Quote from: warriorcat on October 05, 2013, 09:17:37 PM
Made the trek to Williamstown with the family this afternoon.  We were treated to a nail biter that wasn't over until the Bates  intercepted the final pass of the day on a jump ball in the end zone.  The first quarter was dictated by Bates's outstanding field position.  Bates's offense killed every possession with penalties that their short running game could not overcome.  Williams's offense was stopped cold as they could not establish the run against a stout Bates defense that forced three-and-outs on nearly every possession.  On the final possession of the period, Bates's offense finally cleaned things up and marched to the Epf one yard line as the time expired.  on the first play of the second quarter, Junior Matt Cannone starting the first game of his career ran in the game's first TD.  On the ensuing possesion, the Bates defense stripped the Williams QB and presented their offense with the ball inside the 10 yd line.  Once again, a penalty for an illegal block took the Bobcats out of range and the kicker missed a long field goal.  That sequence seemed to  wake up the Williams offense and the finally began to move the ball.  A great punt return gave them a short field and they scored at the 5:50 mark at the end of a five play 18 yard drive from on yard out.  After the Bates offense failed to move the ball on a couple of possesions, Williams had their best drive of the day moving into position to allow Joe Mallock to kick a Williams record 46 yd field goal with three seconds left in the half.  The Bates defense was the story again in the second half.  Williams never threatened to score until the very end of the game.  Bates's offense was not much better and it appeared that the three point lead might be enough until early in the fourth quarter when Bates finished a 14 play 66 yard drive on a Ryan Curit 2 yd run.  The big play of the drive was a 16 yd pass completion on 4th and 11 that put the Bobcats on the Eph 14 yard line.  Williams began to throw more as the quarter wore on but an interception ended one of their final possesions.  They got the ball back one more time with less than a minute to play and they ran a hook-and-ladder play with two laterals that took them down inside the Bates 15.  A penalty at the end of the run pushed them outside the 25 yard line set up the final passing attempt thrown into the end zone with 3 seconds to play. 

As a Bates supporter it was a euphoric moment of relief.  This makes three victories in a row for the Bobcats over the Ephmen after three decades of futility (2-22 before 2011).  This is not the Bates team of the past 30 years.  Congratulations to Coach Harriman and his staff for bringing this program out of the NESCAC cellar into a team that can compete on a week in week out basis.

I streamed in the game yesterday and was pretty disappointed when the video feed blacked out after the hook and lateral play.  It was a decent game, yet sloppily played on both sides with all the penalties etc.   I was very impressed with the Bates defense.  They have a very strong front 8 in that 3-5 they run.  QQ, what happened to the Bates starting QB Dugan?  Was he hurt?

Quote from: gridiron on September 14, 2013, 08:57:14 AM
Adding to Warriorcat:  Bates/Colby scrimmage took place in significant rain.  Bates started at QB with Laspada then went with junior Cannone.

First quarter with LaSpada the offense did nothing.  Second quarter with Cannone Bates scored TD when Colby offense, from own endzone, fumbled a snap, Bates defense recovered for a TD--7-0.  Later in second quarter Bates took over after an interception on about Colby 30.  Decent drive resulting in TD pass in corner of endzone from about the 9 yard line.  14-0.  After the kickoff Colby backed up on their own five yard line again.  Another fumbled snap in endzone, and Colby QB kicked the ball out of the endzone for a safety to prevent another TD by defense.  16-0.

QBs were not allowed to be tackled, so in the rain running QBs such as Colby's starter Ciero had very few options.  Highlights for Colby were (in order):  a difficult one-handed grab by a sophomore TE number 80, a couple of booming punts by new punter number 89 and a big hit by a junior defensive back number 14.

Would have been interesting to see what both teams would have looked like without the rain and with QBs able to run.

Excellent update on the Bates/Colby scrimmage, thank you very much.  The rain and non ability to tackle the QB would have also hampered LaSpada as he is a tremendously athletic QB who is known for his ability to run.  Sounds like LaSpada and Cannone are battling for that starters spot, will be interesting to see who wins that job.  Did LaSpada only play that 1st qtr?  He is a highly touted kid and I'm curious to see how he makes out in that QB battle.

Any word on when Bates will have their first scrimmage ?  Any news on the QB situation out there ?

Quote from: LewDogg11 on August 19, 2013, 05:07:23 PM

Quote from: quicksilver on August 19, 2013, 04:23:29 PM

Quote from: amh63 on August 19, 2013, 10:00:59 AM
The board is starting to "heat" up as arrival date of students approaches.  Welcome aboard all new posters....hope you'll stay around during the season.
Lumbercat...thanks for the info.  After scanning the lists, several areas of interest.  . . . .
See that Bates and Bowdoin both have a QB from the Taft school...both good size.  Look forward to see who becomes the better college player  or contribute the most to their school on the field.
Taft seems to be a prep school that develop QBs.  Amherst had a starting QB that came from Taft "recently".  I noticed because he was the son of a great Amherst QB in the late 60's from Iowa.
He came to Amherst in part because of his uncle who played at Amherst and was a classmate of mine.
His "fame" came about in part from a win against Tufts in an away game.  Tufts was ranked the top team  by the Boston papers at The time.  The Amherst QB was just coming back from an injury..not at "full speed"...so to speak.  Amherst was the underdog.  Amherst crushed Tufts.  the Boston papers had to find out why and found a story line.  Seems that the QB turned down scholarships to Iowa and Iowa State to go play at Amherst, where his father had to pay...being a MD.  Of course, Amherst had several young WRs on the team.  One the papers considered to be the best in NE.  They were correct because he went on to play for both Dallas and the Redskins in the NFL.
I digress in memories.  Was at that Tufts game.

Interesting story on the Bates QB prospect from Taft, Nick Laspada. He did not play QB at all in the fall of 2012 during his PG season at Taft due to the position already being occupied by the Bowdoin recruit (Time Drakeley). Laspada was once a very hot prospect at QB until sidelined by some serious health issues, causing Harvard to lose interest in him. He spent his PG year playing WR and safety but hopes to take another shot at QB at Bates.

Laspada was a very good QB at Billerica HS and was recruited by some decent sized schools before his health issues.  Kind of surprised he ended up at Bates but I anticipate he'll light up the stat books, much like Matt Grimard has at Bethany College.

LaSpada was a tremendous QB at Billerica HS.  He impacted football games as soon as he stepped onto the field as a freshman.  Only player in state history to win the
Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore.  Then unfortunately in December of his sophomore season after leading his team to a 10-1 record, he took a dirty, cheap shot to the right knee on a run up the sidelines in the playoff game against Everett.  A play where the Everett LB chose to dive at his knees instead of going up high where he should have went.  That cheap hit blew out Nick's knee and it was surgery and a brutal rehab, which to his credit he did and the kid busted his tail and actually was ready to go on week one of his junior season after surgery in January.

With knee injuries, as everyone knows after a torn ACL, it takes at least a year to get back to where you were.  Nick went on to have a great junior season even with the limiting knee brace that he had to play every game with.  The letters or interest started to arrive, Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Notre Dame and all the Ivy's.  He was a legitimate D1 prospect and had the D1 tools scouts look for (Size, Speed, Quickness, Agility, Arm Strength and Accuracy).  The schools were ready to pull the trigger but they wanted to evaluate his senior year before stamping the seal of approval.  It all came down to his senior year.   He was a feared football player in the MVC, a game breaker and now he was back, over a year healed after knee surgery.  He no longer had to wear the limiting knee brace and HUGE expecations where expected Nick's senior year. 

Senior Year:  Early in the season, Nick didn't feel right, he got winded easily.  On punt returns and QB Keepers that he used to bust for TD's by outrunning everyone, he would pull up purposely due to pure exhaustion.  Something wasn't right.  Half way through the season, Nick got checked and it was learned that he had been playing the entire season with blood clots in his lungs.  This obviously cut his season short as he chased the Massachusetts TD record along with DJ Crook and Jonathan DiBiaso.
He ended up throwing (70 TDs - 3rd best in state history).

A Senior Year with scouts waiting and watching was cut short due to health issues.  An absolute shame that this had to happen at the time that it did.  Thankfully, Nick took a few months to get himself completely healthy again and had hopes of going Ivy to his dream school, Harvard to play for the Crimson.  Harvard backed off and Nick then made the decision to Prep school it at Taft in CT to reprove himself.  He went there knowing Drakely was already establised, so Nick played both ways (Safety and WR) and had a great year at Taft.  He wants to QB again and wants the ball in his hands.  According to the Taft Head coach, Nick had his pick of the NESCAC schools and chose Bates.  He went there with the hope of getting the QB job.  Bates landed a 'Big Fish' here believe me.  This is a highly-touted, big, fast, athletic QB with a cannon of an arm who would be a natural in the Option offense run by Harriman.  Nick from all accounts is completely healthy and IF he wins that QB job at Bates (I know there are 3 other good prospects), the Bates student body will see what a tremendous athlete and play-maker Nick is with the ball in his hands.

Here's a nice piece written before his senior season:

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/massachusetts/post/_/id/39/improved-laspada-primed-for-spectacular-season

Best of Luck to Bates on what should be a great season, they have things going in the right direction up there.