FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[WLCALUM83]

Final  Hope 24, Albion 21.

[WLCALUM83]

Hope announcers said there was a final in Milwaukee:

Olivet 19, WLC 6.

[NW Hope Fan]

Hope is now 21-13-2 at home against Albion since 1926 and 3-1 since 2000. (1982 since Hope won at Albion, with a tie in '86)
Nice job Hope... On to Alma!

[bulldogalum]

Hope 24    Albion 21

Great game by all accounts.  This was the kind of game that makes watching MIAA and DIII football so great.  On a muddy field on a cool, sometimes rainy, but not altogether unbearable day, Hope made just enough plays to get the job done.  They are better in all aspects than they were last year.  That is not to say that Hope is great at everything--far from it--but they are a much better team than the team I saw Albion destroy last year.

I was most impressed by Booko, the Hope RB.  He was a very strong runner, low to the ground, who simply made a lot of big plays for Hope in short yardage situations, and provided a steady boost to the Dutchmen throughout the day.  Without his 148 yards, Hope does not win this game.

Hope's QB, Jake Manning had his moments--both good and bad.  In general, he had a solid game, and even scrambled away from pressure fairly well, but he had occasional lapses that resulted in turnovers.  I know at least one of his three interceptions came with Hope driving deep into Albion territory.

Doug VanEerden is a fine wide receiver, and had a very nice game for the Dutch.

The biggest weak spot for Hope is the same as it's been for the past few years.  Their secondary play is still fairly spotty.  Albion was able to attack the Dutch deep with a fair amount of success for much of the game.  Note to anyone playing against Hope:  Throw it downfield!!!  You may not connect every time, but there will be many situations where it will be open for you.

Albion looked pretty good offensively throughout the game.  They had a balanced attack (167 passing, 162 rushing), and protected the ball better than Hope.  Their problems came at the ends of drives--specifically two drives late in the game.  One drive ended with a missed field goal.  It must have been close, because from where I sat, I thought it was through.  The other, of course, was the last drive of the game.  These new rules make late drives difficult, especially when you've used all of your timeouts.  On that drive, Albion marched down the field, only to suffer a costly sack on 3rd down without much time left.  They tried to rush the field goal team onto the field, and actually got the ball snapped before time had expired, but not all of the Albion offensive unit had made it off the field in time.  The kick, incidentally, was no good, and Hope went stark raving bananas.

A good win for the Dutch, and a great start to the conference season.  But, as I told one Albion player after the game..."you lost your first conference game last year and still got a ring, so hang in there." 

Nobody is out of the MIAA conference race yet, but some teams, Albion included, have a little tougher road.

Adrian 35     Kalamazoo 14

They endured.

[79jaybird]

formerd3db-- Hey hey, I should go to Vegas with my predictions!! 
Now if I could predict the weather and the lottery, that would be great.  No, in all seriousness I just had a feeling tht Hope would have the emotional high to knock off Albion.  They played well in the 2nd half vs. Wheaton and I just had the hunch that Hope would continue that momentum.
Congrats to all the MIAA winners.

[formerd3db]

jaybird:
Yeah, that would be great i.e. the lottery too!   Anyway, thank you for the well-wishes on the win.  Likewise in return, congrats to your Elmhurst team on their win - wow, they are 4-0, first time in a long time for that.  Hopefully, they'll be able to continue that momentum.  Talk to you later.

[79jaybird]

formerd3db-- You are right, it has been awhile since Elmhurst is 4-0 and 3 of their wins have been against mid--strong level competition.  Excluding Benedictine,  Chicago, Olivet, and Carthage are quality wins.  Not to mention being "road warriors" the last 2 weeks.
Hope is also is good position to do some damage in the MIAA this year.  Like Elmhurst, Hope has a difficult "statement" game next week at Alma.  EC hosts Augie and we will see if the Bluejays are for real.
Congrats on the big win and glad to see our ballclubs winning the big games!

[formerd3db]

bulldogalum:

Great to see you yesterday as always.  I agree with your assessment.  I talked with Hope's AD after the game and he said the same - it was on of the best "barnburners" for Div III he's seen and the day being what it's all about.  For the benefit of our other MIAA posters/readers who were not at the game, to be realistic, either team could have won the game.  As I said earlier in the week, unfortunately, Albion and Hope are not at the level that they have been in the past, but as you indicate, they are not bad teams either.

One aspect I liked about Albion was that the usual attitude problem was not as present yesterday as it has historically been in the past.  Also, they are a good team and their offensive plan still has the same ability to move the ball against Hope quickly in regards to the passing game and especially it seems for the last minutes of a game as they have done in the past four years - i.e. what I'm referring to is that they kill us every year with the " 'ole down and out, down and out".  You are right about Hope's secondary and in regards to that tendency, they just can't seem to cover those short passes - hence Albion's ability to easily move the ball and set themselves up for a potential game winning score.  And with a good QB as Wilson (who I was impressed with, particuarly for a guy who didn't get a lot of PT the last year or two), that is easier.  Certainly, these last minute drives by Albion have happened in the last 4 years at the least.

As we also discussed (and witnessed) yesterday, I was extremely disappointed (once again) with the poor officiating job by the MIAA crew assigned to the game.  With the exception of two of the officials, the others, including the head ref demonstrated IMO a complete lack of control, consistency and simply stated, just a poor performance.  As you saw, repeated instances of officials completely away from a play (and thus out-of-position) making a call, taking 5 minutes for a "conference" to make decisions on routine calls repeatedly, missing of blatant holding on offensive line by both teams.  Officiating football games is a tough job, however, there are a few basic aspects of conducting that in which this has been sorely lacking the past 3+ years IMO (which I and others have discussed here in the past).  That being said, and regardless, it's obvious that a team has to play over that kind of "stuff" and just execute fundamental football.

Anyway, as you say, both teams and the others still have a tough challenge for the title - we'll see who emerges in the next 1-2 weeks, although, again, I think it still might come down to the last week as usual.

Congrats to Adrian.  For a short time there, it seemed that Kazoo was going to pull the upset.  However, as you astutely penned, Adrian endured.  They will still be tough to play I'm sure.

The rest of the MIAA games yesterday were about as I thought they would go.  We travel to Alma next weekend, where it is always a tough place to play for Hope.  Again, their secondary better be ready for the aerial bombardment that typifies Alma.  Again, great to see you yesterday and keep in touch.   

Also, congrats to you other guys whose MIAA teams were winners yesterday; to those who lost, hang in there and best of luck next week.

[formerd3db]

Addendum:

I forgot to mention that I think the difference for Hope was that they played better basic fundamental football than they have the past 3 weeks i.e. mainly better tackling and "outside-in" containment (still could improve on both of those a bit though), much better offensive line blocking; and secondary played better but still a long way to go on that as you mentioned.

[bulldogalum]

Yes, I concur entirely about the officiating.  There were MANY calls yesterday where I found myself shaking my head, on both sides of the ball.  The good news is this:  there were enough bad calls both ways that I don't think it really affected the outcome of the game.  Both teams played through those calls, and generally handled the disappointment in a very professional way.

I also forgot to talk about the tackling.  Hope certainly did a better job tackling this game.  Albion had guys in good position to make the play much of the time, and they frequently hit the Hope ballcarrier, but they sure didn't wrap up and finish the play.It might have been a different game if Albion had done a better job of wrapping up after hitting Hope runners.

Congrats to all MIAA winners, and best of luck in the conference season.  Beat Olivet!

[79jaybird]

We had the SAME problems in our game at Carthage!  What's with this year's crop of officials?
I can't tell you how many inadvertent whistles, officials gathering as if they threw a flag and couldn't remember what they saw/wanted to call, having to reset the clocks.. it was awful.  I think both sides EC/Car would agree that the officials were horrible.
All you ask for from the officials is to let the players (kids) decide the outcome of the game and be fair.

[bulldogalum]

All you ask for from the officials is to let the players (kids) decide the outcome of the game and be fair.

Absolutely.  Thankfully here, they were bad, but they were balanced.  Both sides had calls go for them and against them, so the players ultimately decided the game.  Hopefully the officiating improves, and the players continue to decide the outcome of the game.

[WLCALUM83]

Who is the best QB in the MIAA?

[Stinger]

All you ask for from the officials is to let the players (kids) decide the outcome of the game and be fair.

Absolutely.  Thankfully here, they were bad, but they were balanced.  Both sides had calls go for them and against them, so the players ultimately decided the game.  Hopefully the officiating improves, and the players continue to decide the outcome of the game.

Be happy that Todd Geerlings officiates football on the DI level .

[wlcalum]

We could all write a book about officials. No way could you pay me enough to put those stripes on. Still they need to do a better job.

Who is the best QB in the MIAA?
Kinda early to tell - was hoping that Bodner(WLC) would make noise but he needs a line.