FB: Middle Atlantic Conference

[wesleydad]

gordan, you have seen both teams.  who do you think is better, wesley or mount?

[Raider 68]

gordan, you have seen both teams.  who do you think is better, wesley or mount?

wesleydad,

He may not give you an answer. Wesley beat DV by 4 pts 21-17 at Wesley. Maybe you will not want his answer, but who knows what it will be?

[gordonmann]

Lyco:

As others alluded, Del Val running back Matt Cook suffered an injury against Widener in the regular season finale.  He had been battling nagging injuries all year but this one was more serious.  He was a game time decision against Salisbury after not practicing all week.  He didn't practice leading up to the Mount Union game either.  Honestly, I'm not sure how much success Del Val would've had running the ball against the Purple Raiders.  But he would've had a lot more carries than he got today and the offense would've had a more balanced game plan.  Injuries are a part of the game, especially at this time of year.  But that late in the season it's hard to replace the production from Cook who finished as Del Val's all-time leader in every major rushing category.

[gordonmann]

Wes Dad:

Keeping in mind that I only saw each team once - and that one time wasn't Wesley's best performance - I would give a very, very narrow edge to Mount Union.  But that's only because of intangibles like how difficult it is to beat the Purple Raiders at this time of year.

From a more analytical perspective, it's really hard to give either team a significant edge.

On offense, I'm not sure these teams could get any more even.  Each one has a game breaker at receiver in Krout and Shorts.  Wesley's backs are faster and have more big play ability but Mount Union's offensive line looks more dominant.  There were some plays today where the Aggie defenders looked like they got sucked into individual black holes.  The blocks were that good, especially from the wide receivers.  I think Seamans will be really, really good but at this point he's still just a sophomore.  Whether it was the wind or the fact that Kehres didn't need much else, I didn't see Seamans make a lot of tough throws down field today.  And Sotillare is playing really well for Wesley right now.

On defense, the two best non-Del Val players I saw this year were Budzinzki of Mount Union and Mayes of Wesley.  If Dieuseul is healthy, I like Mount's defensive line over Wesley by a very slim margin.I like Wesley's secondary a little more with Marcus Wilson and Aaron Benson.  I like Wesley's Asiedu at linebacker over all the other individuals, but Mount Union has better depth across all positions. 

The teams are really, really close though in terms of talent.

[seventiesraider]

Lyco80-Things that haven't been discussed are A. There was a steady 15-18 mph cross wind that made kicking and passing an adventure. B. It was cold and with the wind there were low twenties wind chills. C. The long TD run on Mount's opening drive was a bitter pill for DV. D. I think that across the board the Del Val players let their emotions get in the way for most of the second half. E. The DV QB deserves a medal for the beating he took today. He looked like a prize fight that just wouldn't go down. F Getting to the 2 yard line and not scoring was the dagger to the heart of the Delaware Valley offense.

Despite all that, I was still there at the end of the game and many times during a year I'm listening to the second half in the car on the way home

[Lyco80]

Many thanks to all who graciously provided additional background on the game.  The box score and recap are often only one dimensional snapshots that provide merely statistics and we all know how misleading they may be.

It seems the loss to Widener at the end of the regular season put DVC on a path that made their playoff journey far more challenging than it might have ordinarily been.

Pity, since from all that I have heard and read all season, and particularly with these last few posts, they might have gone much further if they had stopped that two-point conversion on the last play of the season and been on a different track through the playoffs.

Again, thanks for taking the time to get me up to speed.  I appreciate it.

ATB

[DVCFan11]

First off great job Aggies, you lost to one of the best teams D3 has to offer. Hopefully one day we will be on that elite level. You should be proud of the performance you gave, especially Hatty who it sounds like took a beating in this game. Seniors thank you for a fantastic four seasons, and a three peat MAC Championship.

Now a question about the game. I keep hearing on this board, and on the OAC board about DV players kept running their mouths during the game, especially #5 and #1. To anyone who was actually at the game, did DV lose their emotions that badly? On the Mt Union board they were saying that our players (again the two numbers given) kept running their mouths when the game got out of hand to the points that the Mount crowd started to banter at them. I just wonder how bad it actually did get. Listening to the game on the live radio feed there was a few unsportsmanlike on us, and the announcer did say there was some bantering but how bad did we lose our cool?

[wesleydad]

thanks gordan.  hopefully we shall get to see who is better in the stagg bowl.  wesley is playing much better now then when they played delval.  little penalties and turnovers.

[gordonmann]

DVCFan:

This year's Delaware Valley team was animated all year.  I don't think they were unusually so yesterday.  Dilisio (No. 1) did pick up a personal foul and that was an issue throughout the season.  He's a great player who has to find a way to throttle down the emotion when the whistle blows.  There was one point where one of the Del Val players started exchanging trash talk with the Mount Union fans, which is never a good idea. But, from my admittedly distant vantage point, both teams did a fair amount of talking. 

[skunks_sidekick]

DVCFan:

This year's Delaware Valley team was animated all year.  I don't think they were unusually so yesterday.  Dilisio (No. 1) did pick up a personal foul and that was an issue throughout the season.  He's a great player who has to find a way to throttle down the emotion when the whistle blows.  There was one point where one of the Del Val players started exchanging trash talk with the Mount Union fans, which is never a good idea. But, from my admittedly distant vantage point, both teams did a fair amount of talking. 

Gordan......great analysis of Mount's strengths/weaknesses. 

As for the trash-talking.....#5 was doing it pre-game, #1 was doing it ALL game.    And #85 seemed to be in his own world when not playing.  He would sit by himself, smile and chat with Mount fans, etc...

And Mount is no innocent bystander when it comes to trash talk.  They just NEVER do it on the sideline.  That would earn them a place standing beside LK.  Not a good place to be in those circumstances. 

[Lyco80]

Congrats on 1000th post a milestone of some sort to be sure!

ATB

[seventiesraider]

 The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was on #1 after running his mouth first to the Mount bench and then to an official. He was totally out of control.

[union89]

DVCFan:

This year's Delaware Valley team was animated all year.  I don't think they were unusually so yesterday.  Dilisio (No. 1) did pick up a personal foul and that was an issue throughout the season.  He's a great player who has to find a way to throttle down the emotion when the whistle blows.  There was one point where one of the Del Val players started exchanging trash talk with the Mount Union fans, which is never a good idea. But, from my admittedly distant vantage point, both teams did a fair amount of talking. 

Brutal......no reason for this crap.  In a game this big, to selfishly cost your team 15 is inexcusable.

[skunks_sidekick]

Congrats on 1000th post a milestone of some sort to be sure!

ATB

Lack of a real life?  Boring job?  Too much "internet freedom"?   

[lewdogg11]

DVCFan:

This year's Delaware Valley team was animated all year.  I don't think they were unusually so yesterday.  Dilisio (No. 1) did pick up a personal foul and that was an issue throughout the season.  He's a great player who has to find a way to throttle down the emotion when the whistle blows.  There was one point where one of the Del Val players started exchanging trash talk with the Mount Union fans, which is never a good idea. But, from my admittedly distant vantage point, both teams did a fair amount of talking. 

Brutal......no reason for this crap.  In a game this big, to selfishly cost your team 15 is inexcusable.

Tell that to Andre Johnson...