FB: Conference of New England

[vttanker]

If you haven't heard Maine Maritime assistant coach Richard Dykas was killed early Sunday morning.  We graduated from Mount Ida in 2008.  Not much details in the online article, but the road that he was on has a few bad curves and this is not the first time there have been accidents on that road.  Tragic loss for everybody.


http://new.bangordailynews.com/2010/10/24/sports/football/mma-coach-killed-when-pickup-goes-airborne-crashes/

[vttanker]

Another great weekend of football.  I was 7-1 with my picks.  Looks like we all got the WNEC-Plymouth game wrong.  So if Endicott beats WNEC does anybody know how a three-way tie gets resolved.  Head-to-head won't work.  Bur first Endicott has to beat WNEC and the way WNEC is playing that will be a real tough one to predict.  Plymouth still has a tough schedule with Salve Regina and Curry, so 3-way tie isn't guaranteed.  Anyway must win for Endicott and WNEC.

I was at the Maine Maritime vs Mass Maritime game.  Great game.  Mass Maritme looked real good on offense.  Nathan Sherr was back and he and Matt White caused Maine fits.  Mass Maritime would have been on top this year if Sherr hadn't got injured.  Like expected Maine just did the ground game and Mass did a great job slowing it down, but eventually it wears you out.  Big key in this game was Maine defense stepped it up in the second half and you could say for the first time in a while that the defense won this game for Maine.

With tie-breakers the Bogan is a two horse race between Maine and Framingham.  On paper Framingham should win out against Coast Guard and Worcester, though you never know.  Maine has Bridgewater next week and looks like Bridgewater is starting to play like was expected at the beginning of the season.  Should be a good game.

[footballfan75]

I am sorry to hear that about Coach Dykas. That is very sad to hear. I send my condolences to his family and the Maine Maritime Academy Football team.

[footballfan75]

Here's my picks

WNEC over Endicott: tough prediction... but im going for wnec

Plymouth state over Salve: Not much offense in this game

Curry over UMD: Curry finally .500 for a division record

MIT over Nichols: MIT gets second win while Nichols keeps the goose egg

Framingham over Coast Guard: USCG takes a huge beating infront of their home stands

Mass Maritime over West field: This game will be closer but Mass pulls it out

Maine Maritime over Bridgewater:Bridgewater is rolling but they are still young. wont be able to stop Maine

Worcester state over Fitchburg: Fitchburg wont win another game for th season.

[footballfan75]

Looks like endicott will win the division and play for the conference championship unless they lose to MIT.

The WNEC kids must be dissappointed. Congrats on a great season. You guys played very well and beat some great teams.

Does anyone know which division is hosting the Championship game this year?

[Hambone48]

Bogan hosts...looks like it might be up in Castine.

[footballfan75]

Curry at Plymouth St should be an exciting game. I know they would only be playing for 4th place but in the recent years this game determined the Boyd champion. I expect both teams to come out firing trying to get that last victory of the season.

Also, will this be the year Mass Maritime wins the Cranberry Bowl? MMA seems to have a stronger than usual team this year while bridgewater has a weaker than usual team. Does anyone have some history on this bowl game? How many years have they been playing in this bowl game and what is the overall record?

[Frank Rossi]

Here are the ECAC Bowl-eligible teams (declared, will not play 11 games prior to the ECAC game and can finish at or above .500 in either overall or conference record):

Cortland State 8-1 (8-1)
Maine Maritime 8-1 (6-1)
Western New England 8-2 (6-1)
Framingham State 8-2 (6-1)
Norwich 8-2 (5-2)
St. John Fisher 8-2 (3-2)
Springfield 7-2 (3-2)
Mount Ida 6-3 (5-2) *
RPI 5-3 (3-2)
Hobart 5-3 (3-2)
Curry 6-4 (4-3)
Plymouth State 6-4 (4-3)
Salve Regina 6-4 (5-2)
Utica 5-4 (0-4)
Castleton State 5-4 (5-2)

* - Cannot Host

This is by far the most eligible ECAC Bowl teams we've seen declared and still alive this late in many years.

[Hambone48]

Frank - Who do you think deserves to make the three games in the North?  Assuming no major upsets, who would you match up?  Just curious what people think about these games as it seems like there are a lot of good teams in the region who just didn't have enough to make it to the tourney.  Could be some good matchups.

[Frank Rossi]

Frank - Who do you think deserves to make the three games in the North?  Assuming no major upsets, who would you match up?  Just curious what people think about these games as it seems like there are a lot of good teams in the region who just didn't have enough to make it to the tourney.  Could be some good matchups.

The six slots are usually filled using win/loss record first.  However, both Maine Maritime and Cortland may get into the NCAA Tourney.  Thus, with seven other teams currently at three losses or less, the cut line will probably be located somewhere in the three-loss column.  Next week's LL, ECFC and E8 results will go a long way in making that a definitive statement, though.

[footballfan75]

Ok... When I came back I expected some talk on this board. i mean it is the conference championship game and not one person is saying anything...Thats lame.

Anways i think i am going to make the trip all the way to castine to see this one play out. Finally get to see what MMA and Endicott has to offer! It should be a great game. Endicott has a great run defense but have not faced a powerfully and fast offense like MMA.

Endicott has the ablility to both pass and run. Could be difficult for MMA to stop both weapons!

I'm picking MMA for this one. Will have to see how things play out!

Good luck to both teams and have a great and safe game tomorrow!

[AUKaz00]

Congrats to Endicott on a thrilling win.  Perhaps the most entertaining game of the day in D-III.  How close was the final play to be a game-winning TD completion for Maritime?

[vttanker]

Congrats to Endicott on a thrilling win.  Perhaps the most entertaining game of the day in D-III.  How close was the final play to be a game-winning TD completion for Maritime?

According to my wife who was at the game.  Ball was caught on final pass, but receiver was called out of bounds.  Some disagreement there I guess, but looks like a good game and either team can walk away with their heads held high regardless of what the outcome might have been.  In this case congrats to Endicott for a great season going from 5-5 last year to 9-2 this year.  Good luck in the NCAA playoff.  And for Maine Maritime, a heartbreaker, but three straight Bogan Division titles.  Hopefully they'll get an ECAC game and take it.

[labart96]

For the second year in a row, we'll have Dr. Joy Solomen, Chair of the tournament selection committee on ITH tomorrow night - shows starts at 7:30 PM ET. 

Please post your questions on the Playoffs thread once the selections have been made so we can work them into our interview accordingly (we'll have plenty of our own, but always open to input).

You can tune into ITH - www.inthehuddLLe.com - to hear the interview with Dr. Solomen as well as catch a live reading of the ECAC match ups as we expect to get those around 8:00-30 PM ET and plan to announce them live on the show.

Given the number of NEFC teams in the mix it should be interesting for New England DIII fans.

Congrats to Endicott and good luck to Maine in the ECACs (guessing they get one of the six bids)

[Findtheball]

Congrats Endicott ... great parity in the league this year , I love it !