Atlantic Central Football Conference/Independents

[wesleydad]

Maybe it has something to do with Wesley beating the #2 seed on the road, which would trump Ithaca's #3 seed. Just a suggestion

wesleydad, what was your take on Ithaca from the Salisbury game?

waterboy, they do not do much on offense.  they went 3 and out the first 4 or 5 times they had the ball against the gulls.  they were down 10 - 0 when they blocked a punt and it changed the whole game around.  They are pretty good on defense but will have trouble with Wesley's passing game.  They did not have to worry about that against Salisbury.  their special teams are pretty good.  In the end, Salisbury misses a field goal at the end of the game that wins it and then misses the extra point in OT.  If Wesley does not turn the ball over I think Ithaca has trouble scoring very much.  I think Wesley should win the game and comfortably without any turnovers.

[umhb2001]

Were you at the Rowan game WesleyDad? Any thoughts on comparisons with the Cru?

[@d3jason]

Were you at the Rowan game WesleyDad? Any thoughts on comparisons with the Cru?

The Rowan defense is solid. The DE Alvarez is really tough. They tailback Marcelin is pretty good too. He may break loose a couple of times. Their starting QB (Hammersla) got hurt in the Wesley game. The backup (McCarty), despite throwing two of the best passes of his career against Wesley,hasn't seemed do be able to maintain that level of consistentcy and production.

So as the stats suggest, they are a very run-based offense now. It's really tough to best the Cru without balance. Historically, there are plays to be made against UMHB in the passing game. The question is do you have the time or accuracy to make them. Unless McCarty morphes into the game the same player he was for the fourth quarter of the Wesley game, it will be tough.

[Kelly Boggs]

Thanks for the insight, d3jason.

[wesleydad]

Were you at the Rowan game WesleyDad? Any thoughts on comparisons with the Cru?

No, I didnt make that game.  Made my annual trek to Bridgewater since I didnt see anyway that wesley could lose, and low and behold the did.  Jason hit it on the head from what I can see with Rowan.  Pretty good defense and extremely limited offense.  I dont see the Cru having any issues this week.

[DE Wesley Fan]

Lots of credit to the Wesley offense for running a nearly perfect two minute drill, uh... make that ONE minute drill.... on the last drive with no time outs left.  They were cool and collected, and showed great maturity under pressure for a relatively young group.

The last couple games we've been doing more wholesale substitutions on 3rd down defense.  JHU caught us on our heels a few times, and we gave up a couple really long 3rd down plays. Will be interesting to see if Ithaca tries to take advantage of that strategy.  Looking forward to a strong Weley performance, and am pleasantly surprised to be seeing it in Dover.

[@d3jason]

Maybe it has something to do with Wesley beating the #2 seed on the road, which would trump Ithaca's #3 seed. Just a suggestion

wesleydad, what was your take on Ithaca from the Salisbury game?

I think the bracket seeds look something like this:
1 Mount
2 Hopkins
3/4 either Wittenberg or Framingham St
5 Wesley
6 Ithaca
7 Leb Val
8 W & J

Framingham to Ithaca bc they couldn't host.
Wesley and Witt too far without a flight.
So Wesley is the higher seed.

[umhb2001]

Were you at the Rowan game WesleyDad? Any thoughts on comparisons with the Cru?

The Rowan defense is solid. The DE Alvarez is really tough. They tailback Marcelin is pretty good too. He may break loss a couple of times. There starting QB (Hammersla) got hurt in the Wesley game. The backup (McCarty), despite throwing two of the best passes of his career against Wesley,hasn't seemed do be able to maintain that level of consistentcy and production.

So as the stats suggest, they are a very run-based offense now. It really tough to best the Cru without balance. Historically, there are plays to be made against UMHB in the passing game. The question is do you have the time or accuracy to make them. Unless McCarty morphes into the game the same player he was for the fourth quarter of the Wesley game, it will be tough.

Thanks Jason!

My gut feeling tells me our pass D is better than in years past. Typically our Achilles heel was third down D. That has been shored up I believe. Overall, we will force you to pass as the run D has been our strong suit. We pretty much go 4 strong on the line and blitz seldomlely. This strengthens our pass D. We will definitely need to stop Marcelin better than we stopped Montague at LC, especially in the passing game. We learned a lot that game and have made strides. I feel confident but know it will be a challenge.

[@d3jason]

I agree at least from what I've seen (Wesley, Redlands early in the year) that the Cru secondary has been playing at a high level. And getting pressure with just four and sometimes three when in their nickel package makes them tougher.

[wesleydad]

Happy Thanksgiving to the Wesley fans.  Enjoy the day and be thankful that we have a home game this weekend.  Much shorter drive than I expected last week.  See you at the game.

[Teamski]

Happy Thanksgiving to the Wesley fans.  Enjoy the day and be thankful that we have a home game this weekend.  Much shorter drive than I expected last week.  See you at the game.

And with you!  Looking forward to pulling out the hand warmers for the Missus and having a hell of a good time under the sun.  We'll see you Saturday.  Enjoy your turkey everyone!

-Ski

[DE Wesley Fan]

Happy Thanksgiving to the Wesley fans.  Enjoy the day and be thankful that we have a home game this weekend.  Much shorter drive than I expected last week.  See you at the game.

You too   Looking forward to a great Wesley game.  If one game just isn't quite enough for anyone, don't forget that the Delaware high school DI and DII championship games are at UD on Saturday.  Unfortunately the DII game starts at 2 pm, but the Middletown/Sallies game isn't until 6.   Perhaps there will be a few future Wesley stars on the field.

[wesleydad]

GAME DAY!!!!!  Getting ready to head to Dover for today's game with Ithaca.  The weather will not have any effect on the game.  It is usually breezy in Dover so that may play into the kicking game depending on how the wind blows.  On paper it looks like Wesley should win this game, but they don't use paper to tell.  O line has to have a good game and they can not have any turnovers.  Special teams, especially the punt unit, has to protect.  Ithaca turned the game around against Salisbury with a blocked punt.  The defense has to take away the underneath pass that they gave up plenty of against Hopkins last week.  Ithaca does not do anything fancy, they just keep doing it looking for mistakes and then take advantage of them.  I think 28 - 10 Wesley, if they play clean.  A close one if they don't.  See you at the game.

Pat and Keith are in the house today announcing the game.  Hopefully Wesley steps up and shows the improvement we have seen in the last couple of weeks.

[Teamski]

Well, few penalties and no turnovers.  That is good.  However, the offense still has to iron out its game.  The defense was up to the task allowing only a single offensive TD for Ithaca.  Onto Alliance once again.  It will be a tough game to get past, that is for sure.

-Ski

[wesleydad]

Good win by Wesley.  Defense did the job shutting down the Bombers offense except for a couple of drives.  Ithaca abandoned the run at halftime and threw the ball the entire second half.

Next week in Alliance you will see one of the best QB's in D3 football in Burke.  He is elusive and makes plays.  The defense is going to have to shore up the crossing patterns, giving up too many yards on them.  The offense will have to be able to run the ball and if they give Callahan some time he should be able to find receivers.  It will be a tough game, one that I dont think this Wesley team can win.  That being said, at the beginning of the year not many of us thought they would make it to the Quarterfinals.  This team and program have plenty to be proud of, making it to a least the 1/4 finals for 9 consecutive years, only Mount can also say that.  I will be making the trip to Alliance again hoping for a good game.