Atlantic Central Football Conference/Independents

[wesleydad]

well, just short again.  more competitive then the last 2 times, so i guess we are making strides.  i will discuss the game later once i get to digest it.  congrats to the seniors for keeping the tradition going.  the program has plenty to be proud of i believe the only school other than mount and uww to make the semis 4 times in the last 6 years.  it was nice to see many of the players come back to see the team today.  another trip to the stagg and i have to cheer for someone wearing purple, but i will wear my wesley jersey proudly.

[DGPHawkGov]

congratulation to Wesley on an awesome season. I watched yall up close in Montgomery. Yall are a great team
keep the faith

[Raider 68]

wesleydad,

Congrats to Wesley on a great year. Just looked at the box score, 5 pics against a very good team are just not recoverable. I still like the Raiders chances against the Warhawks! 

[beenhit2hard]

GREAT season Wesley,,played well in spite of a lot of adversity,,and young guys stepped up and came thru,,sign of a good program ,, should be pretty darn good next year too !!And this is from a Mount Union former and wife         We enjoy watching you play ,,and we will be back !!

[PA_wesleyfan]

  Tough game today. I think the loss of Ellis was the final nail... He really opens up the other recievers. To bad his injury will probabaly cost him a good look from the scouts. ACL and MCL. Congrats to UWW . They took advantage of Wesley's untimely mistakes and when good teams get those breaks they make you pay.

  Great season Wesley!!!!! Good luck to the seniors 45-5 over the last 4 years is a great run..

[wesleydad]

at this point it is clear that wesley is better than almost every team in d3 football except for mount and uww.  they have seemed to close the gap a little from the 05 - 06 games to the 09 - 10 games.  within 20 is better than 40.  what was obvious to me yesterday was that as good as the o-line was this season, they were no match for uww front 4.  only 7 yards rushing and 4 sacks wont get it done.  the qb picked a bad time to have his worst game, which was partly due to the pressure.  finally, again wesley can only get 7 points in the semis.  is it the game plan or poor execution or some of both?  it is fun to watch a team that is consistantly near the top, but frustrating that they haven't made the next level.  i agree with beenhit2hard, plenty of young players stepping up and many of the top players are returning so wesley will be good again next year.  a tough decision will be which offense to run, the qb centered one with mcsweeney or the rb/receiver centered one with sottilaire.  both made the semis and stats are generally misleading in this type of comparison.  the o line is young so they will improve and the defense will still be strong.  have a good offseason and get back at it again in august.  heres hoping they can find enough teams to play them since they have to go independent next year.

[emma17]

Wesleydad I respect your loyalty for the team and I do think Wesley is a fine team. My point isn't to belittle Wesley or you.  To truly make the changes needed to win a championship, you have to start w honesty in evaluation. I Strongly disagree w you that Wesley is #3 (if that's what you are saying). North Central is the best overall team (we're not talking about "talent" only) that UWW played this year. Trine would give Wesley a huge battle in a shoot-out of points. As predicted, Wesleys gaudy D stats didn't tell the whole story.

Again, my apologies if I offend some, I just think you have to be realistic in evaluating in order to improve.
   

[KitchenSink]

I don't think wesleydad is claiming Wesley is necessarily better than NC.

"Better than almost every other team" leaves room for NC, Linfield, St T/Bethel, MHB, Wheaton, maybe even a few more to be on that tier as well.  There are maybe 6 - 8 on that tier each of the last few years with some edging up and some edging down (slightly) on a yearly basis.  Jockeying, so to speak.

I think dad's point is valid.   Emma, you are right about proper evaluation, though.  IMHO

[wesleydad]

emma, did not say 3rd, although i certainly think they would match up well with ncc whose offense would struggle scoring on wesley, but the wesley o would also struggle.  as far as trine, i would take wesley in any shoot out since their d is better than trines.  the defense was not the issue yesterday unless you hold it against them with the long drives of 1 and 24 yards uww had for the second half td's.  i have clearly stated that in order for wesley to be on the level of mount and uww the o line must improve.  kitchensink and i agree, their are about 5-6 teams in tier 2 and wesley has shown to be better than most of them on a yearly basis.  i dont have to evaluate, i am a fan.  i have been critical of wesley more often then most so i am far from rose colored glasses fan that you imply.  i would take wesley against any other team in the country right now with no changes unless they were playing mount or uww.

[PA_wesleyfan]

 I think Wesley can lay strong claim to the number 3 spot .. over the last 4 years they have a 45-5 recocrd and all but one of those loses coming in the playoffs.. and their last two coming in the semi finals.


I think to get to the semi finals this year with all the starters that the offence lost to injury speaks loudly how good this program has become!! The coachs continually having to make adjustments to the game plans for all the young players and the young players themselves stepping up and playing well enough week after week to keep winning!!! I applaud the effort and the adversity will go a long way in the program going foward with the young players..

 Great season Wesley

[Uncle Rico]

emma, did not say 3rd, although i certainly think they would match up well with ncc whose offense would struggle scoring on wesley, but the wesley o would also struggle.  as far as trine, i would take wesley in any shoot out since their d is better than trines.  the defense was not the issue yesterday unless you hold it against them with the long drives of 1 and 24 yards uww had for the second half td's.  i have clearly stated that in order for wesley to be on the level of mount and uww the o line must improve.  kitchensink and i agree, their are about 5-6 teams in tier 2 and wesley has shown to be better than most of them on a yearly basis.  i dont have to evaluate, i am a fan.  i have been critical of wesley more often then most so i am far from rose colored glasses fan that you imply.  i would take wesley against any other team in the country right now with no changes unless they were playing mount or uww.

An intersting claim to make since Wesley performed the worst against UWW than both Trine and NCC.  Trine lost to UWW AT UWW by 14.   North Central lost at home to UWW by 10.   Wesley lost at home to UWW by 20.  Would Wesley have done better playing at UWW instead?  I do have to admit that I am looking at things through my Trine colored glasses, though.   

[wesleydad]

uncle rico, no issue with that, i just dont think if trine played wesley that they would stop wesley more than wesley would stop trine.  it is not about uww as a comparison.  i am going be match ups of the teams and wesley matches up with both ncc and trine better than they do uww.  just my opinion.

[Uncle Rico]

uncle rico, no issue with that, i just dont think if trine played wesley that they would stop wesley more than wesley would stop trine.  it is not about uww as a comparison.  i am going be match ups of the teams and wesley matches up with both ncc and trine better than they do uww.  just my opinion.

I think we all agree that Trine, Wesley, and NCC all match up better against each other than they do against UWW!    Unfortunately all roads to Salem have tended to pass through Mount Union or UWW.  Hopefully we all will change that one day!    

I do have to root for UWW this year.  

[Raider 68]

uncle rico, no issue with that, i just dont think if trine played wesley that they would stop wesley more than wesley would stop trine.  it is not about uww as a comparison.  i am going be match ups of the teams and wesley matches up with both ncc and trine better than they do uww.  just my opinion.

I think we all agree that Trine, Wesley, and NCC all match up better against each other than they do against UWW!     Unfortunately all roads to Salem have tended to pass through Mount Union or UWW.  Hopefully we all will change that one day!    

I do have to root for UWW this year.   

Uncle Rico,

Who did you root for last year?

[Ralph Turner]

emma, did not say 3rd, although i certainly think they would match up well with ncc whose offense would struggle scoring on wesley, but the wesley o would also struggle.  as far as trine, i would take wesley in any shoot out since their d is better than trines.  the defense was not the issue yesterday unless you hold it against them with the long drives of 1 and 24 yards uww had for the second half td's.  i have clearly stated that in order for wesley to be on the level of mount and uww the o line must improve.  kitchensink and i agree, their are about 5-6 teams in tier 2 and wesley has shown to be better than most of them on a yearly basis.  i dont have to evaluate, i am a fan.  i have been critical of wesley more often then most so i am far from rose colored glasses fan that you imply.  i would take wesley against any other team in the country right now with no changes unless they were playing mount or uww.

An intersting claim to make since Wesley performed the worst against UWW than both Trine and NCC.  Trine lost to UWW AT UWW by 14.   North Central lost at home to UWW by 10.   Wesley lost at home to UWW by 20.  Would Wesley have done better playing at UWW instead?  I do have to admit that I am looking at things through my Trine colored glasses, though.   

But Trine only beat DePauw by 10, and most of us in the ASC thought that the SCAC was down this year.

I have a hard time with scores and margins of victory at this time of the season.  Once a team finally pulls ahead of another team in a winner-take-all scenario, there can wide swings in the scoring when a losing team starts going for it all and plays game that is higher-risk, both for scoring and for mistakes.