FB: American Rivers Conference

[The Show]

Coach Bentz was my fullback for a year at BV. Good guy and I always felt safe behind him!

[SpeedKills84]

Player              Team Games     ST    AT     TT     Ave.      Sacks      Int        FF

Andrew Lehn.....CEN    10         60   59    119    11.9       2.0          2          1
Chris Kern.........SIM     10         34   76    110    11.0       4.0          2          0
Alex Pollock.......WAR   10          46   52    98      9.8         5.0          2          1
Brant Pfantz.......COE  10           42  44     86     8.6         1.0         0           3


Ross Weymiller...COE   10         33   39     72     7.2         1.0         0           1
Adam Eichhorn...COR    9           36   56     92    10.2        0.0         0          0
Chris Buesing.....LOR   10          32   42     74     7.4         2.0         2          0
Brock Hall...........LOR   10          40    59     99     9.9         2.0        2          1


These are the all-conference line-backers for the 2005 season, and I applaud all of your efforts, but it only leaves me with one question.......


Player                   Team    Games      ST      AT       TT      Ave.    Sacks   Int     FF

Chris Gustafson......COR     10            59     66     125*    12.5      1.5     2       3

*IIAC leader in tackles for 2005 season



How is it that Chris was left off both 1st and 2nd team all-conference selections for the 2005 year?  League leading in tackles, 10th in D3 in tackles, along with statistics that rival any other of the selections made at line-backer in our conference this season.  This seems like an obvious oversight to me.....am i missing something? 


Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[sc_stormchaser]

WH- I can't believe a Simpson grad would say "ton of rich kids that never unpack their suitcases during the week so they can hurry home as soon as school is out Friday." First of all, coming from true Simpson alum's perspective, Simpson doesn't have a "ton of rich kids." My college friends' parents were farmers, teachers, electricians, police officers, etc. The list goes on. Yeah, you would hear about a few parents that could basically write a check for the kid's tuition, but those are few and far between and I bet the only dollar that I have in my pocket that every school in the IIAC has a few of those students. Although I graduated a few years ago, I still know some students on Simpson's campus and they say the weekend life is alive and well. I certainly know that was true a few years ago because I actively participated in the weekend night life. (oh, those were the days, not a care in the world.) Anyway, it's been my observations of the years that usually when something like that comes out of your mouth, you really had no clue what was going on. You know, the ones that would sit in their dorm room, bitch and not do a thing about it.

[NorseFan]

Speedkills84,
From talking with coaches at both the HS and college level all conference picks come from the need to game plan around a certain player.  Just because this guy had a ton of tackles doesn't mean he is all conference material.  I've never seen him play so I don't know his ability. 
Another observation, that Luther had to deal with in their down years, is that it is hard to get two people from the same defense AC honors with a losing record.  Just some observations.

[DutchFan2004]

Iowa City Dad,

You have got to be kidding.  I'm a Chariton grad.  Never thought I'd have a kid at Pella.  Cause of the old SSC conference rivalries.  Pella with their teams always beating us.  But Pella as a community has been great and I'm glad we are there now. 

[Longtooth]

Is there any word on names for the Cornell College job, or is it too early??

[ritz72]

Just a tidbit of info for you all----

The NWC has 79 players listed as All-Conference (5 teams), and Linfield has 24 selections!!! 

The MWC has 125 selections with 10 teams, and Monmouth has ALL 22 starters represented.....

I dont know what the IIAC's totals are, but the miac is 70 with 9 teams and the WIAC is 81.

IS anyone else out there who believes that there should be 44 position players and 8 specialists named to the teams (a full first and 2nd team, inclluding K, P, Return, and D-SPecial Teams )??

[IowaCityDad]

Walston Hoover:

Excellent comments.  I've visited Wartburg a couple of times with my daughter when she was college-shopping.  Phenomenal music program.  She ended up going to Iowa as an Elementary Ed Major and Music minor... She loves the bigger environment, whereas my son likes the smaller school feel.  Indeed, Wartburg is an excellent school and a solid FB program.

DutchFan:

That is funny and very coincidental!  Yes, the old South Central Conference.  Still exists, slightly different look.  Still has Chariton and Davis County, though.  It's weird to see Sigourney and PCM/Monroe instead of Pella and Knoxville.  Sigourney was no treat this year... that team is killer (12-0 and playing in the 2A title game this Saturday)

I never minded Pella... we were too busy "hating" (and beating) Centerville!  Besides, we beat Pella in FB both of my Varsity years, so it's easier to like the town!  We split in Basketball, but man were there some tall Dutch guys on those teams. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

There is only one player that was a returning 1st team all-conference player in 2004 that was 2nd team in 2005:

JR WR Kyle Pearson of Luther

The reason I bring this up is that Pearson led the league in conference action in receptions with 73 (17 more than the 2nd place finisher).  He also led the league during conference play in receiving yards with 805 (57 more yards than Jesse Schmidt).  Overall he had 87 catches for 981 yards and 7 TDs.

Luther had a disappointing season with the 5-3 finish once again in conference play, but I really thought Pearson stepped his game up as he got healthy and Sherden missed the last half of the season.  There clearly were more worthy WRs this season than RBs for all-conference honors, but I thought Pearson should get some notice.  The Norse did go without a running game for much of the last four games.

I feel for Dusty Kain of Simpson as I thought he was a very good receiver that was stuck on an underachieving/mediocre offense.  He certainly did not have the numbers of Pearson and Schmidt, but he has had a great career.

[IowaCityDad]

SpeedKills,

I would have to agree with you on Gustafson.  I met him briefly on my son's recruiting visit at Cornell.  Very nice young man and a powerfully built dude.  We were told that he already holds the Cornell record for squats.  He squated 335 thirty seven times.... 37!  That is unreal for a 235lb linebacker... plus he is extremely fast.

I can't imagine how a team would not have to scheme against him... his downfall was being on a 2-8 team, which is not fair but how it usually goes.     

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Amount of all-conference players per school - league record
Coe – 12 players – 7-1 record
Central – 7 players – 7-1 record
Wartburg - 7 players – 6-2 record
Luther – 4 players – 5-3 record
B.V. – 2 players – 4-4 record
Simpson – 9 players – 3-5 record
Loras – 6 players – 2-6 record
Cornell – 1 player – 1-7 record
Dubuque – 6 players – 1-7 record

Coe, Central, and Wartburg all got a bunch of players on the all-league team, but deservedly so in most cases since they played the best football.  Dubuque, Loras, and Simpson certainly did much better in the all-conference picks than they did on the field.  The B.V. coaching staff certainly must have done a great job this year as the Beavers finished ahead of the Duhawks, Spartans, and Storm in the standings yet only had two all-league picks.

[the_wing_t]

Hey everyone - wow, lots of GOOD, OBJECTIVE posts on here lately!!!  I'm impressed!  Congrats to Coe and Central on making the playoffs - let's get some wins now and make the IIAC proud! 

Good post by Floyd on the All Conference breakdown....interesting that Simpson, Loras, and Dubuque were so well-represented with so few wins.  Guess it proves the fact that great individuals don't necessarily add up to a great team.  (See Terrell Owens)

Iowa City Dad --->  Good luck to your son w/ the big decision.  Walston made some good points in his schpeel - thought I'd add my 2 cents worth too:

1)  Be wary of any school / coach that makes a lot of promises.  The coaching staff at one IIAC school (it was NOT Central, Wartburg, Cornell, BV, or Luther) and Drake, too, made all sorts of promises when I was deciding.  Felt like I was shopping for a used car. 

2)  Look at the whole picture.  Football is important - but football is but one piece of the whole puzzle.  When I visited Central, some of the best people I met there were the admissions staff, the professors, and the student ambassadors.  People that had nothing to do with the football team.  And the community - I wasn't impressed with Storm Lake like I was with Pella (of course, it was 10 degrees and a nice 30 mph breeze blowing off the lake). 

3)  Check out the career placement department at the schools - visit these folks as well - they'll be the ones who will help you utilize the $20k plus a year tuition after 4 years. 

4)  Walk around the campuses incognito.  Everyone's nice to you when they know you're a prospective student.  Go early and walk around the athletic dept, the cafeteria, the student union. 

5)  I'll echo Walston - trust your gut and go where it feels right.  I chose Central because it just felt right.  When I was on campus I knew "this is where I want to be" - after talking to the coaches, I knew they were the ones I wanted to play for; I liked the feel as I walked around campus; and I just liked the quality of everyone I met there.  That's what made my decision easy. 

Good luck to you and your son!  Make sure he makes the decision for him - and by all means, talk it over with him and ask a lot of questions and just listen to him - this is his first big decision and undoubtedly he's got a lot of questions and has a lot of thoughts in his head he'd like to share. 

[DutchFan2004]

Congrats to Coe and all the other all conference selections.  Having two sophs in the running for MVP with Schuring and Suckow is great and is going to be a sign of things to come the next two years. 

Coocoo,  Can you clear one thing up for me.  I thought I read in the program last year that TeKippe was a junior last year.  Did I remember this wrong or can you enlighten me.  Having him and Suckow back will be great for you guys next year.  Go IIAC on Saturday.  We both have huge mountains to climb but it would be fun to play in Cedar Rapids for the Region Championship.  Go get the Cobbers.

[luvfootball2]

Walston Hoover:

Yes, the old South Central Conference.  Still exists, slightly different look.  Still has Chariton and Davis County, though.  It's weird to see Sigourney and PCM/Monroe instead of Pella and Knoxville.  Sigourney was no treat this year... that team is killer

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Dutchfan 2004,
I do not have the answer for you.  His academic status and his eligibility status may differ.  He may have had enough credits to be a junior, but he might have only used up one year of athletic eligibility.  I know he played J.V. games last year for Coe.  I believe Charlie Kohawk would be the one to answer that question.  He should know, he is much closer to the current Coe community than I am.