FB: American Rivers Conference

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Interesting list -- thanks for sharing!

That is a high estimate for Coe College, and such a round number, I am sure it is an estimate.  Since the game was at Central this year, we missed out on a huge crowd.  I would say Coe was closer to avgeraging 1000 not 2000.

[sportsknight]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Drake play all their games this year away from Drake Stadium due to the construction there?  I thought I heard that they were doing that.

[sc_stormchaser]

Sportsknight- I'm certainly not trying to defend Drake's attendance #s, but they did play all of there "home" games at Valley and Waukee. I've been to a couple of Drake games when they're playing at Drake Stadium and I seem to remember decent crowds.

I would have to disagree with dutchfan1. I think Drake football gets too much press from the DM Register and local news stations. They have articles on them every week in the fall and the only time Simpson and Central get any press is when they're playing each other.

[wildcat11]

Wartburg fans....

Just finished a Linfield video project of the 'Cats top ten moments over the past ten years, and the 2003 Wartburg vs. Linfield palyoff game came in at number 9.  You can find a link to the video highlights below:

Number 9: "'Cats give Wartburg the boot" (2003 Wartburg @ Linfield)

In a heart stopping second round playoff game, a 31-yard field goal by Garrett Wales as time expired lifted No. 3 Linfield (11-0) past No. 5 Wartburg (11-1) in a 23-20 victory at Willamette's McCulloch Stadium.  The Knights came back from a 20-6 4th quarter deficit to tie the game with 1:21 remaining.  However, the 'Cats drove 59 yards with the final possession to set up Wales game winning kick.

[the_wing_t]

I haven't seen the Top 6 yet, but I hope you included "The Best 59:59 that Linfield ever played" in your list.  You remember - the 2000 Playoff game where Central played hard to the end and beat you in the playoffs?  That ought to be #2 or #3, if you go by the criteria you listed. 

[dutchfan1]

I haven't seen the Top 6 yet, but I hope you included "The Best 59:59 that Linfield ever played" in your list.  You remember - the 2000 Playoff game where Central played hard to the end and beat you in the playoffs?  That ought to be #2 or #3, if you go by the criteria you listed. 

I believe the good people of Oregon refer to that as the "Mishap in the Mud" (instead of Iowa's version, "Miracle in the Mud.") 

[Johnnie Red]

Wasn't there a really good game the week following the "miracle in the mud" in Pella when a team from Collegeville got to play for the West Region championship? I know the Dutch letters tasted good driving home to Minnesota after that game.

[Walston Hoover]

1999-3867-played Central 96500) and Luther(5000) at home, had 4500 for Cornell, and 4000 for Pac Lu.Billy Penn and UD really drug avg down

2000-3000-cornell, bv, luther, simpson, loras
walston hoover built in '01
'01-3360-uw osh kosh(4500), luther(3500), uiu(2500), central(6500) bv(no one at the game0
'02-3278-Cornell, Loras, coe, ud, simpson, lake forest
'03-4270-peru st (3500) BV (5800) Simpson (6420) Coe(2300) Central(3800)
"04-3578-Millikin, luther, loras, crnell, ud
huge crowds for Luther and Loras
'05-3996-augsburg, simpson, bv coe, central
attendence has been pretty high for a few years, but there's always 2 games to boost the numbers, 2000 and 2002 only had 1 big home game

[coocooforcoekohawk]

The thing about Coe is that I thought the K. Ray bleachers only held 1200 people.  With virtually no visitor seating there is no way they were reaching 2000 a game.  There were only 850 at the Dubuque game.

[Walston Hoover]

All the numbers are estimates anyway-There's no way (at least at Wartburg) that they can track how many people are at the game with students and all the people with passes walking in and out. I imagine late in the second quarter someone looks out at the crowd and says "put us down for 'x' people today". I've actually heard that at other schools, but since I'm in a different booth at Wartburg I don't know for a fact that's how they operate.

[dutchfan1]

I know that at Central, they track numbers of tickets sold, but students have free admission with their ID card, and thus are not tracked -- Central is able to make a pretty educated guess on attendance figures, but they are still estimations. Attendance always spikes for the big games (Coe, Wartburg) and dips for some of the others. Most of the time, though, the home crowd is pretty steady.

[KoHawk01]

So I got to looking at schedules for next year and began wondering....Who do you guys feel will be the top defenses in the conference next year?  I was looking at the Loras roster and I'm making them my pick.  They lost a lot of senior talent but Kleiman seems to know what he's doing with that defense.  I noticed that they're ILB, Brock Hall, still has two more years left.  I could've sworn the kid was a senior when we played you guys.  Not something I like to hear but what can ya do? LOL....They also return LAffey sp?? who was an all conference corner.  Should be an interesting year next year!

[Confused77]

Wow, a compliment from a Kohawk. I think I just might have to become a Coe fan when they don't play Loras.

Kohawk- you are right, they have some good talent coming back on defense. I know they are efforting  on the recruiting trails.... All they need is some offense to go with the D. Not saying Conference title, but they will be very much improved from last year

[Longtooth]

Who is having great recruiting classes so far?  Early, I know, but any word?

[Walston Hoover]

In many visits with Coach Koehler and others closely associated with the program. I know they are extremely dissapointed in the quality of players they are getting this year. It seems all the talent in NE Iowa is now going to UIU.
That was my attempt at humor.
I don't know that I've ever seen a coach as excited as Koehler with the quality of student-athletes that have Wartburg high on their list. Checking out some recruiting websites and talking with other HS coaches. It seems Simpson is getting a lot (not sure how good) of players, and Central is now getting back some interest from some calibur of players that they may not have got the last 3 or so years.
One school that I never hear mentioned is Coe or Luther, although that could very much be due to where I'm located. Still, the websites and other coaches don't mention them at all which is surprising due to Coe's recent success. I'm sure they're pulling guys in,  just haven't heard from any of them.
We did have one player at Dowling that joked for a long time that he was going to Coe when he found out they were huge rivals with Cornell. He didn't think too fondly of Dillon.