FB: American Rivers Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Wow!  When is the last time an IIAC football coach was named national coach of the year?

It is getting harder and harder to remember when Central was around .500.  It now seems like a while ago.

[DutchFan2004]

Wow!  When is the last time an IIAC football coach was named national coach of the year?

It is getting harder and harder to remember when Central was around .500.  It now seems like a while ago.

Floyd, 

I hope it stays that way 

[Wartburg Fan]

DF2004

    talk about small world. one of the bridesmaids in may son and daughter-in-laws wedding is engaged to the Bethal starting QB.

[Klopenhiemer]

Hodapp was #5 wasn't he.  He was a horse and I mean he was a man out there on the field.  Then came Hammes and I think he was better than Hodapp if that was possible.  Wartburg has been able to get good backs.  When Hodapp was running they had a big tackle don't know his name but 78 was the number I believe.  He was huge.  Got to be fun running behind a guy that big.

Andy Parker wore #5 when he was one of the Wartburg RBs in 03-04.  Hodapp wore #34.  Both guys could deliver and take a hit pretty well.  That's the thing that's impressed me with Wartburg's backs since my time in school...tough SOBs usually.  Beatty, Dapp, Parker, Hammes, VanRees, Benny Thompson...mean dudes between the lines but decent guys off the field.
#78 was Andy Heitman.  Dude was just a monster.  I think they listed him at 330ish, but he was a lot closer to 375 his senior year.  And at 6'8 he had a wingspan that could keep damn near anybody at an arm's length.  Pretty funny dude to hang around with.  And he loves 7 & 7.

Andy was one of the nicest guy off the field and I have a picture of him and my son at a party. Andy was a monster. Dan Hammes is one of the nicest guy I've met, competely different guy on the field. Linclon taylor, Dan Hammes , Riley Lieiman and Zach Eggleston and my son were roommate all great kids.

My interaction with Heitman was watching him break 2 of our DL's legs my sophmore year in Wavetown.  That was disgusting. 

[Klopenhiemer]

Walston- Got a question for you where do you thing the knights need to improve for next year, what position do they did help at ?

I think that is a good question for the entire board/all the teams in the IIAC...where does each team need to improve for the 2008 IIAC season???

I will give me 2 cents worth on the Beavers. 

O-Line:  need to keep improving.  Showed some better signs of rushing late in the season but was a constant battle. 

RB:  Looks like they have a good freshman...Looking forward to seeing him a year older. 

DL:  Need to put more pressure on the QB

LB/Secondary: Replacing Pierce and Sly will be difficult. 

I would agree with all of the above.  The O-line has long been a trouble spot for BV and should be their #1 priority in recruiting.  With Osty's absence, I hope they finally quit recruiting Valley kids for this group.

The receiving corps and backfield look to be solid, although BV has lacked a hard-nosed fullback since Crook's graduation in '06.

BV's D-line loses some horses, but it might be good to get a few younger guys with a little more spring in their step.  A few young guys showed some potential this year.

Pierce and Sly will be missed, but you can count on Coach Larry finding a new Will LB to rack up 37 tackles a game.

The corner spots are wide open, as the Beavs lose both starters and the twin midgets who backed them up.

On the bright side, there are no fewer than 8 kids from my high school alma mater seriously considering playing ball at BV.  Granted, they may not all turn out to be college football material, but if Jay is able to get some more guys on campus, he can sort them out when they get there, a la Wartburg.

BOY

I heard some good things about Austin Dickinson and some other young BV DL's.  Anyone else up there have some talent to make an impact? 

What about QB.  Sounded like they had a pretty talented kid backing up Hawkins.  Is he tough and does he have talent?

[doolittledog]

Wow!  When is the last time an IIAC football coach was named national coach of the year?

It is getting harder and harder to remember when Central was around .500.  It now seems like a while ago.

That would be 2003 where the Dutch went 5-5 and 2004 when they went 6-4.

Now...if you take out those 2 seasons when they went a combined 8-8 in the IIAC...in the last 2 seasons and the previous 5 before the 2003 and 2004 seasons Central  has gone 58-4 in conference play over those 7 years.  Not too shabby. 

[oldbeake]

That would be 2003 where the Dutch went 5-5 and 2004 when they went 6-4.

Now...if you take out those 2 seasons when they went a combined 8-8 in the IIAC...in the last 2 seasons and the previous 5 before the 2003 and 2004 seasons Central  has gone 58-4 in conference play over those 7 years.  Expected. 

Fixed.

[DutchFan2004]

That would be 2003 where the Dutch went 5-5 and 2004 when they went 6-4.

Now...if you take out those 2 seasons when they went a combined 8-8 in the IIAC...in the last 2 seasons and the previous 5 before the 2003 and 2004 seasons Central  has gone 58-4 in conference play over those 7 years.  Expected. 

Fixed.

Here here I second that fixed!!!!

[doolittledog]

+k to oldbeake and and df2k4 for their humor.

Because I am a numbers geak and because D3football goes back 9 years...here is the conference records for the IIAC teams over the last 9 seasons...and I don't claim my numbers are correct...I am known to make errors...

Wartburg 67-11
Central 66-12
Coe 50-28
Simpson 42-36
Buena Vista 41-37
Loras 31-47
Luther 30-48
Cornell 19-59
Dubuque 15-63

And conference titles over the last 9 seasons...

Central - 6
Wartburg - 4
Coe - 3

[Klopenhiemer]

+k to oldbeake and and df2k4 for their humor.

Because I am a numbers geak and because D3football goes back 9 years...here is the conference records for the IIAC teams over the last 9 seasons...and I don't claim my numbers are correct...I am known to make errors...

Wartburg 67-11
Central 66-12
Coe 50-28
Simpson 42-36
Buena Vista 41-37
Loras 31-47
Luther 30-48
Cornell 19-59
Dubuque 15-63

Imagine where Simpson could have ranked on that list without some blunders the past few season. 

[BeaverOfYore]

Walston- Got a question for you where do you thing the knights need to improve for next year, what position do they did help at ?

I think that is a good question for the entire board/all the teams in the IIAC...where does each team need to improve for the 2008 IIAC season???

I will give me 2 cents worth on the Beavers. 

O-Line:  need to keep improving.  Showed some better signs of rushing late in the season but was a constant battle. 

RB:  Looks like they have a good freshman...Looking forward to seeing him a year older. 

DL:  Need to put more pressure on the QB

LB/Secondary: Replacing Pierce and Sly will be difficult. 

I would agree with all of the above.  The O-line has long been a trouble spot for BV and should be their #1 priority in recruiting.  With Osty's absence, I hope they finally quit recruiting Valley kids for this group.

The receiving corps and backfield look to be solid, although BV has lacked a hard-nosed fullback since Crook's graduation in '06.

BV's D-line loses some horses, but it might be good to get a few younger guys with a little more spring in their step.  A few young guys showed some potential this year.

Pierce and Sly will be missed, but you can count on Coach Larry finding a new Will LB to rack up 37 tackles a game.

The corner spots are wide open, as the Beavs lose both starters and the twin midgets who backed them up.

On the bright side, there are no fewer than 8 kids from my high school alma mater seriously considering playing ball at BV.  Granted, they may not all turn out to be college football material, but if Jay is able to get some more guys on campus, he can sort them out when they get there, a la Wartburg.

BOY

I heard some good things about Austin Dickinson and some other young BV DL's.  Anyone else up there have some talent to make an impact? 

What about QB.  Sounded like they had a pretty talented kid backing up Hawkins.  Is he tough and does he have talent?

Dickinson will be a great DL if his knees last 2 more seasons.  He's been the Brian Ferentz of BV so far.  There's a Jensen kid who was a freshman this year, and I heard he did pretty well at NG when he rotated in to give Burley and Amick a rest.  Brian Bode (Soph.) came to BV as a LB, but towards the end of the season he saw action at DE and did pretty well considering the amount of time he had to learn the position.  He's very athletic and has the potential to make some plays coming off the edge.  Chukuske will be the veteran on the DL, and the rest of the unit is made of freshmen who didn't play and Schmee types who will probably never see the field.

As far as QB goes, Pearey was officially the backup all year, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Phelan take the starting job next year.  He's a pretty hard-nosed kid--I've seen him throw blocks and lower his shoulder when scrambling in JV games.  Pearey is capable of doing the same things, but Phelan throws a better ball and his extra height helps his field vision.  Another factor is that Phelan will be around a year longer than Pearey, so Jay might want to give him some experience and avoid changing QBs 3 times in 3 years like we did '03-'05.

[old school ENP Tiger]

DF2004

    talk about small world. one of the bridesmaids in may son and daughter-in-laws wedding is engaged to the Bethal starting QB.

The Bethel QB is cousins with a girl that I work with.  We were able to talk about the game for quite a while week leading up to and after. 

[old school ENP Tiger]

Walston- Got a question for you where do you thing the knights need to improve for next year, what position do they did help at ?

Going to need a corner to replace Weber, that's for sure. Could use a game breaking running back, but I'd really like to see us get back to a smash-mouth team. Really seemed more like a finesse team this year. That's going to take an ***-knocker of a fullback a la Ben Thompsen.

I agree with you. We need a back like Hammes or  Parker and the run back in 2003, Iknow his name just can't spell it. How about some guys on the O-line that can open up some holes. I don't know if they have recurit a fullback, in a while.  Did you know that Weber have surgery on his hand after the season was over?

That's the sign of Weber being a gamer.  Tim Connell will need to look at surgery here soon too.  He broke his first finger on his throwing hand 2nd week of the year.  That would be 3004 yards and 33 tds with 3 good fingers and a thumb.  Just a couple of really tough guys that want to win.

[Wartburg Fan]

Walston- Got a question for you where do you thing the knights need to improve for next year, what position do they did help at ?

Going to need a corner to replace Weber, that's for sure. Could use a game breaking running back, but I'd really like to see us get back to a smash-mouth team. Really seemed more like a finesse team this year. That's going to take an ***-knocker of a fullback a la Ben Thompsen.

I agree with you. We need a back like Hammes or  Parker and the run back in 2003, Iknow his name just can't spell it. How about some guys on the O-line that can open up some holes. I don't know if they have recurit a fullback, in a while.  Did you know that Weber have surgery on his hand after the season was over?

That's the sign of Weber being a gamer.  Tim Connell will need to look at surgery here soon too.  He broke his first finger on his throwing hand 2nd week of the year.  That would be 3004 yards and 33 tds with 3 good fingers and a thumb.  Just a couple of really tough guys that want to win.

I couldn't agree more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DutchFan2004]

Walston- Got a question for you where do you thing the knights need to improve for next year, what position do they did help at ?

Going to need a corner to replace Weber, that's for sure. Could use a game breaking running back, but I'd really like to see us get back to a smash-mouth team. Really seemed more like a finesse team this year. That's going to take an ***-knocker of a fullback a la Ben Thompsen.

I agree with you. We need a back like Hammes or  Parker and the run back in 2003, Iknow his name just can't spell it. How about some guys on the O-line that can open up some holes. I don't know if they have recurit a fullback, in a while.  Did you know that Weber have surgery on his hand after the season was over?

That's the sign of Weber being a gamer.  Tim Connell will need to look at surgery here soon too.  He broke his first finger on his throwing hand 2nd week of the year.  That would be 3004 yards and 33 tds with 3 good fingers and a thumb.  Just a couple of really tough guys that want to win.

That being out in the open now.  Some facts about the season.  Tim did break his finger (didn't know that till today) the second quarter of the Hope game.  The next week during the Luther game he sprained his foot in the first quarter.  He played with a sprained foot and broken finger that game.  That lead them to only use a hand full of plays at Loras.  I could not address these questions during the season because of keeping things quiet so the teams didn't know what to prepare for.  There was talk on the board about the toughest player Tim would IMO qualify for it.  He loves the game and would do anything to compete and win.  It has been a good ride and he loved playing the game.