FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[reality check]

Impecable detection as always stoonk.  Well done.


OAC/Arena Football Update:

Rusty Midlam led the Lousiville Fire in tackles in their season opener. 

Shane Franzer is leading the CIFL in TD's for the Port Huron Pirates.  Steve Vagedes has one of those TD's for the Pirates.

Rocky Pentello is no longer on the marion Mayhem roster.

The Summit County Rumble of the CIFL apparently start Adam Haught who (also apparently) QB'ed at Heidelberg but their site seems to be having issues so I couldn't see the rest of the roster.

Wes Hostetler had an INT and 6 tackles in his first game with the Rochester Raiders.

Brandon Tisdale is not listed in any statistical categories for the Miami Valley Silverbacks.

Justin Stickley is apparently a FB for the Legends and has a rushing TD on 16 carries.  He also has a couple tackles.

Jesse Wells has a forced fumble, 4 tackles and 2 kickoffs for the Legends.

JR Cipra is 25-30 on PAT's for Canton as well.

I guess JCU alum Anthony Fanelli was in training camp with the Green Bay Blizzard of AFL2 but is no longer on the roster.

Micheaux Robinson (OTT) is playing for the Orlando Predators of the AFL and is seventh on the team in tackles.

And Matt D' Orazio continues to do well in the AFL with the Chicago Rush where he has a 26-4 TD/INT ratio so far this season after QBing thew Rush to an Arena Bowl title last year.

I know I'm missing some guys but this is the best I could do.  It's great to see these guys get to continue to play the game they love.  It's also fun to see them doing things beyond what they did for their schools (like Stickley).

[Ric]

Stoonk I can tell you that neither HScoach nor Reality Check are "clowns" and in fact are two of the better posters on this board.

[raiderguy]

RIC and Mark Grossman,

Let me be the first to congratulate you both on the fine OAC preseason  preview. A lot of good info about everyone. Raiders have a bunch coming back as ususal. ETC ETC. The transfer issue should be interesting to follow as the season gets closer. Sounds like the Raiders are getting a good one from Ashland.

Four months should fly by. The sad part...to want them to fly by you are asking summer to go away. Living in the north there is something inherently wrong with that way of thinking as I sat here this morning in 15 degree weather with 20 MPH winds. Colder than a witches you know what, you know where as they say.

I received a picture from my wife visiting family in Middlefield and they were getting hammered with snow. Indians/Mariners snowed out!!!
By the way suspending a game one pitch from an official game sorta sucks if you ask me.

I am looking forward to the opener up here with Marietta at St Johns. They are bringing back quite a bit and are primed for another run to Salem.  OAC in Minnesota would be a great thing to get started as a change of pace instead of WIAC. The MIAC and WIAC are always looking for games to complete their 10 game schedules. They sometimes are forced to play other teams beside D3. Just a thought for the other OAC guys looking for that first game opponent. Great competition too!
The coach at Marietta is a WIAC graduate.

[reality check]

Stoonk I can tell you that neither HScoach nor Reality Check are "clowns" and in fact are two of the better posters on this board.

Ric

This was the first time I ever took being lumped with HSCoach as a compliment.  Thank you.

[rscl70]

RIC and Mark Grossman,

Let me be the first to congratulate you both on the fine OAC preseason  preview. A lot of good info about everyone. Raiders have a bunch coming back as ususal. ETC ETC. The transfer issue should be interesting to follow as the season gets closer. Sounds like the Raiders are getting a good one from Ashland.

Four months should fly by. The sad part...to want them to fly by you are asking summer to go away. Living in the north there is something inherently wrong with that way of thinking as I sat here this morning in 15 degree weather with 20 MPH winds. Colder than a witches you know what, you know where as they say.

I received a picture from my wife visiting family in Middlefield and they were getting hammered with snow. Indians/Mariners snowed out!!!
By the way suspending a game one pitch from an official game sorta sucks if you ask me.

I am looking forward to the opener up here with Marietta at St Johns. They are bringing back quite a bit and are primed for another run to Salem.  OAC in Minnesota would be a great thing to get started as a change of pace instead of WIAC. The MIAC and WIAC are always looking for games to complete their 10 game schedules. They sometimes are forced to play other teams beside D3. Just a thought for the other OAC guys looking for that first game opponent. Great competition too!
The coach at Marietta is a WIAC graduate.

Ric,
Allow me to echo raiderguy and thank you and Mark for the preview.  A great job as usual.

[Pat Coleman]

Pat Coleman needs to boot either -hscoach or reality check- or both of these clowns off this board for posting a comment page 687 re:kyle Simmons and signing my name of "stoonk".I stoonk ,did not post this comment.

Are you having a hard time now that you've been limited to one username?

I think your longtime use of multiple handles to talk to yourself on this board and the SCIAC board invalidates any complaints you want to make about others' posts.

[HScoach]

Stoonk I can tell you that neither HScoach nor Reality Check are "clowns" and in fact are two of the better posters on this board.

Ric

This was the first time I ever took being lumped with HSCoach as a compliment.  Thank you.

Same to you!

[HScoach]

Ric,
Allow me to echo raiderguy and thank you and Mark for the preview.  A great job as usual.

Thanks guys!


I'm interested in hearing what the Post Pattern regulars think about my predicted OAC finish.

[kcreds]

It is truly fun to read a preview this early. Thanks Ric and Mark. Looking at Marietta's preview makes a Pio fan feel like it will be a long season. This Pio fan is optimistic. Yes they lost a very good QB in Vrable. I really enjoyed his play. The QB spot will be a huge questionmark but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm a firm believer that to have a good offense it starts with the line. Pios's line all coming back. The backfield is back along with a standout reciever. Here is the kicker, pardon the pun, the Pios have some good skill players that transfered in. The Pios with good returnees and transfers have me believing the season will not be as bleak as predicted. With that said I still realize they do have a tough schedule but at some point and time you have to beat the best to be the best. Personally, I like the bar set high. Go Pios!

[reality check]

Finally had a chance to read through the OAC preview and I'd also like to thank Ric and Mark for their hard work on it.  If you guys could just put something like that up every two to three days so that I can survive the offseason, I'd greatly appreciate it.   

I'm quite curious to see how BW does in 2007 as well as what Capital does post-Rocky.  Coach Collins is a great football guy but he has as many holes to fill this year as he ever has. 

As for ONU, Pankratz may be the new official starter but he's got more time under center than a lot of the QB's in the OAC for 2007. 

My personal take on 2007 is this: MUC may be more loaded than ever in the most uncertain OAC in a long time.  (That's not good for the rest of us.)  CAP takes a small step backwards because of all the changes in personnel.  BW and ONU will be fighting for that Pool C (at 9-1 or 8-2) with JCU, ETTA and CAP one step behind them.  And like always in the OAC, after that, it doesn't really matter.

Of course we have the changing of the guard in Musky and the Berg so that provides a good storyline for 2007 too.  The most experienced QB in the league will reside at Otterbein.  Wilmington returns a ton of starters looking to show improvement from last year's campaign.  And JCU continues to slip my immediate thought as they have for the past few years but they figure to be in the mix as usual. 

I REALLY can't wait for opening kickoff!!!

[reality check]

Since I'm on a roll with all this jibberish this week...

Jason Trusnik had a second pro day at King Horn Athletic Center on April 5th according to onusports.com.

He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.66 seconds, had a vertical jump of 36 inches, a standing broad jump of 10' 2", ran the short shuttle in 4.17 seconds, ran the three-cone drill in 6.78 seconds and had 18 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press.

Officially weighed and measured at 6'4" and 249 lbs, I kind of wish he played TE since his individual testing numbers are better at every test than Whitworth TE Michael Allen (6'6", 254) who turned heads at the combine.

He has had scouts from the Titans, Colts and Bengals at the pro days according to the story.

[purple]

 Thanks again to Ric for his time and effort.Not only do the Purples have the best team and coach in the country,we have the best writer on our side.Ric is an Honorary Varsity "M" club member who earns his letter every year.Thank you.

[runyr]

Thanks again to Ric for his time and effort.Not only do the Purples have the best team and coach in the country,we have the best writer on our side.Ric is an Honorary Varsity "M" club member who earns his letter every year.Thank you.

Must reading for OAC fans (Thanks Mark & Ric):
http://www.mtunionfootball.com/2007season/07oacpreview.htm

[bushman]

Dover High QB , Percy  not going to Mt. Union as was previously reported.  Word on the street from Dover is he has committed to Capital.   I guess he wants to play asap.

[JK]

Ric, hscoach:

Awesome preview.  Thanks for the off-season reading.  I said before and I'll say again: This might be the year that the OAC takes over the top spot as the #1 conference in D3.  The "big-shots" here at D3football have ranked the WIAC as the best conference the last few years based on the overall parity of their league.  In the past, the OAC has been MUC and then maybe two or three teams fighting it out for second and an at-large.  Next year it will probably be Mount and then as many as 5 or 6 teams with legitmate playoff aspirations in Cap, ONU, BW, JCU and possibly OTT and Etta.  Plus, Wilma looks to have a lot back and who knows what new coaches can do at the Berg and Musky. 

I guess what I am saying is that if you remove MUC from the equation, there hasn't been this much parity from 2-10 in the OAC in a long time.  The success of the OAC teams in the playoffs speaks for itself and everyone recognizes that the top of the league is as good as or better than any D3 conference in the country.  I think this year the middle to bottom half of the OAC will be better than ever.