FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[WashJeff68]

W&J gets win #700. Solid win, but CMU didn't cave. Thought CWRU might be a challenge, but not sure after loss to St Vincent. W&J may crack the top 25 this week. Clearly on track for 31st consecutive wining season.

[SaintsFAN]

W&J gets win #700. Solid win, but CMU didn't cave. Thought CWRU might be a challenge, but not sure after loss to St Vincent. W&J may crack the top 25 this week. Clearly on track for 31st consecutive wining season.

I don't think Sirriani is going to be very happy with this win over CMU.. but that will allow him to focus them in on Thomas More during the next two weeks.  So it could be a positive and not a harbinger of what may come in two weeks.

Should be a great game, but Thomas More has to get through Westminster first -- they have no room for error now after losing to Wesley in week 1.

[E.115]

St Vincent won again.  As a CWRU fan, I wasn't sure what to make of last week.  And this week we only squeaked past Thiel.   Congrats to St Vincent getting win #2. 

http://athletics.stvincent.edu/news/2014/9/27/FB_0927142026.aspx?path=football

[SaintsFAN]

TMC needs to clean up penalties and tighten up the passing game.  The rushing attack is legit though after 500+ on the ground today against Westminster.
We'll see what happens next Saturday night under the lights.  It's yet another playoff game for Thomas More.

[SaintsFAN]

heard there is a big game in this conference this weekend.  Has anyone else heard the same?

[ExTartanPlayer]

heard there is a big game in this conference this weekend.  Has anyone else heard the same?

LOL.  I'm still not used to following the PAC.  I didn't even realize TMC was playing W & J.

TMC fooled me a bit last year.  I thought they were really, really good after that 61-0 pounding they put on Geneva (not that Geneva was really great shakes, but they had a really good offense that had scored 47, 51, 49, and 34 points in their first four games, and TMC held them to 88 yards or something ridiculous).  Then they went out and lost to the Prez, even with a huge game from Hayden, and blew out everyone else on the schedule (of their nine wins, the closest came by 20 points).  Pretty hard to convince me that W & J was actually better than TMC over the course of the season when you look at the cumulative season scores, but the Prez lunched them when it counted.  Will be fascinating to see who comes out on top this weekend.  The remainder of the conference is extremely average, although Bethany is a quietly on a three-game winning streak since playing Mount in the opener and just beat Waynesburg...will the Bison finally break out of .500-land and win 7 or 8 games this year?  I vote that Bethany @ CWRU is the second-most-interesting PAC game this weekend.

Also, can someone explain to me why Bethany has played three PAC teams but only is listed as 2-0 in the conference?  Was the Bethany-Thiel game technically a non league game?  Is this because adding CMU and CWRU forced people to scramble for OOC games?

[SaintsFAN]

heard there is a big game in this conference this weekend.  Has anyone else heard the same?

LOL.  I'm still not used to following the PAC.  I didn't even realize TMC was playing W & J.

TMC fooled me a bit last year.  I thought they were really, really good after that 61-0 pounding they put on Geneva (not that Geneva was really great shakes, but they had a really good offense that had scored 47, 51, 49, and 34 points in their first four games, and TMC held them to 88 yards or something ridiculous).  Then they went out and lost to the Prez, even with a huge game from Hayden, and blew out everyone else on the schedule (of their nine wins, the closest came by 20 points).  Pretty hard to convince me that W & J was actually better than TMC over the course of the season when you look at the cumulative season scores, but the Prez lunched them when it counted.  Will be fascinating to see who comes out on top this weekend.  The remainder of the conference is extremely average, although Bethany is a quietly on a three-game winning streak since playing Mount in the opener and just beat Waynesburg...will the Bison finally break out of .500-land and win 7 or 8 games this year?  I vote that Bethany @ CWRU is the second-most-interesting PAC game this weekend.

Also, can someone explain to me why Bethany has played three PAC teams but only is listed as 2-0 in the conference?  Was the Bethany-Thiel game technically a non league game?  Is this because adding CMU and CWRU forced people to scramble for OOC games?

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this conference outside of W&J and Thomas More this year.  I thought Waynesburg was dangerous heading into the season and was shocked at the Bethany result.  Because.  Bethany. 

The conference has two winless teams and three teams with one win after 5 weeks of the season.  Thats 5 out of 11 teams who are underachieving.   The PAC has gone 8-10 in OOC games this year but teams have played John Carroll, Mount Union and Wesley for three of those losses.  Further muddying the picture are the OOC games against teams from the PAC. 

Basically, what I think we have here is two playoff teams and 9 average to mediocre teams.  We'll see what the next 6 weeks bring, I guess.

Onto the big game this weekend.  Last year's 45-21 score doesn't tell the story of the game.  Basically it was a 3 point game late in the 3rd Quarter after a Thomas More TD and W&J returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD.  Thomas More lost its starting QB late in the 3rd Quarter and played the entire 4th Quarter without him.  The momentum from the kick return and losing their QB was too much for Thomas More to overcome. 

Their 2nd String QB this year is a freshman who was headed to Western Kentucky University but changed his mind and enrolled at Thomas More.  The future at QB is in good hands with him following Gebhardt who is in his third year as the starter.

[Bob.Gregg]

Carnegie-Mellon scores TD in final minute to tie Westminster, then gets the ball back, kicks a 50-yard field goal to win it as time expires, 27-24.

[wesleydad]

Early in the second and W&J is laying it to TMC.  If not for the 2 long plays this game would be real ugly.  TMC defense is having trouble stopping W&J.  Could be a long night for the Saints if they don't get some stops.

[WashJeff68]

W&J 31-21 at the half. Ruffing being contained but Coughlin is lighting it up in the air.

[WashJeff68]

51-28 Wow. W&J SHOULD win out. 

[Bob.Gregg]

Did NOT see that coming, gotta tell you!

[SaintsFAN]

Did NOT see that coming, gotta tell you!

Ditto.  Looks like W&J earned the Thomas More Top 25 votes tonight.  They should debut around #20, me thinks.

5 turnovers.  Well, the 5th was after the game was decided. 

[Bob.Gregg]

......Last year's 45-21 score doesn't tell the story of the game.  Basically it was a 3 point game late in the 3rd Quarter after a Thomas More TD and W&J returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD.  Thomas More lost its starting QB late in the 3rd Quarter and played the entire 4th Quarter without him.  The momentum from the kick return and losing their QB was too much for Thomas More to overcome. 

Last NIGHT'S 51-28 score doesn't tell the story of the game.  Basically (no, ACTUALLY) it was a 3 point game late in the 3rd Quarter after a Thomas More TD.  On second & 12 from the 23, W&J got a 18-yard pass turned into a 77-yard TD.  Thomas More pulled its starting QB early in the 4th Quarter and played the entire 4th Quarter without him.  The momentum from the TD pass and the ensuing three turnovers was too much for Thomas More to overcome.

On second thought, perhaps these two games tell the story of a very good rivalry that has developed quickly.

And, on THAT note, I have to tell you that this rivalry has taken a pretty incredible turn for the good.  And it has NOTHING to do with W&J winning two straight after TMC won five in a row.

Two years ago, in some of the most incredible, difficult, hope-to-never-be-repeated circumstances, I think these two PAC football powerhouses figured something out.

What happened at W&J two years ago yesterday should never happen, but it did.  Timothy McNerny died in a scuffle after being pushed to the ground in a robbery for his cellphone.  His teammate, Zach DeCicco was beaten up pretty badly in the incident.

Just a couple days later, W&J traveled to Bank of Kentucky Stadium and played TMC in a football game.  A FOOTBALL GAME for heaven's sake!  According to all the stories and interviews, they did so because that's what this team, this college, this community needed, and because that's what Tim would have wanted.  And that sentiment was pretty universal.  There, on the W&J sideline, was Tim McNerney's jersey for all to see, to think about, to remember what was REALLY important.

I've thought often about that day.  And many times I've considered what had been asked of Thomas More in that situation.  How do you play a football game against a team whose captain had been murdered by a couple thugs just days earlier?  How do you ratchet up the energy, the enthusiasm, the emotion that such a rivalry demands under such incredible weight of circumstance?

True to their nickname, the Saints were tremendous.  They were business-like in the contest and brotherly outside of it.  Thomas More won the game that day, though the Presidents game them a decent challenge. There wasn't really much doubt that the Saints would win.   There wasn't a lot of hoop-lah, over-the-top celebrations on big plays or scores, or in the final victory.

Following the game, all were together on the field.  All trying to mourn, to grieve, to begin the healing.  And somewhere, in that horrific week, in that terrible process, maybe even in that all-in-one huddle on the turf at Bank of Kentucky Stadium, with Tim McNerney's jersey in the middle, all found out something about themselves, about each other and about life.   There were Presidents & Saints, Red & Black, Blue & White, coaches & players, students & fans, parents and staff, together.  And, in the midst of it all, they figured it out:  football's just a game.

Sure, it should be played to win, with maximum effort within the rules and with the expectation of leaving it all on the field when the final whistle blows.  And rivalries should bring out the best--in the best players and in the third-stringers, in the HC's and the position coaches, in the parents, the fans and the communities that support them.  But it's just a game.

Somehow, somewhere around 4:30 pm that day, in the midst of several hundred people on the turf in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, this rivalry turned from heated, bitter, even edgy, into what a college football rivalry should be--well-prepared, hard-fought, played to the final whistle, and recognizing, when the day is done, these guys in the other helmets are men, from homes and families, schools and communities facing who knows what. 

I'm excited to see more hard-fought, exciting, perhaps down-to-the-final-whistle games in this series.  And I'm sure the details of these games will fade from my memory one day.  But I will NEVER forget that Saturday afternoon two years ago.  As a member of the Washington, PA community and the extended Washington & Jefferson College family, I am grateful to the Thomas More College community for their grace and compassion, their understanding and support, their work to see this rivalry become something far better than what it might have been.

[WashJeff68]

Bob,

Thanks for sharing.

I remember watching the Youtube video of the memorial for Tim held on campus. Tori was outstanding, but she generally is. Mike showed what a caring, loyal and principled person he is. I wrote and told him how moved I was by his comments, what a role model he is for his players, and that I hope he stays at W&J for a long time. He wote a nice note back, said how much he enjoys coaching at W&J, particularly the quality of young men he has in his program.

I'm sure he has had many opportunities to move on, and perhaps one day he will, but until then, W&J is very well served by his presence.

Jeff  in Tennessee ( class of '68 - the middle of "The Heart of Darkness" era for W&J football)