FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

My expectations are modest. This is a significantly more talented North Park team than I have seen in eons, particularly in the speed department on both sides of the ball ... but the shutout loss at the hands of UWO two weeks ago made it clear that NPU still has a very long way to go before the Vikes are able to go toe-to-toe with ranked teams. I would like to see the Vikings force Wheaton to keep in its starters at least well into the fourth quarter, and I'd especially like to see them hold the final margin down to three touchdowns or less, something that the Park has not been able to do against Wheaton since 2000. Even those modest goals might be asking too much, however. Nevertheless, if NPU somehow manages to make a game of it, you will certainly hear it in my voice tomorrow afternoon.

Good luck to the Vikings!  I'd consider it a 'moral victory' if they can keep the Wheaton starters in even thru most of the 3rd - I have the Thunder ranked higher than most: #5.  (Though there are reports that the Thunder is pretty banged up.)

[iwu70]

Carthage outplayed the Titans save for the last 5 minutes and the Titans come away with a very improbably, lucky win in Kenosha.

[iwu70]

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky.  Artie Chechin a great game, Warner too.  But, frankly, CC deserved to win the game.

IWU'70

[Titan Q]

IWU 21
Carthage 17

IWU trailed 17-9 with 1:25 to play, and faced a 4th & 18.  On that 4th & 18, Jack Warner found Artie Checchin (who made a terrific catch) in the back of the endzone for TD.  The Titans failed on the 2-point try, making it Carthage 17 IWU 15.

The Titans tried on onside kick with 1:19 to play...which Checchin recovered.

Warner quickly moved the Titans deep into Carthage territory, with Checchin catching two balls for 34 yards on that drive.  After a running play, the Titans got it to the Carthage 10 and took their final timeout with 0:16 to play.  On the next play, 2nd & 6, Warner found Checchin in the endzone.  The 2-point try failed, but the Titans had their first lead of the game with 0:11 to go.  And that is how it ended.

IWU was outplayed most of the game, but made one heck of a comeback.

[Titan Q]

IWU did a lot of things poorly today, but my biggest beef was 1st down play calling.  Way too aggressive/fancy.  The Titans have two good RBs in Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore and Austin Harrell - keep it simple and run the ball until the opponent proves they can stop you.  IWU can go a lot of different ways on 2nd & 6...2nd & 10 is a killer.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 31
North Park 7

NPU actually did a lot of things well in this game. But the Vikes were unable to get off of the field in multiple third-and-long situations (as well as another killer fourth-and-long conversion), as Wheaton QB Andrew Bowers made one great play after another, both with his feet and with his arm.

The young Vikings, in spite of the scoreboard, gave a good accounting of themselves today.

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 9
Elmhurst 3

This was not the game that was advertised. While everyone thought that this would be an XBox Special, based upon Augie's wild and wooly scores over the first three games, this one turned out to be shockingly mundane, albeit with an interesting last-minute drive by Elmhurst that petered out on the Augie 17. For most of the day, it was punt, punt, punt ... with two of the most interesting plays in the game being a fake punt and a blocked punt (both by the 'jays). Give the much-maligned Augie D credit; they held Josh Williams to 50 yards on 20 totes, and held EC to only 221 yards of offense, as the 'jays turned the ball over six times (most of those turnovers were tipped-pass interceptions). But Augie only amassed 257 yards of O itself, while shooting itself in the foot to the tune of 12 penalties for 115 yards.

[Mugsy]

Augustana 9
Elmhurst 3

This was not the game that was advertised. While everyone thought that this would be an XBox Special, based upon Augie's wild and wooly scores over the first three games, this one turned out to be shockingly mundane, albeit with an interesting last-minute drive by Elmhurst that petered out on the Augie 17. For most of the day, it was punt, punt, punt ... with two of the most interesting plays in the game being a fake punt and a blocked punt (both by the 'jays). Give the much-maligned Augie D credit; they held Josh Williams to 50 yards on 20 totes, and held EC to only 221 yards of offense, as the 'jays turned the ball over five times (most of those turnovers were tipped-pass interceptions). But Augie only amassed 257 yards of O itself, while shooting itself in the foot to the tune of 12 penalties for 115 yards.

Actually the box score indicates 6 Elmhurst turnovers!  Not many wins with that stat.

Posted on in-game updates board that I doubt anyone would have taken the "Under" at 13 points on this game, nor "Under" 170 yards cumulative rushing yards.  I was expecting 3 times those numbers.

[Gregory Sager]

Saw it already and changed it. You beat me by five seconds.

[USee]

Pretty impressed with North Park today. They made Wheaton play their starters well into the 4th quarter and, as Greg said, they accounted well for themselves today. This is the most talent I have seen at North Park in probably 15 years. Some really good young players and several returning players that give them a solid base. They will win some conference games this year if they stay healthy. I really like Chaun Maiava, the Sophomore from Samoa was all over the field. Mike Harris did a great job on Luke Thorson today and the freshman DL Kellum, is a talented young player that gave a veteran OL some fits. On offense Langkilde is a 225 lb beast and the cohort of Conway, Childress, Burton are a solid core for TDC to throw to. I was surprised NPU didn't try to throw the ball downfield to Childress more often.

On the Wheaton side Johnny Peltz did not play and Ben Pettway, starting OT sat as well. Both are expected back next week vs Augie. Pettways absence caused Wheaton some issues. They played starting center Kyler Kregel at right tackle which brought in Tyler Leslie at Center. There were 4-5 shotgun snaps that were impossible to handle and a couple others that were erratic and caused the Thunder offense some problems. Andrew Bowers was in beast mode, however, completing 21-30 passes for 372 yds and 2 TD's. His running was equally impressive, though he netted only 54 yds, he probably ran for over 100. On defense, Logan McRae was an all-american today. Quentyn Jackson really struggled with #56, who recorded 3 sacks, 3 holding calls, and almost a pick 6.

Sloppy game for the Thunder overall as they put the ball on the ground multiple times and were penalized 8 times for 76 yds. They can't expect to get to "Salem" with that kind of play.

Quite competitive overall in Chicago today. NPU is on the rise.

On a somewhat related note, there was some interesting officiating today in Chicago. I saw some things I hadn't seen before.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central 49
Millikin 21

MU made it interesting for three quarters, but the Cards scored five unanswered TDs in the final frame to pull away from the Big Blue.

[Gregory Sager]

On a somewhat related note, there was some interesting officiating today in Chicago. I saw some things I hadn't seen before.

That's a polite way to put it. That crew was absolutely brutal.

[USee]

On a somewhat related note, there was some interesting officiating today in Chicago. I saw some things I hadn't seen before.

That's a polite way to put it. That crew was absolutely brutal.

They sucked. And I thought, on balance, NPU was penalized by bad calls more than Wheaton.

[Gregory Sager]

True, in particular the defensive pass interference that they missed on the second-quarter pass to Childress at the goal line. (Although, realistically, if they had made that call correctly, it would've meant that the final score would've likely been 31-14 instead of 31-7.)

The one that really bothered me the most, though, was on the blocked NPU field goal. A Wheaton player (Mendez, I think), tried running it back, but fumbled around midfield. The Wheaton player who recovered the fumble had gone out of bounds; he came back in bounds and fell on the ball before anybody else touched it. The side judge was not more than five yards away, and he didn't throw the flag. Mike Conway got in that ref's face, and the guy just shrugged. Bad calls that go one way or another are part of the game, of course, but the officiating crew should at least know the rules.

[USee]

I was wondering about the recovered fumble after the block. If they do call that, what's the ruling? They can't give the ball back to NPU I don't think.

I also didn't understand how they waved off the muffed punt by Wheaton that NPU recovered. And the pass at end of the half looked like it was a turnover by Wheaton and somehow the Thunder ended up with it.