FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

Congrats to all the players and coaches on a great season!  taking a quick look at the roster for next season, if everyone with eligibility chooses to come back then NCC is returning 16 of 22 starters. 

Starters that will be moving on:
Offense: RB - Greenfield, OL - Will Ebert
Defense: 3 DL - Gilroy, Rich, Greifelt.  1 LB - Taviani

obviously losing some fantastic players but will also have plenty of guys back

I do wonder if any of the 4th yr guys with another year of eligibility may choose to move on since they won.

That is the (checks current tuition cost for a semester) $21,000 question...  It's a not insignificant ask for a family to incur that cost, even if it involves some level of financial aid, and for a student to delay their plans for whatever is to come next.

But that's a question for 2023.  Until the calendar flips, my plan is to celebrate all this team has accomplished and marvel again at just how far the program has come.

[hazzben]

Congrats to all the players and coaches on a great season!  taking a quick look at the roster for next season, if everyone with eligibility chooses to come back then NCC is returning 16 of 22 starters. 

Starters that will be moving on:
Offense: RB - Greenfield, OL - Will Ebert
Defense: 3 DL - Gilroy, Rich, Greifelt.  1 LB - Taviani

obviously losing some fantastic players but will also have plenty of guys back

I do wonder if any of the 4th yr guys with another year of eligibility may choose to move on since they won.

That is the (checks current tuition cost for a semester) $21,000 question...  It's a not insignificant ask for a family to incur that cost, even if it involves some level of financial aid, and for a student to delay their plans for whatever is to come next.

But that's a question for 2023.  Until the calendar flips, my plan is to celebrate all this team has accomplished and marvel again at just how far the program has come.

You don't have to pay for a full course load though. If it's a single class required for graduation you can play that last fall. Just have to plan accordingly.

[Augie6]

Congrats to NCC on a great game to finish off a great season!  Happy to have the Walnut and Bronze back in CCIW land!!  For those seniors who has finished their eligibility, congratulations on your outstanding careers representing NCC and the CCIW both on and off the field.  Very special way to end your playing careers. 

[kiko]

Congrats to all the players and coaches on a great season!  taking a quick look at the roster for next season, if everyone with eligibility chooses to come back then NCC is returning 16 of 22 starters. 

Starters that will be moving on:
Offense: RB - Greenfield, OL - Will Ebert
Defense: 3 DL - Gilroy, Rich, Greifelt.  1 LB - Taviani

obviously losing some fantastic players but will also have plenty of guys back

I do wonder if any of the 4th yr guys with another year of eligibility may choose to move on since they won.

That is the (checks current tuition cost for a semester) $21,000 question...  It's a not insignificant ask for a family to incur that cost, even if it involves some level of financial aid, and for a student to delay their plans for whatever is to come next.

But that's a question for 2023.  Until the calendar flips, my plan is to celebrate all this team has accomplished and marvel again at just how far the program has come.

You don't have to pay for a full course load though. If it's a single class required for graduation you can play that last fall. Just have to plan accordingly.

Understood.  There are still financial implications to consider, including the opportunity cost of delaying other plans.

[USee]

Congrats to Brad Spencer and the NCC staff, players and fans for 2nd National Title. That was a pretty dominant run through the post season and great finish. I thought Mt Union did what they had to do on defense to give them a chance but the NCC defense really stepped up and shut down the #1 offense in the land yielding just 140 yards total through 3 quarters.

North Centrals' best players made plays and that's how it should be to win a title. Congrats to all.

NCC should be the consensus #1 to start next year with all they have returning.

[USee]

And Congratulations to Ethan Greenfield for being named the Gagliardi winner. Greenfield has great vision and incredible footwork and foot speed to go along with pure strength, power and a low center of gravity. That said,  I think this award should be shared with that offensive line as that was one of the most dominant groups I have seen in D3 and that's the reason Greenfield won the award. He was often not touched until he was 6+ yds deep into the opponents territory. Jeske Maples, Alex Knaperek, Jarod Thornton, Will Ebert and Sam Pryor are all deserving of equal credit in the award.

[WRMUalum13]

Congrats Cardinals on an excellent season! Clearly the better team on Friday night and a well deserved championship! Lots of credit to the superstars on offense but boy that was a stingey defense. Really controlled the LOS and bottled up our passing attack.

Just curious, did anyone else think the last pass play to Hardy was a bad play call? It seemed like in that situation the ONLY chance us Purple Raiders had to stay in the game was a turnover which throwing it opened up. When I saw Lehnen drop back that Seahawk's INT against the Patriot's popped into my head. I dunno just seemed like a bizarre call to me. Then again it worked!

[New Tradition]

And Congratulations to Ethan Greenfield for being named the Gagliardi winner. Greenfield has great vision and incredible footwork and foot speed to go along with pure strength, power and a low center of gravity. That said,  I think this award should be shared with that offensive line as that was one of the most dominant groups I have seen in D3 and that's the reason Greenfield won the award. He was often not touched until he was 6+ yds deep into the opponents territory. Jeske Maples, Alex Knaperek, Jarod Thornton, Will Ebert and Sam Pryor are all deserving of equal credit in the award.

Knowing Ethan, I bet he'd agree with you. I remember giving his MVP in the 2019 stagg to the o line. In fact, his entire speech was "thank you but I can't accept this because it belongs to the offensive line."

[GOPACKGO]

Congrats to Brad Spencer and the NCC staff, players and fans for 2nd National Title. That was a pretty dominant run through the post season and great finish. I thought Mt Union did what they had to do on defense to give them a chance but the NCC defense really stepped up and shut down the #1 offense in the land yielding just 140 yards total through 3 quarters.

North Centrals' best players made plays and that's how it should be to win a title. Congrats to all.

NCC should be the consensus #1 to start next year with all they have returning.

Second** best offense in the land.

[robertgoulet]

Congrats Cardinals on an excellent season! Clearly the better team on Friday night and a well deserved championship! Lots of credit to the superstars on offense but boy that was a stingey defense. Really controlled the LOS and bottled up our passing attack.

Just curious, did anyone else think the last pass play to Hardy was a bad play call? It seemed like in that situation the ONLY chance us Purple Raiders had to stay in the game was a turnover which throwing it opened up. When I saw Lehnen drop back that Seahawk's INT against the Patriot's popped into my head. I dunno just seemed like a bizarre call to me. Then again it worked!

Thought it was an interesting call. I'd assumed they would try a read option or something like that. Other call I thought was interesting was the decision to try for the FG in the 1st rather than go for it.

[emma17]

Congrats Cardinals on an excellent season! Clearly the better team on Friday night and a well deserved championship! Lots of credit to the superstars on offense but boy that was a stingey defense. Really controlled the LOS and bottled up our passing attack.

Just curious, did anyone else think the last pass play to Hardy was a bad play call? It seemed like in that situation the ONLY chance us Purple Raiders had to stay in the game was a turnover which throwing it opened up. When I saw Lehnen drop back that Seahawk's INT against the Patriot's popped into my head. I dunno just seemed like a bizarre call to me. Then again it worked!

Thought it was an interesting call. I'd assumed they would try a read option or something like that. Other call I thought was interesting was the decision to try for the FG in the 1st rather than go for it.

I think the answer might be that ball was only to be thrown in an area that "interception" was not a possibility, and it was thrown pretty quickly. Now, if the QB was given options as to where to throw, then I'd say that was way too risky.

[USee]

I think it was a great call. There was a Mt Union timeout 2 plays earlier. I would bet that Spencer had decided he was going to give it to Greenfield on 2nd down and if he didn't score, they were going to take their shot on a back shoulder fade to Hardy. I am guessing if the pass to Hardy was not successful they would have kicked the FG to make it a 2 score game in either case. Those are their 2 best players so giving each one  a shot at making a winning play makes sense. I am guessing Spencer was too young to remember the St Johns/Mt Union Stagg when the Johnnies intercepted a pass like that and took it to the house! I had no problem with the call. It was a bit aggressive but a FG (if it was incomplete) still makes it 2 scores.

[emma17]

Congrats Cardinals on an excellent season! Clearly the better team on Friday night and a well deserved championship! Lots of credit to the superstars on offense but boy that was a stingey defense. Really controlled the LOS and bottled up our passing attack.

Just curious, did anyone else think the last pass play to Hardy was a bad play call? It seemed like in that situation the ONLY chance us Purple Raiders had to stay in the game was a turnover which throwing it opened up. When I saw Lehnen drop back that Seahawk's INT against the Patriot's popped into my head. I dunno just seemed like a bizarre call to me. Then again it worked!

Thought it was an interesting call. I'd assumed they would try a read option or something like that. Other call I thought was interesting was the decision to try for the FG in the 1st rather than go for it.

I think the answer might be that ball was only to be thrown in an area that "interception" was not a possibility, and it was thrown pretty quickly. Now, if the QB was given options as to where to throw, then I'd say that was way too risky.

[kiko]

Their success at running between the tackles had been hit and miss for much of the game and Mount was obviously going to load up the box.  This was pretty much guaranteed to be an All American WR in single coverage.  I don't mind those odds at all.

[79jaybird]

Congratulations to Brad Spencer and the Cardinals players.  That was sheer dominance all year and while Mt. Union made a valiant comeback,  NC's depth really showed in that second half.

For the record- I thought the call should have been a personal foul 15 yds, but NOT targeting.   IMO, it didn't seem like he was intentionally going for the targeting,  but there was contact so, minimally a 15 yarder.  But c'mon biggest stage of the D-3 football world, and you throw the kid out (who has worked hard the entire season to get here)