FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[usee]

article on the carthage/iwu game:

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/10/04/usports/doc48e81d16d041c193555258.txt

[Carthage Fan]

Great win for the Red Men!  This was a physical game and there were plenty of pads popping on both sides of the ball. 

Even with 4 turnovers (we are getting better) we were able to put up a W.  The Red Men D was key here, holding the Titans to 5 of 14 in 3rd down and 0-4 in 4th down conversions, only 53 net rushing yds (Lanter had 93, 4 sacks for minus 40 on Ladd) and Ceisel had only 6 catches for 45 yds and no TD's.  2 turnovers gave the Titans the ball at the Red Men 17 resulting in a TD and the Red Men 24 where our D held on downs.  The Titans put together a nice long scoring drive of 82 yds which scared us, but it was the only long drive they made.

Credit the Red Men O in holding a 10 minute advantage in possession time making plays when they needed to, going 2 for 3 on 4th down conversions which kept our D rested.  Jake Smith had a big day with 91 yds in receiving and another 70 in the ground.  Nick Merchut had 2 TD's.  If we don't turn the ball over this game would not have been as close.  But we did and still won.  Great job all around.

Wilder Field is a nice place to watch a football game and both stands were packed which gave it a good atmosphere.  Great IWU band, (sorry former band geek here!) and a day without a cloud in the sky capped it off.

Only detractor was some poor officiating.  I thought the crew was slow in getting the ball spotted, chains moved and let the pace of the game slow.  Calls always go both ways but, a pass interference call against us was just one heck of a play, the unsportsmanlike following was justified.  Didn't matter though because with IWU on our 28 we held on downs.  There was a helmet to helmet hit on our QB on our sideline as he was sliding which should have been 15 yds. 

Article in the Kenosha News.

http://www.kenoshanews.com/article_comments/view_comments.php?articleNum=3640212

[cardinaldad]

A final from Naperville:

NCC 31
Millikin 13

I was unable to make it because I had some film to break down myself, but sources tell me that it was a sloppily played game with a lot of penalties, including several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on both teams.  The Cardinal offensive line got a bit dinged up as well as Fanthorpe, although he was seen running around and cutting on the sidelines later on in the game, so I think that he'll be alright.

This game was basically over at halftime with NCC leading 28-6. The 2nd half was largely a bore with substitutions galore. Fanthorpe did sustain a slight knee injury, but left the field under his own power and, as indicated above was seen moving around pretty close to normally on the sidelines in the latter stages of the game. In talking with sideline personnel afterwards, his being held out of action following the injury was largely precautionary, and all indications point to his being back to full strength well before next week's contest. Another Cardinal injury was sustained by Welnack. The extent was not as yet know at the conclusion of the game.

There were indeed some late hits out of bounds on both sides. Overall, the Cards were penalized 11 times for 104 yards. This involves the mental aspect of the game, and must improve if the Cards are going to come out on the winning end when they face tougher competition.

     Agreed AndOne. If the Cards played as they did against a better opponent, they probably would not have won. The players know it too. The atmosphere after the game was almost as if they lost the game. Some of that may be attributed to the injury on Welnack. That is a BIG loss to the O-line. I agree with CardinalAlum. At that point in the game, why not kneel on it? The was no reason to run a play. Stupid!!!Another starting O-lineman, Oenning, was also injured earlier in the game. I don't know the extent of his injury, but he was walking around after the game with a slight limp. Fanthorpe will be fine. He was injured, but will be back this week. It was a relief to see him sprinting, cutting and duck-walking on the sidelines.
     This was a sloppily played game. Two shot gun snaps went of  Fanthorpe's head. Two long snaps skipped to Pucylowski on punts. Execution was poor in the second half, substitutions or not. And the bone head penalties. ....Thorne was not real happy with all the unsportsmanlike penalties. He really gave an earful, like I've never heard, to a player after one of them. This is very uncharacteristic if a Thorne coached team. I wouldn't want to be them this week!!!!
     

[79jaybird]

Interesting afternoon at Langhorst Field yesterday.  Elmhurst had to battle a strong Augie defense and (many times) the officials who reminded me again, just how poor the officials in this league are.  AND* DISCLAIMER-  They were pretty bad for both teams.
Couple thoughts about this game
A) The score is a little misleading as this was a 21-6 as late as 5:00 into the 4th quarter.  Elmhurst's defense was solid and gave the offense many chances to climb back into the game.  

B) The inability to run the ball (and basic abandonment of the rushing game) really hurt Elmhurst.  Only 26 yards on 25 carries really puts the pressure on your QB.  Kudyba had a good game.  Yes, the scoresheet says 3 INT  but those were really just Kudyba trying to do too much for his team late in the game.

C) Augie rushed 3 down linemen and surprisingly were able to get to the QB many times.  What a gift to be able to get a bull rush to the Q, and have the luxury to drop 5 LB's/Safeties down field.  Really strains the offensive passing patterns.

Looking at Elmhurst,  they have many talented guys but there are visible points that need correcting (and quickly if they are going to be able to compete with the remaining 6 CCIW foes).  1) Penalties   sheesh! over 200 something yds in penalties over the last 2 weeks hurts.  Many of these are the "no brainers" where you are just losing your concentration.  2) Inability/Lack there of a running game.  I was wondering why EC didn't attempt to run the ball and lineup in an empty backfield set?  We have 3 qualified running backs and EC just appeared to completely abandon the running game.    

Now,  the officials were horrible yesterday.  Many, many times there would be a flag thrown and the officials took 2-4 minutes before (finally) coming up with a flag.  I  mean c'mon, if you throw the flag, tell the referee what the infraction is and let's play ball.  Many times both teams were looking at the officials as if to say- "Hey let us play."

My favorite official blunder was late in the game  Augie was on the doorstep and the RB dove near the goalline.  There was a fumble and everybody was jumping in to try and get the ball.  The Back Judge and a couple of other officials were digging into the pile to find out who had possession.  Meanwhile 1 official- the FURTHEST away from the play signaled TD.    How can you have 2-3 officials still in the play and the 1 so far away, calling something like that?

Augie is good, but I would not say they are a first or second tiered team this year.  Elmhurst has a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.  I think they have the skill to do it, however their "green" and that makes life difficult at times.

[AndOne]

North Central 6'8" tight end Kyle Fiedorowicz, who scored NCC's first touchdown yesterday against Millikin, is an interesting story. My understanding is that he was a QB in HS, and received some DI looks for football. Not sure if this was as a QB, or if the DIs were thinking of converting him to another position. One of the schools I've heard that was in the mix was the U of Wis Badgers. Kyle also played center on his HS basketball team which I believe sent 4 players on to college basketball. Evidently, during the summer after his senior year, Kyle decided that he would rather play college basketball rather than football. As a freshman in 06-07, he played on the Cardinals basketball team, but did not play football. After his first year, I believe there was some question whether or not Kyle would even return to school. However, while he did return last year, he played neither football or basketball, evidently concentrating on his studies. Now, in his 3rd year, Kyle is playing football for the 1st time since HS. He is a reserve tight end who has appeared in 3 of the Cards first 4 games. For the season he has 2 receptions (1 for 20 yards & the other for 16), both of which have gone for TDs. He  made the reception about half way to the goal line on both plays and then bulled his way through tackles to reach pay dirt turf 
Kyle has indeed made nice strides in his development as a student-athlete.
Wonder if he might also find his way back onto the basketball court where his talents might also be very welcome and useful? 

[augiefan]

Coincidentally Augie coach and alum Jim Barnes attained his 100th career victory yesterday. However, it was only his 67 win at Augie with the other 37 coming during his tenure at College of Wooster. 

[AndOne]

After yesterday's results, it appears Augie is for real, and Carthage is proving to be more of a power than initially thought based on the coaches pre-season poll.

[HScoach]

NCC's season opening win looks less and less impressive as the season goes on.  Ohio Northern now 0-4 after losing 35-21 to Muskingum.

Yikes.

[79jaybird]

AndOne- Augie's 3 down linemen were very sharp and had good technique (i.e. rip move to get past the Tackles).  Their Linebackers are fast, but did leave gaps that Elmhurst was able to find.
Offensively,  the key to stopping Augie is controlling Podulka.  Elmhurst was able to force a number of 3 and outs and stunt many AC drives. 
Really in our game the EC defense got fatigued because they were out there a long time.  When it was 21-6 in the 3rd quarter,  the Jays defense gave the offense 3-4 opportunities to get back in the game.  Alas, with no running game, the Jays could not get one of those long, time consuming, chew up yardage drives to climb back in the game.  Ultimately, the defense (with no breathers) slowly fatigued and was worn down, which is how Augie was able to get a few late game TD's.

[CardinalAlum]

NCC's season opening win looks less and less impressive as the season goes on.  Ohio Northern now 0-4 after losing 35-21 to Muskingum.

Yikes.

Uhhh....well.....uh...maybe we beat them up so bad that they will never be the same! 

[AndOne]

NCC's season opening win looks less and less impressive as the season goes on.  Ohio Northern now 0-4 after losing 35-21 to Muskingum.

Yikes.

Uhhh....well.....uh...maybe we beat them up so bad that they will never be the same! 

Sounds like logical reasoning to me, CardinalAlum.       

HS Coach---
1. Why are we looking back a month to the 1st game of the season and focusing on what was, rather than what will be as the season progresses and we really get down to crunch time?
2. Just wondering--Is one possible answer to the above question that you root for one of Ohio Northern's rivals and can't pass up any opportunity to ding the Polar Bears? Or are you, for some reason, attempting to discredit the Cardinals? Perhaps both?
3. Perhaps its just that ON was overrated going into the season. Is this NCC's fault? Or possibly, they were correctly rated at the time, but have regressed from that point.
4. On the day NCC and ON played, the conditions were miserable with rain falling throughout the game. Such conditions can readily contribute to an upset as result of a player slipping, having difficulty holding on to a wet ball, or any number of variables not present under more favorable conditions. The bottom line is the Cardinals did what they had to do to get the W. 

[New Tradition]

I was just thinking...where has Billy Pilgrim/REDMAN04ISMYDADDY! been?  We haven't heard from him in quite some time...

[usee]

new d3 poll is out. Wheaton stays at #6 although they picke up votes and are close to Muhlenberg at #5. NCC loses votes and a spot to #9, passed by UWEC.

[New Tradition]

Unfortunately I just recieved word from a pretty good source that Welnack's injury is a broken leg/ankle and he is out for at least 6 weeks.  Not good.

[warrior35]

I finally got back to Wheaton to see a game this year.  It was against North Park, but it was still good to see the boys play some ball.  I had a lot of questions about Norris going into the game.  Last year I thought he won the job legitimately after Ulrich went down, before he started dealing with his own injuries, so my questions were just trying to figure out what had changed between last year and this year to make things such a struggle.  But, he answered all of my questions with a 17 for 18 day.  I also found out that he had a cut on his throwing hand from the Bethel game in which he had stitches which was probably affecting his throwing.  But, that's all healed up now and it showed against North Park as I thought he looked incredibly sharp putting balls on guys hands and reading the defenses quite well.  I look forward to seeing how the rest of the year pans out for the Thunder.

I would say that the offense of North Park looked better than it has in some years past.  The passing game in particular looked better.  Receivers ran some nice routes from time to time and the QB seemed to be able to put it where he needed to most of the time.