FB: Northwest Conference

[wildcat11]

First things first....Congrats to Linfield on hosting another West Region Finals!  We'll have plenty of time to talk about Whitewater (which will be a huge challenge) but I did want to give my thoughts on today. 

The Cobbers played a great game in the first half.  Concordia capitalized on Linfield's early defensive assignment mistakes and played the game at their pace.  It was a great effort; however, once Linfield made their adjustments at half and quit shooting themselves in the foot (missed assignments, drops, fumbles)....the 'Cats just had too many weapons in the passing game to contain for a full four quarters. 

Championship teams need to be able to look in face of adversity to find out what they are made of and this Wildcat team found out quite a bit about itself today.  It was a complete TEAM effort in that second half.

TheCobberNation....I like to think of you along the same lines of when spandex shorts hit the scene in the late 1980's.  You came out of nowhere, made some noise but you were terribly lame, but thankfully you went away after 15 minutes.

MightyRoyal....looks like you'll have more time to cross check the effects of pacemaker users that have prescriptions to Viagra. 

[D O.C.]

The Cobbers did much better than I expected--kudos to them--

But I will NEVER take a team like Concordia lightly again!

Hey all you LINFIELD buds!
You know better than to underestimate A N Y B O D Y.

Just the thought is poison.

Go apologize to Locey and Rutschman.

[Wildcat'64]

When Times Get Tough - It's Best To Return To Your Roots.....

We Got This Far By Playing One Game At A Time --- now is the time to return to our Roots!

[bluenote]

Dens....I know what you mean but I had it Linfield 42...Concordia 14 with Linfield pulling out in front early. And I had no idea we'd only have the ball for about 8 minutes in the 1st half. I thought we'd put 2 quick scores on the board and force Concordia to abandon their gameplan and try some Hail Mary's, but boy was I wrong.  I guess I need to be more cautious next time a corn cobb comes to town.  

PS...I hope we don't have SCIAC refs next game, they are slightly retarded according to the old fart sitting next to me.

[Gig Harbor Cat]

You all said it again and again, while I was driving home from the Catdome.  A game within the game.  Its always better to win the second half by a larger margin than the first.  How profound   Anyway, great to see everyone, no more chowder for this guy.  See you all next week

                GHC

[OregonCityCat99]

Great game from the CatDome today!! Cobbers represented themselves and the MIAC very well today and did some things in the 1st half to take the Cats out of rhythm.

That said, too many skills players and playmakers for the Cats.  The Haze with big plays on both sides of the ball and the newbie Josh Vierra coming up huge as a receiver and tailback!!

Congrats Cobbers and way to go Cats!!  On to Whitewater..............

[MyYak]

The Cats will need to bring their "A" game next week. The Warhawks are an excellent team. They are very solid all the way around. Their air attack was much better than I expected. It sounds like the Cobbers gave you all you could handle. Congrats to the Cobbers for doing the MIAC proud.

I expect a great game next week. With the Johnnies losing today, you have my full support(for what that is worth ). When my son played against you guys in 2002 and 2003, he mentioned how impressed he was with the class of your players. I have been impressed with the class Coco has shown to me as well. He also assures me that Gig and Wildcat 11, are really great guys.

Whitewater IMHO deserves their high ranking. Good luck!

MyYak

[wildcat11]

The Cats will need to bring their "A" game next week.

Yak,

I think that everyone out in Wildcat country really understands that this game is going to be an epic.  Either of these two teams that will play next Saturday could be holding up the Bronze and Gold on Dec 17th.

BTW, I'm not really a good guy.  I just pay Coco some money on the side to claim that I am.

[snider]

What is the story about Garrett Wales?  Why isn't he doing any kicking?

[Tuxguy]

snider - as I've heard it was a tough decision by the coaching staff but to keep 3 kickers with such a reduced roster would take a position possibly needed down the road.  We all respect Garrett's accomplishments and national leading records, but Daley has proven to be worthy of the pick.

Regarding todays game.  Now that my heart has slowed some, my thoughts of the day:  Interesting first half to say the least.  Bluenote and I exchanged confused looks throughout the first half wondering when the Cats we know would show up. 

Great job of coaching today by Coach Locey and staff.  Adjustments at half were needed, done and executed!

With other top teams in the country folding, the Cats showed why they are the #1 team in the country.  The real D3 championship will be played at the Catdome next weekend.  (Sorry no all MIAC matchup next weekend, was looking forward for a chance of payback against the Johnnies but opps, someone forgot to show up today. 

I know this is longer than I normally post but one last comment on todays activities.  The tailgater was 5 star today.  Big John came through with his seafood extravaganza.  What a great atomosphere to share with friends from near and far (especially Coco's friend, a former Johnnie fan who has seen the light).  Wonderful meeting her and friend who are now Wildcat believers.  To those who know one of our beloved brethern has a new handle - ChowderBlower.  Looking forward to some special treatment the next couple of games shhhhhh.... you owe me!

[OXY Oswald]

I hope we don't have SCIAC refs next game, they are slightly retarded according to the old fart sitting next to me.

HAHA, the crew was from the SCIAC?  You'd be better off with blind midgets throwing hotdogs at each other.  Nothing but phantom PI's get called in the SCIAC and they stopped calling holding a couple years back. 

[downtown48]

How was the Catdome crowd today?  What's up with the standard 4,000 attendance figure every week?  Can they not get a physical ticket count???

['Cats Fa Natic]

That said, too many skills players and playmakers for the Cats.  The Haze with big plays on both sides of the ball and the newbie Josh Vierra coming up huge as a receiver and tailback!!

That was it.  I knew there was something else I wanted to add to my post-game comments. Josh Vierra. He was very impressive yesterday and I surprised he was such an integral part of the game plan. For a kid who only had two rushing attempts prior and 12 receptions all year, he came up big. I was pretty impressed. Glad to see we have a sophomore waiting in the wings.  I think he'll be a really good one next year.

['Cats Fa Natic]

How was the Catdome crowd today?  What's up with the standard 4,000 attendance figure every week?  Can they not get a physical ticket count???

It wasn't nearly as full as last week's game.  We had arrived early last week for tailgating (if you call inside a mini-RV tailgating) and the only reason we had parking was because my father-in-law was saving a spot.  Yesterday, when I drove him up to the stadium (he has a bad hip and really ought to get handicapped parking but refuses to), I saw a dozen spaces within a block of the stadium.

Crowd was also pretty quiet until the D started figuring things out about 3 or 4 mins to go in the first half. They came alive in the second half--both the crowd and the D.  That first half it felt like it was a real effort to get the crowd going and like a real effort for the crowd to get the D going. Like a car whose battery didn't want to turn the engine over.

At half time, it was deadly quiet. I went down to get some Starbursts because my mouth was so dry and the crowd milling around was more quiet than I have EVER heard it. Whisper quiet.

Anyone else attending have those impressions?

['Cats Fa Natic]

Those turnovers yesterday could have killed us. Here are some "highlights" from the Weslyan-UMHB game in which turnovers DID kill the favored team:

"The celebrations came to a sudden halt when Mary Hardin-Baylor quarterback Josh Welch was hit on the option by Wesley defensive lineman Bryan Robinson and fumbled... Two plays later, quarterback Chris Warrick tied the game on a 1-yard sneak.

On the second play of the next drive, Welch's pitch to Rollins was off target and Jeff Morgan recovered, this time on the UMHB 17...Chris Carlton hit a 32-yard field goal to put the Wolverines on top 10-7.

The Crusaders were driving for the equalizer when Rollins fumbled at the Wesley 25. The ball sat on the turf untouched for seemingly several seconds before William Buck picked it up and streaked 75 yards for a touchdown.

...with under a minute remaining [in the first half], Robinson forced yet another fumble on the Crusaders' first play, and on the next play Warrick found Beavers in stride for touchdown of 50 yards. Instead of trailing by 10 (or less), the Crusaders went into the locker room down by 17.

[Compounding the problem, UMHB simply could not get any points of the turnovers they DID get.]

Every time the Crusaders seemed to get back in it, though, they would seemingly shoot themselves in the foot... A bad snap on an [UMHB] punt forced Hunter Hamrick to take the ball out of the end zone and extended Wesley's lead to 39-26. [UMHB] intercepted Warrick on the next series, but three plays went nowhere and the Crusaders had to punt. [UMHB] forced a fumble on the Wolverines' next possession, but they stalled within the shadow of the goalposts when [UMHB's] Rollins lost three on fourth-and-goal from the 5. [Weslyan's] Nelson fumbled on the next play, but the Crusaders —again could not punch it in and settled for a 28-yard Zach Newcomb field goal."

'Cats, a little more double-sided tape on those fingers next game!