FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Jonny Utah]

The nescac listed their standings in the Boston globe in alphabetical order for a long time.

[nescac1]

Let's turn back to NESCAC football ...

Obvious choices for players of the year (should be announced soon) are Eric Bunker and Kevin Ferber from Amherst.  Hartwell, Foote, Evan Bunker are also all worthy on the offensive side of the ball.  Foote (if eligible as a soph) or the Wesleyan RB are, again, obvious choices for ROY.  As an Eph fan I am glad to see Amherst's stellar group of seniors graduate, Amherst has big shoes to fill losing its top two QB's, star RB, four solid receivers, and an all-American D-linemen, plus some good defensive backs. 

Very frustrating end to a very frustrating season for Williams.  They were often able to stop Amherst, only to absolutely KILL themselves with terrible penalties, including a few inexecuseable personal fouls that kept drives alive (and a few iffy pass interference calls, but in all events, their lack of discipline was an achilles heel all year).  Also, I understand sticking with seniors, but once Williams fell behind I was surprised Marske, who is more of a passer vs. Cleary the running QB, did not make an earlier appearance, by the time he came in it was just too big of a hole.  Williams also didn't really seem prepared for the Amherst scheme, being caught off guard several times by option plays.  They just didn't seem at all ready to defend a running QB.  Then again, option attacks flummoxed them all season long.  One crucial 3rd and 13 early in the game, they fell for a delayed flip draw to Bunker that they really should have been ready for, but seemed to take them by total surprise. 

The good news for the Ephs is that the offense should be stronger next year with all the RB's back plus Scyocurka (whose loss really hurt the team) returning from injury, a veteran oline, the top WR in the league in Hartwell, a far more experienced QB in Marske, and some good receivers ready to step up (Payton in particular).  The Ephs get absolutely decimated by graduation on defense, but then again, the defense really wasn't as stout as expected all year, and got killed in particular by teams with option attacks / running QB's (Jennings, McMahon, and Trevor Smith all ate the Ephs for lunch).  Next year's D will have a very different look, smaller for sure but also quicker up front, and a few younger, very athletic guys played well late in the season (Emmanuel Whyte in particular) and a few frosh could have a big impact as they mature (Datema and Cabarle).  So I am optimistic that the Ephs can rebound and have a more typical season, if they work hard over the summer and find guys to fill all the holes on defense. 

[frank uible]

Hartwell should be in the mix for OPOY. He is 13th in DIII with respect to all purpose yardage per game. But Foote should get it. He is first in DIII with respect to both completions per game and also passing yardage per game. Ferber should run away with DPOY.

[nescac1]

As it turns out, the all-conference teams were just released.  Foote and Hartwell were both first-team performers, but as I figured, Bunker won POY -- I think he is worthy, and coaches are always going to favor a senior when it is a close call.  Sets up a nice race next year between Evan Bunker, Foote, and Hartwell.  A little surprised that McMahon was second team all-NESCAC playing only half the year, but then again, no QB other than Foote really stood out this year. 

I am stunned that Fallas beat out Ferber.  Fallas is great and all, but he missed some time due to injury, already has one POY award, and had the advantage of playing behind FOUR all-conference defensive linemen and next to another all conference LB.  Ferber was an absolutely dominant force for the past three years, his team was undefeated, and he could not be stopped despite the fact that he was surely the primary focus of every defensive coordinator.  I am really surprised Ferber was not POY on defense. No surprise that Drew was ROY, he is going to break some NESCAC records before he's finished, if he stays healthy. 

[02 Warhawk]

Are there any NESCAC schools in or around the Boston area?

I'm trying to collect something from each DIII football program. My wife might be headed out that way next weekend, and I might have her stop and pick something up for me?

Much appreicated!!

[frank uible]

Tufts University is a member of NESCAC and is located in Medford, MA, an old close western Boston suburb. I have no idea about a place to shop for Tufts paraphernalia.

[frank uible]

Sausage making, legislation and selectiom of all-conference teams each have something in common.

[quicksilver]

Colby head coach Ed Mestieri suddenly resigned his position lat last week. The implication of this story is that the involvement of several Colby football players in a a sex scandal cost him his job.

[nescac1]

More info on the episode at Colby:

http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/article.php?date=2011-12-02&section=2&id=1

I wonder if the coach was actually forced to resign ... if this report was accurate, and if this was a one time incident (both assumptions that could turn out to be incorrect), hard to blame a coach for misbehavior (which, while certainly wrong, may not have been criminal, depends on what sort of privacy laws they have in Maine), unconnected to any team activities, by what was likely a small group of players (and just to be clear, I am in no way defending the players themselves here).  He may have just decided that, after 23 years, retirement was near anyway, and why spend a year dealing with the aftermath of all this, which will undoubtedly have implications for fan support, recruiting, team discipline, etc?  On the other hand, if this leads to information that there was a larger pattern of problematic sexual conduct / assaults / etc. by various team members, then yeah, he would have been toast no matter what ...   

[quicksilver]

It would be kind of an amazing coincidence of the Colby coach just upped and resigned a couple of weeks after this story blew up!!! This may be one of those times when someone's head needed to roll regardless of his lack of culpability. Or maybe he resisted suspending the QB and the other players that were involved for the Bowdoin game once he learned of the story . .

[nescac1]

Nice article on Eph WR BJ Griffin (who didn't play football his senior year):

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/memorial/sports/stratford-alumnus-griffin-making-post-graduate-plans-at-williams-college/article_068d0eef-4010-50c7-ad48-3174476cb339.html

Griffin was Andrew Luck's primary target in high school, which is a pretty cool brush with fame (and after watching Luck a few times this year, all the hype is warranted -- about a sure a thing as you can ever get for an NFL QB prospect, simply incredible talent). 

[daoustian]

Houston...we have a quarterback!  Jon Pieterse.  I suppose he still has to get in first, but he "committed" to Amherst College on signing day.  Bizarre concept from the D3 standpoint, but the kid looks very legit.
http://highschoolsports.masslive.com/news/article/-374268064136616621/centrals-sacoy-malone-makes-it-official-signed-with-the-university-of-maine/

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=5137782
B with options
Perhaps no player at the NUC Boston combine is receiving more recruiting interest than junior quarterback Jon Pieterse (Springfield Mass./Worcester Academy), who said Boston College, NC State, Florida Atlantic and Central Michigan are the schools he's heard from the most.

"NC State and BC are very interested," Pieterse said. "I've also been talking a lot with Harvard. I've also heard from Northwestern, Ohio and [New Hampshire].

"I'd love to be a Division I kid, but I'm trying to find a balance between athletics and academics. I've got a quick release, but I have to keep working on my speed. I run about a 4.7 [40] right now."

Worcester Academy runs a spread option, and Pieterse passed for 1,675 yards and 21 touchdowns in eight games last season.

Took a PG at Salisbury, may have an older brother playing linebacker who will be a senior at Amherst in the fall. 

[quicksilver]

No details as to exactly who was punished but Colby did come down hard on those involved in that sex scandal just before this year's Bowdoin-Colby football game.

[quicksilver]

Many more details in the Colby student newspaper as to the fall out from the Colby sex scandal, including revelation of the fact that Colby Coach Ed Mestieri did resign as a result of the scandal and how wide ranging it was due to obstruction and lying (apparently reaching something like 15 players).

[lumbercat]

I think the article indicates that it was originally alleged that up to 15 Football players were involved but I think they retracted that.

Either way it's a sad story. I don't know Mestieri but felt his reputation was impeccable and that he was widely respected. Maybe he tried to defend those who were wrongly accused but that's only speculation.
I hope Mestieri finds another position where he can resume his coaching career.

Final interviews now taking place at Colby for the Head Coaching job so we should now soon who will be coming into a great long term oppotunity but a difficult challenge starting off.