FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[banfan]

Just speaking for myself, We have let this generation down on this subject....and it is sad.

[Trin9-0]

... So it goes: different teams play to different strengths. It's one of the beauties of football, and it's fun to talk about.

I agree. And just as in boxing; styles make fights. Trinity handled Middlebury because the Panthers couldn't match their physicality. Meanwhile Trinity slugged it out with Amherst because the Jeffs are a big, physical team. I think banfan, and many others, were surprised by the Midd-Amherst outcome because the Jeffs and Bants are similar in their style of play.

Thus far Trinity has struggled with teams who can match their physicality. Bates, Amherst and Bowdoin were are among the league leaders in rushing and all were successful moving the ball against Trin. I think Wesleyan is a tough match-up for Trinity because they can move the ball on the ground. The Bantams have not played well in road games on grass surfaces and I've heard they practiced this week on Trinity's grass rugby field to help acclimate to a natural surface.

This game is very important for both programs and that's something that hasn't been true for a while. Wesleyan could finish 6-2 for the first time since 1998 and end the 11 year losing streak to Trinity. Despite losing both Little Three games this season, spoiling their in-state rival's perfect season would probably mean more to the Cards.

If Trinity wasn't playing for the twelfth undefeated season in school history I'd give the nod to Wes. However, I don't think there's any chance the Bants have a letdown following their big come-from-behind Homecoming win over Amherst.

I expect it will be a close game into the fourth quarter but Trin will pull away, as they have all season, in the fourth quarter and the Bantam seniors will finally get their rings!

In the other games I like Amherst, Bates, Midd and Bowdoin. Enjoy the final games of the NESCAC season!

[Panthernation]

A preview of Midd-Tufts: http://blogs.middlebury.edu/panthernation/2012/11/09/a-game-of-jumbo-proportions/

[mullethead]

Trinity wins in overtime to cap an undefeated season. In the words of the immortal Jack Buck, I don't believe what I just saw! What a gutsy win by these guys. Three times this year Trinity was down in the fourth quarter and found a way to get it done.. Could not be more proud of the Bantams and Coach Devanney.

[gordonmann]

Congrats to the Clucks.

I'll smile when I receive my weekly request for an alumni donation.

[Trin9-0]

The rivalry is BACK!

Incredible win by Trinity. It's the best game I've seen since Trin's quadruple overtime win over Williams in 2007.

Wesleyan had a great game plan and ran all over Trinity's defense. The Bantams hit some big plays for touchdowns but never could take control of the game. It was a true battle of wills and once Wes took a 7 point lead with under 2 minutes in the fourth quarter it looked very grim for the Bants. Ryan Burgess, who has improved tremendously all season, brought Trinity down the field and scored on a QB draw with 17 seconds left in the game!

Wes moved the ball in overtime but a crucial fumble, recovered by Trin sealed their fate as Bunker scored on Trin's first possession to secure a perfect season, the 12th consecutive win over the Cardinals and this year's senior class a coveted NESCAC championship ring!

Congrats to the players and coaches of Trinity as well as Wesleyan. What an incredible environment and phenomenal finish. Hopefully this marks the revival of what has always been a tremendous rivalry!

GO BANTS!!!

[Panthernation]

From the blog (http://blogs.middlebury.edu/panthernation/2012/11/10/seniors-finish-strong/):

Middlebury capped off its tremendous season with a 35-13 win at home over Tufts this afternoon. Mac Foote led the way with 389 yards and 4 touchdowns, putting the finishing touches on the best statistical quarterback season in NESCAC history.

Although the Middlebury defense started off flat, they made up for it with a great second half, highlighted by an unbelievable play in which John Wiet recovered a fumble in the red zone, returned it sixty yards, was caught by Tufts tight end Nick Kenyon, then lateraled the ball to a trailing Jared Onouye who took it the rest of the way for six. The score turned a potential upset into a blowout, and allowed Middlebury to enjoy the final eight minutes of their 2012 season with a comfortable lead.

Give credit to Tufts' offense, which looked sharp throughout, and was led by elusive first-year running back Justin Weaver, who finished the game with 145 total yards. Quarterback John Dodds was inconsistent but made a lot of impressive throws underneath, and finished the game with 246 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. His wide receivers did a nice job on short routes, and Nick Kenyon looked as good as any tight end we have seen play against the Panthers, finishing with 60 yards receiving and two very tough catches down the seam in traffic. Until the fumble return in the fourth quarter, Tufts' offense outperformed the Panther D. It is surprising that they did not win one of those close games this season.

Tufts defense, however, could not keep up with the Middlebury passing attack from the start. Mac Foote had his best first half of the season, going 23 of 32 for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns, throwing an interception on a tipped pass, but hitting wide receivers in stride all over the field. It looked like Tufts wanted to force Middlebury to throw underneath and Foote was happy to oblige. The consistent protection afforded by the Panther offensive line made Foote's work that much easier.

In the first half, Zach Driscoll broke the NESCAC single-season receptions and touchdown records, and he ended up with 10 catches, 124 yards, and 2 touchdowns. His final season statline, the best in NESCAC history, looks like this: 83 receptions, 1134 yards, 15 touchdowns. He is a likely first-team All-American based on where his per-game stats rank nationally. Mac Foote's end-of-year stats are equally impressive: 2897 yards (362 YPG), 31 TD, 8 INT, 63% CMP. Billy Chapman, the senior pre-season All-American tight end, had an amazing catch and run in the fourth quarter to finish with seven catches and 105 receiving yards. His final season statistics: 61 receptions, 693 yards, 8 touchdowns.

[Panthernation]

After today's game, we put together our 1st and 2nd teams:

All-NESCAC First Team
OFFENSE
Quarterback: Mac Foote (Middlebury)
Running Back: Evan Bunker (Trinity)
Running Back: Ladarius Drew (Wesleyan)
Wide Receiver: Zach Driscoll (Middlebury)
Wide Receiver: Darren Hartwell (Williams)
Wide Receiver: AJ Jones (Trinity)
Tight End: Billy Chapman (Middlebury)
Offensive Lineman: Ryan Moores (Middlebury)
Offensive Lineman: John Ceccio (Amherst)
Offensive Lineman: Jacob Scheffer (Wesleyan)
Offensive Lineman: Mike Valenti (Trinity)
Offensive Lineman: Rob Wasielewski (Amherst)

DEFENSE
Defensive Lineman: Nik Powers (Wesleyan)
Defensive Lineman: Travis Dickerson (Amherst)
Defensive Lineman: Matt Gaither (Bates)
Linebacker: Stephen Goniprow (Trinity)
Linebacker: Tim Patricia (Middlebury)
Linebacker: Griffin Cardew (Bowdoin)
Linebacker: John Durkin (Bates)
Cornerback: Jake Bussani (Wesleyan)
Cornerback: Nick Campbell (Trinity)
Safety: Julian Brown (Trinity)
Safety: Rae Haynes (Trinity)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicker: Joe Mallock (Williams)
Punter: Kyle Pulek (Trinity)
Returner:  Darren Hartwell (Williams)

All-NESCAC Second Team
OFFENSE
Quarterback: Ryan Burgess (Trinity)
Running Back: Ben Crick (Trinity)
Running Back: James Stanell (Hamilton)
Wide Receiver: Andrew Grombala (Trinity)
Wide Receiver: Joe Jensen (Hamilton)
Wide Receiver: Brendan Rankowitz (Middlebury)
Tight End: Kevin Huges (Wesleyan)
Offensive Lineman: Pete Christiani (Williams)
Offensive Lineman: John Gilboy (Colby)
Offensive Lineman: Harris Huguenard (Middlebury)
Offensive Lineman: Ling Zhou (Middlebury)
Offensive Lineman: Andrew Weiss (Trinity)

DEFENSE
Defensive Lineman: Nathan Cyr (Trinity)
Defensive Lineman: Ryan Veillette (Colby)
Defensive Lineman: Zach Vinci (Wesleyan)
Linebacker: Gilbert Brown (Bates)
Linebacker: John Wiet (Middlebury)
Linebacker: Mike MacDonald (Hamilton)
Linebacker: Tom Szymanski (Trinity)
Defensive Back: Kyle Starr (Bates)
Defensive Back:  Donnie Cimino (Wesleyan)
Defensive Back: Dan Kenerson (Middlebury)
Defensive Back:  Andrew Kukesh (Bates)

(OPOY, DPOY, COY, and ROY picks coming soon.)

[nescac1]

re: all-NESCAC teams, there is a zero percent chance that Chris Cameron will not be an all-NESCAC team, he was a great player who was dominant vs. Amherst yesterday.

The Williams-Amherst game was one of the more frustrating I've ever seen as an Eph fan.  There were two key sequences in the game.  The Ephs were driving with a lead in the second half, and had really worn the Amherst defense down.  Scyocurka was finally healthy and playing very, very well (when he is 100 percent, he is as good as any back in the league, and if he can just stay healthy, he could have a really spectacular two years ahead, the most talented back I've seen at Williams), and the oline was doing just enough to create a few holes.  They had the lead, the clock was running, and they were driving at about the Amherst 40.  Second and two, and they throw an ill-advised deep ball to a double-covered Hartwell.  When you've been pretty conservative all day, that was NOT the time to take a shot, unless you planned to go for it on fourth.  Instead, they run a play to get a yard, and then with half a yard to go, punt.  The punt was just a dumb decision, you have to have faith you can get half a yard in that situation (and if not, you don't lose all that much), I kind of had a feeling it was over at that point.  Williams in recent years has consistently made strange decisions on fourth and short situations, but what can you do ... (I also thought it was odd to go for a prayer of a 47 yard FG from the Amherst 30, yes it was 3rd and about 9, but I like the odds better of picking up the third down there). 

Still, on the next drive the defense stepped up to force a punt, when they did get a bid of bad luck -- the punter fumbled the ball, but picks it up just in time to kick it right into a rushing Eph who pummeled him (it was a 3rd and 12 I believe) leading to an Amherst first down.  I felt bad for the kid because while you generally need to have better field awareness on this sort of play, the fumble threw the timing of the play off and he just happened to get there at the worst possible moment. 

I thought Williams generally slightly outplayed Amherst with one (and sadly the most important) big exception -- the QB position.  And that is really all you need to win in a tight game like this one.  Although Hartwell had two TD's and was unstoppable in kick returns, one of his receiving TD's was all him, and he should have had a third.  At the goal line he was somehow WIDE open on a third down play, and the QB short-armed the ball, costing the Ephs an easy four points, which could have decided the game (would have put Williams up 24-10 at that point).  Williams simply couldn't get any first downs on third and medium-long yardage, whereas the Amherst QBs (in particular Lippe, who has room to improve in terms of consistency but will eventually be very good) made a few big plays down the field in big situations with great strikes, and again, that was the difference.

Frustrating end to the most frustrating year in memory for Williams, but there are some bright spots.  The defense, despite being very out-sized up front, played well for the most part, Amherst had a few big plays but some of their points came off turnovers and the D can not be faulted for this loss.  Chris Cameron was awesome in his last game, all over the field.  Frosh James Howe was also great, and again served notice that he will be a force on the D-line in future years.  Other guys who looked good were soph LB Blanco, junior DL Higginbotham, soph safety Cabarle, and soph DL Datema.  The Williams defense is young and will be improved next year, Cameron is a big loss as is Tom Foote, but most of the other key players return (along with that group, both starting CBs, a starting soph DL, and a few young LBs who saw the field this year).  On offense, other than Hartwell, Scyocurka was the man.  He didn't have a lot of huge running alleys but made the most of what was there on every play.  He is really great.  Williams has a bunch of good receivers (none in Hartwell's class, but a lot of speed, size, and depth at the position) returning next year, and the Oline, which played a lot of young guys this year (two sophs and two frosh played a ton of snaps), should continue to improve.  So really, it's all about figuring out the QB situation.  Hopefully either Marske or Murphy will make big strides, or they will find a top-notch frosh who can play early, but the inability to complete a short pass to open receivers is something that just can't continue.   

For Amherst, both QBs look promising and they are pretty set at that position.  Frosh Jaymie Spears had a gutty performance largely shutting down Hartwell in the second half.  Spears, while very athletic, was egregiously undersized and if Williams could have gotten the ball to Hartwell in good position, he would have done more, but credit to Spears for fighting hard, and the fact is, Williams just could not deliver many on-target balls all day.  Amherst's offensive line was also very good in the running game, although, surprisingly, Williams got a surprisingly robust pass rush going.  Lippe is a tough kid as he took some enormous shots, helps that he is a big guy I imagine.  Amherst's defense was OK, but unlike last year, when they were just really dynamic all game, it was more a function of the many plays / points Williams left on the field (including some key offensive penalties at inopportune times), as well as some strange decisions by the coaches, than anything in particular Amherst did to stop Williams ...

[frank uible]

If Williams reasonably desires to return from the mid-range of NESCAC football, in which it has resided the last two seasons, to the upper range, it will need a liittle more help from the Admissions Office (say, the same number but at least two significantly better special football admissions annually than it is getting under prevailing conditions) and then will need to wait for about three years as those admissions mount in number and mature. Absent the paying of such a price, the current quality of Williams football will not change for the better on a consistent basis. One gets what one pays for.

[banfan]

And that's it.  DOA.  What happened to all those passionate Midd supporters?  People post here like they are all members of the House of Representatives.  I am only half joking.

Congratulations to Wesleyan, Middlebury and Bates for making big positive changes.  Look out for kinda similar improvements from Colby and Hamilton next year.

Have a great offseason.  Frank, I want to see you in the weight room!

[iamhuge]

And that's it.  DOA.  What happened to all those passionate Midd supporters?  People post here like they are all members of the House of Representatives.  I am only half joking.

Congratulations to Wesleyan, Middlebury and Bates for making big positive changes.  Look out for kinda similar improvements from Colby and Hamilton next year.

Have a great offseason.  Frank, I want to see you in the weight room!

I wasn't at the game, but I heard that Tufts did indeed have Middlebury on the ropes.

[frank uible]

banfan: In football quickness is more important than strength, and there is nothing in the weight room which will help overcome my lack of quickness, both mental and physical.

[lewdogg11]

Just had an odd thought.  I guess everyone has pretty much accepted the NESCAC's supposed reasoning for not wanting to play in the NCAA football tournament.  I'm wondering why they wouldn't have interest in making themselves eligible for an ECAC game.  It's confirmed to be only 1 game so it won't interfere for more than a week with too many future presidents' academic career.  It's likely one MAYBE 2 teams would make it, and it might break some ice with playing out of conference for once.  Wondering if it was ever discussed at all.

[frank uible]

No chance.