FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Hamiltonian]

Please trust me I’m not just being a fan when I say Hamilton outplayed Wesleyan yesterday and the win was no fluke. I bet you anything Wesleyan players and coaches would not disagree.  I was very surprised to see tha Hamilton O line handle Wesleyan’s D line as well as they did. Freshman Joe Park gained over a hundred yards.  Downfield blocking by Hamilton was excellent.  Line gave Gray time and the backs picked up blitzers. On D Hamilton must have been covering well because Piccirillo often had time to throw but couldn’t find a receiver. Also a couple of big dropped passes by his receivers.  Piccirillo looked rattled and angry at the end. 

Definitely a case of the better team winning. —  that day.

[lumbercat]

Great win for Hamilton, nice to see.

[CardCoachMac]

Ham @ Wes

Unlike last week, where I felt Wes should have gotten the "W", Hamilton deserved to win yesterday's game. Wes dropped a lot of balls, but Ham D-line pressured Pic all afternoon. Wes D had no answers for Ham balanced attack, which they had not shown up until yesterday. Run game opened up short quick passing game effectively. Ham Q took care of ball, which becomes a lot easier when you can lean on solid rushing attack. Wes never adjusted to counter running game all afternoon. Ends lost contain through over penetration repeatedly, allowing counter RB to easily run under DE and immediately get to edge. Poor discipline by Wes D-line IMHO. Congrats to the Continentals.

[Hamiltonian]

Good call, CardCoachMac.  I noticed Wesleyan seemed "soft" between the tackles.  Didn't quite realize DEs were overrunnng the play. And appreciate the graciousness and goodwill.  Cards played hard to the end

[JEFFFAN]

Even though my rooting interest is clear, sincere congratulations to Hamilton on a great win as well as a very good performance from Bowdoin vs Amherst.   It is honestly nice to see more competitive games in the NESCAC.

[PBPOP20]

I will say that not only am I pleased with the effort and progress from my Polar Bears, I'm more please with the attitude of the team and staff.  They are taking NO moral victories and have a chip....  they are not interested in hearing about good effort and progress. They expect to win now.

[Trin9-0]

Congrats NESCAC1 on the big win yesterday..it's been a long time...we picked HS but were secretly rooting for the Ephs....where's Hs8-0 these days?!?

The "Ephs"? What happened to "TTUN"? Or did Ohio State fans come after you with a cease and desist for your unoriginal appropriation of their moniker for the University of Michigan? I certainly haven't gone anywhere and provided these thoughts on the game early last week, fully acknowledging that Williams stood a good chance of pulling the upset:

Trinity at Williams should be the game of the week; just like the good old days! The Ephs look formidable as they haven't allowed a point through the first three quarters of either game. If Trin doesn't show up it could be the first Williams victory over Trinity since 2010.

Though after watching the game online I wouldn't say Trinity failed to show up. Rather the Ephs made the big plays in the big moments, particularly with their red zone defense. While Bantams moved the ball, primarily on big-chunk passing plays, and regularly moved into scoring position early the Williams defense was stout in their red zone and held Trin to field goals rather than touchdowns. This, coupled with the previously mentioned, touchdown pass from their back-up QB were the difference.

The late Bantam touchdown gave a glimmer of hope, but alas the onside kick was unsuccessful. Congrats to the Ephs on a huge win for their program. However, I was shocked to see that this wasn't even close to the biggest upset of the day as Hamilton made the state of Connecticut 0-2 on the day; WOW!

Nescacman, considering how much you like to boast about your results of picking NESCAC football games (without a point spread) I thought you would have at least acknowledged the folly of your prediction that the Cardinals would win by 4 touchdowns:

Wesleyan 42 Hamilton 14

Instead you only note that Hamilton followed your incredibly imaginative "keys to victory" of running the ball and limiting turnovers. If only DiCenzo had you on his staff. I look forward to your more in-depth analysis and thoughts on where your beloved Cardinals go from here.

I shared your high hopes for Wes this year, but with Amherst, Williams, and Trinity still on the schedule there's a very real possibility that the Cards end up with a losing record. As for Trinity, they now face a long bus ride to Clinton, NY to face a high-flying Hamilton squad before facing what's sure to be an undefeated Tufts squad at Homecoming. This weeks results certainly made the NESCAC football season much more interesting!

[nescac1]

Seems like the Maine teams and Hamilton are all on an upwards trajectory.  If this year's two new head coaches can prove to be astute and effective recruiters, we may within 2-3 years see a far more balanced and competitive NESCAC landscape -- which would be fun for everyone!  Coaching, which across the board is as strong as its ever been in the league, makes all the difference.  Right now I think there are four elite coaches in NESCAC - Mills, Civetti, Raymond, and Devanney.  Ritter may be there too, and Dicenzo is maybe a notch behind but still gaining experience.  Everyone else is no worse than rock solid it seems.   And teams seem to have much stronger groups of assistants than in years' past, as well. 

It really is incredible the job that Raymond has done with the Ephs considering this team was 0-8 two years ago and he only has two groups of recruits.  The Eph sophomore class will go down as one of the best, and certainly one of the most important, in NESCAC history.  All of the Eph skill position starters are sophomores and I'd say four are locks for all-league players this year if they stay healthy - Maimaron, Burke, Stole and Dozier.  Plus two sophomore starters on the online.  On the defensive side, Rothmann is the leader in the clubhouse right now DPOY in NESCAC (Tufts' McDonald clearly the leader for OPOY) and Wesner, Manzenella, Kastenhuber, Landry and Zarebeian have all emerged as defensive mainstays.  Just an unbelievable group on both sides. 

The Eph secondary is really, really good.  Barber and Anthony are likely all-NESCAC guys, certainly Barber, and Butler is rock solid at the other corner.  The defensive line features a bunch of different guys who rotate in and out, play hard to plug up the line, and let the elite back-seven go to work.  The Ephs don't have a monster guy there but the unit understands its role and does its job. 

The biggest concern for the team remains offensive depth.  If any of Stola, Dozier, Burke or Maimaron (notwithstanding Bischoping's obviously bright future) misses much time, it's an issue, because the offense really revolves around those four guys and it's unclear who else could fill any of those roles.  Back-up TB seems to be a rotating position right now.  The one real area for potential improvement is to try to get more guys more consistently involved on that side of the ball.  But really no one could expect or ask for anything more than what the team has given for 1.3 years now. 

[Hamiltonian]

"we may within 2-3 years see a far more balanced and competitive NESCAC landscape -- which would be fun for everyone!" 

right on.  and now people can stop complaining about too much time being spent discussing the "lower-tier" teams.  (;

[AO]

The biggest concern for the team remains offensive depth.  If any of Stola, Dozier, Burke or Maimaron (notwithstanding Bischoping's obviously bright future) misses much time, it's an issue, because the offense really revolves around those four guys and it's unclear who else could fill any of those roles. 

I wouldn't be too worried about it.  #15 will be ready

[JEFFFAN]

Seems like the Maine teams and Hamilton are all on an upwards trajectory.  If this year's two new head coaches can prove to be astute and effective recruiters, we may within 2-3 years see a far more balanced and competitive NESCAC landscape -- which would be fun for everyone!  Coaching, which across the board is as strong as its ever been in the league, makes all the difference.  Right now I think there are four elite coaches in NESCAC - Mills, Civetti, Raymond, and Devanney.  Ritter may be there too, and Dicenzo is maybe a notch behind but still gaining experience.  Everyone else is no worse than rock solid it seems.   And teams seem to have much stronger groups of assistants than in years' past, as well. 

It really is incredible the job that Raymond has done with the Ephs considering this team was 0-8 two years ago and he only has two groups of recruits.  The Eph sophomore class will go down as one of the best, and certainly one of the most important, in NESCAC history.  All of the Eph skill position starters are sophomores and I'd say four are locks for all-league players this year if they stay healthy - Maimaron, Burke, Stole and Dozier.  Plus two sophomore starters on the online.  On the defensive side, Rothmann is the leader in the clubhouse right now DPOY in NESCAC (Tufts' McDonald clearly the leader for OPOY) and Wesner, Manzenella, Kastenhuber, Landry and Zarebeian have all emerged as defensive mainstays.  Just an unbelievable group on both sides. 

The Eph secondary is really, really good.  Barber and Anthony are likely all-NESCAC guys, certainly Barber, and Butler is rock solid at the other corner.  The defensive line features a bunch of different guys who rotate in and out, play hard to plug up the line, and let the elite back-seven go to work.  The Ephs don't have a monster guy there but the unit understands its role and does its job. 

The biggest concern for the team remains offensive depth.  If any of Stola, Dozier, Burke or Maimaron (notwithstanding Bischoping's obviously bright future) misses much time, it's an issue, because the offense really revolves around those four guys and it's unclear who else could fill any of those roles.  Back-up TB seems to be a rotating position right now.  The one real area for potential improvement is to try to get more guys more consistently involved on that side of the ball.  But really no one could expect or ask for anything more than what the team has given for 1.3 years now.

I am sure that the coaches in the NESCAC will be greatly relieved to know that they wont have to do all-NESCAC voting this year considering that Nescac1 has already picked seven Eph all-NESCAC players after three games!!

[polbear73]

There was a touching moment at the coin flip of the Amherst-Bowdoin game and symbolizes what we love about NESCAC football.  The Polar Bear captains brought to mid field the two Team Impact players dressed in Bowdoin football uniforms.  The Amherst captains made a point of paying attention and shaking the kids' hands, like real captains.  A small moment, but one I'm sure that these kids will remember forever. 

[nescac1]

Jefffan, the top-tier teams often get 10 or more guys on the all-NESCAC teams.  For example, last year Amherst got 10 despite not winning the league.  Rothmann, Maimaron, and Burke are all returning all-NESCAC guys who are much better this year.  The other guys I mentioned - Barber, Stola, Anthony and Dozier - are all very strong contenders already.  If Williams finishes with, say, 2-3 losses or less this year, the team will have a slew of guys on the all-league team; when you have nearly 60 players represented from only 10 teams, the AVERAGE team gets around 6. 

[lumbercat]

Polbear 73
Am I seeing correctly that Bowdoin appears to have relocated their home side back to the old setup? You must have got to someone on this.

[Nescacman]

Congrats NESCAC1 on the big win yesterday..it's been a long time...we picked HS but were secretly rooting for the Ephs....where's Hs8-0 these days?!?

The "Ephs"? What happened to "TTUN"? Or did Ohio State fans come after you with a cease and desist for your unoriginal appropriation of their moniker for the University of Michigan? I certainly haven't gone anywhere and provided these thoughts on the game early last week, fully acknowledging that Williams stood a good chance of pulling the upset:

Trinity at Williams should be the game of the week; just like the good old days! The Ephs look formidable as they haven't allowed a point through the first three quarters of either game. If Trin doesn't show up it could be the first Williams victory over Trinity since 2010.

Though after watching the game online I wouldn't say Trinity failed to show up. Rather the Ephs made the big plays in the big moments, particularly with their red zone defense. While Bantams moved the ball, primarily on big-chunk passing plays, and regularly moved into scoring position early the Williams defense was stout in their red zone and held Trin to field goals rather than touchdowns. This, coupled with the previously mentioned, touchdown pass from their back-up QB were the difference.

The late Bantam touchdown gave a glimmer of hope, but alas the onside kick was unsuccessful. Congrats to the Ephs on a huge win for their program. However, I was shocked to see that this wasn't even close to the biggest upset of the day as Hamilton made the state of Connecticut 0-2 on the day; WOW!

Nescacman, considering how much you like to boast about your results of picking NESCAC football games (without a point spread) I thought you would have at least acknowledged the folly of your prediction that the Cardinals would win by 4 touchdowns:

Wesleyan 42 Hamilton 14

Instead you only note that Hamilton followed your incredibly imaginative "keys to victory" of running the ball and limiting turnovers. If only DiCenzo had you on his staff. I look forward to your more in-depth analysis and thoughts on where your beloved Cardinals go from here.

I shared your high hopes for Wes this year, but with Amherst, Williams, and Trinity still on the schedule there's a very real possibility that the Cards end up with a losing record. As for Trinity, they now face a long bus ride to Clinton, NY to face a high-flying Hamilton squad before facing what's sure to be an undefeated Tufts squad at Homecoming. This weeks results certainly made the NESCAC football season much more interesting!

Calm down HS8-1...remember who pays the rent...