FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[Hawks88]

Very disappointing day. NC Wesleyan came in with a good game plan and executed it very well while we didn't execute much of ours at all. The time of possession difference was insane, 38:19 to 21:41. Not sure how we ended up with only 35 fewer total yards than them. Box score says they were 11 of 16 on 3rd down conversions. That seems low as it seemed like we had them in 3rd and long all day but they kept converting. Our D just had a hard time making a play to get off the field.

Just forget this one and take care of business next week at LaGrange and we get to keep playing. Playoffs start now.


Go Hawks!

[DGPugh]

Hawks 88
It was great seeing you my friend. The score was 23-7....... but I didn't think it was that close. They beat us like a rented mule.
Just as you said, it seemed like it was 3rd down and 8-12 for the first all the time, and Number 17 made it work for them. Wow, that kid was right on today.

We were off, and they were on. Still, no excuses, today, the NC Wesleyan Battling Bishops were a better team than HC.

Lord willing we will re group cross the 'hooch into JawJa next Saturday, and drop the hammer hard on LaGrange. Well lets hope we do

I do not wish to besmirch ( ) the good name of LaGrange College, but i'd rather Huntingdon beat them than anyone .

I pray all have a great week
keep the faith

[Hawks88]

Brevard over Averette 10-9. Trying to find out how the tie-breaker would go if we were to lose next week. Might depend on whether Brevard is included in the calculation since the aren't eligible yet.

[Wild Horse Rider]

Wow what a weekend in the USASC! Good for the Tornadoes, Bishops, Scotts, and Monarchs. I don't know how it works out if there is a 4 way tie with one of those teams unable to win the AQ. Huntingdon can make life easy and just win. I believe whoever goes to the playoffs it will be an unfavorable matchup.

[Hawks88]

Yep, we need to go ahead and win so we wouldn't have to worry.
If it's like most 4 way tie-breakers where you go with records among the tied teams you would have HC and BC at 2-1 and AU and NCW at 1-2. Our head-to-head over BC would go to us.
If you leave BC out then you have the old A beat B who beat C who beat A where it usually looks at record against the next team in the standings which would be BC who we beat and they didn't.
Any three way tie that includes NCW then we would have the win over that next team.
A three way that doesn't include NCW has us with wins over both the other tied teams.
The only tie I can find that we don't win in these cases would be if AU and BC both lose and leave a two way tie between us and NCW. With AU playing Methodist and BC playing Greensboro there's not much chance of that scenario.
It's possible I'm missing something in there on top of not really knowing the USA South tie-breaker so, as Wild Horse Rider says, let's just take care of our own business and beat LC.

[DGPugh]

Wild Horse Rider
"I believe whoever goes to the playoffs it will be an unfavorable matchup"
--- that is usually the case
We beat Hendrix in the first round one year, but usually,,, not good.
As Far as LaGrange, I sure hope we beat them. LaGrange is just across the river from where we farm.

They have spoiled our playoff hopes once before .

WAY TO GO Methodist

Go Hawks, beat LaGrange
keep the faith

[AU12345]

Disappointed, shocked, but not surprised.... that sums up this weekend for me...

Went 2-4 on my picks this weekend and very upset bout our result as a Cougar fan. I don't know why but every year we get into that "championship making" game, we collapse. Our offense gets really conservative near the end of the season and I don't know why. Wesleyan blessed us with the upset win over HC, all we had to do was win out to clinch a share of the conference title (with HC claiming the AQ). I said it once and I'll say it again... Brevard is legit, their defense is outstanding and their offense is average (if they can find a way to produce more points, brevard is going to have a reign around this conference for a while) Our defense played absolutely phenomenal all game. Our offense couldn't get going. I knew it was going to be a cold one once the sun went down and we wouldn't be able to pass the ball effectively, so we had to rely on our run game. Kicker Cole Westberry broke the career FG in a career mark last night which was nice but a missed kick in the 2nd quarter was the turning point of the game. If we hit that, the late TD didn't even matter.

I'll hold off on my predictions till later in the week. Hope everyone has a great week

[Hawks88]

I was watching the last part of the game. Do you know the story why Averett's QB was wearing #31?
Also, it was Brevard's feed that I was watching and after the game their commentators mentioned a possible bowl game. Anybody know what game they would be talking about?

[MRMIKESMITH]

I was watching the last part of the game. Do you know the story why Averett's QB was wearing #31?
Also, it was Brevard's feed that I was watching and after the game their commentators mentioned a possible bowl game. Anybody know what game they would be talking about?

Brevard participates in the ECACs and that's the bowl game they are mentioning.

[Hawks88]

I was watching the last part of the game. Do you know the story why Averett's QB was wearing #31?
Also, it was Brevard's feed that I was watching and after the game their commentators mentioned a possible bowl game. Anybody know what game they would be talking about?

Brevard participates in the ECACs and that's the bowl game they are mentioning.

Didn't think about ECAC. Hope they get to play one.

[Wild Horse Rider]

I also went 2 out of 4 on the week and the only scores I was correct on was Greensboro scoring 7 points and Brevard scoring 10.  I am going to leave the scores to Vegas and people smarter than myself.  Last week of the regular season so here goes:

Maryville travels to NCWC and loses a close one.  NCWC finishes 6-4 on the season and 5-2 in conference.  The SR LB Johnson puts one final performance in the books that wraps up a second consecutive defensive player of the year.  Maryville finishes 3-7 or worse for the first time since 2005.  I think a lot of that was aided by their tough non-conference schedule and inconsistencies at QB this year.  I would expect a turn around next season.

Huntingdon plays at LaGrange and rebounds after last weeks defeat.  That will give Huntingdon the AQ and a road game in round one of the playoffs.  This is year 7 in the conference and the Hawks have been the USAC representative 4 times.  It will be a stretch I think but the Panther's FR RB Dixon is 236 yards short of the second 1,000 yard rushing season in program history.  Even more impressive since it looks like he didn't play in 2 games.

Brevard beats Greensboro and finishes 7-2 on the season.  I believe they will be eligible for post season play next year and should contend for the conference title especially since they will be returning a JR QB who has started for 2 years.

Methodist hopefully gives Averett a game in Danville.  I believe the Cougars are a better team and should have the advantage on the lines of scrimmage and special teams.  Averett's SRs want this win to get 26 total in their careers.  A Methodist upset would give the Monarchs a winning record in conference play and nothing less than a .500 season with the make-up game at Shenandoah the following week.  This game will be mostly about the intangibles and who has the motivation.  I give the edge to Averett for the home game.

[Wild Horse Rider]

I am curious what everyone else thinks.  I believe the DPOY is locked up but the OPOY is still very much up for debate.  Here is what I have broken down by position:

Averett QB Wright with 64% comp, 204 yards per, 21 TD to 5 INT, and 245 rushing to go along with 6 TD
I think you can make arguments for Totten from NCWC and Lambert from Huntingdon but the rushing puts Wright over the top for me.  If you are looking at conference only stats then Bullins from Methodist has an claim to make.

Maryville RB Bunch with 114 yards per game, 10 TDs, and 17 catches for 155 yards
Huntingdon RB Thomas with 98 yards per game, 10 TDs, and 11 kick returns for 216 yards
Dixon from LaGrange makes a case in this group especially if you look at his yards per carry.

Huntingdon WR Porter has 45 catches, 76 yards per game, and 12 TDs
In my opinion he is the best WR in the conference and there aren't any real good arguments to add anyone else although McNeil from Methodist leads the conference in receptions and yards per game.

Averett RB/RS/AP Tapscott has 109 rushes, 59 rushing yards per game, 9 rushing TDs, 18 receptions for 159 yards to go along with 2 TDs, 10 kick returns for an average of 44 yards per and 2 more TDs.  The total TDs of 13 leads the conference.

There is still one more week to play and add to resumes but if it were to end today I would give the nod to Wright from Averett.

[AU12345]

From what I heard from people on the team was that Wright's Jersey was ripped late in the second quarter and we had to find a replacement jersey and that's all we had.

[AU12345]

Happy Friday everyone

Here are my predictions for the week

1.Maryville @ NC Wesleyan (Wesleyan wins 28-14)

Wesleyan finishes the year strong with a dominant win vs the Scots.

2.Huntingdon @ Lagrange (Huntingdon wins 49-17)

The Hawks will get a big win vs the panthers heading into the playoffs where they'll most likely face Berry in the first round, if they win that matchup they'll probably have to head to TX and face #1 Mary Hardin-Baylor in round two where they'll get bounced out there

3.Brevard @ Greensboro (Brevard wins 28-3)

Brevard is going to establish their presence in the conference this week heading into next season where i assume they'll be the preseason #1 team with most of their team returning and their QB only being a junior next season.

4.Methodist @ Averett (Averett wins 24-14)

Yes I predict us to win this game but I wouldn't be surprised if Methodist comes out with a little extra fire underneath them to spoil our senior day. Heading into next season the Cougars are going to remain right where they are right now. We'll finish the season with around 130 people on the team which is unheard of for D3 football, we'll also return a little over half on defense with only losing 1 senior on our dominant DL. On offense we'll return everyone but both our tackles, QB, and starting RB. The receiver core lost Isaiah Grice after week 5 with a torn PCL who was posed to have a dominant junior season but redshirted this year and will now have two more years of eligibility and will now graduate with receivers Nixon and Mosby who may be the receiver best duo in the conference.

My predictions for awards will go as followed:

OPOTY- Jacob Wright Averett
DPOTY- Antonio Johnson, NC Wesleyan
SOTY- Cole Westberry, Averett
Coach of the Year- Mike Turk, Huntingdon
OROTY- Terron Dixon, Lagrange / Brandon Bullins, Methodist
DROTY- Jonathon Terrell, Averett / Rook Tate, Brevard

My WAY TOO EARLY pre-season predictions for next season:
1. Brevard
2. Averett
3. Huntingdon
4. NC Wesleyan
5. Lagrange
6. Methodist
7. Maryville
8. Greensboro

Good luck to everyone and their respective teams this week

[Hawks88]

Very pleased with the performance today. After a nice TD drive on our first possession the offense kind of scuffled for a while but the defense stood out shutting LC down getting mostly 3 and outs until the offense got moving again in the 2nd quarter to pull away somewhat. The two long TD's that LC got in the 3rd made things a little un-easy for a bit but the D got it back together and we were able to get a couple of TD's to ice it and get our 4th conference title in 5 years.
Expecting to go to Berry next but will be fun where ever we go.

Go Hawks!