FB: Midwest Conference

[gbpuckfan]

Grinnell beats Monmouth 21-7

[Maverick]

Grinnell beats Monmouth 21-7

Wasn't able to watch today and I don't even know what to say...

[fulbakdad]

Big shake up day in the mwc.  I'll post more when i get to my computer tonight.

[scottie]

Everybody better start focusing on "quarters led" cuz this is shaping up to be a huge mess.   

[fulbakdad]

Lake Forest/Illinios College

Boy what a game.  First I want to send my well wishes to the IC player that was hurt late in the game and taken away in an ambulance.  He was striving to make a game changing play and came down on his head, I heard he was knocked out.  As a parent, I can only say we all hate watching those kind of plays.  We all know that could be our boy on that stretcher and our hearts go out to him and his parents.

For those that were at the game or watched it, you saw a good one.  It was a battle that went back and forth with two very good football teams trading punches from the begining to the end.  I have watched thousands of football games, and in my memory I can't come up with one that beats this one.  Now I know, my team won, but both teams showed up yesterday and played thier hearts out.  It brings me back to the scene from the Rocky movie where he's just finished the bout with Appollo Creed.  They just announced that the decision went to Creed, Rocky can't see, and all Creed can say is "There aint gonna be no rematch!"  It was that good.  It was that good.  There was one team that won yesterday and one team that came up short.  Notice that I didn't say lose.  IC probably feels horrible about the outcome, but there were no losers on that field yesterday.

LFC opened up the game scoring on the first drive.  IC then returned the favor on the following one.  It was apparent from the start that this was gonna be a good game to watch.  IC got a turnover on the LFC 30 and took advantage of a short field.  They went in and scored and I took a deep breath.  Throughout the game I'd be doing that often!  I believe there were 4 lead changes.  Both teams played their hearts out.  There was nothing left on the field at the end of the day by either team.  It all came down to the 4th quarter.  The game was tied with a couple minutes left.  LFC was on the IC 19 yard line.  It was 3rd and 9 when Scaffidi threw a pass into the end zone.  This was the play the IC player went up for the ball and was hurt.  He had it, but lost possesion and came down on his head.  There was a long delay while they worked on the downed player.  We thought for sure Cat was gonna go for the Field Goal.  But when play resumed the Offense went back in.  4th and 9 from the 19 and Scaffidi throws another ball, this time to Austin Sobey (LFC Money Guy) in the middle of the field at the 3.  An IC defender had the ball and Sobey pulled it out of his hands on the way down to the turf for the reception.  What a play!  Lfc then punched it in for the go ahead TD. 

IC would then march down the field and with seconds remaining, have thier own 4th and 10.  Bates gets the ball to Brimmage who gets 9.5 yards, and then struggles with 4 LFC defenders just comming up short. 


My hats go off to both teams.  We watched a war on that field.  There were hurt players and players playing hurt.  Everyone was doing whatever they could to help get thier team over the hill to win the battle.  There were some impressive efforts on both sides of the ball.  Some gutsy calls, some gutsy plays, it was an amazing game to watch.  If you didn't have a dog in the fight and watched it, I bet you walked away shaking your head saying "that was one heck of a football game".

Of note, The IC qb, Bates is a gutsy guy.  He was hurt early in the game with what appeared to be a high ankle injury.  He reappeared later in the game to do his best.  He came out late in the third and threw a very good pass for a td for I believe 40 yards.  There was no quit in this kid.

The LFC Offensive and Defensive lines played out of thier heads.  IC had some very talented and BIG guys on thier side.  The LFC linemen stood up and represented.

If I ran a company, I'd be on the phone today to Pete Scaffidi (pronounced Ska-fee-dee for the future anouncers, lol, I've heard it many other ways).  I'd be offering him a job.  This is one cool cat who plays tough.  His grand dad is a Guadacanal Marine and I can see the genes flowed down to him.  He's taken some brutal hits and gets up and keeps on going.  Tough, smart and very talented.  I'm glad he's on my side.

The MWC is a different conferance this year.  Anyone can beat anybody any week.  While LFC is on top, I still see them as underdogs moving forward.  This is what good football is all about. 

As you know from my past posts, I can't stand watching a player catch a pass and tip toe out of bounds if he's past the first down marker and might get hit if he keeps going.  There wasn't a tip toe from either team yesterday.  Both teams and both coaching staffs can be nothing but proud of what took place.  As a parent of a player, I know I am.....

[scottie]

(Geez....superlative much?)   

[fulbakdad]

sorry Scottie, got carried away!

[gbpuckfan]

Lake Forest vs. Monmouth is definitely the biggest game of the week!

[TitanPride]

Solid recap, fulbakdad.  It was a fantastic football game, and I was very impressed with Lake Forest.  Congrats to your son and his teammates.  Coach Cat has done a fantastic job; it shows in their execution. 

Injuries are a huge part of football.  I thought IC really missed their stud DT, Michael Ray, yesterday.  LF had tons of success pounding the rock right at the interior of IC's defense.  The secondary made some big plays, but LF's run game was just too much.  Kudos to the LF offense for recognizing and exploiting the weakness.

I was very impressed with IC's backup quarterback, Kendall Gibson.  When Bates got hurt on the first drive, I thought IC would be in big trouble.  Gibson was very effective, completing 11 of 12 passes in the first half and putting up 21 points.  I think the IC coaching staff got way too conservative with Gibson in the second half.  They basically just limited him to handing off, with little success against the tough LF front seven. 

Lots of football to be played.  Lake Forest goes from the hunter to the hunted now.  Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Speaking of quarters led, IC led 3 of 4 yesterday and has led 15 of 16 in conference play.  Let's hope this is relevant in a few weeks.

[TitanPride]

(Geez....superlative much?)   

Please add something to this conversation and tell us what went wrong for Monmouth in Grinnell.  You've been nothing but sarcastic all week about Lake Forest vs. IC being the game of the decade.  Based on yesterday's results, it sure looks like it was at least the MWC's game of the year.  Why should we believe that Monmouth will give Lake Forest a game next week? 

[TitanPride]

Fulbakdad --- what was Brimmage doing on that last play?  Get the first down!!  Quit dancing!!

[fulbakdad]

Now with me being a LFC fan I've gotta i really enjoyed that jig way more than any I've seen before! He was trying his damnest though wasn't he?

[scottie]

(Geez....superlative much?)   

Please add something to this conversation and tell us what went wrong for Monmouth in Grinnell.  You've been nothing but sarcastic all week about Lake Forest vs. IC being the game of the decade.  Based on yesterday's results, it sure looks like it was at least the MWC's game of the year.  Why should we believe that Monmouth will give Lake Forest a game next week?

T-Pride: I was about 20 hours away from Grinnell, Iowa so I missed the game unfortunately. I wasn't able to catch the webcast either.  The box score was about what I expected....MC had the running edge and GC had the passing edge.  Pretty even stats overall, except GC had a noticeable advantage in the TOP category. So far, it's a head-scratcher.

You should all believe that Monmouth won't give LF a game next week.  (Don't worry that it's Homecoming and that the Scots will probably be a bit irritable coming off a loss.) 

[fulbakdad]

What about the funny schedule now?  SNC could become the league champs without having to play IC!  That wouldn't be right.....I saw an SNC tweet yesterday that played the what if game.  Had to take a second look. 

Can we all now vote to rearrange the schedule so that the teams at the top at least have to play the teams at the top left?  LOL.

[fulbakdad]

Titan,

I didn't see anything else about the injured IC player with the possible neck/head injury.  I'm assuming he's ok?