FB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[SaintsFAN]

Good luck to Franklin and Thomas More today. Hope the two teams represent themselves and their conferences well.

42-14 Final in Crestview Hills... TMC jumped out to a 14-0 lead and didn't look back.  They appeared to be bigger and more athletic and that was the difference.  Thomas More had some injuries on defense going into this game, but the kids really stepped up and Kendall Owens/Rob Kue/Dominique Haydon are a handful for teams to prepare for.

[BoBo]

Congrats to Franklin for a hard fought, well played game today. You put a scare in the Warhawks today with your play. Great crowd you brought, too.
I think you've won many fans today in Wisconsin. The score doesn't begin to tell how close this game was. Hope all the Franklin fans and team get home safely
Good luck in the future.

EDIT: Was just listening to the post game press conference. VERY impressed with FC coach Leonard (hope I got that right) and the players on the panel. With a man like that leading your team, you're always going to be alright.

[bleedpurple]

I, too, would like to congratulate Franklin College on playing an excellent game.  They are a VERY good football team.  I was also very impressed with Coach Leonard in his press conference.  He sounds like an excellent leader and an excellent football coach. 

All Franklin fans should be really proud of this team. I know I will be pulling for you next year!

Congratulations! 

[WarhawkDad]

Congrats to Franklin on a truly quality game.  Very impressed with your offense, especially the QB and also your fans.   Good Luck in the future!

[Stagg Again!!]

Griz -- Congratulations on a great season and a heck of an effort today in Whitewater.  Looks like boys gained few new followers in the WIAC today (like they had in the CCIW and OAC during the past couple of years).  BTW, there were quite a few fans following and cheering your every move at a certain stadium in the western suburbs of Chicago today.  Keep up the good work during the offseason.  We are looking for big things again next year.

[dc_has_been]

formerd3db,

I believe their are plans to keep on increasing the enrollment size.  Especially on campus students are the main focus.  After the field house there are even talks of building another residence hall to help that area too.  We shall see what is talk and what actually happens in Defiance.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

Congrats to Franklin for a hard fought, well played game today. You put a scare in the Warhawks today with your play. Great crowd you brought, too.
I think you've won many fans today in Wisconsin. The score doesn't begin to tell how close this game was. Hope all the Franklin fans and team get home safely
Good luck in the future.

EDIT: Was just listening to the post game press conference. VERY impressed with FC coach Leonard (hope I got that right) and the players on the panel. With a man like that leading your team, you're always going to be alright.

The GRIZ represented themselves and the HCAC well once again.  I agree the the score is a bit misleading.  FC made a few more mistakes and let a couple of big plays occur.  Otherwise they lined up toe to toe, moved the ball down the field and generally held their own.  For most of the game the FC defense was able to force the Warhawks to "throw the rock" vs "pound the rock"  (with the exception of two big running plays).  Unfortunately for FC, UWW can throw it around the yard pretty well.

Word is that UWW will be coming down to FC next season for a regular season game.  That will be UWW in 2011, and Mt Union in 2012 and 2013.  Hopefully when the playoff seeding is done next year, etc common sense will reign vs a math problem.

Good season GRIZ and looking forward to ruling the HCAC again next year.

[formerd3db]

formerd3db,

I believe their are plans to keep on increasing the enrollment size.  Especially on campus students are the main focus.  After the field house there are even talks of building another residence hall to help that area too.  We shall see what is talk and what actually happens in Defiance.

Appreciate the follow-up.  They have developed a nice campus and upgraded the facilities for sure in the last decade.  JMO, but I think that most of these colleges should try to get enrollment to at least 1,000.  But, on the other hand, some like Defiance and Olivet or even Eureka and Menlo for example, have apparently done well with enrollments 3/4 or half that number to keep their doors open for 100+ years (well, okay I don't think Menlo is that old, but the others are )  Anyway, it appears Defiance has done quite well in that regard.

[bleedpurple]

Congrats to Franklin for a hard fought, well played game today. You put a scare in the Warhawks today with your play. Great crowd you brought, too.
I think you've won many fans today in Wisconsin. The score doesn't begin to tell how close this game was. Hope all the Franklin fans and team get home safely
Good luck in the future.

EDIT: Was just listening to the post game press conference. VERY impressed with FC coach Leonard (hope I got that right) and the players on the panel. With a man like that leading your team, you're always going to be alright.

The GRIZ represented themselves and the HCAC well once again.  I agree the the score is a bit misleading.  FC made a few more mistakes and let a couple of big plays occur.  Otherwise they lined up toe to toe, moved the ball down the field and generally held their own.  For most of the game the FC defense was able to force the Warhawks to "throw the rock" vs "pound the rock"  (with the exception of two big running plays).  Unfortunately for FC, UWW can throw it around the yard pretty well.

Word is that UWW will be coming down to FC next season for a regular season game.  That will be UWW in 2011, and Mt Union in 2012 and 2013.  Hopefully when the playoff seeding is done next year, etc common sense will reign vs a math problem.

Good season GRIZ and looking forward to ruling the HCAC again next year.

I hope that word is true.  That would be AWESOME!  If so, I've become an even bigger fan of Franklin!  Clearly the Grizzlies are setting their sights on national prominence. Good for them!!!   

[panthersfan]

... Hopefully when the playoff seeding is done next year, etc common sense will reign vs a math problem.
Good season GRIZ and looking forward to ruling the HCAC again next year.

Probably a good idea to have some alternate plans just in case.

[badgerwarhawk]

Congrats to the Grizzlies.  You represented well and your tailgate was impressive.  Did some of you grow up in Wisconsin?

[footballfan413]

Adding my congrats also to the Grizzlies, the coaching staff and fans.  Your team and tailgate was first class.

[02 Warhawk]

Since enrollment stuff was mentioned, I thought I'd throw out the fact that it looks like UWW has the 2nd largest enrollment of the 32 playoff teams while Franklin is the smallest.

I'm looking forward to a good game tomorrow. I think the Triple Take predictions are off. No way Franklin loses by more than 20 and hopefully they don't even lose at all.

Good luck Grizzlies

For the longest time this looked to be true. I was very impressed by Franklin, they're definitely not a typical first-round opponent that whitewater typically runs over.

It also seemed there was just as many Franklin fans there as UWW fans....which doesn't make us look good. 

If the rumors are true that Franklin will schedule UWW next season, that will be great for both programs. too bad it isn't considered a regional game though. I'll be looking forward to the rematch.

[BoBo]

^ it was mentioned during the post game press conference that the two coaches had a nice discussion on Friday night prior to the game. Maybe a deal was struck.

[GrizFan]

Congrats to the Warhawks for doing what they had to do and moving on to face Trine.  UWW has a great team!  Congrats to the Grizzlies on a fine season and for playing hard at UWW.  It was a shame that we had to meet in the first round.  Now you can see why d3football.com voted the Franklin tailgate the "Best D3 Tailgate in the Nation"!

A regular season game would benefit both schools but would be tough for the Grizzlies since they have already scheduled Mt. Union for a home & home.

Trine is very similar to Franklin.  The Thunder edged Franklin at Trine in 2008 and the Grizzlies returned the favor at home in 2009 (Trine's last regular season loss).  Watt and Ray are similar QBs.  Ray is a more accurate passer but Watt is a more dangerous runner.